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Ten Mile Lake Declared a Star Lake
Highlights of the Annual Meeting Held August 6, 2011
At the Annual Meeting on August 6, 2011, 170 attending members of TMLA learned that Ten Mile Lake has been declared a Star Lake. In response to a very demanding application prepared by Bob Rydell of the E & E Committee, Kay Cook, a board member of the MN Star Lakes Committee, presented a sign identifying the lake as a Star Lake. The State’s Committee found that our association has a lake management plan both written and acted upon, that we have applied for grants and completed projects, and that we have a large corps of dedicated volunteers. Congratulations to us!
The featured speaker at the meeting was Keri Hull, a Program Assistant for the Water Craft Inspection Unit of DNR. She showed the results of the arrival of invasive species like Asian Water Milfoil and Zebra Mussels in MN lakes and strongly recommended that before launching your boat, if it has been in any other lake, you should inspect it carefully, drain ALL water, rinse the boat with hot (140°+) water, and let it dry for 4-5 days. Also check the anchor line and clean off your fishing equipment. Do not dispose of your bait in the lake. NOTE THAT IT IS NOW ILLEGAL TO TRANSPORT ANY WATER FROM ONE LAKE TO ANOTHER.
A slate of officers and directors was nominated and approved, including President Jay Cline, Vice President Lee Sand, Treasurer Ken Regner, Resident Directors Al Griggs and Ivar Siqveland, and Non-Resident Director Marty McCleery. The Nominating Committee is still seeking a candidate for Secretary.
Do You Remember. . . ?
Dan Eikenberry Remembers . . .
I remember in the fifties going to Lou-El's Supper Club for dinner. My grandfather loved taking us all there. Usually we always ate all our meals at the cabin.
My mother used to tell about taking the laundry to Walker, where a lady there did it for us and we picked it up a few days later.
In the 30s, a farmer came along what is now Hiram Loop with ice for the icebox, fresh milk, and vegetables.
I remember getting friends and going to the Drive-In movie theater, located where Frizzell's Furniture is now. It was fun, but so were the mosquitoes.
[Note: We’d love to see some of YOUR special Ten Mile memories. Please send them to History Committee Member Sue Seyala, at s.seyala@gmail.com.]
From the President's Desk
By Jay Cline, TMLA President
| AS MY FIRST REPORT to my friends and associates
of the Ten Mile Lake Association, I feel that I must humble myself. After
our annual meeting I looked in the mirror and asked myself, did I thank my
mentor, guidance counselor and leader Bruce Carlson for the great job that
he had done and passed on to me as President of this wonderful organization?
Did I bother to say how much he has done for our group, how he always had
the right thing to say, could de-fuse any potential volatile situation and
make our meetings informative and fun? If I missed that in my first address
to our group, here is what I want to say. Bruce, thank you for your years of
service, your wisdom, your leadership and for all you do for our Lake. You
will truly go down in history as one of the great leaders of our group. I
only hope to be half the leader that you have proven to be.
NOW, WHO AM I and what am I doing here? I feel this may be an opportunity to introduce myself to our 600 plus members; some who know me, many of whom don’t. My family moved to Ten Mile in the spring of 1959, when they purchased Happiness Resort on Long’s Bay from Ray and Florence Kraft. In looking back, many of the previous owners never moved far away from there ─ Krafts moved next door to the south, previous owners Ralph and Estrid Brown were next door to the north ─ and I didn’t know why. Now that I live 5 doors down from the resort, I understand. It is Ten Mile Lake. Mom and Dad sold the resort in 1971, but have never left the Lake, My brother David and his wife live on the lake. My wife and I now live on the lake (since 2002). Somehow Ten Mile seems to call us “home”. We all love our lake and enjoy our time on it. MY PROFESSION IS BANKING. I have been a banker for the past 27 years. My wife is a para-professional working with special needs children. We have 6 children between us and many grandchildren that love to come and enjoy the lake. My goal is to continue the good work of the Ten Mile Lake Association and keep its high standards while still allowing us all to enjoy the lake that we love. With a full time job and involvement in many area groups and organizations, I find it is refreshing to have such a great group of board members, committee chairs and members to work with and make my job an easy one. I will look to the group that has served us well in the past to guide us in the future of the Ten Mile Lake Association, as my belief is that “if it is not broke, don’t fix it”. I WILL LOOK FORWARD to the honor of being the Ten Mile Lake Association president as my father Wes Cline was back in the early 1960’s. Even though times have changed, our lake and our love for it have not. Stay tuned for future reports.
