Even though COVID 19 had us somewhat locked in, it was another great summer on Garfield Lake and seemed like there was a lot of activity on the Lake. The July 4th fireworks were outstanding and the fishing was good for those that know how to catch them.
For the summer of 2020, we had 22 Zebra Mussel Tubes (ZMT) distributed around the lake with 21 respondents that reported there was no evidence of any mussels on the tubes, their docks or boats.
ZMT are a simple section of PVC pipe that we hand from our docks about a foot above the bottom, they are smooth hard surfaces that make it easy to detect zebra mussels as they start to develop and attach to hard surfaces around the lake. This is an early warning system to identify a coming problem.
This is very positive news, but we must continue to practice and educate everyone on the following:
Clean all visible aquatic plants, zebra mussels, and other prohibited invasive from watercraft, trailers, and water-related equipment
Clean all visible aquatic plants, zebra mussels, and other prohibited invasive from watercraft, trailers, and water-related equipment
Clean all visible aquatic plants, zebra mussels, and other prohibited invasive from watercraft, trailers, and water-related equipment
The Board would like to thank all those that have assisted in the monitoring the ZMT’s for 2020 and look forward to 2021 monitoring and remember, if anyone else wants to get involved for next year just sent me an email at ceclark49@icloud.com and someone will get you a ZMT.
In the following link you will find the minutes of our GLA Board meeting from last Wednesday, August 19, 2020 which has also been posted to our website. We encourage you to take a moment and go through it and take a look at the rest of our website while you are there.
We have just received the initial results of the Garfield Fish Survey and have posted it to the GLA website. It is very interesting.
Our August GLA Board meeting covered the following areas:
August is the time to look at the Zebra Mussel sampling tubes weekly; how we can help our members look for Zebra Mussels when they pull their water equipment in the fall;
ways to keep and use the small northerns we catch in the lake allowing for bigger fish in the future;
Water Quality test #4 was done with 2 members along;
what does it cost to do additional Zebra Mussel testing in 2021 to better pinpoint where on the lake the veligers are being found;
when will the DNR pick the lakes for Sunfish Limit reductions;
the benefits and cost of doing a Vegetation survey in 2021
We are also looking for stories and ideas from our members to be published on the web site. If you have something you think others would like to hear about the lake and or thoughts about the lake please send it to us or post your idea in the web sites COMMENT section.
The following is a news release from the MN DNR on an Enforcement Officer (CO) class that will include a new CO for our ‘Lake George District’. Per our DNR contact, the local Enforcement Manager, the new COs will have a 16 week OTJ training with CO before their new assignments. We will share with you their name when assigned and will attempt to setup a community meeting to introduce them to our members.
August 19, 2020
Thirteen people have graduated from the 20th Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Academy, having trained since early May in all aspects of their new careers as conservation officers. They’ll spend the next several months working with experienced conservation officers in communities across the state before assuming their assigned stations.
The officers have a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences, ranging from former tribal public safety officers, to conservation officers in another state, to city police officers, to veterans and those who’ve worked on outreach programs to connect youth with the outdoors.
“DNR conservation officers have evolved as the makeup of Minnesota and the demands of the job have changed over the years,” said Rodmen Smith, director of the DNR Enforcement Division. “But just as it’s been since the 1880s, protecting public safety and our state’s natural resources remains the foundation of all conservation officers’ duties. It is an honor and a privilege to serve, and none of us takes that lightly.”
Minnesota conservation officers are well-prepared to occupy their vital roles in their communities by the time they graduate from the Academy. During the Academy, recruits are trained in all aspects of being a conservation officer. They learn from experienced officers and other experts on a wide variety of topics, including education/outreach, fish and wildlife laws, patrol procedures and environmental enforcement. Cadets are tested each week and put through practical scenarios that reflect what they’ll encounter in the field. During the field training portion of their preparation, cadets work throughout the state with experienced officers before they head for the permanent stations.
Each of the graduates was chosen from among hundreds of applicants and underwent rigorous examinations, psychological profiles and background checks before beginning at the Academy.
There currently are about 20 vacant conservation officer field stations in Minnesota, which means the number of field officers is similar now to what it was five decades ago.
Hello GLA Members, yesterday we heard back from Sharon Natzel, President of Hubbard County Coalition of Lake Associations (HC COLA) that the second Zebra Mussel Veliger (ZMV) test we did this year ( July 2020) showed the presence of 2 veligers. Bummer. I am sure we are all disappointed as we have gone for the last 3 samples without finding one. As you may recall, we take these water samples at 3 points around Lake Garfield two times a year, June and July. We started this ZMV testing in July 2017, before we were a lake association. As of today, we have still not seen the presence of any adult zebra mussels.
I guess one take away from this is the importance of being diligent in monitoring access to our lake and the importance of the Clean-Drain-Dispose efforts to keep the AIS from spreading.
1. CLEAN all visible aquatic plants from your watercraft, trailers, and water-related equipment before leaving any water access or shore land.
