Dear Lake Neighbors:
It’s time to get in gear for the summer season!
MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL: It is time to renew your membership for 2017. Benefits you receive for $25 annual fee: year-round monitoring of the health of our lake, invasive species management, walleye stocking, newsletters and information, annual Gilmore meeting and events, and much more. Please join or renew. A strong lake association is a key to maintaining the beauty of Gilmore Lake. There is a membership form attached to this email. If you are not sure whether you have renewed for 2017, please reply to this email, and I will be happy to check and get back to you.
LAKE ASSOCIATION VOLUNTEERS: We are looking for people with the following skills or interests that are willing to help our lake:
Computer skills to help with laying out the newsletter and sending it out. (8 hours, two times per year)
Social skills to invite new members, maintain the membership list, and organize the 4th of July Activities. (1-2 hours per month for membership; 1 day of effort for the July 4th activities)
Sales skills to help sell advertising in our newsletter. This is an easy way to raise money for our association. (4-6 hours once per year)
Nature skills to help monitor EWM, lake levels, oxygen levels, etc. (2-4 hours per month during open water)
Please reply to this email if you are willing and able to help the lake community. None of these jobs requires much time. Remember that “Many hands make light work”!
LAKE CONDITIONS: The Ice-Out on Gilmore was early again this year (March 28th for the main lake and March 30th for Little Gilmore). For the past week, the lake level has been up approximately 1.5 feet over normal. The water is receding and will hopefully be back to normal by the weekend.
BURNING: Remember to get your annual burning permit from Wisconsin DNR and please use caution when having an outdoor fire. Always check before burning: 1-888-WIS-BURN (947-2876) Choose code 66 for Washburn County. Today’s Fire Danger level is “VERY HIGH” and no burning is allowed.
Burning permits can be obtained on the DNR’s website: http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/forestfire/permits.html or at the DNR office in Spooner.
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: CodeRED is an emergency notification service provided to all residents within Washburn County that will notify you of emergency information through phone calls, text messages, and emails. Register at www.co.washburn.wi.us After the water/flooding events of July 2016, you may want to consider enrolling in this service.
BOATING SAFETY: Please remember to use good judgment and follow Wisconsin’s Boating Regulations. http://dnr.wi.gov/files/PDF/pubs/LE/LE0301.pdf
SIGNAGE at Gilmore Drive and Smith Bridge Rd: The Town of Minong has removed signs directing people to cabins at the junctions of County Rd I and local roads. Signs must be in good condition with white background and black letters. The signs that have been removed can be retrieved at the Town Hall on Nancy Lake Road. The Rules are found at this link:
http://www.townofminong.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/20170320_111724-1.pdf
WALLEYE STOCKING: In October, the Lake Association stocked 1,400 extended growth walleye (6” to 7”). Earlier stocking is showing nice results with reports of 10” to 25” fish caught during the summer of 2016 (these are from earlier stocking in 2012 and 2014). Please confidentially report any walleyes caught in Gilmore (date and length) to John Ney who is tracking the success of our stocking efforts jney@vt.edu .
MILFOIL MANAGEMENT: The lake association will be monitoring and treating milfoil again this year. We continue to monitor and manage the situation closely to keep it contained. However, the early ice out of the last two seasons gives a perfect opportunity for Eurasian Water Milfoil to grow in advance of native plants taking hold. We are looking for people interested in learning to identify EWM and help with lake monitoring.
ZEBRA MUSSELS have been found in Big McKenzie Lake in southern Washburn County. Please be sure to clean your boat thoroughly when putting it in or taking it out of the water to avoid spreading invasive species between lakes. Information is available on Washburn County Lakes and Rivers Assoc. website at http://wclra.org/
An Open House about Zebra Mussels will be held May 18 from 4:00pm to 8:00pm with Q & A from 7:00pm to 8:00pm at the Spooner Agricultural Research Station, W6646 Hwy. 70.
There will be another Up North Update in a few weeks informing you about the dates for the Annual Meeting and Gilmore Days Festivities.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any of our board members. Our email addresses can be found on our website at www.GilmoreLakeAssociation.com — Click on “About” — “The Association”