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At the TMLA September Board Meeting, new president Jay Cline presents a
plaque to outgoing president Bruce Carlson, honoring his work for the
Association as president. |
In Memoriam: James W. Schwartzby Tom Cox |
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| IT WAS ABOUT 1952 when Jim Schwartz, his wife,
Toni, and their son Mike (son Jeff was not yet born) first visited Ten Mile
as guests for ten days at the Ed Robinson cabin on the south shore. When, a
few years later, they had an opportunity to buy on the north shore’s Hiram
Loop Road, they jumped at the chance. Having hired local carpenter Gus
Holmberg to build for them the previous winter, the Schwartz family took
possession of their new cabin in the summer of 1960, and would spend much of
the summer on the lake for the next twenty years.
IN 1979, WHEN JIM RETIRED from a distinguished career in Journalism, he was able to turn his long-standing love of the environment into a kind of “second career” as a steward of Ten Mile. Now able to spend from mid-April to mid-October at the lake, he became more and more involved in lake ecology issues and in Ten Mile Lake Association affairs. FISHING HAD BEEN THE PRINCIPAL INTEREST of the Ten Mile Lake Association since its incorporation in 1952. However, by the mid-seventies, Jim and his Ten Mile neighbor Warren Goss, a General Mills food scientist, had begun a program of scientific lake water sampling and analysis. Their efforts revealed that though the lake was in excellent condition, it was vulnerable to misuse and contamination that, given the pace of post-war development, would in time become an ever greater threat to its health. By the late 1970s, it had become clear to Jim just how important a resource the Ten Mile Lake Association could be in educating property owners to the dangers of pollution and to the means of preventing it. A major problem was that in those early days, the Association was small, and had very few financial resources – barely enough even to publish an occasional newsletter. ALREADY THE EDITOR (and writer of most of the content) of the TMLA Newsletter, Jim had also become a member of both the TMLA Fisheries Committee and Environment and Ecology Committee, and in 1984 began a two-year term as President of the Association. Still, the Association was operating on little more than a shoestring. BY THEN, HAPPILY, JIM had become friends with his Ten Mile neighbors, Lloyd and Mildred Sundin. The Sundins shared Jim’s and Warren’s ecological interests and concerns, and were blessed with the resources to make a difference to the Association if they could be assured that their support would be put to sound use in lake protection and preservation. JIM REALIZED WHAT A MAJOR GIFT might mean for the Association and the lake’s future, but there was one problem. TMLA had been incorporated under Minnesota law since 1952, but was not tax-exempt. Under Jim’s leadership, the Board of Directors sought and the IRS granted 501(c) (3) status to the Association in 1985. Shortly thereafter, the Sundins donated $50,000 to the Association, stipulating that their gift be prudently invested, and that only the income it generated be used for Association purposes for fifteen years, after which, the principal would become available for Association purposes. Thus Jim’s wisdom and diplomacy, along with the Sundins’ generosity, laid a firm financial foundation for the Association. The income from the Sundins’ gift made possible the Association’s growth and substantial environmental accomplishments in ensuing years. JIM SERVED AS CHAIR of the TMLA’s Environment and Ecology Committee for more than 20 years. In that role he authored and won Board approval of the TMLA’s first Long-range Lake Management Plan, which took effect in 1994. In recognition of his interest in and service to the environment, Jim was named to the Citizen’s Advisory Committee to the Cass County Department of Environmental Services. In that role he was involved in developing the county’s long-range plans for land use and water and solid waste management. He was also one of the founders of the Association of Cass County Lakes (ACCL), a group formed to convey citizens’ environ-mental concerns to the County’s Board of Commissioners and to share lake issues information with each other. IN RECOGNI-TION OF HIS SERVICE, in 1998 the Board of Direc-tors established the TMLA’s James W. Schwartz Environmental Protection Fund. Incorporating the principal of the Sundins’ original gift and other subsequent gifts, the Board designated this fund for use in