CLAM LAKE PROTECTION AND REHABILITATION DISTRICT
Siren, Wisconsin
MEETING MINUTES
CLAM LAKE PROTECTION AND REHAB DISTRICT
Annual Meeting Minutes for August 25, 2007
Chair Jim Grier called the August 25, 2007 Annual Meeting to order at 10 a.m. at Moose Lodge, Siren. Board members present: Deb Schoepke, John Carlson, Bill Lang and Tom Stoffel; 61 property owners.
SECRETARY REPORT: Annual meeting minutes of August 2006 were read; motion made by Bill Lang to accept minutes; 2nd by John Carlson. Motion carried.
TREASURER REPORT: July 31, 2006 thru July 31, 2007; Audit Report was distributed to all in attendance. Questions were raised as to why interest earned was low, unemployment costs and insurance costs. After Tom explained each situation, a motion made by John Schoepke to accept audit report as printed; 2nd by Doris Knopik. Motion carried.
CHAIR REPORT: Chairman Grier reported lots of weeds on the small lake but they didn’t last too long. We were cutting on the big lake, not realizing we didn’t have a permit from the DNR to cut the big lake. The DNR requested we purchase a GPS unit; after doing so, we received our permit to cut on the big lake except for the area south of a line from Cumberland Point to the south landing. Much discussion was held regarding permit process and requirements for receiving harvesting permit in 2008.
FOREMAN REPORT: Rod Johnson gave a report of where the wild rice has been in the past. This year the rice is very sparse. He is checking around the lake on weed conditions and found very few weeds. The crew started pulling machines out of the lake early and did a lot of preventive maintenance. A question was asked if the weeds that have been cut but didn’t get picked up could be somehow checked for and be picked up at the end of the day. Rod will address this situation.
OLD BUSINESS: None
NEW BUSINESS: Members indicated they would like to have minutes and information about meetings more than once a year. Email was a suggestion; another suggestion was to post the minutes at a location available to all property owners.
Discussion was held regarding the possibility of reviving the Clam Lake Sportsman Club. General consensus was one lake organization was enough.
ELECTION: Election was held for two board member positions. Dwaine Persells nominated Tom Stoffel for secretary/treasurer; 2nd by Tom Knopik. Nomination for John Carlson as board member made by Tom Knopik; 2nd by Sue Nelson. No other nominations were made and white ballot was cast.
FLOOR: Discussion was held regarding our GPS purchased from Spooner Machine. Question has been raised if it is the appropriate GPS for our type of operation. The board feels that we will eventually be able to make it work for us with the help of the DNR at St. Croix Tribal.
BUDGET: Tom brought up we have enough money to pay off our cutter; which has three years remaining on the loan schedule. We will save approximately $1100 in interest by doing this. John Schoepke made a motion to leave it up to the board to make the decision on paying it off. Jim Lang 2nd motion. Motion carried.
Jim Grier suggested applying for a grant to purchase a new elevator to replace the oldest elevator, once the Lake Plan is in place, . Motion made by Dwaine Persells to table the idea until the cutter is paid off. 2nd by Bruce Stafford. Motion carried.
2008 Annual Meeting will be August 23, 2008 at the Moose Lodge on State Road 70, Siren at 10:00 a.m.
This date is different from our usual last Saturday in August meeting date because of Labor Day weekend.
Motion to adjourn made by Jim Lang; 2nd by Dave Clemens. Motion carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Tom Stoffel, Secretary/Treasurer
CLAM LAKE PROTECTION AND REHAB DISTRICT
Annual Meeting Minutes for August 23, 2008
Chair Jim Grier called the August 23, 2008 Annual Meeting to order at 10 a.m. at Moose Lodge, Siren. Board members present: Deb Schoepke, John Carlson, Bill Lang, Tom Stoffel and 67 property owners.
