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The Starry Stonewort invasive attack on and in Geneva Lake continues.
The Geneva Lake Environmental Agency (GLEA) discussed the dredging of Trinke Estates at last week’s monthly business meeting. On the agenda for possible action included dredging permit updates, and the lack of response from Trinke Estates regarding funding, and funding options for such a dredging effort. The winter season is a good time to get a game plan ready for combatting the Starry Stonewort as it is dormant during the freezing winter. Once the lake thaws and the water warms up, the Starry Stonewort will continue its growth and threaten the lake during another season of invisible growth. The Starry Stonewort was discovered in the fall of 2018 along the bottom of the Trinke Lagoon, and it has continued to grow and threaten the life and longevity of Geneva Lake itself. Attempts to eradicate this species have not been at all successful.  This invasive species is not to be taken lightly, as it has been known to take over and kill lakes in a relativity short time.

Geneva Lake is a beautiful healthy lake, and it needs to be taken care of. Divers have gone in and tried to hand pull the Starry Stonewort.  Also, the clean boat lake initiative has been implemented, with the CD3 boat cleaning machines (that require a much deeper awareness in order to get boaters to use them consistently). The Starry Stonewort management strategy is to contain and control the spread through education and awareness with the clean boat clean lake campaign, along with monitoring lake-wide aquatic plant surveys and frequent assessments. Dredging was discussed back when Starry Stonewort was first found and attacking the invasive species aggressively using it was the plan, but the lack of willingness to accommodate a very large dredging bill won out and other less aggressive options were undertaken.

The threat is still there, Starry Stonewort is still living in the lagoon and dredging is back on the table, because full-scale deep dredging has been found to be the ONLY course of action that gets rid of the voracious invasive plant.  CD3 machines, hand-pulling plants, and other monitoring actions do almost nothing to stop the spread, except possibly slow the progressive growth down for a bit.  According to the Director of the GLEA Jake Schmidt, the GLEA has committed $10,000 to obtain a permit to dredge. The GLEA contracted with Baxter & Woodman Engineering Firm for the permit application process, which subcontracted this out to Integrated Lakes Management (ILM). The permit was submitted to the DNR and personnel there are currently reviewing the application. The GLEA has financially committed $10,000 to the permit process. Should the permit be approved, it is valid for five years and is transferable.

No other plans or commitments have been made at this time. We are still learning and researching this species. The science so far has shown that the more Starry Stonewort is disturbed, the more it spreads. There is no guarantee that dredging will eliminate the plant completely from the lagoon either. Coincidentally, this is being discussed during National Invasive Species Awareness Week. This week’s concentration is organized to bring attention to the impacts, prevention, and management of invasive species. The definition of invasive species is; any living organism from plants to animals, bacteria to fungi, and eggs or seeds from an organism that is not native to the ecosystem to which it causes harm. These species often reproduce quickly, and most of the time have no known predators. Starry Stonewort is just that, and it must be dealt with.

Murals could be coming to downtown Lake Geneva if the Business Improvement District (BID) follows through and receives the appropriate approvals.
Many destinations are adding murals to communities to help draw in more visitors, especially those looking for more cultural or artistic activities. Perhaps the closest example would be the City of Delavan, with its Walldogs Mural Tour. The Walldogs are a group of talented artists from all over the world who travel to locations across the country in order to promote tourism. This group captures the history and culture of every town it visits. This movement began in 1993 when dozens of artists gathered in Iowa to paint several large historic wall advertisements, and that finally led them to Delavan in 2015. They transformed historic downtown Delavan into a work of art, featuring historic memories and circus murals. Some larger examples are located in Madison, Milwaukee, and Green Bay, where the murals make a great background for selfies and pictures. These unique artworks are a huge draw and destination in themselves for tourists to experience and explore. ‘

The BID would like to capture that art-interested crowd and bring its members to Lake Geneva. Many ideas have been presented and are floating around, including using sponsors for each mural, raising the funds, or taking money out of the budget. At this point, some BID members are researching how other communities, such as Kenosha, have established murals and tours. It seems the entire BID committee is on board with bringing artwork and more culture-diverse activities to Lake Geneva, and it seems to feel that murals would be the best way to achieve that goal. It’s going to be an interesting journey to see if the BID succeeds and, hopefully, Lake Geneva will have some wonderful new scenery in the near future.  The very next step might be considering what kind of art might be expressed in the potential applications.

Persons Of The Week

Lexy, Tammy and Drew; just a few of the baristas at InspiredCoffee. Stop in and say hi while supporting a great cause.