Lily Lake Summerhaven Association  Lilly Lake, Wisconsin

Rev. 30-Jun-09

Welcome Message from the President

Jennifer Reed, President, Lily Lake Summerhaven Association, a voluntary organization of Lilly Lake residents whose purposes include community building, Neighborhood Watch, and communication and presentation of issues affecting the community to the proper authorities.

Note: The Association is most grateful to NCast Corporation for the donation of server space and technical support for this Web site.

Special Announcements:

• JULY 4 PARADE CANCELED: We tried to finalize plans for July 4th, but we hit a few road blocks. Several of the service organizations that usually participate needed to change their plans and regretfully backed out of our parade.  We have also heard from so many families who have kids that are going to be in local town parades representing their school and scouts, and each family discussed such a deep sadness in not being able to participate. It made us realize that this parade was really for the kids, and we wanted to make sure that we did something for them at a time when more would actually be able to enjoy it. Therefore, we have made a few changes to the summer schedule.

July 4 - Memorial Ceremony: Remembering Why We Celebrate at 9:30 am at the Monument across from the beach playground
August 15 - Kids Parade and Bake Sale
August 22 - Lakewide garage sale

• Lilly Lake beach water testing. If count is >235, must issue a beach advisory. If count is >1000, must close the beach.
  June 1 - 35 cfu / 100 mls
  June 8 - 4 cfu / 100 mls
  June 15 - 11 cfu / 100 mls
  June 22 - 308 cfu / 100 mls (high reading probably due to runoff and geese. BEACH ADVISORY IN EFFECT!
  June 24 - 33 cfu / 100 mls (Beach Advisory CANCELED)
  June 26 - 33 cfu / 100 mls
  
• Hazardous waste collection: September 12 at Pleasant Prairie Municipal Center, 8600 Green Bay Road.
  Collection runa from 8 AM to 1 PM and are free. Typical wastes include gasoline, insecticides, herbicides, pesticides; oil-based (not water-based) paints, stains, thinners, strippers and solvents; aerosol cleaners, household batteries, fluorescent light bulbs, and moth balls. For questions, call Waste Management (Pheasant Run) at 262-857-7956.
  
• See the agenda for the next Town Board meeting.
• If you think you have gypsy moths, see http://gypsymoth.wi.gov/. A spraying was done along 327th Ave in late May, 2009.
  
• See Other local events for information on events in our area.
If your church or civic group is having a festival, rummage sale, or other public event, please tell Marilyn so that she can put it on the calendar.

Board Members

President	Jennifer Reed cell: 262-492-1624 home land line: 537-4843 alxsmom521@yahoo.com 33239 76th St
First Vice President	Marilyn Magnuski 537-4750 mjmagnuski@netwurx.net 7723 334th Avenue
Second Vice President	Mike Adam 537-2413 mikelly@wi.rr.com 7126 327th Ave
Secretary	Pat Scannell 537-4408 33260 80th St
Treasurer	Jillian Verstrate (unlisted) 7634 Lily Lake Rd Mailing address: P.O. Box 763 New Munster, WI 53152

Block Captains

If you cannot reach your block captain and you want to discuss something urgent, please call one of the Board members.

Highlights of the May 2, 2009 Meeting

The following highlights present the main topics and issues covered during the meeting. The highlights summarize the main ideas and are not meant to be a complete verbatim transcript of the whole meeting.

Block Captain Reports
Area 1 (327th Ave) will be sprayed for gypsy moths. Residents pay part of the cost. A grant pays the rest. The moth situation got so bad that residents contacted the county last fall to become part of the spraying program. You can contract with an arborist to spray individual lots. There are lots of gypsy moths along Cty JI. If the county gets enough calls from residents, they will survey the area for possible spraying. The spray just knocks down the population to manageable levels. It does not eliminate the moths.

Area 6 (334th and Lily Lake Rd) experienced a dog attack on a dog being walked by its owner. The attacking bull mastiff bit the other dog multiple times, knocked over its owner, and bit the owner's hand a couple of times. The case goes to court in mid-May.

We need Block Captains for several areas where there are no Captains. Contact Mike Adam if you're interested.

Weed Study
The lake weed study is completed. A special meeting to discuss the result is scheduled for June 13. The Town will send a mailing before the meeting.

New Regulations
There are new regulations to prevent the spread of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS), a disease that kills game fish. See http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/fish/vhs/. It travels from lake to lake on boats. The rules forbid transport of live fish and bait between lakes. It's in Lake Michigan but not in inland lakes.

Could we put a 55-gal drum of antiseptic near the boat launch? Not necessary. VHS is a cold-water virus. Inland lakes get too warm for it. So as soon as water temperature rises above 65F, the threat will pass for us.

