Notes from the Environment & Ecology Committee

by Ken Regner, Chair

The first meeting of the E & E Committee will be Thursday, June 2, 2005, at 1:30 p.m., at the Regners'. The committee looks forward to a busy and productive season. The committee is strongly supporting the Lakescaping Workshop on Friday, July 15 (See article by Gail Becher) and hopes for a good turnout of lakeshore owners who want to protect TML waters by beautifying their shoreland naturally.

Tom Moore has the Secchi Disk program up and running. The committee will share the lake water clarity readings in the next newsletter.

Spring lake water samples have been collected. Del Hogen and Ken Regner collected them on Sunday, May 15. (There were flakes of snow in the air at the time.) Results of the water analysis will be published later in the summer.

TMLA has received a $5,000 grant from the Initiative Foundation to continue the septic systems survey for lake shore properties on TML. The grant application, prepared by John Alden, follows up all of the good work done by the TMLA Healthy Lakes Program Committee, chaired by Marty McCleery. The survey of systems on the south side of the lake was completed two years ago; we should be able to survey most of the remaining properties along the West and North shores this summer. John Alden will be the project manager for this survey. The committee request that shoreland owners involved in the survey cooperate with the contractor conducting the survey, who will have been hired by TMLA.