Starting at 9:02 a.m on July 18, 2020, the Lake Owen Association held their Annual Meeting this year by Zoom with a peak attendance of 63 people participating. After the introduction by President Tom Johnson, the LOA Board Members, Advisors and Webmaster all introduced themselves. Lake Manager Cheryl Clemens then went over how the Zoom meeting would be run. Next up was Steve Schieffer of Ecological Integrity Services gave a very understandable description of the 2019 detailed study of Lake Owen’s plant life with lots of educational slides. Steve presentation focused on Lake Owen water quality. Highlights of his presentation include that Lake Owen has a very high diversity of plant life with a surveyed 43 species, that the plant life has a high sensitivity showing it has not changed much over time, and that they were successful in eliminating Yellow Flag Iris. Paul Rhodes talked about the Lake Owen fishery saying that the walleye population was relatively low but measurably climbing, that there was a good natural reproduction of walleyes, and the tribal harvest was about the same as last year, about 100 walleye. Board Member Dave Berg described programs to save members money in ordering propane. Board Member Bill Hannaford went over the details of the budget. Participating Zoom members asked questions by the Chat feature and answers were given on the topics of snails, fish, crayfish and the like. At the end of the formal presentations, a newly released 2 minute 55 second drone aerial video by Owen Louis was previewed and can be now seen on YouTube here: 2020 Aerial Video of Lake Owen
For a full report on Lake Owen’s aquatic plant, go to this page for a link: Full Report of Lake Owen’s Aquatic Plants
So why is Lake Owen so clear?
Over fertilization on lake property leads to algae blooms.
For reports on Lake Owen’s water quality and clarity, go to either summary report or full report
