Countywide Watercraft Inspection Program – AIS Summary Points
Matthew Downing, Washington Conservation District AIS Program Coordinator, recently completed his annual Countywide Watercraft Inspection Program report for Square Lake, and other Washington County lakes. His excellent presentation can be reviewed in full by clicking the following three links:
Upon reading the report, Angie Hong, East Metro Water Resource Education Program, Washington Conservation District, underscored her enduring love of Square Lake and appreciation for the Square Lake Association & Washington Conservation District partnership, with her following supportive comments:
“Square Lake is a crown jewel in our region. It is wonderful to have a deep, clear lake with consistently excellent water quality so close to the metro, and I think we all agree that it is a high priority to protect Square Lake from invasive species and water pollution.
For me, protecting Square Lake is both personal and professional. Our family spends many summer days at the beach, and I’m out there doing open-water swims as often as possible as well.
It is lucky to have so many partners working together to protect Square Lake!”
Jay Riggs, District Manager, Washington Conservation District, expressed his appreciation for Square Lake Association’s ongoing AIS collaboration, as follows:
“Thank you for the kind words. I forwarded your comments to the WCD Board and look forward to our continued partnerships!
Our ongoing thanks to Matt, Angie, Jay, Mike Isensee, and their Washington Conservation District and Carnelian Marine St Croix Watershed District teams, for their ongoing best efforts to preserve and protect Square Lake from AIS intrusion.
Matt and I have already begun to discuss a series of new AIS program elements for 2022 that will add improved safety protocols to the Square Lake Park boat launch inspection process, which I’ll cover in future Square Root Blog posts.
In the interim, I just received this video link from Jeff Forrester of Minnesota Lakes and Rivers Advocates, with an AIS Management Grant offer from the DNR:
DNR Opens 2022 Aquatic Invasive Species Management Grants - $850 support for lake associations
In Jeff’s words;
“Watch this webinar with DNR AIS Research and Grants Coordinator Jake Walsh to ensure that your grant application has the best possible chance of success. There are some new categories of funding, requirements and options with this year's funding and in this 45-minute webinar everything is clearly explained. The DNR will only be accepting applications for a month, so watch it today.”
The application deadline is 9:00 a.m., Monday, February 21. The application review will not be on a first-come, first-served basis. All on-time and completed applications will be considered for funding. More information has been posted to the AIS Control Grant Program Webpage.
If any of you are interested in exploring this, and other possible AIS grant opportunities for Square Lake, please contact Jim Seidl at: jim.seidl@legalresearch.com.