The end of a season is the beginning of the next Fran Rotunno Fish
The Milfoil Team has finished up the work of rolling up and picking up 5 acres of matting that were put down this year. The good news is that the mats remain in good condition and are able to be reused again next year. The work plan for the summer was facilitated by great weather for the Milfoil Team with warm weather and few stormy, windy or rough water days. Their work continues now with getting the boats and equipment cleaned, winterized and any necessary repairs made.
This week we have received a notice of the presence of Hydrilla in the south end of Cayuga Lake. This rapidly growing invasive vegetation is one we absolutely do not want to find its way into Skaneateles Lake. While we continue to have our Invasive Species Monitoring Stewards on duty at the State Boar Launch on weekends for another week or so, our funding does not allow us to continue them 7 days a week or continue them at other launches. Our signs are up at each launch and we hope they will be effective at getting everyone who comes to launch to stop and before launching and sure their watercraft and trailer are clean, drained and dry of all animal and vegetable material and mud. Of course, even better, it would be great if all would learn to take the time to do so before they come to launch.
Many or our readers are beginning to get the exterior of their homes ready for the winter season. It is time to “batten down the hatches”. That is even more important for any of those whose “back yard” is the lake front. We should not be fooled into thinking the low lake level means we do not have to move things off the shore line and secure them from movement back to the shore (or the lake) by wind and rain or wave action. We have already had a “contact us” message this week about a raft that broke away and a request for any help we could give in locating it. It is wise to identify your ownership of any items you leave in the lake (e. g. mooring buoys) or equipment that you leave anywhere that the lake waters or wind could “reclaim” them to the lake. Good neighbors will generally get things back to you, but some identification helps to ensure that. We still have “Alex” as we have named him, a black metal silhouette of a dog on a spike with a spring who bounces around our “beach” and helps keep the geese away. We put him on the “lost and found” section of our website 3 years ago, but no one has claimed him. He does not eat much, does not have to be cleaned up after, and does a pretty good job and we would miss him, but still if someone claims him we are happy to return him.
Please thank the following persons whose additional donations have supported the Milfoil Boat: 9/12/16 Karen & Paul Black (2015 donation), 9/13/16 Greenfield Lane Association (2015 donation), 9/14/16 Deborah & William Delaney (2015 donation), Cate and Sally, Janet & Donald Frank, 9/15/16 Annette & Peter Becker (2015 donation), Mary & Paul Torrisi, William & Barbara Dean, George Ann & Edwin Bock, 9/16/16 Jackie & Steve Miron
Please thank the following persons whose additional donations have supported the Invasive Species Monitoring Stewards: 7/20/16 Deb & Jim Tifft, 7/21/16 Mary & Michal Hearn, 7/22/16 Jeanne & Kenneth Hutton, 7/23/16 Darcy & Douglas Sedgwick, 7/24/16 Susan & James Solomon, 7/25/16 Virginia & Jeffrey Stannard, 7/26/16 – 7/29/16 Donations to the Hardy Fund made by an Anonymous Donor, Kristopher Scholl, Jennifer & Bill Mayo, Ellie & Chet Benoit, Robert J. Congel.
There are a number of additional individuals have made donations this year to support the work of the Milfoil Boat and Team. Those donations will be funding our early operations in 2017. In order to be fiscally responsible we must have those funds on hand in order to contract for the work we will do next year. The donations of these individuals will be specifically noted in our columns in the summer of 2017.
Please join us for 2016 at SkaneatelesLake.org or call 315-685-9106 and we will mail you a 2016 member registration form.
Source: Skaneateles Press