LOFA members, please read this letter from Iron County Lakes and Rivers Alliance secretary Dick Thiede which updates us on the efforts being made by the Rice Lake Association to get their infestation of Curly Leaf Pondweed (an aquatic invasive species) under control. After hitting lots of roadblocks in the last couple of years, they have a grant application submitted to the DNR that could provide critical funding in their effort, but have hit another snag in that they need a public boat launch on their lake in order for the grant to be considered for approval. The Mercer town board is meeting tomorrow (February 4th) at 5:30 to consider committing to the construction of a boat launch on Rice Lake. It’s necessary that they vote in favor of this for the grant to even be considered. The last paragraph of Dick’s letter has the contact information needed for us to either attend the meeting via Zoom or send an email in support of the landing.
Several patches of CLP were discovered in the Turtle River and in Pike Lake, just downriver from Rice Lake, last year and were hand-pulled by volunteers. Try to image just how much Curly Leaf Pondweed will enjoy living in Lake of the Falls if it manages to get downriver to us. Once it gains a toehold, it will be with us forever. We can support the Rice Lake Association in their efforts to get it under control before this happens!
Please do what you can to support Rice Lake.