Larry Damman, WI DNR Fisheries, presented the fishery data from past surveys done on Clam Lakes as well as the most current survey. He explained the difference of the growth rate of fish that were part of the past survey as opposed to the latest survey. His numbers based on the latest survey indicate the size of bass and numbers of bass haven’t changed in ten years. The blue gills in Clam Lakes adulthood are commonly eight to ten inches, which are up to two inches larger than other lakes in our area. There was a big change in the “year class” for walleyes in the 2004 survey.
Also in 2004, it was a huge “year class” for crappies. He said they should be about nine inches now. He answered questions regarding the number of bullheads in the lake, the reduction of weeds in relation to the cranberry bog, the wild rice situation, use of commercial spray to control individual land owners weeds, the number of carp in the lake, lamprey in the lake and how the draw down of the lake for the winter effects the lake. In regard to the draw down, he thought it was a good idea for our lake, especially with our wild rice.
SECRETARY/TREASURER/AUDIT REPORTS: Annual meeting minutes/treasurer/audit reports were distributed to all landowners present. Tom asked if there were any questions regarding either the secretary or treasurer’s reports. After questions were answered Jon Schoepke made a motion to accept secretary/treasurer’s reports as printed. Roger Durbahn 2nd motion. Motion carried.
CHAIR REPORT: Chairman Grier reported he had nothing to report.
FOREMAN REPORT: In the absence of Rod Johnson, Bob Gideo reported a couple problems with machines this year. One being an alternator went out on one of the machines and in another case we had a bearing go out on one of the wheels. Fortunately, in both instances, it happened after the first growth of weeds had been cut. He also reported we bought a new truck; this truck is a diesel with an automatic transmission. The new truck works very well by itself to pull machines out, as opposed to in past years, we have had to use two trucks hooked together to remove machines from the lake.
OLD BUSINESS: Tom reported:
Ø a website has been built using Homestead.com. We purchased five pages for content and have links to DNR sites. The website is www.clamlakeprd.com. Email address is tom@clamlakeprd.com;
Ø post pertinent information, minutes, notices of meetings, etc on the bulletin board at the pulbic access on State Road 70;
Ø cutter has been paid off;
Ø board has authorized up to $1500 for the purchase of a computer, printer and necessary software.
NEW BUSINESS: Tom reported in 2009 we would be doing a lake plan required by the DNR. The cost of which will be covered by a grant written by the company that would do the plan on a 75/25 cost sharing basis.
BUDGET: Tom explained our financial position at this time. He indicated that it was possible that we could reduce our levy to the landowners by one third to one half. Question was asked in regard to the purchase of a new elevator as long as we have so much money on hand. Bill Verdick made motion to check on the purchase of a new elevator with a grant. Motion 2nd by Bill Peterson. Motion carried. Statement was made suggesting leaving the budget alone, “nothing wrong with having money in the bank”. More discussion was held in regard to expenses the last two years versus the amount of money on hand—why not reduce the levy? Jon Schoepke made motion to leave budget up to the board. Seconded by Dave Hauan. Motion carried.
ELECTION: Election was held for one board member position. John Miller nominated Keith Larson. Keith withdrew his name. Tom read a note from Mike Hendrickson that he would like to nominate Dave Clements. Mike was not able to attend meeting. Jim Lang nominated Bill Lang. Dave Clements was elected by a 24/18 ballot.
2009 Annual Meeting will be August 29, 2009 at the Moose Lodge on State Road 70, Siren at 10:00 a.m.
Motion made to adjourn and 2nd. Motion carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Tom Stoffel, Secretary/Treasurer.
Upper and Lower Clam Lakes
CLAM LAKE PROTECTION AND REHAB DISTRICT
ANNUAL MEETING MINUTES FOR AUGUST 29, 2009
Chair Jim Grier called the August 29, 2009 Annual Meeting to order at 10 a.m. at the Moose Lodge, Siren. Board members present: Deb Schoepke, Dave Clements, Tom Stoffel and 61 property owners.
