A poll

A poll has been added to this page.  Please scroll down to find it.  Each month a new poll question will be posted.  The information from these polls could go into the history of Long Lake that is being compiled.   If you have other questions that you would like to see in the coming months, please let us know.

Don't forget to join the history wiki. You can get there through the history portal tab.  If you have a picture of your old boat, post it on the wiki or send it to us.

You might also enjoy this link: http://woodyboats.blogspot.com/2010/11/minnesota-lakes-maritime-museum-part-2.html

Long Lake Resident is Park Rapid's Newest Author

The following story is reprinted with permission from the Park Rapids Enterprise.

LuAnne White

Feisty feline companion prompts book
BY JEAN RUZICKA
jruzicka@parkrapidsenterprise.com

     For years, LuAnne White saw Fred only through windows, the feral feline aloof and independent.
    The “Lothario of the neighborhood” was known to all on Chippewa Loop.
    Considering himself to be “God’s gift to the human population – and female cats,” Fred accepted gifts of food, at a stately distance. But over the span of a decade, a relationship between White and Fred formed. And when he died last summer, after a battle with cancer, White penned a tribute to the “demanding, obnoxious, carefree” critter that captured her imagination and stole her heart.

Website for Tracking Loons

A website was listed in the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer magazine for tracking loons in central Minnesota and Wisconsin.  It tracks loons who were implanted with satellite transmitters in July to follow their movements south this Fall.  They are now in their wintering areas.  Check out the migrations on the site to see where the loons are and the path each loon took:
http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/terrestrial/migratory_birds/loons/migrations.html 
Enjoy the site as you await the return of the loons next Spring!

- This information was sent to LongLakeLiving by Sharon Natzel

The Long Lake History Project has a Christmas Wish.

Holidays are a time when many of us gather with families and share in family traditions.  It is also a perfect opportunity to reminisce about our times at Long Lake.

The Long Lake history project needs your help.  Write those stories down!  Copy them to the history wiki website.  Scan a picture or two and put them up.  Tell me the stories of when you first came to Long Lake.  Remember, even 10 years ago is history.

We need people to join the wiki.  (There are only 2 of us so far.)  You can access the history wiki from the "History Portal" tab at the top of the page.
If posting to the wiki doesn't work for you, send those stories to me.  Use the "contact us" email address at the bottom of this page.

Your input is the best present a historian can receive.
Thank you and Happy Holidays

Tri-County AIS Legislative Summit Rescheduled

Saturday, January 15, 2011 is the new date set for the Tri-County Aquatic Invasive Species Legislative Summit originally scheduled for December 13, 2010. The Summit will begin at 9:30am with an informal reception for all attendees and legislators in the Conference Center at M-State in Detroit Lakes. The Summit begins at 10:00am.

What began as a Becker County initiative quickly has grown to become a multi-county effort as Hubbard and Otter Tail county coalitions of lake associations and environmental groups have joined with the many Becker County government agencies and organizations hosting the Summit.

The Summit brings all of the key agencies, businesses and environmental organizations together with state legislative representatives and senators to focus on the need to prioritize the research, management and prevention of aquatic invasive species in the more than 2,360 lakes in the three-county area. With 800 of these lakes having public access sites just on those lakes, the potential for future contamination could be devastating if containment measures are not enacted immediately.

Update on COLA Lawsuit

A front page article in the Park Rapids Enterprise this week by Sarah Smith covers the most recent developments concerning a lawsuit filed by COLA against Hubbard County and it’s Board of Adjustment.  This is the link to the newspaper’s article:
http://www.parkrapidsenterprise.com/event/article/id/26440/
Long Lake Area Association (Hubbard County), Inc. supports this lawsuit as part of our effort to protect our lake and all Hubbard County lakes.  LLAA(HC)'s support has been documented in various Board Meeting Minutes on our Board Communications page.

December 8th: Ice IN

Bill & Lucy Anderson report that Long Lake froze over as of December 8, 2010. They track our official ice in and ice out dates for us.  They live near the deepest part of Long Lake.  The date will be added to our tracking workbook so that the charts can be updated in the History Section of the Website periodically.

Christmas Party at North Point Lodge

Group picture

Long Lake Area Association held its annual Christmas party at North Point Lodge on December 7th.  It was, as you can see, festively decorated to get everyone in the Christmas spirit.

There were 40 people in attendance.  We had excellent appetizers in a social hour, followed by an excellent dinner. The chicken and pasta dishes (at least at our table) were particularly good.  Not many of us had room for desserts.

