Twin Lakes still working to eliminate invasive plant

Water-milfoil affects more than 400 state lakes

By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer

After the Village of Twin Lakes adjourned its Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District Commissioners Meeting last Monday, a resident expressed concern related to eradicating milfoil seaweed from Lakes Mary and Elizabeth.

Gigi Dunbar came to the meeting in regards to the Village’s one-year contract with Navico, a company who maps the lakes for seaweed.

“It is choking up our pier,” Dunbar said, noting it has been an issue for at least five years.

According to the Department of Natural Resource, Eurasian water-milfoil is an emergent, herbaceous aquatic plant that usually extends 3-to-10 feet, but can reach as much as 33-feet in length.

Lakes Mary and Elizabeth span 1,098 total acres.

The aquatic plant affects nearly 400 Wisconsin lakes and thrives in areas affected by various natural and manmade disturbances.

Some of the threats include forming large mats of vegetation on surface of water bodies, therefore, preventing light penetration for native aquatic plants and impending water traffic.

About 3-4 years ago, the Village enlisted the services of outside contractors, who compile a geological diagram of both lakes, sending results to another company that tries to eradicate the problem.

Village Trustee Kevin Fitzgerald said Navico’s services, which will not exceed $1,850, performs a simple procedure.

“While you are on the Lake, it is recording everything…it is our way of mapping the lake to find out where the milfoil is,” Fitzgerald said.

Wisconsin Lake and Pond Resource, LLC uses two different methods, using chemicals in both pellet and liquid form.

The Village’s Lake Protection District approved a contract not to exceed $15,000 in the March quarterly meeting.

However, Dunbar noted the company, at times, has difficulty with mechanical gear and often causes more impediments.

“Every time they go back and forth, eating it up, it is just choking it,” she said.

The problem could be re-assessed, giving the company more piers to survey, after July’s Lake Protection District annual meeting.

Quiet Committee of the Whole Meeting
In the scheduled Committee of the Whole meeting, there were minimal action items, but the COW approved, 5-0, a new alcohol operator’s license for Samantha Benson.

However, at recommendation of Police Chief Adam Grosz, the COW denied an application to Patricia Bradley after a background check revealed several search warrants from two other counties.
The Committee of the Whole appointed the following members to various boards:
• Pat Kail to the Police Commission
• Jennifer Nathan to Ethics Board
• Accepted the resignations of Trey Strey (Board of Review) and Mike Moran (Board of Appeals).


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