SECRETARY/TREASURER/AUDIT REPORTS: Annual meeting minutes/treasurer/audit reports were distributed to all landowners present. Tom asked if there were any questions regarding either the secretary or treasurer's reports. After questions were answered, Mike ? made a motion to accept secretary report as printed; motion 2nd by Mike Moser. Motion carried. Jon Schoepke made motion to accept treasurer's report as printed, 2nd by Bob Gideo. Motion carried.
OLD BUSINESS:
-discussion on carp and wild rice;-discussed Aquatic Management Plan Phases 3 and 4;-continuation of Clean Boat/Clean Water Program at the landings.NEW BUSINESS:
Budget: After discussing our financial position and a possible budget for 2010, John Miller made a motion that budget would be set at 1/2 mil which would turn out to be about $40,000, Bruce Stafford 2nd motion. Motion carried.
Election:
Election was held for two board member positions. Deb Schoepke's term expires and John Grier decided to retire plus position expires. Mike Moser nominated Dave Hauan, Barb Grueschow 2nd motion. Jon Schoepke nominated Bob Gideo, Steve Boyd 2nd motion. Bob Gideo nominated Deb Schoepke and Polly Foss 2nd motion. After no further nominations, Bob Gideo made a motion that nominations be closed, Steve Stafford 2nd motion. Motion carried. After ballots were cast, Dave Hauan was elected to the board and Deb Schoepke was re-elected to board. Tom Bergstrom asked that we acknowledge Jim Grier for his years of service and all acknowledged by a round of applause.
2010 Annual Meeting will be held August 28, 2010 at Moose Lodge, Siren at 10 a.m.
Mike Moser made a motion to adjourn. 2nd by Bob Gideo. Motion carried.
After a short break Dave Blumer of SEH Engineering (SEH) served wild rice soup, salad, dinner rolls and lemonade. Lunch was followed by a Lake Fair with presentations by John Haack, UW-Extension St. Croix Basin Educator; Dave Blumer, SEH Lakes Scientist and Peter David, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, all of which was very informative.
Respectfully submitted,
Tom Stoffel, Secretary/Treasurer
CLAM LAKE PROTECTION AND REHABILITATION DISTRICT
ANNUAL MEETING
August 28, 2010 at Moose Lodge, Siren, WI
Chair Debbie Schoepke called the August 28, 2010 meeting to order at 10 a.m. at the Moose Lodge on State Road 70, Siren. Board members present were: Dave Clements, John Carlson, Dave Hauan and Tom Stoffel, Secretary/Treasurer. Also present were Rod Johnson, (working foreman), Bob Gideo, Dave Goranson and Jon Schoepke, (machine operators), Dave Blumer from SEH Engineering and Tony Havranek, Water Resource Manager, St. Croix Tribal Environmental Services. 73 landowners were also present.
Tony Havranek presented a slide presentation regarding rice monitoring and water quality since 2001. Because of the carp issue, the Tribe decided to “ramp up” the survey work for the rice and the water quality and the fish. To give a little background to the problem, there has been a significant decrease in the rice acreage and aquatic plants with the increase of the carp population. The mapping of the wild rice that was done in 2001 showed 290 acres of dense rice mainly in Lone Star Bay on the Upper Lake. In 2007 the same mapping showed 210 acres and in 2009 the rice in Lone Star Bay was basically gone. In years past the Clam Lakes has been a powerhouse for harvesting rice year after year. We do have wild rice in Clam Lakes and it’s a sizeable amount, the inlet river into the lake on south end of Upper Clam does have wild rice. Tony showed some slides of the scarcity now of wild rice in Upper Clam; he showed different points where they sampled even down into the sediment and there was virtually no rice. Dave Blumer indicated there is rice still in Clam Lakes so hopefully it will rebound; he also stated the rice in Clam Lake is some of the best rice in all of the State of Wisconsin. Tony stated we do want to reseed with Clam Lake seed because of the quality of the rice we currently have. The rice that was used in the exclosures was actually from Long Lake. Tony will collect the seed from the exclosures thereby keeping the rice in our lakes of the same quality.