support of research, education, management, emergency response to environmental threats and protection of environmentally fragile areas, all to protect, preserve and enhance Ten Mile Lake and its environs. It was also Jim’s inspiration to establish the position of Watershed Coordinator, so ably filled by John Alden up until his death in 2010. AT THE ASSOCIATION’S ANNUAL MEETING that year, then President Jim Miller announced the Establishment of the Fund. Also at that meeting the Association awarded both Jim Schwartz and the late, Warren Goss Distinguished Service Awards in recognition of their long service as environmental “caretakers” and of their extraordinary contributions to the preservation of the lake’s quality over three decades. That same summer the Board established the James W. Schwartz Distinguished Service Award, which, over the years, it has presented to other Ten Milers for significant contributions to the mission of the Association. HAVING BEEN DEEPLY INVOLVED in lake environment and ecology issues for forty years, by 2002, at 86, Jim began to turn over many of his responsibilities to others in the Association. He was now Co-chair of the E & E Committee, but also still serving on the Fisheries Committee and the Water Level Committee, carrying out water sampling tasks, and contributing articles to the Newsletter. He and Toni were taking weekly Secchi Disk (water clarity) readings at two lake sites. More recently, health issues prevented his active participation, and even his presence at the lake, though he stayed in touch with his Ten Mile friends and leaders by mail, E-mail and telephone. THOUGH IT WAS NOT UNEXPECTED, it was deeply saddening for many of Jim’s friends when on Friday, July 15th, they received from his son, Mike, the eloquent and lovingly expressed news of Jim’s death the previous Tuesday. By the time of his passing, at 95, Jim had given the longest continuous service to Ten Mile of any Ten Miler – some fifty years, all told. On July 31Jim’s son Mike wrote to us: “Just back in Bloomington from Ten Mile where we spent several days with kids and grandchildren. (It was) bittersweet inasmuch as a cornucopia of wonderful memories and moments with Dad and Mom flow from the cabin and Ten Mile (from) over the past 50 years. As several very kind neighbors have noted, it's hard to imagine the place without Jim. Yet the reassuring thing is that life, the creation and the blessings go on...and on. Looking at the clear, still, moonless sky of stars and galaxies across the mirror surface of black water, you know that is true.”
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Jim Schwartz with great-granddaughter Natalie Kristine Schwartz, then 4.
Jim Schwartz on Ten Mile Lake.
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Results of Ten Mile Lake
Association's Visioning Workshop
Held at Union Congregational Church, Hackensack, MN, September 10, 2011
by Marty McCleary and Tom Cox
Fifty-four TMLA members attended the September Visioning Session to help TMLA plan for the future.
Our Visioning is part of a program sponsored by the Minnesota Initiative Foundation and Cass County Environmental Services to help our Association identify goals, objectives and strategies for the current and next TMLA Lake Management Plans. (See our current Lake Management Plan, which the Association has updated every 3 years since 2002, located on the TMLA web site at: http://www.tenmilelake.org/committees/healthylakes.htm).
John Sumption, recently retired Director of the Cass County Environmental Services Department, helped plan and facilitate the workshop.
Participants gathered in the Friendship Hall in Union Church, Hackensack, at 9:00 A.M. After settling in, John Sumption led us skillfully through the visioning process.
First, the entire group identified what it consi-dered the three most critical focus areas out of eight possible. Those three were:
- Aquatic Evasive Species (AIS)
- Water Quality; and
- Land Use and Zoning.
Then the group divided into seven small focus groups according to participants’ interests. The process for each group:
 | identify goals |
| identify objectives that can be pursued within a maximum three year time frame |
| identify obstacles |
| identify resources and strategies to overcome obstacles and accomplish the objectives |
| establish a specific time frame within which to accomplish the objectives, and |
| identify who will pursue the objectives. |
Volunteers facilitated each of the focus group sessions, and focus group spokespersons shared the results of their respective group’s discussions during the final half-hour.
