The Fall colors are beginning to come out brighter and very colorful! Such a pretty time of year. With Fall upon us it is now time to begin the grant process for MCAL and AIS for 2020. Board members and others have been busy all year long doing projects around the lake, thus the In-Kind hours (volunteer hours) have accumulated.

I am working on completing an excel chart showing in-kind hours for 2019. Thus far there have been 882 volunteer hours! THAT’S A LOT OF VOLUNTEER HOURS INTO KEEPING THE LAKE AT ITS BEST BY MANY PEOPLE! THANKS TO ALL! In September I started to gather receipts for expenses for completing the lake projects and I will be billing out invoices for reimbursement from grant money allotted to us in 2019 from Meeker County Association of Lakes (MCAL), as well for Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS). October 17, 2019 is the deadline to have the MCAL grant application completed for 2020.

The AIS grant application is due November 15, 2019 for 2020. The board has identified prominent projects for 2020 for the MCAL application. They are: begin the process of water testing and water flow of 20 lake inlets around the lake, I-LIDS monitoring and maintenance, and education providing newsletters, boat safety and other information. The AIS grant application will involve projects of AIS education, search for Starry Stonewort, zebra mussel, and Eurasian water milfoil inspection programs, treatment and management. These projects are vital to us as lake owners, and to the public to keep our lake at its best. We apply for grant funding/reimbursement to help defray the costs of these projects each year.

If anyone has any questions, comments, or concerns in regards to grant processing you can reach me at sdaniels@grdaniels.com. To all the volunteers that helped work on projects during 2019, THANK YOU!