2. DRAIN water-related equipment (boat, ballast tanks, portable bait containers, motor) and drain bilge, live well and baitwell by removing drain plugs before leaving a water access or shoreline property. Keep drain plugs out and water-draining devices open while transporting watercraft.
3. DISPOSE of unwanted bait, including minnows, leeches, and worms, in the trash. It is illegal to release bait into a waterbody or release aquatic animals from one waterbody to another. If you want to keep your bait, you must refill the bait container with bottled or tap water.
If you are interested, click here the actual RMB Lab report that shows the presence of these 2 veligers. It is no big deal but I thought one of our members might be interested in seeing what it says.
As it shows in our GLA By Laws, the mission of the GLA is to “protect and enhance the quality of the lake”. We will continue to work with those who can help us do that for Garfield. If you have any questions regarding this please contact any of the Board members using their emails shown on the GLA website: https://garfieldlakeassociation.com/
Thank you for being a member and supporting Garfield Lake.
In the following link you will find the minutes of our GLA Board meeting from last Wednesday, July 22, 2020 which has been posted to our website.
We encourage you to take a moment and go through it and take a look at the rest of our website while you are there.
Our July’s GLA Board meeting covered the following areas: current GLA membership ; status of Zebra Mussel Sampling ; water testing and water quality; how can we use our GLA website to communicate better with our members ; sunfish catch reduction status ; status of CO assigned to Garfield ; AIS monitoring budget reduction for 2021 via a most likely reduction in state funding ; loon nest pulled out for this year ( check out the great story and an outline by Mark describing loon habits https://garfieldlakeassociation.com/category/loons/) ; possible windsocks using GLA logo.
We are also looking for stories and ideas from our members to be published on the web site. If you have something you think others would like to hear about the lake and or thoughts about the lake please send it to us or post your idea in the web sites COMMENT section.
In the following link you will find the minutes of our GLA Board meeting from last Wednesday, June 24, which has been posted to our website. I encourage you to take a moment and go thru it and take a look at our website while you are there. Along with news of the AIS monitoring and the good news we heard last week ,there were no Zebra Mussel Villagers found in our June testing! We also covered who and how many zebra mussel sampling tubes are out ; the DNR Sunfish Project ; the status of assigning a Conservation Officer by the DNR in the fall ; loon nesting pairs on the lake and thoughts about the 2 nests we had out ; COLA’s request for budgeting AIS inspection hours for 2021 and interest in the Garfield Lake Association website.
The GLA web site was put together by one of our members, Bill Karsten and is really cool. Along with a place to keep the “Organizational Plans” of our Lake Association it has updates on events going on around the lake and great photos of wildlife and nature. We are hoping that our membership will use it and as they do, learn to add comments and or other photos they would like to share. If you have not already done so, please go take a look and leave a comment and or a thought. The link is: https://garfieldlakeassociation.com/
One final Garfield Lake event coming up next week is the annual July 4th Boat Parade. As in the past, it will be held on Saturday, July 4th at 4:00pm. We start the Boat Parade at the beach and take a circle around the lake waving to those on other boats and who are sitting on their docks waving to us. A simple and fun way to celebrate together , yet doing so at a distance.
Attached you will find the minutes of the May 27, 2020 GLA Board of Directors meeting. A quick summary of what we discussed is shown below:
1. Approval of the 2020 Annual GLA Membership Meeting held May 23, 2020. The feedback we got by using the on line meeting software Zoom was very positive.
5. Status of the 2 Loon Nests put out this spring.
6. GLA involvement in Laporte Days in 2020.
7. Update on a Conservation Officer for 2020.
8. July 4th Boat Parade for 2020.
9. Looking for recipes for different ways to prepare Northern Pike
We thank all of you that were able to attend to Annual Meeting and for those who weren’t, you can go to the web site shown in the Annual Meeting Minutes and see what was discussed.
We wish the best to you and your families as we all go thru the Coronavirus and it’s restrictions on all of us.
The 3rd annual GLA 2020 Membership Meeting was held using Zoom software on May 23, 2020. The presentation for the meeting is included in this following link:
Hi, this is a reminder that the GLA Annual Meeting is next Saturday, May 23rd at 10 AM and will be held using Zoom instead of meeting in person. Zoom is a popular video conferencing platform and you connect using 1) your computer, or 2) your smart phone or 3) just call in and listen (note this is long distance number).
If you are comfortable with using Zoom, then look for the meeting invitation with a link for the meeting on Thursday, May 21st.
If you are not comfortable with using Zoom and want to test it out, this message is for you! On this coming Thursday, May 21st, between 6 pm and 7 pm, we will host a meeting just so you can go through the steps to connect and test things out.
We will have some of the board members on this meeting if you want to visit or ask questions.
