You Are Remembered . . .
It has been a busy “other three seasons” for the Butternut-Franklin Lakes Foundation. At the fall board meeting, the partners we support were designated to receive funds for 2020: Northwoods Land Trust (NLT), Loonwatch, Northwoods Wildlife Center (NWC), and Wild Rivers Invasive Species Coalition (WRISC). In September, NWC travelled to Butternut Lake to release the 5 surviving baby turtles they successfully incubated from 6 eggs which had been prematurely pawed up by a dog. WRISC was given an increase over recent year amounts because they made a pandemic hardship request to us and because we remembered the hands-on garlic mustard pulling assistance they've provided our BF volunteers in recent years.
Our offer to provide hands-on assistance building new wooden walleye shelters this summer was declined by the Forest Service. They feel these actually lead to higher walleye mortality because larger fish are drawn to them and eat the smaller walleye sheltering underneath. The USFS is open to other joint projects.
We hope to fund additional CBCW intern hours at the boat landings because of the increase in fishing boat traffic to our lakes. This increase is due to the pandemic-induced closing of the Canadian border. Also, the BFLF is responsible for funding a new lake study and 5-year plan by Onterra, Inc. in 2022, an obligation of thousands of dollars.
In closing, I am gratefully remembering each of you for all you do to enhance, preserve, and protect the ecological system of the Butternut-Franklin Lakes area. Thank you for remembering the BFLF as a way to remember loved ones as we continue on, down here, attempting to be good stewards of this beautiful land.