Healthy Lakes Committee members provided coffee and cookies, and were surprised when participants became so absorbed in their discussions that no one broke for refreshments. Committee members had to deliver coffee and cookies to the tables during the two-hour exercise!
The Healthy Lakes Committee will post the focus group notes on the TMLA Web Site. Meanwhile, on September 17, Chairman Marty McCleery reported on the session to the Board of Directors, which identified five objectives for action to be initiated immediately:
Focus Area/Goal 1. Protect and Improve Water Quality
| Continue to Promote the Shoreline Restoration Program: The E & E Committee will continue current actions and recommend other actions for maintaining and improving TML shoreline, particularly in conjunction with the Cass County Shoreline Restoration Program. |
| Septic System Compliance: The E & E Committee will review, revise and improve current practices to help keep current and new systems working properly to protect public health and lake water quality. |
Focus Area/Goal 2: Prevent Aquatic Invasive Species
| Establish a Membership Committee: This Committee is to recommend and implement strategies for retaining and identifying new members. The Board recognizes that an important line of defense against infestation of Ten Mile is public education, and that the best way we have of informing Ten Milers about the urgency of the issue is through Association communications. Sue Eikenberry and Sarah Swanstrom volunteered to take the lead in this effort. |
| Form an AIS Add Hoc Group: Bob Iversen volunteered to take the lead in an effort to give immediate special attention to the Zebra Mussel issue and to educate Association members on actions to take to prevent lake infestation. |
Focus Area/Goal 3: Monitor Land Use and Zoning
| Track Land Use Developments and Variance Applications: We will continue to keep track of, report on, and educate Board and Association members about ongoing activities of governments and private parties that impact TML water quality and environs. Jim Miller and Al Griggs are our County contacts at present. Jim Reents has volunteered to develop a concise summary of steps involved in obtaining County permits for building and shoreline alterations on shoreland properties, and to make the summary available on the TMLA Web Site. |
We always need and welcome volunteers! If you would be interested in working on any of these goals, please contact TMLA President, Jay Cline, or Healthy Lakes Committee Chair Marty McCleery who can put you in touch with the appropriate working group.
Finally, it is worth noting that by virtue of our participation in the Visioning exercise sponsored by the Initiative Foundation’s Healthy Lakes Partnership program, TMLA has received $2,400 from the Foundation, and is now eligible for an additional $5,000 Foundation grant to help implement the objectives identified in September’s Visioning exercise. For information about the Initiative Foundation, go to http://www.greaterminnesota.net/.
Fishing Chatter
by Bob Horn, Chair, Fisheries Committee
The TMLA Fisheries Committee met with two Minnesota DNR specialists in late August this year. Peter Jacobson, is a DNR Fisheries Research Supervisor out of the Park Rapids office and is one of the experts on the study of Ciscos in Minnesota lakes. Scott Gustafson is the acting DNR Supervisor working out of the Walker office.
The DNR was on Ten Mile again this summer using vertical nets to trap the small Ciscos. This is being done for the S.L.I.C.E. program. The purpose of SLICE is to monitor and model Minnesota lake ecosystems for the detection and better understanding of the effects of environmental stressors in order to guide management that sustains fisheries and water resources for future generations. If you want more information on this program, go to the Minnesota DNR Website. Ten Mile was one of the 24 lakes picked throughout the State for this study. Each of the 24 lakes has a Lake Assessment Report at this DNR site.
Peter Jacobson spoke very strongly about how important it is for lakes in Minnesota to protect the "watershed" that surrounds a lake. Ten Mile Lake, he said is lucky to have a small watershed. Therefore the water that comes into the lake is easier to monitor and keep clean. "The more forest land that surrounds a a lake the better," He said that if a watershed area is open land or farmland that is what can cause big problems. Peter said that Ten Mile is mostly surrounded by forests and the runoff into the lake is clean water. It is not just the lake shore owners that need to be diligent about protecting the lake, but as important is the 2nd and 3rd tier owners that need to be aware of what runs off into the lake.
