Board members: Johanna Chworowsky (president), Stanley Smoniewski (vp), Milt Strauss (secretary), Katie Travers (treasurer), Jim Colegrove, Kevin Lehner, Ken Steffan, Karl Vonderhoe, Russell Wagner
A special thank-you to Patricia Cicero, who attends almost every meeting and offers her expertise in lake issues. She is involved in almost every committee and project of RLIA.
Activities in 2003:
MEMBERSHIPS
RLIA has continued its membership in the Wisconsin Association of Lakes and in the Rock River Coalition.
ADOPT-A-LAKE (AND OTHER YOUTH ACTIVITIES)Ñ
The annual spring Mill Pond Cleanup Day was again sponsored by RLIA.
SHORELINE, WETLANDS, AND WATER QUALITY PROTECTIONÑ
The shoreline ownersÕ packet continues to be distributed to new buyers of shoreline property. The materials outline environmentally friendly practices for landscaping, regulations regarding lake property landscaping, lake regulations, etc.Ñeverything a new homeowner might want to know about being a good neighbor to Rock Lake.
COMMUNICATIONSÑ
The brochure inviting people to become members of RLIA was sent to all addresses in the Rock Lake watershed, about 3000. The membership drive also included a paid advertisement in the Festival Weekend issue of the Leader in June. About 5000 newspapers are distributed that week.
RLIAÕs ÒMaking WavesÓ is a weekly feature in the Lake Mills Leader.
The website has again been improved and expanded. Jason Smoniewski is the new webmaster.
Information was distributed at the RLIA table at Lake Mills Festival Days.
Most of the downtown shops have RLIA brochures available for customers. Solutions, Dutch Designs, CafŽ on the Park, and Aurora (Heimstreet) Pharmacy have placed the new RLIA T-shirts in their shops for sale to the general public.
EDUCATION
Board members Pete Ebott and Stanley Smoniewski, in their capacity as Joint Committee members, attended the Wisconsin Association of Lakes convention.
Eurasian water milfoil solutions have been studied, but so far none has been found, other than reducing run-off, mostly through appropriate shoreline planting. Introduction of milfoil eating weevils, of which Rock Lake has a small population, is not feasible because of the high population of sunfish, which eat the weevils.
Another issue being studied is the resident Canada goose population. Data has been gathered by conducting goose counts in 2002 and 2003.
The use of soil tests and phosphorus-free fertilizer (Lesco) is being promoted.
Two issues affecting the quality of the lake, the expansion of the docking facilities at Sandy Beach and PWC hours, were addressed by RLIA representing its views to governing bodies. In both cases decisions were made that favor the lake.
Plans for the coming year include revising the bylaws and investigating acquiring 501(C)3 status, while continuing to address issues that adversely affect the water quality of Rock Lake.