May 20, 2026
Hello from the lake...
I hope everyone is having a wonderful pre-Memorial Day Weekend week! Yesterday was hot on the lake with more of the same expected today before a cool down for the long weekend. I have three items for you which include a boat launch update, a volunteer opportunity, and a big thank you!
Let me start with the big thank you... Thank You!!! to the 24 volunteers who helped with the spring roadside clean-up last weekend. Many hands made light work, and a relatively quick morning, of the project. All of your efforts are greatly appreciated by those of us who were not available for this project. Your volunteer efforts benefit all of us! A special thank you to Shirley Green and Tom Claus for the coordination and to the Claus family for the pre/post project hospitality. A team effort well done!
Speaking of volunteering... we have a tremendous group of residents around the lake. Many people approach me with ideas and many people ask, "What can I do to help"? The single best thing you can do to have a positive impact on the community, water quality, and preservation of our little piece of paradise is to volunteer. Towards that end, here is a great opportunity for you... we currently have openings for Weed Watchers. This opportunity involves being assigned a small section of the lakeshore and getting in your kayak/boat/jetski/innertube and searching for invasive species of weeds a couple of times a month. You, along with other volunteers, will receive training from a certified DES instructor and be contributing a very valuable service to the lake. We currently do not have invasive species in Crystal Lake. Our ability to keep them out, through initiatives like our Lake Host program, is extremely important. In the event that some unwanted weed does find its way into the lake, our ability to identify it quickly will be critical to its containment and our remediation initiatives. If you are interested in learning more or being a proactive volunteer in this important work, please contact our Weed Watcher Warden... Mr. Ed Rippe. Ed can be reached at kruzered@comcast.net.
So what is going on with the Boat Launch? I talked to the State this morning and asked them that exact question. There have been a few issues that have popped up as they sometimes do with projects involving Mother Nature. They did not get into specifics other than to say that the timeline will likely be extended by "a couple of weeks". At this point they were not willing to give a specific target date of completion. If we add two weeks to the previous May 29th target date, that takes us to June 12th. I would not put that in stone, but my simple math puts us somewhere in that range. I will check-in with the State again around June 1st to see if they have any further updates and pass them along right away.
That's it for now. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Kind Regards,
Dan