Thanks to Nancy Baer, Barb Roberts and Sandy Bjorkman for making all the arrangements.  Good job.  

Joyce & Bill Cowman won the door prize of a handwoven basket by Nancy Baer.  It was filled with wine, cheese and others goodies by Barb Roberts and Sandy Bjorkman.

Bill and Joyce Cowman

Zhateau Zorbaz

A group of about 12 of us braved the winter weather and had a wonderful time at Zorbaz tonight.  Good drinks, good food and great company.  In case no one noticed on the way home,  the sky was clear and the stars were gorgeous.

Hope to see many of you at the Association's Christmas get together at North Point on Tuesday.  

cc

Winter Lake Watch

This last day of November 2010, Christie R. commented on the lake view in their bay.  Quoting her, "We are... enjoying all the winter lake activity. This morning a family of trumpeter swans swam by our shore making incredible sounds."  How interesting it is to watch all the winter wildlife, from trumpeter swans, eagles, and chickadees to deer, fox, and busy little squirrels.  Here in the bay where I live there was no chance of seeing swans swimming because for the first time this winter the whole bay had iced over.

Thanksgiving Day

Three pictures from the north end of the lake by Barb Roberts:  "Ice is about 200 feet out and growing!  The bay is completely frozen over.  Official temp is below zero our thermometer is just above zero now late morning.  It was 8 below for the official low this morning. "

Long Lake Resident Don Singlestad dies: age 92

link to Enterprise Article on Don

The above link is to an article from the Park Rapids Enterprise about Don Singlestad.  Don has been a long time resident on Long Lake living in the Dakota Beach area.

First Signs of Ice

This morning Long Lake was starting to form a skin of ice on the water near the shore.  I went out to take a few pictures.  When I looked at them I saw 2 birds up in the trees on Breezy Point.  So I cropped this picture from the telephoto picture I took.  I didn’t realize that the eagles (or I think they are eagles) were there.  You can see the slight skin of ice forming on the water in the foreground.  In the other picture you can see the steam rising from the warmer lake water.  The temperature in Park Rapids this morning was just below zero.

Eagles by C.C.White

Breezy Point by C.C.White

by C.C.White

LLAA's Fall Newsletter

We have just posted the link to LLAA's 2010 Fall Newsletter on the "Board Communications" page.  It's full of interesting articles and information, so be sure to check it out.

Minnesota Waters (.org)

Long Lake Area Association receives emails from "Minnesota Waters" regularly with their latest newsletters.  A link is posted in the "Quick Links" box on the right for those who are interested in reading their newsletters and other postings.
Below is information about the organization from their website.

Minnesota Waters is a 501.c.3 organization dedicated to our:

Vision
Minnesota Waters envisions an engaged citizenry working to protect and restore Minnesota’s irreplaceable natural assets - our clean and healthy lakes and streams - for current and future generations.

Mission
The mission of Minnesota Waters is to promote responsible stewardship of our water resources by engaging citizens, local and state policymakers, and other partners in the protection and restoration of Minnesota’s lakes and rivers.

Values:
Active, Engaged Citizens. We value the ability of citizens and the organizations they form to play an important part in water resource protection in Minnesota. Citizen groups that are actively engaged with these resources are perfectly positioned to lead the charge for lake and river protection for generations to come.

Locally-Led Stream and Lake Conservation. We value the ability of Minnesota's citizens to raise awareness of lake, stream and watershed issues and foster changes in personal and public behavior at the local level.

Data to Information to Action Pathway. We value the collection and use of data about the health of our lakes, streams and watersheds. We believe that citizen monitoring contributes to better understanding of our waters and leads to concrete action steps based on that understanding.

Taking Action for Positive Change. We value the ability of citizens to cause meaningful changes in actions and behaviors at appropriate levels - by property owners, individuals, developers, policymakers, and others.

Long Lake's 2010 Flotilla

Pirate Ship, 7/3/10, flotilla (a)
photo by Nancy Baer

Last summer's flotilla was held on Saturday, July 3rd, but with a new look for the website pending, the event and it's winners, photos, and fun didn't get properly publicized at the time.  We hope you will agree with the old adage, "better late than never."  Though it is four months later, please take time to see the colorful flotilla report on it's own History Wiki page.  It will bring a smile to your face remembering the weekend, the great entries, and the good times.  Jodi Wishart Anderson and all the volunteers did a wonderful job putting it all together and our thanks go out to them.