Scott Gustafson, from the Walker Office was at the meeting to update the committee on the health of our TML fishery. Ten Mile will continue to get Walleye fingerlings every odd number year. In late September of this year the DNR will release 2600 pounds. of Walleye fingerlings into Ten Mile.
We also talked about the Northern Pike slot for Ten Mile. The consensus is that the average size of Northern Pike is increasing. Scott said the 24-36" slot will continue for a number of years so that this upward trend in size can continue.
Fishing this summer has been sporadic. Walleyes of all sizes have been caught, with 10-13" size the most common. Crappie fishing has improved from past years and Smallmouth Bass are increasing in good numbers. A 39" Northern Pike was caught in Flowerpot Bay, but don't forget about the Whitefish, found in the deep water. A small minnow in 50+ feet of water can get you a good meal of this prize fighter.
Have you found any Indian Artifacts
On your TML property?
The History Committee is asking TML residents if they have ever discovered any Native American (Indian) Artifacts on their property, in the ice walls, along the shoreline or in the lake. If you have any treasure THAT YOU HAVE FOUND...SUCH AS: arrowheads, pot shards, crafted tools, etc...... please contact Clark Pasley, at clarkepasley@gmail.com
We are hoping to have a display of Indian Artifacts found around TML for next year's Annual Meeting!
Submitted by Kim (Abraham) Moe
Report of the Environment & Ecology Committee
by Bruce Carlson, Chair
BY ALL MEASURES, THE OVERALL STATE of the lake in 2011 has been good. Secchi disk readings, water chemistry and oxygen levels have all been somewhat better than they were in 2010. However it takes decades to discern trends with any degree of accuracy. The E & E Committee continues to closely monitor the condition of the lake at regular intervals.
SWIMMERS’ ITCH IN 2011 has been quite variable. Overall, there seems to have been less of a problem than in the past few years. In some previously affected locations it did not show up in 2011, whereas in others, it appeared for the first time. A 2011 swimmers’ itch map will be posted on the TMLA Website.
WE ARE WAITING FOR THE FINAL REVISION of the report by Cass County on the analysis of our septic system inspections over past years. The content of this report will be influential in determining our future policy regarding septic systems.
2011 WAS A VERY ACTIVE YEAR in shoreline restoration, and restoration efforts have been initiated on over 1,000 feet of Ten Mile shoreline. As a reminder, the cost sharing grant (3:1 match by grant funds) will still be in effect in 2012, so there is still time to join the program. If you would like further information, contact Bruce Carlson (brcarl@umich.edu).
THE E & E COMMITTEE HAS COMPLETED a map in which the condition of the entire Ten Mile shoreline has been documented through an instrument that was developed by the DNR. This will serve as a valuable reference point for comparison with the overall level of development around the lake in future decades.
TO DATE, TEN MILE HAS NOT BEEN INFESTED by any aquatic invasive species. The E & E Committee and the TMLA Board are actively discussing practical means of reducing the chances of invasive species’ entering our lake.
The Honor Roll
From time to time we include in the newsletter an Honor Roll of those Ten Mile Lake residents who have upgraded their septic systems or installed new systems. We honor them because maintaining effective and safe septic systems is one of the most critical components of our ongoing effort to “preserve and improve . . . Ten Mile Lake and its environment.”
Below we list those families who have improved, replaced, or built new septic systems since we last published the Honor Roll.
| Bradford and Brandt |
| James and Nancy Brandt |
| Brandt Family Limited Partnership |
| Jon & Nancy Gangelhoff |
| Pamela Gregory |
| William Johnson |
| Ten Mile Lake Limited Partnership |
We thank these residents for doing their part to protect the health of the lake. If you or someone you know has updated a septic system and not been recognized in the honor roll, please let us know about it.
A PERSONAL REMINISCENCE
THE LURE AND THE STONE
by Bim Brandt
The northern Minnesota lake country is not an exception as an arena in which bizarre things happen with and without the contrivances of man. In the deepest recesses of my memory, I am standing helplessly in the rain on our dock on the west shore of Ten Mile Lake watching incredulously as my father snaps an oar while rowing in shallow water as a consequence of a non-starting seven-and-a-half-horsepower Scott-Atwater motor. He is trying to make headway against storm waves driving his boat to imminent peril on the rocky shore. All the while he is grappling with his fishing pole, the line of which has a Northern Pike on the end.
