1. The ARPRD has a developed an Aquatic Plant Management Plan in the winter and spring of 2011. It was approved by the membership at the Annual Meeting on August 27th, 2011. It was submitted to the WI DNR in mid September 2011. It was approved by the DNR in mid November 2011. A copy of the plan is available at this website in the “Management” section.
2. To complete this plan, a survey of the aquatic plant situation in the flowage was conducted in July of 2010 and in June of 2011 to obtain a complete analysis of the Curly Leaf Pondweed situation. The surveys revealed a great amount of aquatic plant growth as well as 344 acres of Curly Leaf Pondweed (an invasive species). Just to give a full picture of the situation, the flowage contains about 640 acres of water. The survey was conducted by “Endangered Resource Services LLC” Matthew Berg, Research Biologist. A copy of these survey’s is available on this website.
3. In the plan, options were provided to finance the implementation of the plan. In approving the plan, the membership gave approval to implement the five goals outlined in the plan. This included financing plan to purchase a weed harvester.
4. Since the plan was approved, Harmony Environmental (Cheryl Clemens) has assisted the ARPRD in preparing and submitting grant applications to implement Goal #2 which was focused on “Clean Boats/ Clean Water” or the prevention of having additional invasive species brought into the flowage by checking boats as they come into the public launching sites. This will be implemented in the 2012 boating season. She has also helped prepare a grant application for Goal #3” Management of the Plant Population” which involves the purchase of a harvester. In addition, the Polk County Land and Water Resources Department in cooperation with the ARPRD has submitted a grant application for Goal #1 “Water Quality” which means that water testing will take place in many sites of the flowage to determine the chemical status of the water in the flowage. It is evident that there is a high level of phosphorus in the flowage. This effort will hopefully provide answers as to the source of chemicals that are in the flowage. This effort will also be implemented in the summer of 2012. Mr. Jeremy Williamson and Katelin Holm will be leading this effort.
5. Two committees have been formed to assist in the purchase and operation of a harvester. (This is the main focus of Goal #3)
a. A “Harvester Purchasing Committee” The Chr. is Mr. Dale Richardson
Members are: Tom Dunn, Richard Goulet, Doug Greene, Doug Johnson
b. A “Harvester Operations Committee” The Chr. is Mr. John Dressen
Members are: John Hays, Gale Tappe, Jim Johnson, Dave Schleusner, Doug Johnson, Dale Richardson
(Membership to each committee consists of individuals who volunteered at the Annual Meeting.) A charge was given to each committee. The committees have met and continue to meet. They are making plans for purchasing and then operating the harvesting equipment.
6. In the work of the committees, it was learned that the Wisconsin Waterways Commission may not have grant monies remaining for the 2011-2012 fiscal year, An application for a grant has been submitted and the ARPRD will hopefully soon learn if there are still funds for this fiscal year. If there are no funds, a grant application will be resubmitted in June 2012 for an award in the summer of 2012. In the meantime, some effort has been made to initiate a harvest for summer 2012. Some members, of the two committees, feel that we cannot go through another summer without beginning to manage the plant growth in the flowage. With a massive CLP issue, it is difficult to think they will once again go to seed unchecked. Also, the coon-tail issue seems to be ever increasing. With a mild winter, it is likely plant growth is underway beneath the ice cover. Consequently, a couple of possible sources are being pursued to lease or rent harvesting equipment for summer 2012. However, there are no recommendations at this point. It seems a clear plan for the use of rental/lease equipment will need more input from the district members as to how to finance this effort. The need for a special meeting of the district may be forthcoming to hear how the membership feels about trying to get a plant management effort underway in 2012.
7. The City of Amery has also agreed to assist the harvesting efforts in several ways. When the harvesting equipment is in place, and the “Clean Boats/Clean Water” plan is underway, they will handle the payroll for the district. They also agreed to assist with the use of equipment when needed, a place to store the equipment in the off-season and a place to dump harvested materials if there is a need. For that cooperative effort, the district has agreed to keep the North Park bay area open as well as the area across on the east side of the flowage.
