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Lakes association tackling invasive species
Published 06:00 a.m., May 31, 2009
The ongoing fight against invasive species is one of the concerns of the Otter Tail Lakes Property Owners Association that represents close to 870 members on Otter Tail, Deer, Walker, Blanche, Long, and Round lakes, as well as Otter Tail River North.
This topic will be addressed in depth during the association’s annual meeting to be held at Thumper Pond, Ottertail, starting at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 27. The issue also will be addressed during the next association board meeting set for 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 18, at the Ottertail Community Room.
Association President Marlyn Kruschke attended the Minnesota Waters Conference in Rochester. On Thursday, during the May board meeting in Ottertail, he said that protecting lakes and rivers was the central theme at the conference.
“The thought of zebra mussels entering our area lakes is especially disturbing,” Kruschke said. “We have reports of those invasive species sighted in lakes north of Brainerd.”
Board member Ann Hawkinson, one of two association board members who represent the group on the Coalition of Area Lakes Association (COLA), said there’s a need to educate all 870 members of the Otter Tail Lakes Property Owners Association concerning invasive species.
For several months the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has reported that invasive Eurasian water milfoil has been found in several Minnesota lakes. The newly infected lakes are relatively close to the metro area, but the news is a reminder that boaters throughout the state need to take care not to spread the noxious plant.
When boaters leave a milfoil-infected lake, they can sometimes transport bits of the plant to clean lakes, such as those in Otter Tail County. The lakes association has coordinated inspections at area public accesses, in association with the DNR.
Once it establishes itself, the milfoil grows fast, competing with native plants and choking the lakes and rivers. Since it reached Minnesota in the 1980s, milfoil has been found in 197 lakes.
The DNR and groups such as the Otter Tail Lakes Property Owners Association are working hard to educate boaters that, before moving watercraft between lakes, they need to make sure milfoil isn’t
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