Waupaca Chain O’ Lakes Foundation Formed

A new Chain O’ Lakes Foundation was announced at the Annual Meeting of the Waupaca Chain O’ Lakes Association Saturday, June 26, 2010. The goals of the Foundation are to assist in the efforts to protect and improve the Chain O’ Lakes as one of our country’s most beautiful natural resources.

The Foundation is prepared to receive tax deductible contributions (i) to address current lake and water quality issues, and (ii) to build an endowment fund with the goal of protecting the lakes for future generations.

Similar foundations continue to be very effective throughout the country. While the Chain O’Lakes Foundation is newly formed, it can certainly have a visible long-term effect on the lake system. Even now there are important issues, such as, assurance of a continuing water quality, treatment of invasive species and review of lake inlets.

The funding to organize the Foundation was donated by the Waupaca Chain O’ Lakes Association. Steve Huhta has been elected as the first President of the Foundation. Carl Webber, who incorporated the Foundation, will be its first Vice-President. Others on the initial Board of Directors are Bob Ellis and Dick Conover. Steve, Bob and Dick are all past-presidents of the Association. Bob is currently the President of the Chain O’ Lakes Sanitary District and also represents the Town of Dayton on the Waupaca County Legislator. As a further indication of his devotion to the lakes, Dick Conover has provided a conservation easement on a portion of the lakes watershed adjacent to Smith Lane. See more information on this conservation project on this blog.

The Foundation expects to expand its Board of Directors and is accepting inquiries from interested persons. In addition, the Foundation will have several committees, such as a Development Committee, an Environmental Committee and a Communications Committee. Inquiries are welcome from persons who are interested in being involved with these committees. The Foundation has a goal of cooperating with all governmental and charitable organizations to maintain the continuing quality of the water and to assure the preservation of the Chain O” Lakes as a unique natural resource.

The Foundation may be contacted through any of the Members of the Board of Directors or by mail, in care of either, Steve Huhta, N2424 E Minor Drive, Waupaca, WI, 54981, or Carl Webber, 1910 Woodfield Road, Champaign, IL 61822

Waupaca Chain O' Lakes Invasive Species Report

At the Waupaca Chain O' Lakes property owners annual meeting Matt Harp, from Lake and Ponds Solutions, reported that there are about 11.3 acres of Eurasian Watermilfoil and Curly Leaf Pond Weed in the Waupaca Chain. The Chain is about 850 acres of water.

Matt’s company has been helping treat the chain’s invasive species weeds for several years. Each year Matt’s company surveys the Chain to spot these evasive weeds and then puts together a plan to handle treatment.

Man's "Best Friend" Joining Waupaca Chain Boat Patrol

Speaking at the Waupaca Chain O' Lakes property owners’ meeting on Saturday, Waupaca County Sheriff Brad Hardel said the Sheriff’s department K9 unit will be touring the Chain in a patrol boat in the future.

The Sheriff also confirmed that extra officers will be keeping an eye on the busy South end of Long Lake on weekends this summer. This is in response to a very large number of complaints received regarding activities on this part of the Chain.

Columbia Lake Home Sells - Waupaca Chain O' Lakes

An 1,800 Sq Ft one story home located on Whispering Pines Road with a 4 car garage, 3 bedrooms and 50 ft of water frontage on the West shore of Columbia Lake has sold. The most recent listing was $485,000.

For Waupaca Chain O' Lakes real estate information please call a Realtor who lives on the Chain: Steve Huhta RE/MAX Shambeau & Lyons 715-942-2400.

www.WaupacaLiving.com To search Waupaca area or Chain O’ Lake real estate listings

www.WaupacaChainOLakes.com For tons of information about the Waupaca Chain O' Lakes area

ReMax Shambeau & Lyons has been helping Chain buyers and sellers for over 20years

One Less Restaurant Facility in Waupaca Chain Area

The Northern Trailer Restaurant facility on Hwy QQ has sold. This restaurant has been closed for a number of months. The property was recently purchased by Waupaca Northwoods, who will move its corporate headquarters from Fulton St (next to the Waupaca Goodwill Store) in the Waupaca Woods Mall to this new location on Hwy QQ.

According to company officials, Waupaca Northwoods is moving to accommodate its growing workforce and because of the “ideal new location.” The new offices are located adjacent to the beautiful Chain O’ Lakes and are also built in log cabin style, something the company feels is synonymous with its image.

ReMax Balloon Helps Fires up Waupaca Fund Raiser Recently

The RE/MAX hot air balloon made an appearance on Hwy Q in Waupaca Chain O' Lakes Country recently as part of a fundraiser to support the Children’s Miracle Network. The event raised over $2,600.
RE/MAX Shambeau & Lyons would like to thank the following contributors who made the Children’s Miracle Network fundraiser a great success:
Farmer’s State Bank
First National Bank
Neuville Motors
Faulks Brothers Construction
L&L Propane
Stewart Title
Iola Photo
Rural Insurance
King Storage
Smith & Radtke Accounting
Ellingson Law Office
Stratton’s Drug Store
Torborg’s Lumber
Clear Water Harbor
Mike Drexler
Dave Nellis
John & Liz Stange
Holly’s Funeral Home
Chuck Posnanski
R.H. Liquidation

www.WaupacaLiving.com When buying or selling real estate get a Realtor on your side who knows Waupaca from being involved in our great community

Bowlby Candy Building On Fulton St Sells

Only weeds grow now at the former Bowlby Candy store but, this landscape will "probably" change in the near future.