More recently while I was fishing in Kenfield Bay, an errant cast placed my "Hula Popper" beyond lily pads. In the initial stages of contemplating the bother of getting snagged, an owl swooped down from a nearby tree and picked up the lure. No sooner had I begun to worry about the raptor’s getting hooked and my dragging it across the water, than it dropped the crank bait on the boat side of the lily pads as though directed by higher intellect.
These coincidences are scarcely conceivable and engender sentiments which seldom find resolution in the mind unless alluding to the principles of chance and probability. The remarkable details which follow, nonetheless, are of such astonishing character that they may challenge one's credulity.
By early June of 2010, I had tested the temperature of the lake for swimming, but the sixty-five degree water proved too frigid for outings of any appreciable duration. On this day I could hear distant thunder and thought I had better quickly get in my daily swim before the storm arrived. Habitually and for obvious safety reasons, I hugged the shore line in a lazy breast stroke making a conscious mental effort to enjoy the cool therapy. Exiting Kenfield Bay, I glanced toward the opposite shore and spied a bald eagle perched portentously atop a pine on the spit. About a hundred feet from the bay's mouth, rocks give way to a sand bottom, and approximately a hundred yards further lily pads form a natural turn around point for the swim.
Early during the return, I noticed a shiny object on the sand bottom. Diving down I reached for what I discovered to be a fishing lure consisting of a spoon and treble hook. It was similar to a "Dare Devil" and still had a considerable amount of attached line. Afraid of getting it caught in my swim suit pocket, I opted to pull it behind me on my left side in the deeper water and beyond the extent of my frog kick.
As a long time Ten-Mile-Laker, I have acquired a fascination for almost perfectly round stones shaped by glaciers and ancillary aquatic forces. Using these stones I have built a small retaining wall for a patio and have carefully placed them for visibility on the water front. Swimming back into the bay, I caught sight of what appeared to be a promising so-described stone. Again diving down, I dislodged it from the other rocks. As close as examination could permit while swimming, the stone felt and looked to be almost a perfect sphere a little larger than a softball. I then cradled it close to my body with my right hand and continued swimming with a frog kick and my left arm while grasping the fish line with the lure on the end in my left hand. I had no doubt that I could swim in this extreme manner for the remaining fifty yards to my dock. I had become aware of how cold I was now and that I had been in the water too long. Lightning flashes from the rising storm were reaching over the lake.
Suddenly a vigorous jerk on my left hand and arm brought on an initial annoyance that I had snagged the lure on a rock or weed and that the yank came from the swimming motion of my arm. Rotating to my right and looking left to unsnarl the lure disrupted my swim stroke, lowering my right leg such that on the next thrust of my frog kick I jammed and gashed the big toe on my right foot on the rocks below. This immediate intense pain was simultaneously accompanied by the sensation of the fish line sliding and cutting through my left hand. Instinct rolled my hand and wrist to coil the line, an action answered by the unmistakable short successive tugs of a large fish.
Not wanting the line to break and succumbing to the pull of the fish, I was quickly in water over my head and in a moment of inexplicable indiscretion, I did not drop the stone. I could barely keep my head above water with rapid leg kicks and with each one I was duly reminded of the gash in my right foot. The fish seemed to begin to tire and I could see it thrashing around at the water's surface.
I had slowly turned to make my way back to shallow water when the tension on the fish line increased dramatically, sorely reminding me of the string burn in my left hand, the sting of which had become acutely sharp. In wonder, I looked over my shoulder to see what I presumed to be that ominous bald eagle apparently trying to lift out of the water the fish I had caught. I could for the first time see that it was a Northern Pike, but because of its enormity, the eagle could not entirely lift it out of the lake. I was again yielding to the mounting strain on the line toward deeper water and could no longer keep my head just by kicking. I resorted to a less enervating horizontal position, placing my face in the water and occasionally turning my head for air in a sort of modified side stroke. The waves from the storm winds made this increasingly difficult without at times taking in water through my nose or mouth. It was during one of these intervals when I heard the unequivocal underwater high pitched whine of the motor of a nearby boat. looked for its location and to my utter dismay it was bearing down rapidly on my very position. Regardless if the driver of the boat was trying to hurry off the lake because of the oncoming storm or if he had seen the activity of the eagle trying to catch the fish he would in all likelihood not see my low profile in the water. In spite of my present travail, I was not to be denied an arresting glimpse of a lightning bolt almost over the lake.
