Horseshoe Lake Public Inland Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District Annual Meeting

Meeting Date: August 17, 2019 at Beaver Town Hall

Call to order at 9:05 AM by President Steve Eichman with approximately 35 people in attendance.

Reading of 2018 Minutes - Approved.

Financial Report
Current Balances: Lake District Money Market: $1007.11: Cash fund: $15.00 and CDs: $17,565 (includes $12,500 Emergence Invasive Weed Fund). We had good interest income as CDs matured. We also still have $367.06 left in the HLIA Checking account (leaving that separate for now).

Key variance was that we were slightly under budget for milfoil treatment and did not spend all of the planning money budgeted for Shoreland restoration projects. We had Shoreland restoration training materials developed (are on web site) and did a few site visits, but only one lake owner applied for grant. As we prepare for updating 5-year lake management plan – moved some of those dollars toward that. Move and seconded. Approved.

Current Status of Lake
Need to find out about requirements about removing stumps long the lake (and post on FaceBook). Dave Blumer was not able to attend the meeting, but Heather did attend with educational materials. Read his update (post at the end of minutes). Deep snow cover on the ice this winter delayed spring plant growth of Milfoil, which reduced our spraying costs for 2019. He asked us to remind people to pull milfoil if they see it - a plant pulled today may save a $1000 of spraying in two years. Also seeing more Purple loosestrife in area lakes.

Township will clean up all township roads, but not private roads. Once they pick up - any additional brush will not be picked up. Not sure if FEMA or the State will take care of the cost-share. Beavers are starting to cause an issue with lake levels on Echo, so will need to monitor that as we get into the fall.

Boat landing inspection and Clean Boats/Clean Waters grant.
Boat inspections are our first line of defense in keeping invasive species out of the lake and we need to do the boat inspection anyway as part of our lake management plan. We did get a Clean Boats/Clean Waters grant for 2019, but with Jack Sullivan's health challenges this summer, had to put it on hold (got DNR approval). If anyone did work boat landing (or is willing to work yet this year), please report your hours to me (so we hopefully would not have to pay back advance). Now that the boat landing is cleaned up - we would like to resume boat landing inspections until mid-September on Friday, Saturday, Sunday - first thing in morning, 4-6 in afternoon. Will also need volunteers for 2020.

A reminder that Zebra mussels are continuing to be a larger issue in MN/WI. Using a 10% bleach solution will kill mussels. (Lake Pepin is biggest source). Live wells and bilges are key culprits for spreading pests. Also looking for people to help Nackeruds identify purple loosestrife and clean out plants before they spread.

Shoreline Restoration
With all of the storm damage on the lake, people need to be more aware of how their shoreline impacts the lake (especially run-off). Uprooted trees and removal of stumps (and other cleanup) will result in more bare ground, which will lead to more runoff if not properly addresses. Just because something you are doing isn't it is not illegal, it can still be bad for the lake. We had training materials developed (are on web site) and did a few site visits, but only one lake owner applied for grant, which was approved and work completed.

Healthy Lakes Grant Options
There are many best practices owners can do to keep the lake clean. Rain gardens, native plantings (benefits include less water, better adapted, survive winter, feed wildlife), runoff diversion strips, and French drains (infiltration trenches) drains. If property owners are interested, there are Wisconsin's Healthy Water grants available from state, with applications due by February 1. See http://tinyurl.com/healthylakes. Potential cost-share grant award is $1,000 per project, with a maximum of $25,000. Lake district will reimburse up to $100 for planning costs on DNR approved projects.

Five-Year Lake Management Plan
Our five-year lake management plan is due to be updated in 2020-21 and re-writing our Aquatic Plant Management Plan including whole-lake plant survey work will need to be done. We did not get a grant for cost- sharing any of this work in 2019, but will be revising our grant request to try to get some DNR assistance to help with some of those costs - it will be prepared and submitted in December. Remember - with grants, volunteer hours are important to minimize the amount of cash we need to spend vs what we get back.

Communications
Trying to determine the best way to communicate with lake owners. We now have a Facebook page plus our hlake.org website.

New Business
We need a new "no power loading" sign for the boat land plus new buoys for the entrance into Buckwald Bay for next spring (need one on each side). Joe Waldo has one No Wake buoy left for Buckwald Bay and one additional Rock buoy for the island.