8. The ARPRD has sent 2 newsletters in 2012. We have sent a Spring letter and a Summer letter. In summary, we have purchased a harvester and it will hopefully be in operation by mid-July 2012. We tried several approaches for renting equipment while our machinery was being manufactured but all attempts failed due to many factors. We will notify all residents when we get a date of delivery from the manufacturer.
9. We are engaged in many activities which are described in the newsletters. We are working with the Polk County Land and Water Resources Department on an extensive water quality project. Please respond to the survey which is being mailed to each resident on June 20 th. It is important to have your input as we make plans for improving the water quality in the Apple River flowage. We thank you for your prompt response.
We are also working on a “Clean Boats/ Clean Water Project”. Boats and watercraft being launched into the flowage are being checked by a team of young people who have undergone training.
10. The summers of 2013 and 2014 have found the ARPRD in full operations “weed harvesting” on the Apple River flowage. The harvesting crew operates five days per week Monday through Friday weather permitting. In 2013, the crew harvested approximately 2,500,000 lbs. of weeds and in 2014 they harvested about 2,300,000 lbs. Daily records of all harvesting activities are recorded and periodically submitted to the Wisconsin DNR. Each year, harvesting aims to start about mid-May, so that curly leaf pondweed can be controlled. This starting date has varied each year due to winter and other weather conditions (snow cover and cold late spring warm-up). As you may know, there is about 320 acres of curly leaf pondweed (an invasive species) and it is marked on a map in numerous beds all the way from the City of Amery to the very north end of the flowage. A reminder, the flowage is about a 640 acre body of water (lake or flowage). It is important to harvest the curly leaf because from about mid- may until about July 1st is its’ life span and during this time it produces seeds which need to be harvested so that over the years the population can be reduced. Once the curly leaf has been harvested the crew begins on other species primarily coon tail which seems to be in abundance throughout the flowage. This weed tends to be a floater so it is a challenge for the harvesting team to stay ahead. It appears that after 2 years of harvesting, boat navigation has become better than prior to earlier years when it appeared that weeds were totally in control. The harvesting permit has been granted for 2015 so year number 3 will be underway this spring.
11. The ARPRD has also been active in the Wisconsin Clean Boats/Clean Water (CB/CW) Project. Since 2012, efforts have been made to check boats at the Lincoln Landing whenever heavy activity in fishing and recreational use is expected. The ARPRD has continued to partner with Steve Schieffer (Amery High School teacher) and the Amery High School students he has trained to check boats and make periodic evaluations of the entire flowage to monitor for any type of invasive species. In addition, a committee of volunteers lead by Derrick Carlson has begun to also make periodic checks for invasive species. This effort was supported by a DNR grant for Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) for the 2012, 2013 and 2014 years. That grant was completed and the ARPRD has received a final payment. The ARPRD has made another grant request for 2015 so that this effort will continue checking boats and periodic flowage checks.
12. In Nov. of 2013, the ARPRD submitted a Lake Management Plan to the WI DNR. This plan was approved. The plan calls for improving the quality of the water in the flowage. This plan also contains 7 goals to accomplish this challenge. Goal #1 states “Reduce excessive watershed nutrient inputs to the flowage to improve water quality”. One means outlined to begin this goal is to develop “shoreline buffers”. As a result, the ARPRD has submitted and grant request to the WI DNR to install five 350 square foot (10’ X 35’) (at least one side of the buffer must touch the waters’ edge) shoreline buffers on 5 residents property. These residents indicated they were willing to install these during the summer of 2015. The grant will allow the ARPRD to assist each resident with about 75% of the cost. This is a one year grant. The ARPRD is hoping these five will serve as a demonstration for others to follow in 2016 provided we can seek another grant.
In summary, since 2012 the ARPRD is hopeful residents and others can observe activities designed to improve the flowage for better recreational, fishing and other water species wildlife uses.
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