Pondweed and fish update
Here is an excerpt from the thank-you letter sent by the Rice Lake Association to the many volunteers who participated in The Great Weed Pull 2022. Several families from Lake of the Falls joined weed-pullers from all over Iron County and beyond in the effort to control Curly Leaf Pondweed in Rice Lake and the Turtle River during the first 2 weeks of June. While it’s unlikely that CLP will ever be completely removed from our watershed, this year’s effort was a great success and much progress was made.Go to ricelakeassociation.org to see photos of the weed-pullers in action, and please consider volunteering for next year’s event. It’s starting to look like we may be able to beat this, with everybody’s help!
“…We think back fondly on each and every day we spent with you on the water. The herculean effort you made to pull those big loads of pondweed into your boat. The friendly competition of who had the most bags of CLP. Your sense of humor and kind and gentle good nature. The sharing of a meal each day prepared by our wonderful Rice Lake family. The memories are endless and dear.
After the first two days of “The Great Weed Pull” volunteers on Rice Lake have harvested over 6000 lbs of Curly Leaf Pondweed from the north shore of the lake. That’s 6000 lbs in two 8-hour days, and it’s just a drop in the bucket. On Wednesday there were about 15 people representing several lakes (including Rice, Lake of the Falls, the Turtle Flambeau Flowage, and Long Lake) in 8 boats hauling the weeds in with long rakes and packing them into mesh bags which were then taken to the Hadley brush pit. It’s hard work, but really worth it to see how CLP is impacting Rice Lake, and trying to imagine what that would be like here on Lake of the Falls.
Join Iron County Land and Water Conservation Specialist Zach Wilson on Sunday, May 29 at 11:00 (after the board meeting) at Beaver’s Resort to learn about Water Quality and Aquatic Invasive Species Monitoring. Zach will be discussing the latest information on the Turtle River curly leaf pondweed occurrences and spread, as well as proper monitoring techniques for Lake of the Falls.
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