Bass Lake

News & Notes

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There is great news about the success of the DASH (Diver_Assisted Suction Harvesting) operation. The divers went to the first 3 locations that they were hoping to get done in the 2 days and found very little milfoil so they were done under a day. After those locations they contacted me and asked where they should go next. I directed them to the northeast spot by Schemachers and Kostermans where they did find milfoil. That area was cleared at the end of the first day and finished the second morning. Continuing to search they found quite a bit in the area between DeNoble and Ellingson's in the northwest bay area where 3 1/2 bags were filled. The north shoreline by Hamann's was searched and nothing was found there also. They didn't really harvest much milfoil which is good that it's not there. I canoed around about half of the lake and didn't see any milfoil growing like I'd seen in the past but did find 10 pieces floating so it's still out there. Onterra told me that they have seen where the herbicide will move and kill outside of the treated area so it's not unexpected. A point intercept survey (raking the bottome for weeds) was done on July 21st which was after the treatment and before the DASH and only 1 sample contained milfoil which is really great. That sample was found in 15' of water in the northeast corner where the dive team harvested.

The next step is that Onterra will come back in September and do another survey to see if they find any plants. That information will be used to determine our plan for next year.

The Eurasion milfoil isn't gone out of the lake and won't ever be completely gone but we've made some great progress to control it. Please keep removing any floating weeds. If you see plants growing and can't get to them to dig them out please let me know where they are.

Thanks to everyone that donated.
08/04/2025

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The Doty Volunteer Fireman's Picnic is this Saturday, August 2nd from Noon to 5:00pm at the Doty Town Hall. There will be food, kids games, meat raffles, bucket raffles, raffle tickets, an ice cream parlor and cold refreshments. This is the Association's only fund raising event so please come out and support them. New equipment is needed to meet the requirements set by the National Fire Protection Association codes, and it's very expensive.

Hope to see you there.
07/30/2025

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The divers doing the Diver-Assited Suction harvesting will be on the lake Thursday and Friday, July 31st and August 1st.

For their protection please avoid the area where they are working.
07/29/2025

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Hello Everyone,
 
Summer is finally here, the water temp is 79.8.
 
If you're wondering about the orange markers in the lake they mark the spots that we're doing water sampling for the DNR due to the treatment. The last one should be gone in a week.
 
The treatment for the Eurasion milfoil was applied and appears to have been very effective. I drove around at the boat landing and the northeast bay and you can see all the dead milfoil laying on the bottom.  All of the other vegetation seems to be growing normally. The treatment done in the bay has greatly improved the usability of the shoreline areas for swimming and boating.  The chemicals for the treatment were $9,900. 

The next step is to have divers come in and perform Diver-Assisted Suction Harvesting (DASH). The divers go along the bottom, dig out the plants and they are suctioned up to a boat above them. They will be focusing on several concentrated clumps off the south point and then in the south bay by where the inlet to the marshy area is. The permit has been approved by the DNR and we will schedule 2 days of their work. The diver-assisted harvesting is very expensive but to continue to try and get grants from the DNR several methods of removal must be tried.

On July 21st, a point intercept survey will be conducted to document the plants in the treatment and non-treatment area. In the fall Onterra will be back to do a survey to determine the overall effectiveness of the treatments.

The Eurasion milfoil will always be present in the lake but we have gotten a really good start on controlling it at the first stage. However, there are still several large areas that we will need to address in the coming years.  On the entire lake 63% of the property owners have donated to help with the project.  That number should be much higher.  Uncontrolled milfoil will impact every owner on the lake and the value of all properties on the lake.  Likewise, the treatment of the milfoil will benefit every property of the lake.  Please donate if you're able to.  Donations can be sent to:

BLIA
Attn: Amy Mager
510 Walton Place
Madison, WI 53704

Or by stopping in at a Laona State Bank location in:
• Lakewood
• Townsend
• Laona


The fall meeting will be at the Doty Town Hall, Saturday August 30th at 9:00am.

The Duck Hunt will be Saturday August 30th starting at 4:30 at the Wyngaards.

Have a nice rest of the summer,

Thanks,

Wayne Wyngaard
07/21/2025

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