Here is the Invitation (in blue):
Garfield Lake Association is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: GLA Pre-Meeting Test for Members Time: May 21, 2020 06:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Meeting ID: 889 3916 2791 Password: 123456 One tap mobile +13017158592,,88939162791#,,1#,123456# US (Germantown) +13126266799,,88939162791#,,1#,123456# US (Chicago)
Dial by your location +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose) Meeting ID: 889 3916 2791 Password: 123456 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdqIkf7u6S
When you click ‘Join Zoom Meeting’ link above it will lead you through the steps to join the meeting, but I have listed below what happens:
If joining by computer:
This is the preferred way to join the meeting, Zoom will use the computer screen to show a live video feed and your speakers for you to listen to the audio. If your computer has a camera and microphone, it can also share live audio and video of you. By default for this meeting, that will be turned off for you. So when you click the link, here is what happens:
1. The link will open your web browser and go to the Zoom.us website.
2. It will prompt you to ‘Open Zoom Meetings?’, click on that button
3. If you have never used Zoom on your computer, it will ask you if you want to download and run Zoom, answer yes. Zoom installs it’s own program on your computer. Then you will see something like this, click ‘Run’ button to install this software. Note, you computer may prompt you to allow the program access to make changes to your computer, allow this. Also, this is a one time thing on your computer, the program will be installed for the next time you use Zoom.
4. Then the Zoom program will open and may prompt you to enter the password, and for this meeting it is 123456:
If joining by smartphone:
If using your smart phone to connect to the meeting you will need to load the Zoom app, it is available for Apple or Android. If joining the meeting from your phone, open this email and click on the link, this will open the Zoom app and connect you to the meeting. I will assume if you use your smartphone for things like this, you will know how to find the app and install it.
If joining by phone or call in:
If you only want to listen in and don’t care to use your computer or smartphone, you can call one of the numbers listed about and enter the Meeting ID and Password when prompted. Please note the numbers are not toll free numbers and if you pay for long distance you will be charged. Most cell phone plans don’t charge for long distance.
Help?
If would like me to ‘attempt’ to help you during this test meeting, I would be glad to try. You can call me on my cell phone number 763.370.2542, I will call you back if I am on the line as soon as I can.
Thanks in advance for taking the time to try to join this test meeting and the annual meeting. We will get back to in-person meetings after our current pandemic is a thing of the past, but will probably still offer Zoom as an alternative option.
The GLA has installed a sign at the city boat landing recognizing the individuals and companies who made very significant donations of labor and materials that made the improvement possible. It needs to be known that the entire project’s cost was donated to the City of Laporte. A rough estimate of the project’s cost would be $15,000 to $20,000.
The boat landing has long been in tough shape due to ice movement in the winter and even more so from the practice of ‘power loading’ of boats on to trailers. This had caused a deep hole to form and rock filled berm at the far end of the hole. There have been many complaints in recent years.
The project was started by Frank Vogeltanz, who offered to one of the GLA board members that he would be willing donate his track hoe and services to rebuild the landing if the city was willing to cover the cost of materials and transport of his track hoe to and from the site. From there, Mark Warisch and Ron Ray lead the project on the behalf of the GLA. They met with the city and the DNR, and developed plans for the project. At some point the Garfield Lake Ice Racer’s Club stated they would like to be involved and would donate the funds for the materials and other costs, as well as getting involved in the planning process. Also, the DNR supplied the 5′ x 12′ cement planks after approving the permit for the improvements.
The actual improvements were made in early August of 2019. The work done and materials supplied included the following:
Frank Vogeltanz, who owns and operates DREC, Inc. supplied his 35 ton track hoe and a week of his labor. He removed the existing cement planks, dredge excess soil, filled in 1.5″ rock, moved and placed 12 of the 5′ x 12′ cement planks into place and removed 12 dump truck loads of excess soil.
GLA members provided support labor for Frank, including Ron Ray, Mark Warisch, Dan Fitch, Greg Mehlhop and Bill Karsten.
Cory Honer, who owns and operates John’s Backhoe supplied 30 yards of the 1.5″ rocks, transported the 5′ x 12′ cement planks from the DNR’s Park Rapids location to the jobsite.
The Garfield Lake Ice Racer’s Club funded the cost of transporting Frank’s track hoe and other material and services cost on behalf of the city. In addition, club Member Tom Lindahl and his grandson Cameron provided some of the labor to transport the cement planks and to cut the asphalt at the landing.
Kari Townsdin, a teacher at the Laporte School designed the ‘Please Check and Clean Your Boat’ sign at the landing.
Minnesota DNR provided the 12 5′ x 12′ cement planks free of cost to the city.
Warren Lochner of Lyle’s Sign donated the ‘Please Check and Clean Your Boat’ signs
Dan & Michelle Irhke, City Sanitary Services of Walker, has donated on a continuing basis the trash can and weekly pickup service.
This amazing group of people have made a huge contribution to the improvement of the City of Laporte’s boat landing and is very much appreciated by all the members of the Garfield Lake Association!
