About Clean Lakes
Clean Lakes Associates, LLC is an environmentally conscious company dedicated to providing lakefront property owners in Dane County, Wisconsin with high-quality lake treatment service at an affordable cost. Clean Lakes Associates has coordinated weed treatments for Madison property owners since 1975. Tim Schaefer, president of Clean Lakes Associates, has owned lakeside property in Monona, WI since 1968, has been named Member of the Year by the Yahara Lakes Association, and is a past president of the Mendota-Monona Lake Property Owners Association.
Professional Lake Weed Removal
Clean Lakes Associates works with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Marine Biochemists to effectively remove the plants in a way that is safe for both you and the lake ecosystem. Marine Biochemists is an expert lake management company that has serviced private, government, and commercial accounts throughout the country for over 30 years. Our treatments eliminate invasive exotic species like Eurasian Water Milfoil, which crowds out native plants, clogs the water, and diminishes fish habitat. Other pesky plants that prevent you from enjoying your property, like filamentous algae, are also treated by our lake biologist professionals. We do not treat indigenous plants that are protected by the DNR.May 1, 2011
The 2011 sign up form is available. Additional information on 2011 treatments will be posted soon.
August 1, 2010
The 2010 treatment is being scheduled this week. We are about 30 days behind schedule and truly apologize for the delay. The DNR is doing lake assessments right now and will let us know which areas can be treated and when.
About the Lake Weed Treatment:
There are a number of steps that have to be completed before we are able to treat each year. Here is the process that we are required to follow each year per NR107: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/rsb/code/nr/nr107.pdf:- Negotiate contract with licensed lake biologist (must be licensed in the State of Wisconsin)
- Provide mailing to lake property owners to be able to sign up for the lake weed treatment
- Complete and submit required DNR permits, fees and reports
- Provide Riparian mailing to all adjacent neighbors with copies of DNR permits
- Hold public hearing for persons opposed to the lake weed treatment
These items all have to occur prior to the DNR issuing each year’s permits. The DNR has 15 business days from the date that they determine that all of the above criteria has been met. Once the permit has been issued, the lake biologist is scheduled for the lakes. Unfortunately, we cannot schedule the lake biologist until we have the permits in hand.
Why the Delay in 2010:
We held the hearing on June 16th. Unfortunately, there was an issue with the hearing notice and the DNR indicated that we needed to hold another hearing. The second hearing was held on July 19th. Therefore, the DNR had 15 business days from the 19th to complete our permits. We do expect to receive the completed permits from the DNR this week.What We Are Doing for 2011:
We recently held a meeting with the DNR to find out how we can avoid these delays in the future. We are working together to make sure that this does not happen again. The DNR is very cooperative of our efforts and is in no way responsible for the delays. We have inquired about the effectiveness of a late Summer treatment. The primary weed that is treated in the Madison area lakes is Eurasian Milfoil*. This invasive weed grows all year – including under the ice in the Winter. Treating now will greatly reduce the Eurasian Milfoil and will also help slow the growth this Fall and Winter. In addition, there are discussions going on regarding the effectiveness of an early Spring treatment. We will continue to update the Madison lake property owners on the plans for 2011.Once again, we sincerely apologize the delay this year. We have been serving the Madison area lake property owners for over 30 years and we look forward to our continued years of service.
Regards,
Clean Lakes Associates
*About Eurasion Milfoil:
Unlike many other plants, Eurasian water milfoil does not rely on seed for reproduction. Its seeds germinate poorly under natural conditions. It reproduces vegetatively by fragmentation, allowing it to disperse over long distances. The plant produces fragments after fruiting once or twice during the summer. These shoots may then be carried downstream by water currents or inadvertently picked up by boaters. Milfoil is readily dispersed by boats, motors, trailers, bilges, live wells, or bait buckets, and can stay alive for weeks if kept moist.Once established in an aquatic community, milfoil reproduces from shoot fragments and stolons (runners that creep along the lake bed). As an opportunistic species, Eurasian water milfoil is adapted for rapid growth early in spring. Stolons, lower stems, and roots persist over winter and store the carbohydrates that help milfoil claim the water column early in spring, photosynthesize, divide, and form a dense leaf canopy that shades out native aquatic plants. Its ability to spread rapidly by fragmentation and effectively block out sunlight needed for native plant growth often results in monotypic stands. Monotypic stands of Eurasian milfoil provide only a single habitat, and threaten the integrity of aquatic communities in a number of ways; for example, dense stands disrupt predator-prey relationships by fencing out larger fish, and reducing the number of nutrient-rich native plants available for waterfowl.
Dense stands of Eurasian water milfoil also inhibit recreational uses like swimming, boating, and fishing. Some stands have been dense enough to obstruct industrial and power generation water intakes. The visual impact that greets the lake user on milfoil-dominated lakes is the flat yellow-green of matted vegetation, often prompting the perception that the lake is "infested" or "dead". Cycling of nutrients from sediments to the water column by Eurasian water milfoil may lead to deteriorating water quality and algae blooms of infested lakes.