In 2009 a carp survey was done on Clam Lakes; of 130 carp surveyed, 42% were of the four-year old class. These fish were spawned in 2005 and they returned in 2007 to spawn themselves. On April 5, 2010, with the assistance of a few volunteers from PRD, and the St. Croix Tribe installed three sets of exclosures on Upper Clam Lake. The first location was in Lone Star Bay, the 2nd was in the “south bay” and the third was adjacent to the river. Each set consisted of two approximately 12 x 12 fenced areas; two other approximately 12 x 12 areas marked but unfenced. One of the 12 x 12 fenced areas was planted with wild rice seed and the other fenced area was to protect the wild rice if it grew naturally. One of the 12 x 12 unfenced areas was seeded with wild rice. The other unfenced area was just marked. The purpose of the experiment was to determine if we protected the rice from the carp, if it would grow; if the rice that was there and was unprotected, if it would grow by itself. Tony Havranek showed slide pictures taken in May where rice could be seen just to the surface of the water; in July the results were dramatic the way the rice was growing in the protected exclosures. The net result of the experiment was that the carp were causing the damage to the rice and there was virtually no rice that regenerated itself. At this point Dave Blumer of SEH Engineering stated that as part of Phase II Turion Survey was done in the fall of 2009 for curly leaf pondweed. Because of the scarcity of curly leaf pondweed they decided to add a sampling of wild rice turion. As part of this sampling they went down to 30 centimeters to try and find the turion and there was a non-existent seed bank.
This spring, on May 19 and 20, the St. Croix Tribal Environmental Services, did a carp collection to determine the age of some carp. This was not a good year, they only got 132; last year they got 300 carp; in 2009 they conducted the collection three to four weeks earlier than this year and got the 300 carp. Question was asked how large a five-year carp is and Tony stated it was about 30 inches long. Tony indicated that 99% of the carp collected were five years old and they dominate the carp population. One of the important issues is they don’t see a lot of 3-4 year old carp coming behind the 5 year old carp class. A year old carp is 12-14 inches in length. Carp are 15-20 inches at the end of the first growing season. The key is to get the pan fish population back up because they feed on the carp fry and eggs.
The agencies involved in this study are: WI State DNR, DNR Spooner office, GLIFWC (Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission), Burnett County Land and Water Resources, SEH Engineering, and St. Croix Tribal Environmental Services.
As part of the process, a population estimate of carp has to be established. To do that Tony will be doing some telemetry work this fall to see what is out there; the telemetry work will consist of capturing approximately 10 carp and inserting transmitters in them. This fall they will seine the fish and tag them then come back in the winter and, based on how many of the recaptured fish have been previously tagged, they can estimate how many carp are in the lake.*** see footnote
If anybody has kept a record of fish caught in previous years, Tony would like to know. He would like to know fish caught this year (not what you keep) versus previous years. If you know of anyone with such recording please pass this info on to Tony at St. Croix Tribal Environmental Services.
Question was asked by landowner as to why we can’t get a commercial fisherman and just take the carp out. Tony explained the eventual goal is to find out what we are dealing with and get a sound management plan implemented to deal with the situation. If we go in and take out 75% of the carp population and the blue gill and crappie population is not back, then it could cause another huge vacuum thus an explosion of carp. We want to approach with a “step down” process; in other words take some carp out this year, the next year and do this in two-three years. We need to get a handle on what is out there and go from there.
Question asked by landowner if other communities have done all these studies before they took carp from lake. Tony indicated yes, they have.
Another landowner questioned how long are we going to do this survey before we take carp out of the lake? Are we going to wait five years because of all the damage a carp can do in this amount of time. Tony said no, we will do the telemetry then the recap and we will have our numbers then remove the carp next year.