Pirate Ship, 7/3/10, flotilla (b)
photo by Nancy Baer

For more click on this link:  Flotilla & Dock Event, 2010

FIY:  When you click on  these photos (and most of the other photos on our Long Lake Living website) they will enlarge for a better view.

Got Blaze Orange?

Saturday, November 6th, is Minnesota's deer hunting firearms opener.   The DNR has a wealth of information on their wesite, including everything from licensing and regulations to venison recipes.  Find it all at:  http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/deer/index.html

Main Avenue Ready to Open

Main Avenue in Park Rapids is to be opened to traffic tomorrow, November 5th.  This will be a relief not only to business owners, but shoppers as well.  You may enjoy checking out the Park Rapids Downtown Business Association's website by using this link:  "Positively Park Rapids!" and their webcam page at this link: Downtown Park Rapids Webcam.

LLAA Participates in Adopt-A-Highway Program

On Saturday afternoon, Oct 16, 2010, LLAA cleaned the 7-mile stretch of County 20 that borders the East side of Long Lake as part of the Adopt-A-Highway Hubbard County program.  At this inaugural event, over 20 individuals turned out to help clean the road ditches.  Who could have believed that cleaning up road ditches was so much fun!  A passerby even stopped to give the team a special Thank You!  This will become an Annual Spring and Fall event designed to keep trash from our wonderful Long Lake and the fields, forests, and home yards surrounding it.

North end of the Adopt-A-Highway Program on County 20.

Special thanks go to ALL the TERRIFIC Volunteers who answered the calls in email and the Enterprise for hands, feet, and heart with the Adopt-A-Highway for County 20 and to the following individuals:  Lois & Fred Madsen for providing the "staging area" for the volunteers plus the fabulous pot luck picnic at their home following the cleanup, Bill Cowman who organized the 7-mile County 20 route into flexible sections for teams of volunteers, Jeff Bjorkman who provided the red "dump" truck and took all the trash to the Transfer Station before closing time, and Sharon Natzel for the refreshments at the starting point.
Report by Sharon Natzel

Photos by Sharon Natzel and Lois Madsen

Bill explaining the Adopt-A-Highway safety guidelines and the route.

Bending at the waist; getting exercise doing road cleanup.

Jeff & John. Can we get it all in and still get the cover down?

Halfway through the cleaning route.

South end of the Adopt-A-Highway Program on County 20.

Long Lake Zorbaz Night

The next Long Lake Zorbaz Night is Saturday, November 6th, at 6 pm.

Message about webcam

Welcome to the new look of Long Lake Association's web site.  Please let us know what you think of the improvements and be patient while we continue to make changes.

We have already gotten feedback from a couple of users about our "new website" concerning the webcam.  The webcam was a popular feature on the old site, but as you probably already know, it's been broken for some time.  The association is no longer going to finance and maintain a webcam, however, we are hoping someone on the lake (or maybe more than one) will host a webccam independently or has one now and will allow us to link to it.
--------------------------------------------------
UPDATE/NOTICE (November, 2011) _ There are webcam links on right the sidebar.  As of this update there are two links.  We had hoped to add a third in October that would focus on the lake through the winter months as was discussed at the 2011 Annual Meeting, however, due to technical problems that camera is not available.  However, the "Long Lake Purple Martin Colony" camera is working well to view lake and weather conditions here.

Welcome to Beautiful Long Lake...

A note from LLAA's President :

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Long Lake Area Association and our association members, I would like to welcome you to our website.  As you will see from the materials and information offered here, Long Lake is a beautiful, entertaining and rewarding place to visit or live.  Should you have any questions or want more information, please feel free to contact any of the Officers or Directors by e-mail or telephone.

WHO WE ARE

The Long Lake Area Association has been in existence since July 27, 1975.  There are over 200 residential and almost 400 seasonal parcels on the lake, plus 6 resorts.  Long Lake is in Hubbard County, just 4 miles east of Park Rapids, Minnesota.  The area around the lake is divided into 6 neighborhoods; each with elected representatives to the Association Board of Directors.  The Board works with the owners of property and other interested parties to achieve the goals of the Association.

MISSION OF LONG LAKE AREA ASSOCIATION

To improve the quality of life within our lake community, including the environment, through education and communication.

PURPOSE OF THE WEBSITE

To educate and update lake association members and interested parties in the activities of the association and the quality of life around Long Lake, Hubbard County, Minnesota.

John McKinney

President

Long Lake Area Association, Hubbard County, MN