April 23, 2012 AISC Meeting Minutes

EWM (Town of Barnes, Aquatic Invasive Species Committee)

April 23, 2012 Meeting Minutes

Barnes Town Hall

Members present:  Gerald Gustafson, Ingemar Ekstrom, Sally Pease, Steve Krivinchuk, Glenda Mattila, Dave Pease, Jeremy Bates.  George Lake property owner: Mark Holmes

Absent:  Pamela Toshner, Mitch McGee, Barb Robstad, Lee Wiesner

Meeting was called to order by Ingemar @ 6:30 p.m.

1.     Minutes from February meeting.  A motion to accept the minutes for the February 20, 2012 meeting was made by Dave Pease, seconded by Gerald Gustafson.

2.     Volunteer Appreciation meeting Friday, May 4^th 11:30.  Postcards (104) were prepared and mailed by Barb.  Sally and Ingemar will forward the returned postcards to the appropriate shoreline monitors.  Barb needs volunteers to help at the luncheon and to bring bars.  Bars will be brought by Lois Clark, Glenda Mattila, Steve Krivichuck and Sally Pease. Jeanne Ekstrom, Dave and Carol Pease offered to help as needed. Sally Pease will present “How to use the Watercraft Inspection Report” that is new this year. Jeremy Bates is unable to attend the luncheon and stated that Carrie Sanda the Lake Superior Research Instructor and Douglas County AIS Coordinator will present a quick overview of the Shoreline Monitor Workshop that  will take place on June 23^rd.

3.     Shoreline Monitoring Workshop Saturday, June 23^rd 9:00 a.m., Barnes Town Hall.  Jeremy Bates will have a note placed in the Town of Barnes Blog’s next issue, it will also ask for interested participants to RSVP.  It was suggested by Ingemar to mail invitations to shoreline monitors and request an RSVP for use in planning for materials.  Ingemar and Barb will work on the invites and get total RSVP’s to Jeremy by May 21^st.

4.     Staff CBCW for 2012. According to Sally Pease all paid landing monitors will return. In May, Barb Larson will work with alternates on Saturdays and Sundays as she will be unable to commit to her regular full schedule for health reasons. Scotty Bell will be on the Middle Eau Claire Lake and Ken Higgins will be on the Upper Eau Claire Lake.  Jeremy Bates encouraged Sally to contact him if she or her monitors have trouble with boaters and answering questions on the new watercraft inspection report. He is more than happy to come out and talk with them regarding AIS, transporting & live well laws…people need to be aware of the laws.

5.     Early Chemical Treatment on George Lake/Long term Plan.  Ingemar stated that the Rapid Response Grant was noted at $20,000 and thus far $2,250 was paid out to Matt Berg for his time in the study of George Lake and a 97 pages report (Jeremy Bates will get Ingemar two copies of the report). There were two options for treatment suggested.  #1 Treat only the North Bay. #2 Treat the North Bay and then spot treat in the South Bay.  DNR appears to be comfortable with option #2, John Skogerboe agrees with this method of treatment.  The Town of Barnes gave permission to start the process.  Dale Dressel of the Northern Aquatic Services and Ingemar spoke April 23^rd and they will work on the permit for treatment.  Fees are based on per permit and per acre up to $1,500.  Permit will now be sent to Madison for approval and no longer sent to Spooner.  Pending approval in the North Bay .3 parts per million of chemical would be used, and in the South Bay 2-3 parts per million would be used.  This still have to be confirmed.  Jeremy stated that the DNR needs an Aquatic Management Plan of George Lake showing detailed and up to date mapping as EWM has spread to other areas of George Lake.  Permit can not be completed without this mapping.  An Aquatic Management Plan would also need to be in place for future funding.  It was discussed to have Jermey Bates and John Kudlas do the mapping. 

6.     Tomahawk Lake follow-up for 2012. Gus and John Skogerboe noted that there was a 100% control in the spot treatment of Tomahawk Lake in the fall of 2011.  However, the true test for results will be in the fall of 2012. 

7.     Sand Bar Lake follow-up for 2012. Gus and John Skogerboe noted several spots of EWM when they were on the lake in early April.  At this point there is no plan for treatment and we will need to work on an Aquatic Management Plan for Sand Bar as well. Glenda and Rick Mattila, and Ron Clark will put out the Buoys for 2012 season.  Glenda will call land owners with boats to remind them of low and no-wake again for this year as we are still a study lake.  ***What is the future Aquatic Treatment Plan for Sand Bar and Tomahawk Lakes (pages 18 & 19 on our website have a draft version for an Aquatic Treatment Plan)? 

8.     AIS activities in the county.  Bayfield County Round Table will be early June in Ashland.  CBCW Workshop will follow in near future.  Lakes Convention was attended by Jeremy Bates and John Kudlas.  Jeremy will unavailable from May 2^nd-May 20^th.

9.     Drummond School Spring field trip.  The seventh grade science field trip will have a new name this year “Spring ECO Education Event”.  The event will take place at 49215 St Hwy 27, Barnes, the property of Quentin Rupprecht on Monday May 14^th from 8:45 a.m. - 1:30 p.m..  Planning will be at the Barnes Town Hall on Wednesday May 9^th from 1:30-3:00 p.m  Volunteers will be needed for taking pictures, helping serve students snacks & lunch, being in boats or Kayaks on water safety, support for the canoeing segments, assisting with the planting of tree seedlings & nature plants, etc.  If you can volunteer, please attend the planning meeting.

10.  Other business.  Title of this committee.  It was noted by Steve Baldwin that at the Annual Town meeting on Tuesday, April 10^th that on September 19, 2006 Regular Town Board meeting, the former “ad hoc EWM Committee” was reformed, renamed and formally approved as the: TOB Invasive Species Committee. Ingemar Ekstrom will discuss at the next Town Board meeting that we should be called the Town of Barnes Aquatic Invasive Species Committee (acronym: Town of Barnes AISC)

11.  Next meeting date May 21^st, 2012

12.  Meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m., motion made by Dave Pease and seconded by Gerald Gustafson