I should not have been undaunted by the circumstances by now, but it seemed as though I was stymied in a struggle between a perseverance of extreme vanity and a very rational all-too-easy solution to extricate myself from the dilemma. Whatever the case, instead of the logical which has so far been absent in these events, rather happenstance would continue to predominate the factors determining the outcome.
Befitting my calamity, this summer the no-wake buoys were placed approximately a hundred yards further into the bay than any of the previous summers, according to my observations. The continued pull of the fish and eagle had resulted in my being in close proximity to the western-most buoy. If I could get a little closer, the buoy would perhaps provide a deterrent to the quickly approaching speed boat. At the same time, I noticed the eagle and fish had traveled in a direction on the other side of the buoy that resulted in the fish line coming into contact with the buoy. I could feel the added tension and my losing ability to control it with my left hand and arm. At once the line snapped. Now swimming with a free arm I reached the buoy and using it as a life preserver, hung on in near exhaustion. Behind me sped the boat where I had been floundering seconds before, and I watched the eagle partially flying, and partially swimming, away with my fish.
Although I had lost the fish, the respite was welcoming. I was trembling and began to experience a cramping constriction behind my knees. I feared hypothermia and the lightning now over the lake. I released the buoy and swam still cradling the stone for about fifty yards to my dock where I lay for a minute under the pelting rain.
After limping around for a couple band aids and a hot bowl of soup, I was ready for the next day's swim. On that morrow, I kayaked over to the spit where the eagle had feasted on the fish. I entertained hopes of recovering the lure and perhaps measuring the length of what remained of the Northern Pike. Neither was to be found. I surmised that a raccoon or some other scavenger pulled the fish carcass off into the shrubs and trees with the lure still hooked in it, but if you come by the cabin sometime, I will show you the stone.
THE LOON JOURNAL
ALL ABOUT LOON SURVEYS
By Kim Moe, Chair, Loon Committee
THIS PAST MONTH, someone asked the question: "How do all the loon counts and statistics get collected?"
There are currently 312 "Loon Watchers," volunteering for The MN Department Of Natural Resources. There are 373 lakes being monitored in 32 counties of MN. Wisconsin and Michigan have similar studies going on each summer.
LOON MONITORING FORMS arrive in the mail box of each "Loon Watcher" each April. These forms ask for specific information regarding important "loon events" such as: date of arrival to the lake, number of loon pairs, number of platforms used, number of successful and unsuccessful nests, chicks hatched and chicks that survive, etc. etc.
OVER THE SUMMER, ALL OF OUR TEN MILE LOONS are observed and monitored. We appreciate and need TML residents’ information about loons they frequently see in front of their lake homes. We know that the more eyes watching, the better. Bob and Kim Moe complete the DNR forms for TML each November and mail them back to the DNR-Brainerd office.
Pam Perry (our main speaker at TML Annual meeting 2010) is the MN Loon Watch Coordinator. She and her assistants compile loon statistics each summer, lake by lake and county by county. Information is shared with a partnership of other states and groups such as The Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute. An intensive study is going on about the impact of the Gulf Spill on the loon. Loons are being tracked by satellite transmitters and GPS units. Loon blood samples are being obtained and studied for toxins. Egg viability and reproduction abilities are being noted. Dead loons are being collected and studied.
MINNESOTA HAS ABOUT 12,000 LOONS and their population has remained stable over the last 10 years despite shoreline development, lead poisoning from tackle, and very fast boats on the water. Minnesota has 16 years of data on our loon population to measure from. This will help show the value of long-term monitoring when something comes up, such as the Gulf Oil Spill.
