Happy New Year from Garfield Lake!
The recent snow storm has created a big slush problem on the lake preventing ice fisherman from driving on the lake preventing in the Garfield Lake Ice Racer’s canceling their upcoming racing season. At the same time, the Paul Bunyan Trail has never had so much snowmobiler traffic all enjoying stops at ‘The Base’ and ‘The Popple’. This is truly a ‘Minnesota winter”!!
Your lake association board met last Saturday to close out 2019 and plan ahead for 2020. I thought I would update you on our plans and challenges for 2020 as well as look back on numerous accomplishments in 2019.
Looking ahead in 2020:
· We are challenged with maintaining our momentum and leadership within the association. We welcome members interested in joining the board and contributing to our ongoing success. Three board positions are up for election and we only have two incumbents interested at this time. The election will be held during the annual meeting on Saturday, May 23, 2020.
· Mark Warisch and Ron Ray are leading an artificial loon nest project with plans to have at least one nest placed, possibly two, this spring when the ice goes out. We are receiving guidance from another local lake association with this program. They reported that these nests have a dramatic impact on loon chick mortality rates. We will be seeking donations and sponsorships to help fund the program. Custom aluminum nests cost around $800. We will share more information on this project as the year progresses.
· Our area has lacked a DNR Conservation Officer (CO) for a number of years and there are concerns that our lake may be overfished. Charlie Clark has been in contact with the DNR and we anticipated a new CO would be in place as of December 2019. We were notified last week that this position was not filled this year. We are working on a letter to voice our concern to the DNR and encourage them to fill the position as soon as possible. We will share our letter with our local lake associations (Steamboat and Kabekona) and ask them to do likewise.
· We will be holding our annual meeting on Saturday, May 23, 2020 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Laporte. We plan on having an outside speaker, but have not decided on a topic yet.
· We will start the annual dues collection process in April and market to non-members around the lake at the same time.
· We will continue the lake water quality testing and monitoring program as in prior years.
· Mark Warisch will continue his participation in the loon count and monitoring program run by the Hubbard County COLA organization.
· We will continue to partner with the City of Laporte, Lakeport and Hart Lake Townships to enlist their support to continue the annual supplemental funding of the boat launch AIS Inspection program.
· The next board meeting will be held Saturday, April 11, 2020. Members are welcome to attend. The Exact time and location are yet to be determined.
Looking back at 2019:
· Zero Zebra Mussel Veligers (larva) were found in this year’s testing! Additionally, no adult Zebra Mussels have been found yet!! This was very positive news for us. An article in the Park Rapids Enterprise mentioned our lake and suggested our clear waters may be preventing them from taking hold. Let’s hope this is true!
· The boat launch was rebuilt and is a major improvement! GLA members Mark Warisch and Ron Ray initiated and lead this project and formed a partnership with the City of Laporte, Frank Vogeltanz, DREC, Inc., Corey Honer, John’s Backhoe Service, the Garfield Lake Ice Racer’s Club and others to successfully rebuild the boat launch owned by the City of Laporte. All the costs related to this project were donated to the City, at an estimated value of $15-$20K. We are the direct beneficiaries of this effort and have the best boat launch in the county!
· Boat landing AIS Inspections were increased almost 100%! We successfully established a partnership with the local governmental entities to help fund supplemental AIS Inspection hours for 2020. The state/county provides us 268 hours for 2020. Our partnership adds almost 250 additional hours. This is considered our first line defense against the spread of AIS to our lake.
· Successful fundraising programs raise enough to fund 3 years of our contribution to the AIS Inspection funding! Our multiple fundraising programs helped us surpass our original goals in 2019. Your generous support and purchases of this merchandise is very much appreciated. Our programs included 2 t-shirt designs, a hat design, bike donations from Walmart, the 4th of July garage sale and many other efforts.
· Assisted the Laporte Area Take A Kid Fishing program held on our lake! We played a minor role in helping them promote the program to our email list and solicited lake residents to serve as guides. We hope to help support this successful program again in 2020.
In summary, our lake association has had tremendous successes since we formed in May 2017. This is due to some extremely dedicated volunteers who have contributed both time and money to make things happen. We are committed to the ongoing success of the association and enlist our membership to volunteer their time and leadership in 2020 to protect and enhance the quality of the lake.
Thanks,
Bill Karsten
President