Tainter Menomin Lake Improvement Association, a nonprofit volunteer organization, was formed in 1990.
“It has a long history of trying to identifying timely and current issues that will create a better situation and build partnerships that assist in improving the situation,” said Ron Verdon, the president of the association and former department chair and program director for the art program at UW-Stout. “I think a big part of [TMLIA] is education, so my educational background is valuable.”
The retiree felt getting involved in the lake association was extremely important after recognizing how much he uses the surrounding lakes for fishing: “We have a wonderful opportunity here to work as a community to pull people together and create a much better environment than we’ve seen in the past.”
As resident of Lake Tainter, a farm owner and city property owner, Verdon and his wife feel that they are able to contribute ideas from a comprehensive perspective. But, he admits, in addition to both his knowledge and that of the TMLIA’s board members, there are many other partnerships that play a key role in a successful recovery of Menomonie waters. “What we really know is that none of us can do it by ourselves,” he said. “We need to partner with the county, conservation office, city, and Department of Natural Resources.”
Improving the lakes
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources wrote a proposal with input from the public and the lake association. The document reports on the Phospohorus Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) and is what Verdon likes to call the recovery program for Lake Tainter and Menomin. The document was approved by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2012.
“It recognizes — from not only a state level, but also a federal level — the impaired waters that we have,” Verdon said. The report helped to establish a plan to achieve the association’s goal: Clean and safe waters by 2018.
In October 2013, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources also approved an erosion grant that would run through June 30, 2014. “The purpose of this grant was to identify an effective strategy to deal with [58] erosion sites on the Red Cedar river above Lake Tainter,” Verdon said.
In 2012, a position was established on the TMLIA board of directors for a student to lend a voice for UW-Stout. Danny Jay, an applied social science major, has been the most recent director, remaining on the board since January 2013. “We established this position because we felt it would be extremely critical to have student participation and input,” Verdon said. “Danny has been doing a wonderful job of sharing insights and bringing student involvement to us.”
Jay has been able to raise awareness on campus among UW-Stout students. “Last semester I started a collective of students who are interested in promoting lake health and lake benefits on campus,” said Jay. “As a result, many students began working on lake-related research projects. Other students made an effort to assist in volunteer opportunities that assist with cleaning the lake.”
In fact, last fall Sigma Lambda Chi, an honors construction organization, assisted TMLIA by surveying multiple cross-sections of the Red Cedar River. The data provided critical information for the consulting group, hired by TMLIA, to write the erosion report, which was funded by a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
“They had a very keen interest in the environment and what I really liked about it was the fact that they were utilizing expertise from their own program,” Verdon said.
Not only were the students able to apply their skills learned in the classroom to real life, they also greatly contributed to the association and the community. “Without their commitment, it would have been very challenging for us to put [the project] on a very short schedule,” Verdon said. “We were right at the end of the season and needed to get it done before the snow hit — otherwise this would have been pushed out another year.”
With the help of UW-Stout students, TMLIA will be looking for a finished report this week — just a mere three months since the project started in November.
Verdon and Jay stress that there are several ways for students and the public to get involved. The annual Red Cedar Land, Water, and People Conference was held at UW-Stout Memorial Student Center on March 13. Verdon noted that this event not only educates the community, but also “provides students, the general public, and professionals an opportunity to network, and is very instrumental in building these partnerships.”
The networking opportunity is not limited to the local community of Menomonie; the conference also brought in regional and national speakers.
On April 5, the association is holding a Waterfront Landscaping Workshop in the Dunn County Judicial Center from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The workshop will inform lake shore owners — and anyone else interested — how to landscape their waterfront in a way that ensures the best water and shoreline quality.
Although the details have yet to be finalized, Jay is working to connect students, faculty and community members who are interested in learning about the lake. “At these meetings, we are hoping to educate, brainstorm, conduct research, and work on changing and promoting lake-related policies,” he said.
For more information about the Tainter Menomin Lake Improvement Association, visit tmlia.org. Email Ron Verdon, rverdon@att.net, or Danny Jay, jayd2533@my.uwstout.edu, with any questions or to volunteer to collaborate in the efforts to improve Menomonie waters.
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