THIS YEAR TEN MILE had only 1 successful nesting pair. The platform on the South side of the Island causeway produced 2 chicks, hatched around May 25th. Only one of these chicks apparently survived. No other platforms were used and no natural nest sites were noted on any other TML shoreline.
THERE ARE NUMEROUS ADULT LOONS on Ten Mile. Enjoy sightings and sounds of this majestic bird. Watch the family of loons from a distance. Never get close as the parents become very upset and use a lot of energy to distract you. Please stay away from them.
LOON MORTALITY STUDY
The DNR is studying the causes of loon mortality. If you find a DEAD LOON on the lake, please do the following:
- Determine if the loon is still in good condition (the fresher the better).
If the loon is starting to rot and decay, bury it. If the loon is still in good
condition, put it in a plastic bag and chill it down on ice or in a freezer as
soon as possible. NOTE the date that you discovered it, the location that you
found it and any observations that you may have noted before it died.
- Call Bob or Kim Moe (547-3975) or the Brainerd Non-game Wildlife Office: 218/828-2228 or 218/833-8728, or send an e-mail to Pam Perry at pamperry@state.mn.us. Leave your name and contact information.
A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
FROM NORTHWOODS DOCK AND SERVICE
We at Northwoods Dock and Service would like to let the members of the Ten Mile Lake Association and all residents of the lake know that we are very aware of the potential spread of Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS).
In the past year we have attended two training sessions put on by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for AIS, one in March of 2011 and the other in August of 2011. For the August session we had our whole crew attend. By the spring of 2012, DNR is going to require every crew member to be tested and certified in the identification of AIS and how to deal with it when it is discovered.
As most of you know, we have been working on the lake for 19 years and have always valued the quality of Ten Mile Lake. Years before it became state law, we were pulling weeds off our trailers and pulling our drain plugs out of our barges, plus rinsing off our equipment weekly. Currently the only infested lake that we work on is Leech Lake, which has Eurasian Water Milfoil and has had it for years. When we pull off Leech Lake we always inspect our trailer and barge before heading down the road.
The threat that I worry about is the dock companies from the Nisswa and Brainerd Lakes area because of the numerous lakes in Crow Wing County that not only have Milfoil but zebra mussels and other AIS. My other concern is the guys that doing docks on the side for part-time income. I know I have not seen a lot of these people at the DNR training sessions. We are very fortunate in Cass County. It does not have very many lakes that are on the DNR infested lakes list. (You can look up the infested lakes in Cass, Crow Wing and all the other counties in the area on the MNDNR web site, under “AIS-Infested Lakes.”)
What we are going to do to stay ahead of the problem is to dedicate one of our barges as an infested water barge and the other barge as a non-infested water barge. A lot of you probably do not know that we are one of the only dock companies with two barges so we can take this step to help prevent the spread of AIS.
On a personal note, my family has had property on TML since 1951. My grandfather, Joe Major, was a past president of TMLA. In addition, my daughter is a graduate student at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, majoring in limnology, which is the study of inland lakes and AIS. So the quality of Ten Mile Lake, as well as all the other lakes in the area, is of high priority to me and my family.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at Northwoods Dock and Service, at 218-675-5175. Thank you.
Rick Hughes, Co-Owner, Northwoods Dock and Service
NAMES IN THE NEWS
DON HOPPE
On July 11, 2011, The Cass County Board of Commissioners presented Don Hoppe with a certificate of appreciation and their congratulations. An article in the Pilot-Independent on July 13, 2011 explained their action.
“The unnamed County employee who was praised for exemplary customer service at the Board’s County Planning Retreat June 24 has been identified. In June, Central Services Tech Support Specialist Don Hoppe helped a Casper, Wyoming resident establish an address for a parcel of land he owns in Cass County. That assistance produced the following e-mail to Hoppe’s supervisor, Tim Richardson. ‘Mr. Hoppe was very responsive and considerate, and I want you to know that you have a great asset. . . [Hoppe] does not represent the typical bureaucracy that I have encountered when dealing with government agencies on other occasions. He is a real person with real concerns and genuine consideration. It is obvious he likes his job and enjoys working with people. That is rare in this day and age….’
We already knew all this about Don, but congratulations anyway!
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