November 20, 2006 Minutes

Eurasian Water Milfoil Committee

EWM Committee meeting

Monday, November 20, 2006    6:30 p.m.

Barnes Town Hall

Ingemar Ekstrom called the meeting to order. Present were: Ingemar Ekstrom, Mitch McGee, Pam Toshner, Lee Wiesner, Jim Joswick, Patti Joswick, Stefania Strzalkowska, Dave Pease, John Kudlas, Barb Romstad

Agenda items:

1.      Minutes from the October 21, 2006  - Barb Romstad

Minutes were reviewed; correction was made to the minutes by Ingemar. Motion to accept the minutes as corrected, Dave Pease, seconded John Kudlas. Passed.

2.      Vice Chair position – Ingemar Ekstrom

Ingemar presented the fact that the committee would be best served if we had a volunteer for a person to serve as vice-chair. No one volunteered for this position, Lee Wiesner nominated Mitch McGee for the position, John Kudals seconded the nomination. Passed.

3.      Survey results of the lake property owners – Ingemar Ekstrom

Results of the survey were presented by Ingemar. ( A synopsis of the response is attached)

o       76 surveys were sent

o       62% responded, (47 were returned)

o       More responses may still come in.

Some discussion followed as the results of the survey were reviewed.

4.      Outcome of DNR and Corps of Engineers meeting – Pam Toshner

Pam Toshner reported on her communication with Tim Asplund. She indicated that the Corps of Engineers is very interested in getting involved with the situation on the two infested lakes. However Tim spoke as if the actual action might not occur until summer of 2008. Pam feels that the reason for the delay is that the Corps of Engineers would want to do more assessment and the most effective treatment is done in early spring. The Corps would not be prepared to start in spring of 2007. Pam will be talking with Tim Asplund more and make sure he has all the lake assessment information that has already been recorded.

5.      Article for WAL newsletter – John Kudlas

John Kudlas reported that the WAL newsletter article is complete and has been sent and will appear in the March issue.

John discussed the results of the local EWM efforts in 2006. The results will be shared with the Barnes Town Board on Tuesday evening, November 21. He also reviewed some information on monitoring rivers for invasive species. While we don’t have a lot of rivers we do have some and we may want to expand our monitoring.

Lee Wiesner pointed out that Barnes area volunteer hours in 2006 were 203 compared to 2000 volunteer hours in 2005.

6.      Progress Status of Clean Boats Clean Water grant - Stephania Strzalkowska

Stefania is working on writing the grant for getting financial help from the DNR for 2007. Deadline is February 1, 2007. She will be contacting members of the group in the next couple weeks for input and the subcommittee will meet on Monday, November 27, 6:30 p.m. at the Barnes Town Hall.

7.      Next Meeting date - December 18, 2006 Barnes Town Hall, 6:30 pm

New Business

John Kudlas indicated that there was a person from Beauregard Lake that wanted to be on the committee. Ingemar said he would like to keep the members to a minimum for efficiency but the meetings are open to anyone who wants to attend.

Patti Joswick reviewed the possible control and containment documents provided by Pam Toshner. Patti questioned whether we want to post the documents on the WEB site for the property owners who responded that they wanted more information. Some discussion followed. Patti will bring a response letter proposal to the December meeting.

Motion to Adjourn: Lee Wiesner, seconded by John Kudlas; passed