We discussed the idea of a purchasing dock at the boat land to aid in loading and unloading boats. Had several different opinions, but that the end - the consensus from property owners was that having a dock was not a good idea as it could increase boat traffic on the lake and create more activity at the boat landing.

Don't forget about Snuba available for weed removal. Contact Craig or Laura Nackerud if you are qualified and interested in using it.

We still need to look at trying to update Horseshoe Lake directory and submit information in best format necessary. Our email list and directory information is harder to keep current (depends on counties, by for address only). Marlene Goethel, Mike Foster and Joe Waldo will take the lead on this over the winter. We will need permission to provide home, email and phone info.

Election of new commissioner.
Joe Waldo was the only candidate to agree to run and was re-elected by unanimous vote. Please consider volunteering to run in the future as we elect one commission each year (Tom Ludy term up in 2020)

Discussed 2020 proposed budget.
The main changes from 2019 is no money for Shoreline restoration expenses and we will need to spend additional dollars to start updating our lake management plan. We are assuming we will get a Clean Waters/Clean Boats grant in 2020, so cover most of that cost. Proposed 2020 tax assessment would be $9,300 again (average of appr. $18 per $100,000 in property valuation). After discussion, the budget and final budget was approved by vote. The approved Lake District budget for the 2019 calendar year is shown below:

        

Formal meeting adjourned at 10:14.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Joe Waldo - Lake District Secretary/Treasurer
Horseshoe Lake Public Inland Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District

August 16, 2019 Notes from Dave Blumer at LEAPS:
Heather and I just got off the lake. A couple of things for you to mill over for your meeting tomorrow. Heather will be in attendance at it with some AIS and shoreland improvement materials on display. No presentation - just present to answer questions and take notes.
1) HWM - almost no HWM in the treated areas. Only found a couple of plants in the bay by the Mud Lake entry. I did pre and post- treatment survey points in several of the treated areas, and at no point in rake samples did I find HWM. So it appears the treated areas responded well. However, there appears to be more HWM in Buckwalds Bay than is usually seen. Not a lot, but still more than usual.

2) Purple loosestrife - Heather and I cut about a dozen plants along the northeast shore and on the point at the entry to Buckwald Bay. There are several small plants in the north bay just as you go into Buckw alds, but we could not reach them with the boat. A canoe or kayak would be the ideal craft to get back to them and pull them out.

3) Damage - what a mess. It is sad going around the lake. So many trees down. One caveat. In several locations, the trees that went into the water could probably stay. In some cases, it might be good to cut the trunks so they lay flatter on the shore. In other cases, it might be good to cut the trunks near the root and move the whole tree further out into the water. In many cases, it might be a good idea to anchor the trees to the shore if they are not going to be removed. As clean-up progresses, it might be worth a public meeting to discuss fishsticks and how to turn some of the damage into something positive. Just a thought.

I realize that the last thing on people's mind right now is Fishsticks habitat projects, but if the trees are left, work could be done this winter once the ice forms to maybe adjust the fallen trees some.

4) Shoreland erosion - as people are cleaning up the damage, I noticed a lot of areas with exposed dirt either from stumps that were removed, shorelines that were cleaned up, four-wheel paths down to the water edge, etc, etc. Again, I realize the last thing people want to hear is to make sure those exposed areas are covered as soon as possible. However, it would be good to get it covered as soon as possible - either seeded with grass or other plants, covered with mulch, etc. One thing I might suggest to the Lake District is to approach American Excelsior in Rice Lake and purchase, likely at a discount, a bunch of rolls of Excelsior erosion control mat. Then make it available to lake property owners at no charge as they work to repair the damage. If something is seeded with grass, the mat would help protect it. The mat is biodegradable so it will disappear eventually. OR it could be rolled back up later. It could be easily installed on steep banks, lawns, etc. It would really help minimize additional runoff into the lake.

5) Secchi disk - We measured a 5-ft Secchi disk reading today so the lake is starting to get green. That may be what is keeping some of the HWM at bay. We have had quite a bit of rain, the lake is still high. Again doing what can be done under the circumstances to minimize additional sediment runoff into the lake would help minimize the water quality issues. We also saw a little bluegreen algae starting to float around in little clumps. Again nothing really bad, but still there.

Again, Heather will be in attendance at the meeting. I will be at another meeting, with three others I could be at. This appears to be one of the busiest weekends of the year for lake meetings, as the same weekend a year ago I had four meetings on the docket.

Hope this helps. - Dave

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