Last night, at the Green Lake Community Council meeting, Gayle Garman from the Friends of Green Lake shared some sad news: the milfoil at Green Lake continues to be a growing problem.
In the late summer and during autumns at Green Lake, the water, especially by the paddle boat rental area, is filled with long, stringy, leafy weeds. Yep, that’s milfoil.
Gayle thanked the participants of two recent milfoil cleanups at the lake, but indicated that more work needs to be done.
Want to help? Come check out a Friends of Green Lake meeting. They are a very friendly – and effective – group of people. Meetings are the fourth Tuesday of every month and are held in the boardroom at The Hearthstone (6720 E. Green Lake Way N).
The next meeting will be on Tuesday, January 26th at 7 p.m. At that meeting, Green Lake monitoring data from 2009 will be reviewed and will be compared to each year since 2005. The data includes the lake’s year-long temperature cycle, water clarity, and nutrient levels, with a special focus on nitrogen and phosphorous.
Looking for another way to help reduce milfoil in Green Lake? Gayle explained that high phosphorous levels in the water feed this weed, and that working to reduce phosphorous runoff will positvely impact the lake. A bill (Senate Bill 6289), currently before the state Senate, will protect lake water quality by reducing phosphorus from lawn fertilizers. If you support this bill, contact your state senator (Green Lake straddles the 36th, 43rd, and 46th Legislative Districts).
Build a movable double containment fence then bring the Hippopotamus's down from the zoo and they will eat all of the milfoil, move the containment fence after the hippo's have cleared an area.
Hippo's are just like underwater cow's. This could be done efficiently if you can keep the city out of the operation.
Build a movable double containment fence then bring the Hippopotamus's down from the zoo and they will eat all of the milfoil, move the containment fence after the hippo's have cleared an area.
Hippo's are just like underwater cow's. This could be done efficiently if you can keep the city out of the operation.