Given this process has progressed over many years this is a very concise summary of the history and a thorough analysis of the available solutions. IMO - The only 2 affordable solutions with any possibility of slowing or mitigating the CLP challenge are herbicides and mechanical harvesting. The concerns over herbicides are real & proven out over time. What seems safe now, may down the road turn out to be the total demise of Rice Lake's fish population & those who eat fish from Rice Lake with the same problems cascading downstream to Pike Lake, Lake of the Falls & then into the jewel of Wisconsin Fishing, the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage. What fish eat, man & eagles & game ultimately ingest then too. History shows us evidence of man made chemicals once thought safe to ultimately be discovered as dangerous to living beings. The ECO harvester although expensive, allows very targeted cleanup of Rice & other nearby lakes with little concern over human/fish/deer poisoning. The Eco-harvester is clearly the right solution. Now can we find the funding??
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Mike B
Nov 15, 2024
Rated 5 out of 5 stars.
Thank you for this detailed management plan amendment. The Rice Lake community rallied around the CLP issue with a strong hand pulling effort for several years. I was on site for many of those pulls. Despite the strong effort, this amendment shows that hand pulling is not a sustainable solution, way too expensive to coordinate (even assuming 100+ workers could be found) and ineffective in containing spread. Section 7 is persuasive and makes clear that the harvester is the best bet. A fixed one-time cost for the machine; by far the most efficient way to harvest the CLP; no chemicals or herbicides. I support a harvester purchase. Mike Benninghoff
Given this process has progressed over many years this is a very concise summary of the history and a thorough analysis of the available solutions. IMO - The only 2 affordable solutions with any possibility of slowing or mitigating the CLP challenge are herbicides and mechanical harvesting. The concerns over herbicides are real & proven out over time. What seems safe now, may down the road turn out to be the total demise of Rice Lake's fish population & those who eat fish from Rice Lake with the same problems cascading downstream to Pike Lake, Lake of the Falls & then into the jewel of Wisconsin Fishing, the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage. What fish eat, man & eagles & game ultimately ingest then too. History shows us evidence of man made chemicals once thought safe to ultimately be discovered as dangerous to living beings. The ECO harvester although expensive, allows very targeted cleanup of Rice & other nearby lakes with little concern over human/fish/deer poisoning. The Eco-harvester is clearly the right solution. Now can we find the funding??
Thank you for this detailed management plan amendment. The Rice Lake community rallied around the CLP issue with a strong hand pulling effort for several years. I was on site for many of those pulls. Despite the strong effort, this amendment shows that hand pulling is not a sustainable solution, way too expensive to coordinate (even assuming 100+ workers could be found) and ineffective in containing spread. Section 7 is persuasive and makes clear that the harvester is the best bet. A fixed one-time cost for the machine; by far the most efficient way to harvest the CLP; no chemicals or herbicides. I support a harvester purchase. Mike Benninghoff