As summers usually are, this one has been
a blur of activity. The lake has been quite busy and so have the
users and inhabitants. The results of the Lake Association have become quite evident with
the lake water quality at its highest in years due to the copper sulfate
applications and the reduced milfoil and curly pond leaf vegetation.
We are very fortunate in many ways as a group of lakeshore owners and
lake water users. The Association board members have done a
phenomenal job of orchestrating and implementing a lake treatment
program this year.
(Check out this article in the "West Sherburne Tribune" as a journalist
rode along with us during one of the treatments.)
Late last year, visible evidence of the
lake association’s efforts to revitalize the public awareness and create
a unified public effort to get things done began to show itself with the
installation of a sign on 75 and 5 with also a sign installed at the
pubic landing. Not necessarily “landing on the moon”
accomplishments, but worthwhile and obvious nonetheless. If
putting in a sign meant digging ourselves into a few holes, (postholes)
then working with the DNR and State Senator Besty Wergin on lake permits
and government grants would mean digging ourselves out of some aquatic problem holes. And
we did. Each and every board member has made a remarkable and
substantial contribution towards the efforts of making the lake a
cleaner, safer place to enjoy water recreation activities. Even
down to cleaning the ditches along County Road 75.
You know, you can easily have
a group of people who show some enthusiasm (while attending a meeting)
and appear excited to be actively involved in whatever the major focus
of the moment might be. But then, only a couple of people take any
real initiative to carry out the mandates. But, and I speak from
being on a number of different volunteer groups, the Big Eagle Lake
Improvement Association is truly blessed to have such an active and
aggressive membership. Everyone not only wants to be involved,
they are, and very much so. No one or two people are getting
things done as is too often the case in groups like this. From Dick Bittner handling the DNR, to Joanne Peterson handling the road cleaning project,
to Elaine Bergquist handling
the books, to Sue Jones organizing and informing everyone, to Pam Moriarity getting the permit to put back up the
sign on 75 and 5, to me driving my pontoon boat around the lake to see
the effectiveness of the treatments (sorry, someone had to do it) to the
board meetings where 12 to 13 people show up because they care.
And really, this explanation does not do justice to the total
involvement of everyone on the board and I do not mean to omit anyone in
this explanation. Actually, if just the few names I have mentioned
represented the core group of active members, that would still be
impressive, but the reality is, there are 12 to 13 very active residents
in the Association. They are all truly buttons on the cap of
kindness. They get no monetary reward but the environmental
rewards are fantastic. As well, we are getting a lot of feedback
from community members who are asking questions and looking for answers.
This means we are getting people talking and that relates to
involvement. FYI- the board meetings are open to the public,
so anyone who wishes can attend.
We are setting up a website
and we will announce the address shortly. We will be using this
site to make announcements, updates, whatever pertinent information may
be required to distribute to the public at large. We are also
putting together a Wealth Management brochure that outlines the
background of each board member to help everyone get a better feeling of
who is working on the community’s behalf and allow all of us to
appreciate each others talents a little bit better.
In September, on the 13th,
we will begin planning for the January ice fishing contest. Yes,
the very idea of ice in August is a bit disgusting, but there is a lot
to do and plan. The earlier the planning, the better the outcome.
Right now, the contest is our big revenue producer project for the year.
We want to come up with a few other revenue ideas to spread out
throughout the year so we are not so dependent on just one project for
fund raising. Particularly in light of potential global warming.
We really lucked out this
year. We did not end up spending anywhere near the amount of money
we thought we would have to in order to get the lake treatments we
needed. Elaine Bergquist
is going to attach a short financial report that demonstrates detail to
this but let me nutshell a pivotal event that occurred. Due to
poor communication on the DNR’s part, we were not notified in a timely
manner of the need to submit a certain application for a $5,000.00 grant
from the DNR. That is where Betsy Wergin stepped in.
Dick Bittner called her and asked if she could lend a
hand in getting the funding back in light of the delivery circumstances
of the notification letter. Well, we got the $5,000.00 and
an additional $1,100.00. These monies were used to treat the
common area of the lake. Stellar work on Dick’s and Betsy’s part.
For a small organization, these are huge dollars to us and this allowed
us to follow up on the lakeshore owners treatment program and by
treating an additional 23 acres of common area that showed the greatest
aquatic plant problems.
There is one thing that we on
the Board want to point out to the public at large. For those of
you lakeshore owners who hung back this year and did not opt to get a
water treatment permit, keep this in mind. Some of you benefited
by your neighbor’s actions who did sign up in that your shoreline
aquatic plant life problems were abated to some degree. As well,
some of you who did not sign up, you may not have gotten any benefit
personally, but you did see the results around the rest of the lake.
If indeed, this was an experiment, then it was a successful one.
Next year, let’s all get on the band wagon and get a permit.
Community means a group of unified people. This year, we are
already seeing the results of a community effort. Next year can
only be better with even more involvement, from permits to helping with
the Association projects, we have only started to see what this
community is capable of.
My thanks to everyone for caring...oh,
and do
not forget to volunteer.
