Fall 2024
Issue 41
2024 - Pickerel Lake Flowage fall colors
From your Association President
Drew Zelle | dmzelle48@gmail.com | 920-209-0564
Greetings PCLA Membership!
Officially summer is over but my hope is that September brings still more warm days. The PCLA had a busy year with our Annual Picnic and our Clean Boats and Clean Waters efforts and our Water Quality Monitoring.
This year the lakes were definitely more weedy than ever, most likely due to the early ice out. Hopefully this is not a trend, just an odd year. Water levels were also down because locally we did not have the heavy rains other areas had. Hopefully the water levels did not make a huge impact on your use of the lakes.
So far we have not detected any invasives but we have had a significant increase in boat traffic and use of our lakes. With good boating practices and diligence we can make another year without the issues of the other surrounding lakes.
Our one and only fundraiser, the annual PCLA picnic, was a success. We raised a similar amount to what we made last year even though half the picnic was rained out. Thank you to our supporting businesses, volunteers, and your donations – see the list on our website: https://www.pickerelchainlakeassociation.org/fundraising.
On a different note, the northern lights have been out quite a bit this summer and provided awesome views over our lakes. Never before in my 35 years up here have I seen them so vibrant.
Thanks again for a summer of support!
2024 Upcoming Events
September: Aerator maintenance
October: CBCW program ends
Oct/Nov: Annual aerator notice
Dec/Jan: Aerator pole and line installation
Think You Found AIS?
If you think you have found aquatic invasive plants or animals in our lakes, please use a ziploc bag to collect a sample in lake water, and contact Drew Zelle (Board President) or Laure Haak (Board Secretary and Water Quality Committee Chair) through the BoardPLCA@gmail.com email. We will work with the DNR to verify the identification and determine next steps. You can read more about AIS on our website, at https://www.pickerelchainlakeassociation.org/initiatives/ais. Thank you!
Seeking Your Ideas!
As members of PCLA, we all mutually support the goals and fund raising efforts to protect and rehabilitate our chain of lakes. Whether you volunteer, support the PCLA financially by donating prizes, or attend the annual event and buy raffles and food, you are all part of our success. Thank you for that.
With the annual picnic now serving as our sole fundraising event, its importance to our cause has been elevated. The PCLA Board, and scores of volunteers, put immense effort into making each year more exciting and successful. But we don’t have a monopoly on good ideas to make that happen. In fact, we could use some feedback and suggestions from the member organization!
With the picnic experience freshly in mind, you may have some thoughts on how we can make the event even better.
Please drop us a note with your suggestions, to Brigitte Janos at: brigittejb@hotmail.com.
What could we do better?
What types of prizes would you like to see?
Any ideas regarding our food offerings?
What kinds of beverages might make us more successful?
Any process improvements?
What do you think of the location / park / facilities?
What did you like the most?
How could we get more people to attend? (it’s a fundraiser, after all)
Thoughts about the wheel raffle?.
Thank you!
Aeration Update
In anticipation of the coming winter season, we have been performing maintenance on our aerator systems. The system on Pickerel Lake was snagged by a boater this summer and dragged 40 feet across the lake bottom. We are resetting the lines and testing airflow. We’ll also be checking the systems on Little Pickerel and Smoke Lake.
Soon enough, there will be ice on the lake and we’ll be setting up the safety poles and lines.
We always appreciate volunteers to help us with this work. If you are interested in assisting in this effort, please notify one of the PCLA board members directly, email us at BoardPCLA@gmail.com, or sign up for alerts on our website.
Learn more about the Aerator program on our website – including aerator locations!
Clean Boats / Clean Waters Update
We are about to wrap up our 2024 CBCW program. Many thanks to Pari Schilz for coordinating the inspector schedule and managing data entry! Our inspectors this summer have logged nearly 200 hours at the Oughton Park boat landing, talking to boat owners and checking boats and trailers for hitch-hiking plants. Between Memorial Day and Labor day we inspected 165 boats and talked to 345 people about lake hygiene – ensuring boats and equipment are free of hitchhikers. Thank you for your generosity and interest in supporting our inspectors!
Read more about the CBCW program on our website.
Citizens Lake Monitoring Network Update
PCLA volunteers participate in the CLMN program, taking water quality and chemistry samples four times each open water season on each of the lakes. The first is taken within two weeks of ice out, and the remaining are taken during the latter half of the months of June, July, and August. We measure water clarity, using the Secchi Disk method, as an indicator of water quality. And we also collect chemistry (phosphorus, chlorophyll), temperature and dissolved oxygen data, as well as monitor for the first appearance of aquatic invasive species near boat landings, other access points, or along the shoreline. We finished sampling in August and next up is monitoring ice in and measuring dissolved oxygen during the winter months. Thanks to Laure Haak for doing the water sampling. For those interested in learning more about the CLMN program – and seeing the data on lake water quality, please see our website.
Happenings About the Town
The Townsend Town Hall is undergoing a much-needed facelift and addition. The main hall should be ready to use in October and the administration addition in the Spring.
Our two loon families have left for the season, but the swans are still swimming about. The leaves are just starting to turn and today the weather took a decided turn toward chilly. All signs the world is still turning on its axis and we are still hanging on. Enjoy!
Et Cetera!
Now that we have a website we can share pictures! And kudos! Please send your pictures, ideas for content, and your nominations for people to recognize for their lake stewardship activities to BoardPCLA@gmail.com.
Ideas and Comments
Questions or comments about the newsletter? Ideas for articles to include?
Contact Laure Haak, PCLA Secretary, at BoardPCLA@gmail.com
