Lake Carroll News A publication of the Lake Carroll Association and its Members The Lake Carroll News is online! www.golakecarroll.com News & Events>Newspaper April 2019
www.golakecarroll.com
What’s Inside
Ukranian Easter egg decorating - LCWC Page 14A
Lake Carroll Quilters share their projects. Page 19A
BOARD MEETING
Apr 26, May 17, Jun 28, Jul 26, Aug 23, Sep 27, Oct 18, Nov 22, Annual Mtg Dec 1, Dec 20 (if needed)
Keeping Our Lake and Greenways Healthy A report from the Watershed Meeting By Becky Janopoulos (19-30) Member of the LC Prairie Club As a result of our recent Watershed meeting, attendees suggested this information be shared with our members and landscape contractors. By the time this article comes out it should be getting warmer (hopefully). Spring is a great time to think about cleaning up the gardens and consider lawn maintenance. Whether your home is on the lake or far away from it, it’s important to remember that everything we use on our lawns and in our gardens regarding fertilizers and pesticides eventually finds its way into our ground water and our waterways. This is important to think about, not only for the water quality of our lake, but for the water that makes its way deep into the ground! Here at Lake Carroll we rely on our wells for our drinking water. While the water is naturally filtered as it makes its way down deep into the earth, it still has potential to carry chemical pesticides and nutrients with it. Even if you are not using chemicals on your lawn or in your yard, the actions of your neighbors can affect your groundwater! According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) it can take decades for deep ground water to recover from chemical use. With the heavy spring rains that have been occurring there are a few important things to be aware of. Turf grass that makes up our lawns have roots that only go as deep as 4 inches. These grasses, especially when they are mowed very short provide little protection from excessive runoff and soil erosion into the waterways, and subsequently, the lake. Phosphorus in particular has the greatest negative impact on water quality. Phosphorus binds to the soil and reaches the water with the erosion of topsoil. According to Michigan Excessive aquatic plantState University, 1 pound of phosphorus can growth support 775 pounds of aquatic plant growth! A majority of the soil here at Lake Carroll is clay soil which is more difficult for water to penetrate. Combine that with a steep slope and you have great potential for erosion. There are a few things we all can do to keep our groundwater safe, mitigate excessive runoff, and prevent soil erosion from polluting our lake. -Consider putting in a rain garden or a vegetated swale with native plants in your yard where water collects or is channelized. This will help the excess water be absorbed into the soil instead of running off,
BOAT SAFETY CLASS
2019
#1 MAY 10-MAY 20 #2 AUG 2-AUG 12 Report to mowing@golakecarroll.com or 815-493-2552 ext 127 Provide your Name, Sec & Lot, and date mowed. If you don’t report it, you will be billed for LCA arranging the mowing. Whoever mows (you or a contractor) provides the report.
and also filters the runoff. -According to the Lake Carroll by-laws the application of phosphorus is not permitted in any form in Lake Carroll. Make sure your fertilizer for your lawn is phosphorus free. For anyone not sure, the 3 numbers on the fertilizer bag will indicate the amounts of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. The middle number is Phosphorus and should be listed as zero. -Make sure fertilizing is even necessary. This can be done with a soil test. Testing kits can be purchased on Amazon or done by a local contractor. -Grub control and pre-emergent treatments such as “Preen” are chemicals too. Use in moderation. -If fertilizer is necessary, think about leaving a 10 foot buffer strip where no fertilizer is applied in areas that directly run off into a waterway. -Consider using an organic based, slow release nitrogen fertilizer. -When applying fertilizer in spring, wait until 3 weeks after green up. -Keep your lawn mowed higher at 2.5 to 3.5 inches to avoid exposing topsoil. -Consider installing a buffer strip of taller native grasses and wildflowers between your lawn and waterways to slow and filter the flow of water. Native plants have deep root systems that can extend down as far as 15 feet in some cases. It is estimated that about a third of those roots die off and are regenerated each year, leaving the soil porous and better able to absorb water from a hard rainfall. We all have a vested interest in keeping our groundwater and our lake healthy; however, there is Storm water runoff a bigger picture to think about. Lake Carroll is part of the East Fork Creek watershed and the water that runs into our lake and over our spillway carries nutrients from the fertilizers and pesticides that we use. The water flows into the Plum River and, subsequently, will find its way down stream to the Mississippi River. Many of the pesticides used in the Mississippi basin are present in the Mississippi river and its tributaries (USGS). By doing our part in maintaining a healthy Lake and environment here at Lake Carroll we not only affect our own community but communities along the Mississippi River all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.
Let’s Plant Some Trees!
Saturday, April 20, 2019 - 8:00am-4:30pm Clubhouse Lower Level Registration is open. Call 815-493-2552, ext 110 or 120
MANDATORY MOWING FOR UNIMPROVED LOTS
Vol. 47 No. 4
Steve Mack Board Treasurer
As Warren Buffett (famous investor) is credited saying, “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” We are planting those seeds now. Little changes being made today should eventually
reap large rewards. Please remember, Lake Carroll is Our Premier Lake Community. We share that view with a majority of our members within our community and realize the treasures we have with our amenities and neighborhood. In just the past one month, the below changes have taken place, or are in progress: Software upgrades: Microsoft Office 365. This is a version of Microsoft’s key software that includes programs that run our spreadsheets, word processing, emails as well as other functions. Our current software is nearly 10 years old. The newer software allows for significant team sharing of data and program usage and are constantly updated for security and
enhancements. Adobe Acrobat. A limited number of work stations use this software to view, create and send pdf documents that are routinely used in business as well as with our members. Current professional versions allow for significant enhancements and, similar to Office 365 above, automatically update themselves with security fixes and software enhancements. The upgraded software is being installed on our computers as of March 22. Windows 10 professional. Several computers were running on Windows 7. This is being upgraded now. Hardware Improvements: Dual Screens. Four of our key users have now been upgraded to dual (two) screens. This means a workstation that previously had one computer screen now has two allowing a view of multiple programs at the same time on the two screens. According to a 2017 research study from Fujitsu Siemens Computers, productivity (how much work a person can complete) increases by 25% with the addition of just one screen and 35.5% with a total of three screens. This means with a small investment in this hardware, five days of work can be completed in less than four.
Check Scanner: In the past, a check made payable to our Association would be physically taken to the bank for deposit. “According to remotedepositcapture.com, a business depositing 10 checks daily to a bank 5 miles away, could save $702 on mileage, $3,930 on recovered labor, $393 on increased productivity and improve cash flow acceleration annually by using remote deposit capture. This banking service also provides quality control when your accounting system directly receives the data. With this, businesses can access copies of prior transactions, save time and paper because deposit tickets aren’t needed and still print reports identifying the day’s deposit.” Source: fsb.bank Member Card Scanners: The Association is adding scanners for registration and tracking purposes at our amenities. This should allow us to gain better data about who is using our amenities and how often. That data will be analyzed towards the end of our season to better understand our membership usage. A few other recent items: Interest income on our funds. After much assistance from our bank (First Bank and Trust of Shannon * Polo * Lake Carroll, we CONTINUED ON PAGE 5A