Landowner question: How come the pan fish population didn’t take care of the carp in the first place? Tony explained that they don’t know but some event took place, whether a low oxygen in lake or affects from other fish that affected the pan fish and their population suffered. Many variables can happen with fish.
Dave Blumer stated in actuality the disappearance of the wild rice is the driving force behind the carp survey and the reduction of the fish population. Dave was hired to come in and do an aquatic management plan. This has turned into being more a carp study. Dave will still be doing the aquatic management plan.
The reason we are doing all these studies is to find out if it is more than just a cyclical event happening. Things are changing, is this first example and more complicated than just a cyclical event. Will these changes continue to happen?
In the fall of 2009 Dave Blumer, of SEH Engineering prepared a survey, PRD sent the survey to land owners/resort guests asking definite questions about Clam Lakes. Dave received 261 surveys back out of approximately 500 surveys mailed, with a large amount of information. Dave will go thru the surveys and come up with results and landowners will get the results when completed.
Prior to the meeting the Secretary/Treasurer Reports were made available to all present at the meeting. Chairman Schoepke asked for questions regarding the Secretary’s Report; having none, a motion was made by Jon Schoepke to accept the report as printed and was 2nd by Bob Gideo. Motion carried. Chairman Schoepke asked for questions regarding the Treasurer’s Report; having none, a motion was made by Jim Grier to accept the Treasurer’s Report as printed and 2nd by Jon Schoepke. Motion carried.
Foreman’s Report: Rod Johnson reported that again this year we had a short year of harvesting because of the lack of weeds. Machines were all running fine; he also reported that when they have been cutting in shallow water close to docks they aren’t seeing many fish like they have in past years. The carp are in the shallow areas tearing up the lake bottom.
Old Business: Dave Hauan, who with his wife Jean, are in charge of the Clean Water-Clean Boats Program; they have asked for volunteers to put in time at the landings; if anyone has volunteered Jean and Dave need to know when and how many hours they worked so PRD can get credit toward the grant for the time worked. The credit goes towards our grant for our lake management plan. They also need your email addresses. If you don’t have email give Dave a phone number and he will call each of you.
Dave Blumer from SEH Engineering reported Phase One and Phase Two were done last year; Phase One and Two were collecting water quality and more water quality, aquatic plant surveys and the user survey land owners received. Phase 3, which includes the shoreline survey and more information regarding the carp and Phase Four, which includes writing a Five Year Aquatic Plant Management Plan. PRD is going to request an extension to the end of the two-year time frame because of the situation with the carp that has arisen. This involves writing a letter.
Carp Exclosures: on April 6, 2010 about 6 PRD members spent about 6-8 hours helping Tony with installing the exclosures.
Question by land owner: he would like to see an expert come in and see what is wrong with the lake and fish and what it would take to fix it as opposed to the wild rice. Why don’t we just spend some of our money to do what it takes to make the fishing better as opposed to just bringing back the wild rice? Tom explained the St. Croix Tribe is responsible for the work being done on the wild rice. Dave Blumer explained that whoever that person would be will still have to get all the permits from the DNR; in order to do the work, that person is to deal with the carp situation is still yet to come somewhere down the line. The carp population affects the plants, and the plants affects the other fish but the wild rice is the driving force right now because it is such a highly protected species that makes the state and the tribe very interested in managing the system and trying to improve this system. These are two of the biggest partners that you need to have on board to be able to move forward in just what we were talking about.
Question by landowner: Who is the lake association contact with the DNR? Tom explained that he is. Two years ago the DNR would not give the PRD a permit to harvest weeds until they updated the lake plan for Clam Lakes. It was at that time SEH was hired to help PRD come up with a new management plan.