Most Waupaca area residences have fond memories of the former Bowlby Candy store located at 845 West Fulton Street - which closed recently. The property was purchased by O’Reilly Auto Parts Corporation, Springfield, MO. O'Reilly's, when contacted at their corporate headquarters, would not provide specific information about their plans for the site.
Update 7-14-10 O'Reilly's has worked with the Waupaca City Planning commission regarding razing the current structure and building a new building on the site. Permits have not been issued - yet.

Waupaca Chain House Sells on Norris Lane

A 4,388 Sq Ft 5 bedroom house sold in May on Norris Lane, Town of Farmington, with 66 Ft of frontage on Nessling Lake. The MLS listing shows that it was for sale for a very short period of time.

For Waupaca Chain O' Lakes real estate information call a Realtor who lives on the Chain Steve Huhta RE/MAX Shambeau & Lyons 715-942-2400.

www.WaupacaLiving.com To search Waupaca area or Chain O’ Lake real estate listings

www.WaupacaChainOLakes.com For tons of information about the Waupaca Chain O' Lakes area

The Waupaca Chain O' Lakes Association and the Chain Tax District have spent lots of time, money and members’ effort working to control evasive species on the Chain. The news story below was in the Appleton Post Crescent recently and shows what might happen if our property owners groups had not been so diligent in their efforts to keep the invasive plant species in the Chain water way under control.

Appleton Post Crescent

MENASHA — Jim Lingnofski has lived on Paris Street along the Fox River for 32 years. And he’s never seen the abundance of aquatic plants that have emerged this year.

“You get out of the navigational channel and it’s hard to get up to your property because weeds get caught in your lower unit,” said Lingnofski, who ties up his 26-foot boat along the concrete bulk head wall behind his home. “I’ve never seen them that thick.”

It was so thick, Lingnofski said, there were “birds landing and sitting on top of them and eating off them.”

Ironically, the buildup of aquatic plants, primarily Eurasian Watermilfoil and Curly-Leaf Pondweed, two major invasive species, is a problem throughout Lake Winnebago because the water is so clean, said Chuck Fitzgibbon, state Department of Natural Resources aquatic plant manager, Oshkosh.

While Tuesday’s rain and wind help breakup some of the dense growth, waterfront residents are concerned that a spate of hot weather could eventually lead to algae growth on the top of the aquatic plants that may be more noticeable in the river channel leading to the Menasha dam because as the plants come loose, they flow down river.

“That’s what you’re going to get on top of these weeds if you get hot weather,” Lingnofski said. “Then it will turn putrid and give off a really foul smell.”

While it is a nuisance for boaters and waterfront residents, Fitzgibbon said they are mostly harmless. “It’s more of a cosmetic issue,” he said. “And how temporary it is, is really dependent on Mother Nature.”

A common Lake Winnebago aquatic plant, Coontail, is also present and “can grow in large quantities at times and become rather dense,” he said.

“The clearer the water is the more active aquatic plants get in their growth cycle,” said Fitzgibbon, who visited the main Fox River channel from the lake Monday at the request of concerned riverfront residents. “Many of those types of aquatic plants are not firmly rooted to the (lake) bottom. As they reach the end of their growth cycle they might become dislodged and go wherever they feel like it.”

“It’s kind of like a Catch 22,” Lingnofski said. “The water is clear as can be but you can’t see through the water because the weeds are so high.”

Lingnofski raked some of the weeds from the water in front of his home this spring but they grew back. On Wednesday, he saw more riverfront residents raking in the plants, drying and disposing of them.

“The river’s been overtaken and inundated with weed growth,” said Mike Taylor, a Menasha alderman who has lived on the river 13 years and contacted the DNR after talking to neighbors. “I don’t know if it’s going to get worse.”

The navigational channels are mostly clear but boaters sometimes struggle outside of the main channels. “By the time you get out to the mouth of the river, the weeds are wrapped around your impellor and you actually have to go into reverse thrust to clear the weeds before you go into high speed,” Taylor said.

“If you get good shallow warm water and clear water, the plants just take off,” he said because they are “absorbing a lot of nutrients.

“It’s nothing to be alarmed about, it’s just more than you’ve ever seen,” Fitzgibbon said. “They just do well when the water’s clear because they get more sunlight.”

“I guess there’s really not an answer to it,” Lingnofski said.

Michael King: 920-729-6622, ext. 33, or mking@newsrecord.net