HCCOLA activities report
By Sharon Natzel, HCCOLA secretary
Hubbard County Coalition of Lake Associations’ educational activities this spring included the installation of 70 boat cleaning stations with toolsets at public water accesses across Hubbard County in time for the opening of walleye fishing in early May.
The boater checklist for these stations promotes the Clean – Drain – Dry messaging and lists the appointment phone number for the free decontamination station in Park Rapids and other locations in Minnesota. Fish line recycling tubes were placed at 45 of these accesses to help protect loons and wildlife from entanglement.
Summer activities included promoting the use of the boater toolset at the first concert for 2nd Street Stage through our sponsorship of the social hour. The K-9 unit demonstrated finding species zebra mussels on a fishing boat. Hands-on training activities included searching for fake AIS on the boat, a youth fishing game and using native aquatic plants to teach identification skills. We used pictures of AIS to aid in early identification.
Over 700 individuals visited our HCCOLA booth during the Hubbard County Fair where we had several of these same opportunities available.
Through three hands-on workshops with aquatic plants using rake tosses at three lakes, we coached over 75 individuals in aquatic plant identification and early detection of AIS. A youth group of 50 young men made over 100 zebra mussel settlement samplers for HCCOLA, which now are available free to the public.
We demonstrated HCCOLA water monitoring tools on the “Let’s Go Fishing” boat with 10 4-H’ers. They were also able to participate in the University of Minnesota eDNA test for zebra mussels in one location on Long Lake. Big Mantrap was one of several HCCOLA member lakes participating in the eDNA pilot testing.
HCCOLA activities continue with educational presentations at our monthly meetings, water quality monitoring, zebra mussel veliger monitoring, spiny water flea monitoring and complimentary shoreland advisor/coaching to help prevent erosion and runoff.
Our “Eyes on the Water” survey is open through December for people to record their findings on AIS when removing their docks, lifts, etc. Even if you do not find any AIS, please record your findings.
Our Oct. 29 meeting will focus on AIS inspections. Aaron Anderson, Hubbard County Environmental Services, environmental specialist will recap the AIS prevention program for this year and plans for 2027. In early November we collect the boat cleaning toolset and clean it for next season. We continue attending webinars and conferences learning even more about how to protect and preserve our lakes and rivers.