This post is the start of a series of articles from our Autumn Newsletter. We will post once a week. If you want to read the entire newsletter, see the newsletter tab above this post. (it is in the 3rd row, left side)
As summer draws to an end and we find ourselves getting ready for the winter season, it’s always nice to look back on the past summer and take stock on how things are going on Long Lake.
In June the Long Lake Area Association Annual meeting was held at the Hubbard Community Center. Our speaker was Wade Massure who is the MN DNR Park Rapids Area Fisheries Supervisor. His speech on the Long Lake fish surveys and stocking program was interesting and informative. You can watch his talk via this link:
https://www.longlakeliving.org/2023/07/6242023-annual-meeting-recap.html
In August our planned professional Aquatic Vegetation Survey was conducted. It was during this survey that Starry Stonewort was discovered. Starry Stonewort is an Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) that grows quickly, spreads easily and, if left unaddressed, often forms dense mats which can crowd out native water plants and interfere with recreational usage of the lake. We are fortunate that this patch of SSW was found during the survey, and we were able to act quickly to chemically treat and hand pull the area this fall. We will need to mitigate its spread and to monitor the lake carefully with more surveys done by both professionals and our volunteers. We also would like to encourage anyone who uses the lake to be on the lookout for any AIS and to work to prevent the spread of AIS to and from our lake. Thankfully the LLAA Foundation has funding available from your donations that allows us to act quickly in cases like this. In addition, we will also continue to supplement watercraft inspection hours at both the north and south accesses.
The Association continues to reach out to our members and keep them up to date with lake happenings. Be sure to check out on this website or on Facebook. We also send out monthly “e-Blasts” covering timely subjects. Members are encouraged to share our emails with family members. If you are a member not receiving the e-blasts, contact us with your email address so we can add you to the list. We value your feedback and if you have any suggestions for topics or want to know more about a lake related subject, let us know and we will try to add them to our list of topics.
Contingent on DNR permits, the LLAA Fisheries committee will be stocking perch and walleye this fall and/or next spring. We also have shoreline advisors who are available to meet and answer any questions you may have regarding shoreline gardening. As you can see, there are many resources available to everyone on the lake, and I would like to encourage people to become even more informed stewards of our beautiful Long Lake.
Have a wonderful winter and we hope to see you on the lake soon!
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