Bob Gideo, questioned that if we have so much money maybe we should consider getting a new building as the current building is crowded and falling apart. All the work is done outside and everything sits out. We could probably do the work ourselves. Chair Schoepke said the board will look into constructing its own facility. Jon Schoepke made a motion the board, foreman and possible weed cutters get together and discuss. Jim Grier 2nd motion. Motion carried.
Landowner asked if we could also have a meeting earlier in the summer to find out what is going on with the carp issues. We would still need the annual meeting in August. Information can be done on web site and emails.
Question by landowner: who puts the buoys in and who controls them? Buoys and no wake areas are controlled by the DNR. Weed cutters put the buoys in/out each year. Question: does DNR tell you where to put the buoys? Weed cutters put them on the corners of the river and river access. Rod reported one of the buoys was stolen last year. Jet skis and boats are racing the river. What can be done? Contact the DNR. Paul Marten is our Warden.
Budget: Tom Stoffel: This past year in the minutes, a motion was made to set a mil rate of ½; we operated nicely on that amount this current year. We did need to tap our reserve a small amount. I suggest we do a ½ mil rate again this year. Question was asked if we could do no mils? How many man-hours were worked this summer? Jim Grier made a motion we retain the ½ mil rate. Motion 2nd by Jon Schoepke. 1 opposed. Motion carried. Mil rate will remain at ½ mil.
Elections: Positions up this year are secretary/treasurer and 2 board members. Jim Grier nominated Tom Stoffel, John Carlson and Dave Clements to stay on the board. 2nd by Tom Knopik. Motion carried. Jon Schoepke made a motion to close nomination and Jim, Grier 2nd motion. Motion carried.
August 27, 2011 is date for annual meeting next year. Jim Grier made motion to adjourn. Tom Knopik 2nd motion. Motion carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Tom Stoffel
Secretary/Treasurer
***FOOTNOTE
St. Croix Tribal Environmental Services hired J.R. Commercial Fisheries Company to start the process of evaluating how many carp are in Upper Clam Lake. On October 29/30 and November 4/5 St. Croix Tribal Environmental Services, GLIFWC, DNR, PRD and other volunteers conducted five “pulls”. Each “pull” consisted of putting a 2000-foot net from the shore, out into the lake and back to the shore again. During the process one end of the net is pulled back into the boat working back towards the stationery end. At that point the two ends of the net are choked off forcing all the fish into a “bag” out in the lake. The process is continued by removing all the fish from the “bag”, the game fish returned to the lake, the carp put onto the boats where teams cut one of the pectoral fins off, threw back into the lake and counted. Over the course of the four days and five “pulls”, 1,445 carp were captured, tagged and released back to the lake. Almost all of the carp were between 8 - 25 pounds. On one of the pulls, four sturgeons were included in the process, the largest being 61 inches. They were measured, tagged, chipped and released back to the lake. This January or February, when the ice is conducive to removal, J.R. Commercial Fisheries will return and the process will continue with the carp being removed. The number that will be removed will be based on a sampling of “recaps” in the net.
As part of the on-going process toward carp removal a meeting was held on December 6, 2010 at the St. Croix Tribal Center. Attendees included the St. Croix Environmental group, the WI DNR, GLIFWC, SHE Engineering, Burnett County, University of Minnesota, UW Extension, Dr. Peter Sorenson from the University of Minnesota and Tom Stoffel of the PRD Board.
One of the ideas discussed at this meeting was to fence off the entire south bay of Upper Clam Lake to protect what rice is there from the carp in an effort to help the wild rice to regenerate. Dave Ferris from Burnett County indicated that some concrete work will be done this spring as part of a reconstruction effort on the dam. Consequently the lake may be lower, for a little longer in the early spring. This may make the process of fencing off the south bay a little easier with the lower water level.
Tony with the St. Croix Tribal Environmental team has indicated in 2011 they will be working on rice mapping and density count, carp survey, carp marking, blue gill assessment and blue gill habitat. In 2012 they will continue blue gill assessment, carp assessment, wild rice assessment, possible waterfowl survey and a whole lake plant survey.
