Chippewa Flowage Invasive Species Education and Management(CFISEM) Steering Committee |
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Minutes
from the meeting of (Minutes
taken by In Attendance: Erik- Introduced himself and began meeting by having everyone introduce themselves. Bruce- Gave the Sawyer County Lakes Forum website; www.sawyercountylakesforum.org Erik- Introduced project and reasons for Steering Committee. Erik- Went over input expected from Steering Committee, and discussed handouts; contact sheet, project timetable, meeting agenda, and input/objectives summary. Written comments on project timetable were asked to be emailed or mailed to Erik by early January. Suggested three meeting for year 1 and two for year 2 and year 3. Next meeting suggested for early February. Opened meeting for discussion on “…management, education, and research being done on the Chippewa Flowage…”. Craig (WIDNR)- Released a small number of beetles at one site on Chippewa Flowage (CF). GLIFWC had released some previously. Original release site has an existing population of beetles, no purple loosestrife, and beetles had expanded to nearby island were 50% of purple loosestrife was gone. Craig- Beetles raised at Craig- DNR hasn’t done a systematic survey for any Eurasian Watermilfoil (EWM). Large beds of native aquatic plants. Found some locations, but EWM was not easy to see. Weevils might be worth looking into. Worthwhile to find out how prevalent these native weevils are in the Chippewa Flowage (CF). Annual drawndown of 5-6 feet helps control EWM. Could be reason why EWM is sometimes only found at about 8 feet. A deeper drawdown might help with control but also has other impacts. Bruce (Sawyer County Lakes Forum)- Working on an education and prevention program w/local fishing, boating, and resort businesses. Trying to produce a placard to be put in all resort rooms, and work with resort owners. April Conference has some similar goals and may look into working with them. Miles (Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission-GLIFWC)- 1997 GIS lab and students spent 2 summers mapping purple loosestrife (PL) on the CF. Created baseline data. Controls tried w/chemicals and beetles. Visited sites w/students and evaluated the effects of project. Beetles expanded into other treatment plots. Miles- Good idea to identify where beetle releases were made, where PL still remains a problem, and where beetles remain. Suggested going to release spots and collecting beetles rather than rearing them. Also, (using a botanist) did a rapid lake assessment for many lakes including the CF. Miles- (Added later in meeting) Working in Bad River watershed and research shows beetles do best on PL in wettest sites. Which is opposite of previous thought. Sites in standing water had more beetle success. Spray and beetles works best, but don’t spray till mid-August once beetles have burrowed. Beetles like young shoots. Miles- Compiling listing of boat landings public
and private that are posted for invasive species and with which signs.
Inventory where signs are needed.
Miles- Regional data collected on invasive species, see where hotspots are. (GLIFWC map provided by David Berard.) Good idea to post landings at lakes around the flowage. Has brochures, ID cards, and display racks. Erik- Will take ID cards, brochures, and display racks for use on LCO reservation. Kristi (LCO Conservation Department)- 2000 EWM maps produced for CF but data is questionable. Had crews for 2 years that sprayed small spots of PL. Reports by fisher people and boaters that there are problems. Not a lot done on the CF. Steve (FS)- Mainly focused on terrestrial invasive
species and some aquatic. Some
PL sites on the Doug (Chairman of CF Area Property Owners Association)- Trying to educate membership on invasive species through quarterly newsletter to membership. Spoke of an infestation of EWM on CF near the resort area. Prevention and education should focus on economic impact. 4-5 DNR, 1-2 LCO landings, but private or resort boat landings are probably more of the problem. Bruce- Float planes could be part of the problem, and talked on success story of Tiger Cat Flowage with EWM. Also talked about cost. Dale ( Erik- CF has been mapped for PL many times but very little has been done with EWM. Presenting methodology for PL and EWM at next meeting. Erik, Deb, & Tracy- Leveraging resources to obtain another boat, interns, volunteers, etc. Trying to efficiently use resources and accomplish the methods. Bruce- Retired people could volunteer their boats for research. Doug- To much time to coordinate. Talk to boat dealers for donating a boat. Miles- Talk to Laura Felda- Marquardt about list of Clean Boats, Clean Waters volunteers. Barb- Volunteer monitors and train them. Local volunteers are a source of prevention and education that can outlast the program. Open up a training. Erik- Our PL research will be done by mainly
volunteers (hopefully) and we are trying to collaborate with the DNR to
train them. We may contact
Diane Trembly at Chuck (Member of CFAPOA and Sawyer County Lakes Forum)- Volunteer boat landing monitoring program misses to many people. Ideas of whole/partial lake quarantine, lock boat landings at certain times, banning live bait. CF now has northern pike, carp, EWM, PL, and who knows what else, all with in 40 years. May have to take tougher action-Put teeth into it. Agrees with more education, but suggests laws with penalties. David (UWEX)- Boat landing volunteer monitoring program creates a better awareness of problem-good educational tool. Discussion- Education will make stronger action more palatable. Should it be illegal to transport aquatic invasive species in WI (it is in MN). Infrastructure to make boat washing easier would be helpful. Pay a quarter to wash boat, thus funding the washing station. Initial funding could be hard to come by. Create information for public on where high pressure hoses are in the local communities. Barb- Education. Issue of consequences. “Who cares if we have all these things?” Educate on the ecological impacts. Connect with their life, ownership, &/or stewardship. Challenge to educate in a way that isn’t alarmist. Bruce- Resort owners tell clients to keep lakes clean. Erik- There is a lot of scientific literature available, but would like to create a brochure that directly connects the problem to the public. Harvesting wild rice, boating, swimming, fishing, duck hunting, bird watching, etc. “Why should we care?” Miles- Marketing- Get Polaris and Honda to distribute information to boating equipment buyers. Improve their PR and gets information to users. Barb- “What color will your child use to color the lakes of the future?” Talk of marketing people to get clear message across. Erik- Next meeting around early Feb. 2005. Mike (NRCS-USDA)- Can cost share on control through grants. Miles- Can offer beetle rearing supplies. At Agriculture Research Station- wading pools, netting, peat, etc. Contact Erik or Miles. Erik- Presented LCO-OCC Water Quality web page on Invasive Species. http://www.lco.edu/public/ext/water/WaterQuality.htm Suggestions on additions to website.
Miles- GLIFWC could create a map service specifically for the CF. GLIFWC site is an attempt to combine all data from different sources in one place. Presented GLIFWC page and Maps. http://www.glifwc.org/epicenter/ Erik- Thanks |
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Next CFISEM Steering Committee meeting is set for February 16th, 2005 from 1-4PM at the Lac Courte Orielles Ojibwe Community College. Topics to be discussed include; project timeline, presentation and discussion of methodology. |