On Saturday the Five Island Lake Association (FILA) sponsored the Clean Water Festival. And what is a celebration without two hours of very needed precipitation? The FILA committee members, volunteers and the public were not dissuaded at all by the rain. Over 100 people attended the group’s first public event drawing attention to ongoing efforts to make sure that Five Island Lake is a healthy body of water.
Currently everyone can see what is going on with the lake. Water volume is down. It is the lowest in years. But what cannot be seen is the quality of the lake’s water. Five Island Lake is still on the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Impaired Waters List. Drawing attention to the lakes problems makes it easier for the public to understand when a mitigation project is started.
The rain did halt the Poker Run. For those who registered a faux run was held on land. All registrants picked five cards. Betty Ziegler had the winning hand followed by Mary Ellen Munn with the next highest hand. Winner of the youth kayak was Presley Malm. The kids’ life jacket was won by Ruby Carney. Thirty-three kids registered for the youth giveaways. The adult kayak winner out of 53 registrants was Max Sikora.
While Saturday’s events included a kayak poker run, food, kids’ activities and two kayak giveaways, these were not the most significant parts of the event. The resources available for attendees to ask questions and receive professional answers and materials were the highlight.
Among the information sessions were displays, animal pelts, and kids’ hands on activities presented by the Palo Alto County Conservation team of Caitlin Anderson and Mary Barrick. With tongs, young people pretended to be a blue heron fishing for food in a body of water. A variety of large posters depicted stories of natural resources.
Mike Hawkins, a fisheries biologist at the Spirit Lake Fish Hatchery provided great information for anyone who stopped at his table. Alongside Mike was Alex, a fourth-year student at South Dakota State majoring in invasive aquatic plants who has interned with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources the last couple of years.
All of the information came from people who are true public servants. Their jobs do not end on Friday and begin again on Monday. Each of those listed above willingly agreed to be part of the Clean Water Festival. You could almost call them heroes of natural resources but they wouldn’t see it that way. So, to all of those professionals, THANK YOU. The Festival attendees benefited from your working knowledge and availability.
FILA extends appreciation to all of the volunteers, Deb Hite and her Chamber Chat, Iowa Trust and Savings Bank for helping to promote the event and for the napkins and all of the businesses that agreed to hand out flyers or post a flyer on their community boards.
Previous question’s answer: Lake restoration costs from 1990-99 were $2.5 million
Question: Does weather affect a lake’s water quality?
Written by Diane Weiland
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