CLAM LAKE PROTECTION AND REHABILITATION DISTRICT
ANNUAL MEETING
August 27, 2011 at Moose Lodge, Siren, WI
Chair Debbie Schoepke called the August 27, 2011 Annual Meeting to order at 10 a.m. at the Moose Lodge on State Road 70, Siren. Board members present were: Dave Clements, John Carlson, Dave Hauan and Tom Stoffel, Secretary/Treasurer. Deb introduced machine operators, Bob Gideo, Dave Goranson and Jon Schoepke. Also present was Tony Havranek, St. Croix Tribal and Environmental Services. Sixty land owners were present.
Tony gave a recap of the late fall and winter activities in relation to the carp removal.
***FOOT NOTE FROM AUGUST 28, 2010 ANNUAL MEETING MINUTES.***
St. Croix Tribal Environmental Services hired J.R. Commercial Fisheries Company to start the process of evaluating how many carp are in Upper Clam Lake. On October 29/30 and November 4/5 St. Croix Tribal Environmental Services, GLIFWC, DNR, PRD and other volunteers conducted five “pulls”. Each “pull” consisted of putting a 2000-foot net from the shore, out into the lake and back to the shore again. During the process one end of the net is pulled back into the boat working back towards the stationery end. At that point the two ends of the net are choked off forcing all the fish into a “bag” out in the lake. The process is continued by removing all the fish from the “bag”, the game fish returned to the lake, the carp put onto the boats where teams cut one of the pectoral fins off, threw back into the lake and counted. Over the course of the four days and five “pulls”, 1,445 carp were captured, tagged and released back to the lake. Almost all of the carp were between 8 - 25 pounds.
In late January an attempt was made to removal a large number of carp from the Clam Lakes. Based on telemetry information from the tags of the carp that had been previously tagged, the fish were found to be in Sun Fish Bay. The nets were put in the lake and brought back to the take out hole, the whole process was aborted when the commercial fisherman realized they could not pull the nets out of the lake. He thought the nets had hit an obstruction or possibly even the net was being pulled through the muck on the bottom. He said this has never happened before and he would build a new net to be used the winter of 2012. We only netted 54 fish and 3 were recaps. Tony continued to track the carp until April when most of the batteries in the tagged fish went dead.
Just before the ice went out in April, the commercial fisherman again came over and did another pull on April 12 with 2,344 carp being netted; of those 480 were again marked and returned to the lake. 1,844 carp were removed for a total of 12,880 pounds. 43 of the 2,344 were recaps (previously marked carp). Based on these numbers he figures the carp population is very large. They also did shocking on the southeast shoreline of Upper Clam, they found catfish to be the 2nd most to carp.
In spring and early summer, Tony spent a week and a half on the lakes; at that point they found the carp to be concentrated in Lower Clam in the bay east of the landing and the west shoreline. At that time they shocked and marked an additional 1,300 carp in those areas. Tony stated we have 2,773 marked carp in Clam Lakes. This puts us close to the goal of 5,000 marked carp. We want to come back this fall and mark an additional 2,000 carp so when we come back this winter to capture the carp we could get a good estimate. Tony hopes to have the recaps be in the 5-10 percent of the total carp captured. Tony, DNR, and GLIFWC feel this is going to be an ongoing process with the carp. Tony gave a rough estimate of 250,000 carp in the lakes.
This summer they put "a cut off net" on the south end of Upper Clam. They had to use a really small mesh net so game fish wouldn't get in and die in the net. Shortly after Tony installed the nets they went into the area and used their shocker to see what kind of game fish or carp had been cut off and found very few of either.
The purpose of the net was to exclude the carp from the area to see if any wild rice or aquatic plants would come back and he thought they had. Tony plans on continuing to put the cut off net in the new few summers.
