News
Updated December 4, 2011
Christmas Lake History Book
The book is now available at Excelsior Bay Books,
36 Water Street, Excelsior. There are limited number left, and the
cost is $45.00.
Zebra Mussels Expert
Presentation
Here you
can find an excellent presentation prepared by Dick Sternberg, former
DNR biologist and Zebra Mussel authority. It is a pdf file almost
10 Mb in size but very worthwhile downloading and reading.
Christmas Lake residents impact
City of Chanhassen AIS planning
A number of Christmas Lake Homeowners signed the
electronic petition for Lotus Lake. That petition asked the City of
Chanhassen to enforce their posted park hours for the Lotus Lake landing
so that their inspection program wouldn't be missing boats that launched
before the park opens in the morning. The 350 plus names on the
petition were presented to the Chanhassen City Council and the Mayor at
an information session focused on AIS. Our Christmas Lake petition
signers made an impact. Their actions are appreciated!
Aquatic Invasive Species
Prevention Project Update
Joe Shneider continues to push forward on a plan
for a pilot project targeting the prevention of Zebra mussels from
entering Christmas Lake.
Here is an
update sent to the lake residents.
Here is a link to an email sent to Governor Dayton and Commissioner
Landwehr on July 14.
Here is a link to an article published by the Chanhassen Villager
about this project.
Fourth of July
The 2011 July 4th boat and dock decorating theme
will be "Famous Families". We hope to see many families display a
boat or dock with this theme. The boat parade and judging will
start at 1:00 pm near Miles Lord's house.
Aquatic Invasive Species
Prevention Project Progress
Christmas Lake
had a major victory on Monday, June 27, at the Shorewood City Council
meeting. The City agreed
unanimously to support our proposed pilot project for the prevention on
Aquatic Invasive Species (specifically zebra mussels).
The unanimous vote was in spite of concerns from the City
Attorney. Mayor Lizee was great
and had unanimous support from the rest of the City Council.
She demonstrated her leadership in supporting this project.
You can see the PowerPoint slides presented at the meeting by Joe
Shneider
here. Here
is a commentary from Steve Gunther, President, Lake Minnewashta
Preservation Association on the issues dealing with Zebra mussels.
Weevil Project
The Weevil project is designed to test the
effectiveness of using Milfoil Weevils in controlling Eurasian
Watermilfoil in Christmas Lake. This project is sponsored by the
Minnehaha Creek Watershed District and Christmas Lake is the only lake
included in the project. The project is designed to harvest these
native weevils from area lakes, grow the population of harvested weevils
in holding tanks to be of sufficient scale for the pilot project,
introduce the weevils into test beds of Eurasian Watermilfoil in
Christmas Lake, then evaluate the results. To date, the team has had a
very difficult time capturing weevils, and the bounty is minuscule
compared to the numbers needed. This project will get some things
accomplished this year, but it is now being focused on getting smarter
and better prepared for next year. Thanks to CLHA Board Member Bill
Cole for his interest and involvement in this effort!
Christmas Lake History Book
The Christmas Lake History Book is nearing completion. You should have
received a flyer last weekend with more information about being a
sponsor and pre-ordering your copies of the books at a discount.
This book is a "must have" companion piece to the beautiful book
of photos that was prepared several years ago. The history book is
amazing, as is the effort that has gone into getting it done.
A book release party is being planned for August.
Contact Sherri West for more details, but act NOW as the book is
almost ready to go to press.
Sherri can be reached at 952-470-1523 or
swestfibers@aol.com.
13th Annual Memorial Day Fun
Run/Walk
This year's event was held in memory of Dennis
Jabs, a long time resident of Christmas Lake and friend to many,
who passed away in March 2011. Almost $3,500 was raised this year
which will be donated to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation in
memory of Dennis. Thanks to everyone who participated.
Loon Pictures
Thanks to Kathy Twiford, there are pictures of the
latest residents of Christmas Lake, two baby loons. The pictures
can be found here
or through the link on the left "Loon Gallery".
CLHA Annual Meeting
The Annual Homeowner's Meeting was held on May
3 in the auditorium of the Excelsior Elementary School. The
discussion covered various measures of the health of Christmas Lake as
maintained by Steve McComas. There were also discussions on the
potential threat of zebra mussels and a proposed methid for using
weevils as a deterrent to the growth of Eurasian milfoil. A
summary of the meeting can be read
here.
CLHA Board Meeting
The Board meeting was held on April 19, 2011. The meeting minutes
are available
here. The Board elected Joe Shneider as it next
President. He will start his term at the annual meeting.
Thanks to Ron Mason for his leadership of the CLHA for the past three
years.
Photo gallery
A new gallery of the photos of wildlife take around Christmas Lake has
been started. Note the "Wildlife Gallery" link in the left frame.
If you have additional photos, send them to Harley Feldman, and they
will be added to the site.
Eurasian Watermilfoil (EWM) Information
A new web page has been dedicated to covering the latest information
about EWM on Christmas Lake. Click the "EWM Info" link to the
left.
Newest Christmas Lake family
Be sure to check out the video of Christmas Lake's newest natural
family.
Water Resources Management Plan
The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District recently released its ten year
plan. Included is the water resources
management plan for Christmas Lake as written and adopted by the
District (6.5 Mb pdf). The CLHA Board will be reviewing the plan
and determining what we as an association should be doing to support the
management plan.
Lake safety
The State of Minnesota 2006 Boating Guide can be retrieved as a pdf
file here. We encourage every
homeowner to review and abide by the boating rules included. We
want to make sure that all boaters on the lake are operating in a safe
and legal manner.
Dave Schultz has agreed to underwrite the cost of boating safety classes. Jack Fess will be developing a schedule for this summer by working with an outside organization that teaches boating safety to provide the lessons. The Board thanks Dave for his support.
Christmas Lake data
The latest DNR data about Christmas Lake can be found at
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/showreport.html?downum=27013700.
The DNR's 2006 Annual Report on Invasive Species of Aquatic Plants and Wild Animals can be found here. It provides interesting reading and background information on the DNR's analysis of the state's lakes.