Summer 2007 Updates

INVASIVES PROGRAM: BOAT LANDING MONITORS
We have posted our invasives sign at the landing and continued our monitoring program thanks to your donations and a DNR grant. We always need new recruits to help out with our efforts to monitor both the landing and the lake as a whole. If you are interested in monitoring at $7.50/hr., even if for only a few weekends, contact Susan Thorson at Suzanne.Thorson@pacelabs.com .

INVASIVES DETECTION: ADOPT-A-SHORE
We began implementing an Adopt-a-shore Program last summer (2006) but we would like to get more people involved. We will have a coordinator to assign areas near the shore around the lake for people to monitor for Eurasian Milfoil or any other potential invasive. People will inspect their section monthly and report results to the coordinator. We hope to work with Susan Borman, the researcher who has studied all of the lake's plants, to help provide some basic training on plant identification. This is an easy way for you to get more familiar with the lake's ecology. It’s important that we note and record the fact that our lake is invasives free, and even more important that if an invasive does enter the lake, we find it early. Again, please contact Suzanne.Thorson@pacelabs.com if you wish to participate in invasives detection.

STUDIES AND REPORTS
Click on the "reports" link to the left to see the list of reports available about Whitefish Lake! We are working with a number of researchers with the US Geological Survey, the Wisconsin DNR, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and others to develop our comprehensive lake plan. Browse through these reports to get a better feel for the many different ways to understand a lake's ecology, chemistry, and human community. Look for reports from the USGS this coming summer!

SEDIMENT CORE STUDY
Paul Garrison is neearly complete with the analysis of lake bottom sediment. He has used the sediment to reconstruct some of the water quality history of the lake. The results so far indicate that the lake is becoming more productive over time, with more nutrients and more aquatic plants. Stay tuned for more details!

ABOUT WHITEFISH LAKE CONSERVATION ORGANIZATION
WILCO is for people who are concerned about Whitefish Lake. Annual dues to join are $20. Please submit dues and your preferred mail addresses to: WILCO PO Box 232 Gordon, WI 54838.

WILCO is always looking for new people to join our Board of Directors. Please consider joining our board and become a part of this great organization. The board meets once in the spring and once in the fall.

ADDITIONAL REMINDERS AND UPDATES:
Are you concerned about the health of trees on your land around the lake? The ongoing drought around Whitefish Lake is placing many trees under stress. Many of these trees are short-lived in the first place (Jack pine, poplar), and nature's course would have likely renewed our area through fire. The Wisconsin DNR has programs to help landowners asses the health of their woods and develop small-scale management plans for safer and healthier forests. Contact the Gordon Ranger Station at 715-376-2299.

CenturyTel offers DSL now to residents on Whitefish Lake.

WILCO still has children’s size Whitefish Lake blue hooded sweatshirts for sale.

WILCO also has WILCO green hats for sale.