The DNR did some fisheries assessment this year in conjunction with this project. They were doing their shocking runs for the game fish, walleyes, northerns, bluegills and crappies. In relation to the fisheries assessment when we did the carp removal on the southeast side of the lake where the river comes in the species we caught the most of was catfish.
In late spring when the WI DNR had their fyke nets in Clam Lake they did catch a number of adult bluegills in our lakes. Two weeks before the meeting Tony talked with the DNR in regard if they had accessed the spawning this past spring, the DNR indicated it was a good run, they got a lot of "young of the year" fish; now the question is if they survived from spawn until fall and are they able to make it to adulthood. We will be back this fall to do some water assessment to see if the fish make it thru the summer. DNR indicated there has been an increase in the walleye population and the black crappies are doing well. Bluegills are the focus of this study because they're the key to controlling the carp population. The carp spawn and frye are the food of choice for the bluegills. Tony wants to do "tree drops" along the shoreline this winter; this would amount to a recently felled tree being brought in and anchored on your shoreline, with the top of the tree remaining in the shallow water. The purpose of this would be to provide shelter and habitat for young fish. If you want to be involved, a sign up sheet will be in the back of the room.
Waterfowl count on Clam Lakes and Long Lake was conducted this spring; the population count on Long Lake was 20 times that of Clam. Clam is 4 times the size of Long Lake so it gives you an idea of our lack of water fowl.
We still have 4 carp with tracking devices in our lakes. The DNR plane has been flying over once a week to track the carp to see if they go to other areas, the river to spawn and come back but that doesn't seem to be the case.
The game plan is to put tags in 20-25 more carp this summer and constantly tracking the tagged carp. Right now there is no specific plan beyond the winter nettings. Tony is completing a proposed plan for funds with the Fish and Wildlife Commission for 2012-2014. We will take an approach of continually to hammer these carp, removal and to check and see if what we are doing is working. Are we going to see a decrease in the population of the carp and continue to do population estimates for the bluegills to see if habitat restoration is working. In 2014 look back to see what we have done and look for more funding to keep it up. Tony feels we need to do this annually.
At this point Tony took questions from the land owners.
1st question: should we be looking at stocking bluegills? We have a decent number of bluegills in the lake now so our main focus should be on habitat restoration to allow the population to grow on its own.
2nd question: Does the DNR or the St. Croix Chippewa have any control of the dam to control fish from moving up from the St. Croix River up river into the lake? Tony's plan is to tag fish within the system, the river, Clam, Bashaw, etc. to see if they move between water bodies. Something happened in 2005 to cause the imbalance that was not documented. Once this is corrected he feels the sunfish population will again be able to control the carp population.
3rd question: Do we need to worry about Asian carp in Clam Lakes? Tony explained that we have enough barriers to prevent the carp from making it to Clam Lakes.
4th question: How is the carp and wild rice program related: The aquatic plants, decrease population, increase in the carp and the disappearance of the wild rice are all intertwined.
5th question: If we are going to have weeds are their better weeds to have than others? The plan is to first of all get rid of the carp, hopefully have an increase in the native plants that may still be in the lakes, introduce other native plants in the shallows to increase our water quality. When the carp are dislodging the weeds on the bottom of the lake it creates a situation where the light is prevented from penetrating to the bottom of the lake to promote weed growth.
6th question: What eradicated the weeds and why aren't we cutting the weeds? Combination of the carp and water quality.
7th question: What is the DNR doing and are they involved? The DNR has been a very good partner and they have allowed the tribe to take the lead.
8th question: Would it be advantageous not to lower the lake if we have a problem with the water depth for netting in the winter? Yes.
9th question: Does the commercial fisherman utilize the carp that are brought in? Yes, different times of the year they go to different markets.
10th question: Are you planning to put tree drops in both lakes? Yes, contact Tony. Any species of tree will work. You may have to get a DNR permit. Add your name to list in back of room.
11th question:
