Volunteers help harvest roughly 19,000 cubic feet of aquatic plants from Post Lake in 2025

Mike Misterek, the district’s Aquatic Plant Management Coordinator (report submitted in absentia), reported that volunteers harvested about 19,000 cubic feet of aquatic plants in 2025, an amount the report estimates weighed roughly 279,000 pounds — nearly three times the volume removed in 2024.

Misterek’s written report, included in the meeting packet, described mechanical issues with the harvester that were resolved at the landing and explained the ecological rationale for selective harvesting: crews collect floating vegetation and “hair-cut” plants to leave roots and some living material that continue to provide oxygen and habitat while reducing biomass that later decomposes and releases nutrients such as phosphorus that feed algae.

The report thanked volunteer helpers by name and invited additional volunteers for next season. Commissioners also discussed misinformation on social media about a summer green-algae event and said the district will post guidance from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on the district website, as it did this past summer.

The district’s next steps include continuing volunteer recruitment and incorporating the summer’s aquatic plant survey into the Comprehensive Lake Management Plan update.