We are a lake organization working to protect Pipe Lake and North Pipe Lake and their watersheds in northeast Polk County, Wisconsin.
Enjoying Our Lakes Now and into the Future
What’s New?
A Commissioners’ Meeting will be held on Saturday, April 20
All Pipe Lakes residents are invited to attend the Commissioners’ Meeting held by Zoom at 9 am on Saturday, April 20. Notice of the meeting can be found HERE. Minutes from the last meeting can be found HERE.
The April Treasurer’s Report is HERE and the Landing Monitoring and Shoreline Surveys are HERE.
The ZOOM link is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84220875528?pwd=Y2w1MEFRdmNrVThab0RQNHZPVkMrdz09
Meeting ID: 842 2087 5528
Passcode: 192123
INVASIVE AQUATIC PLANTS
THE GOOD NEWS: No sign of Eurasian Milfoil or Curly-leaf Pondweed found in PIpe Lakes in 2023
BUT be on the look out for Milfoil since it is already found in 9 nearby lakes in Polk and Barron counties.
From the 2023 Report on Aquatic Species Survey of Pipe Lakes:
With Eurasian water-milfoil growing in nine other nearby Barron and Polk County Lakes (Sand, Beaver Dam, Kidney, Duck, Horseshoe, Echo, Lower Vermillion, Shallow, and Pike), we encourage the PLPRD to consider continuing landing inspections regularly into the foreseeable future. Early detection of EWM provides the best chance to economically contain the plant once an infestation has occurred. As always, if lake residents or boaters discover a plant they even suspect may be Curly-leaf pondweed or Eurasian water-milfoil, we encourage them to immediately contact us (Matthew Berg, ERS, LLC Research Biologist) at 715-338-7502 saintcroixdfly@gmail.com. Ideally, a fresh specimen, JPG photograph, and GPS coordinates of where the specimen was obtained would aid in the identification and location of any suspect plant(s). However, even a text picture of the plant in question held in hand is often enough to confirm identification. Likewise, we are happy to identify ANY plant a lake resident finds that they may want identified.”
Photos and descriptions of aquatic plants can be found in the 2023 Landing Monitoring and Shoreline Survey attached HERE.
Dick Hollar
A huge “THANKS” to Dick Hollar for his years of dedicated service to the Pipe and North Pipe Lakes Protection and Rehabilitation District! The District wishes to recognize Dick for his decades-long service to improving the quality of our lakes. He has served as leader of the Pipe Lakes Association and was a founder of the Pipe and North Pipe Lakes District. Dick served as the Chair of the District Commission and through the decades, he has been a superb water quality activist and an invaluable contributor to Pipe and North Pipe Lakes. See the resolution HERE.
*The District Commission would like to thank Dan Hollar for volunteering hundreds of hours to build our very extensive database of documents found through the “Lake Management” tab.
Upcoming 2024 Pipe Lake Meeting Dates:
April 20, 2024 – Commissioner’s Meeting to be held by Zoom at 9 am
May 25, 2024 – Commissioner’s Meeting to be held in person at 9 am at Christ Lutheran Church Meeting Room
August 10, 2024 – Commissioner’s Meeting to be held by Zoom at 9 am
August 31, 2024 – Annual Meeting to be held in person at 9 am at Christ Lutheran Church Meeting Room
October 12, 2024 – Commissioner’s Meeting to be held by Zoom at 9 am
Boat Parade 2024
The Boat Parade will take place on Saturday, July 6 (with a raindate on Sunday, July 7)
Picnic 2024
The Annual Picnic will be held on Saturday, August 17, at noon at the County Line Tavern Pavilion
Johnstown Township Meetings and Notices
Information including notices of Town Board Meetings can be found at: https://townofjohnstownpowi.com/
Our Enjoyment is Possible Through Excellence in Our:
Protection Programs
Our protection programs are divided into four areas of concentration – Shoreland, Outer watershed, Invasive species prevention, and Lake and stream monitoring.
Participation
Participation may vary from simple casual interactions, which help build a strong community, to taking on a leadership role. Visit the contact page to learn about opportunities, big and small, to participate.
Activities
We build community through a variety of individual and group activities at Pipe Lakes – each of us choosing our preferences while respecting those of others.
Past Meeting Information:
Commissioners Meeting – January 20, 2024
The Pipe and North Pipe Lakes Protection and Rehabilitation District held a meeting on Saturday, January 20, 2024. Minutes from the meeting are HERE.
Annual Meeting – September 2, 2023
The Pipe and North Pipe Lakes Protection and Rehabilitation District held an Annual Meeting on Saturday, September 2, 2023. Minutes from this meeting are HERE.
The 2023 Boat Parade was a success!
The parade was a success, matching last year’s number of 13 boats in the parade. Congratulations to all who participated! Particularly to the top three winners:
Schultz Family – Mario Brothers, 1st Place Overall
Nelson Family – Eras Tour of Pipe Lake, 2nd Place Overall
Norquist Family – The Mystery Machine, 3rd Place Overall
To see pictures of all participants, please go to our FaceBook Group page.
Learn About the Healthy Lakes Program
A topic discussed at the Pipe & North Pipe Lake Rehabilitation and Protection District Commission meeting was the Healthy Lakes program.
The commission encourages any Pipe Lakes association member who is interested in this program to investigate what is required to take part in the program. It is a very worthwhile project that can benefit everyone. If you are interested in the Healthy Lakes program, please contact Jan Breyer.
Pipe & North Pipe Lake Water Quality Studies
Pipe Lake and North Pipe Lake are two large multi-year DNR grants that concluded on December 31, 2021. One is a Geochemistry Study of both lakes (Click Here) and the other study was about the internal load study of North Pipe Lake. (Click here). Reports for both projects have been submitted.
Based on these two reports and a number of others that preceded them the District Commission is attempting to identify appropriate next steps to ensure we preserve, protect and improve the water quality levels in both lakes
We have asked Steve McComas of Blue Water Science to review our data and reports to date and to offer his thoughts. (Click Here)
For more articles and information about our lakes go to the Lake Management tab on this website.