Eurasian Milfoil
Milfoil is very difficult to get rid of. Even a small fragment on a boat or trailer can cause an infestation. Signage near the boat launch should instruct boaters.

Statewide Ban on Phosphorus in Fertilizers
WI now bans phosphorus in fertilizers. Most lawns do not need the extra phosphorus. It washes into the lake and encourages algae to grow. See http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/nrboard/congress/spring_hearings/2007/resolutions/R%20660407.pdf.

Zebra Mussels
Silver Lake has zebra mussels. They filter the plankton, which increases water clarity but decreases the food supply for fish. They usually need hard surfaces to latch onto. Warm water kills them. They do well in Lake Michigan because it's cold. The DNR has no recommendation for dealing with them in inland lakes. For background information, see http://www.great-lakes.net/envt/flora-fauna/invasive/zebra.html#overview.

Water Safety Patrol
The Town has approved a water safety patrol for another year. Deputy Falduto was asked. The Town also approved use of a donated Jet Ski.

Garage Sale
Sue Baldwin cannot run the lakewide garage sale this year. (Thank you, Sue, for running it so many years.) We need a new chairperson for this event. The job entails checking dates for conflicts, arranging for ads, putting up the signs and removing them after the event, and running the associated bake sale (optional). What about moving the sale to August to avoid conflicts with graduations?

New Web Page for Home Sales, Resident Businesses
We will add a page to the web site to list local homes that are for sale and to give information about businesses that our residents are running.

Monument Clutter
Lately, the area in front of the monument has become tacky with advertising. The monument honors fallen soldiers and should be treated respectfully.

Also, no advertising is to be put on the Summerhaven bulletin board without permission.

July 4 Parade
The parade is on July 4 this year. There will be no July 4 decorating contest. Because a lot of places have parades on the 4th, it may be difficult to get units to join ours. We do have the Wheatland Fire Dept.

Boat Ramp Work
The county put new rock near the boat ramp and leveled the lip, which heaves every winter. There is concern about the big rocks possibly being used to damage the fishing pier.

Association Fees and Filings
Is the Association current on fees and paperwork filings with the State? Public records show we're delinquent, even though we have filed paperwork every year. Reed will investigate.

Property Assessments
New Town Chairman Bill Glembocki has contacted the assessor. There will be an open meeting some Saturday to discuss discrepancies in assessment of different properties.

Jerry Dressler has several petitions in circulation. A group is working on Town, county, and state officials to review the tax situation.

Weed Spraying
About 30 homeowners signed up for weed spraying.

How do we know they will spray? We pay lots of money, and then sometimes nothing gets done. The sprayed lake properties are not flagged.

The Town researched the new company. Also, the weed study group recommended this company. The previous company (out of Lake Geneva) changed hands several times over the years. Sometimes we didn't even know whom we were dealing with. When the spraying is done, the DNR and Tom Kaczmarek will be out there with them to ensure that the proper properties are sprayed.

The previous company did not use enough spray and the polymer to make the spray sink to the bottom. Also, it went out only to 100 ft (new company will go out 150 ft). The cost is lower too ($93 per 50 ft of lakefront.) It is recommended not to swim or boat for 24 hours after the spraying to avoid disturbing the weed killer. The third week in May is late for spraying.

Nor du Lac has no interest in participating in the weed spraying, but there are big stretches of private properties that have signed up for spraying this year.

At the end of the season, there will be an assessment of how well the weed killer worked. Weeds are really bad where the underground culvert empties into the lake.

Next Meeting: September 5
The fall meeting is on September 5. At that time, there will be an election for President and Second VP.

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DAN HIRCHERT (USDA WILDLIFE SERVICES): GUIDELINES FOR CANADA GOOSE DAMAGE MANAGEMENT IN WISCONSIN
Dan Hirchert from USDA Wildlife Services presented a slide show about management of goose problems. The USDA gets involved with geese because they, like deer, can damage crops.

Two populations of geese: migrants and residents (Giants)
Migrants pass through our area only for short time when they migrate from Hudson Bay to southern Illinois and back again. They do not breed here.

Residents (Giants) migrate very little (only when everything here freezes). They are very productive, averaging 5 eggs per nest. They live 20 years, are adaptable, don't have many native predators, and weigh up to 15 lbs.

Damage: crops, airplanes, park areas, landscapes, water bodies, attacks on people
Resident geese can produce major crop damage, and they threaten safety near airports. E.g., in 1995, an AWACS plane flew into a flock of geese; the resulting crash killed all 24 military personnel on board.

In urban areas, they can cause property damage, decimate vegetation, contaminate water bodies, and increase erosion. They can make such a mess that people stop using parks. They are also aggressive and will charge children who are holding food or adults who surprise them while they are nesting. During their molting period (late June) when they are unable to fly, they can cause traffic accidents because they walk everywhere, including in roadways. They may create predator-proof nests in high places such as roofs. If they succeed in raising a brood somewhere, they return to the same place, and their young learn to return to the same place.

Abatement: scare away and reduce populations, educate the public
You can manage goose concentrations with various techniques: propane cannons, pyrotechnics, flagging, fencing, and increased hunting. Most of these techniques are not usable in urban areas.

Hunting laws allow high bag limits (usually 5/day) before the migrants arrive. Hunting has helped manage the exploding resident goose population. Sixty to seventy years ago, it was thought that resident geese were extinct. In 1970, the DNR estimated there were 1600 resident geese in the state. Now there are probably 155,000. The breeding population is increasing.

Education is important. People should not feed the geese. Local ordinances can help enforce that idea. If you notice birds starting to congregate, try to disperse them because they act as decoys and attract more birds.

Non-lethal abatement methods include scare devices (like blow-up figures that inflate on a timer), trained dogs, pyrotechnics, repellents, and habitat alteration. If you discourage them in one place, they will go to another nearby area.

They like a smooth transition from water to grass. So anything you can do to break up that transition, like putting a band of rocks along the shoreline, can help discourage them. Fences (plain and electric), string grids, and big plants next to the shore are other methods. For small ponds, stringing fishing line at 20-ft intervals interferes with their ability to land in the water.

Because they are so adaptable, you may have to change your disruption techniques from time to time.

Predators: skunks, raccoons, foxes, coyotes
Skunks, raccoons, foxes, and coyotes normally don't take on an adult goose, but they disrupt nests and will kill juvenile birds for food. One area that had resident foxes stopped having any trouble with geese because the foxes took out all the young birds.

Protected by treaty
Geese are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. You need a federal permit to take eggs or birds.

Population management: reduce breeding, increase mortality
It is our local decision what we'd like to do about the geese. Then we apply for the permit.

Spraying 100% corn oil on the eggs suffocates the baby geese. However, you need a permit to do this, and you need to check for new eggs that the adults might produce. By adding dye to the spray and rechecking the nest, you can see any new unsprayed eggs. If you break the eggs during the adults' fertile period, they'll just produce replacement eggs. They sit on the nests for 28 days. They're fertile for roughly 25 days of that time.

Addling (shaking) the eggs is another option, but you have to shake for a long time, and you need a permit.

Nests are hard to find. Geese love islands (for their protection) and floating bogs. They can nest under bushes and trees. And you may be attacked as you approach the nest.

2-year process to remove geese: test for contaminants, then take birds away
Removing geese takes 2 years. The first year, the USDA collects 7 birds and tests them for PCBs, mercury, lead, and pesticides. The 25 contaminant tests take a long time. The collection takes place near the end of June when the geese are molting and can't fly.

If the birds test clean (so far, only one community has tested high for PCBs), the following year the USDA harvests the agreed-upon number of birds. It is wise to leave a few birds for goose lovers to enjoy so that the community does not become divided between goose lovers and goose haters.

The birds are handled, caged, and euthanized humanely. They are sent to a licensed poultry processor, who turns the meat into gooseburger for food pantries. Smaller birds are donated to animal sanctuaries for food. So far, 1600 geese have been pantried or given to Native Americans for food, and 1800 geese have been used for animal feed.

Effectiveness: manage the big adults to allow other options to work
If you reduce the number of big adults, other less drastic options may suffice to manage the geese in subsequent years. One community hasn't contacted the USDA in 5 years after their first removal. When you have a smaller population of geese, you attract fewer migrants because there are fewer decoys.

Summary of actions
1. Reduce food and habitat.
2. Time your actions: act when the geese are nesting and flightless. That's a roughly 3-week period in June.
3. Solicit neighborhood involvement.
4. Work with law enforcement.
5. Reduce geese to tolerable levels, but don't eliminate all geese.
6. Be proactive. Don't wait until the situation is out of control. If you have a few geese now, you'll have more later.

Costs: $2000 and $2000
Dan has found a lower-cost lab. So tests for contaminants now run $2000 instead of $4000. Next year, it will cost roughly $2000 to remove some birds. There is some grant money that may help defray the cost.

Disturb the nests right now
The geese are already nesting and probably sitting on eggs. This is the time to disturb the nests.

Dan Hirchert can be reached at 1-800-433-0663. He will collect the 7 geese to test for contaminants and apply for a grant. He'll also let Ron Vollmer know when he comes so that Ardie can take pictures for the web site.

Copyright © 2008 Lily Lake Summerhaven Association. All rights reserved.
Lilly Lake (Wisconsin)
Web master: Marilyn Magnuski, 262-537-4750, mjmagnuski@netwurx.net