Whitefish Area Property Owners Association’s annual AIS roundtable is May 7

The Aquatic Invasive Species Roundtable program will include presentations on a variety of invasive species, including zebra mussels.

By Dispatch staff report

May 01, 2022 12:00 PM

CROSSLAKE — The Whitefish Area Property Owners Association is hosting its seventh annual Aquatic Invasive Species Roundtable program from 8:30 a.m.-noon Saturday, May 7, at Camp Knutson, 11148 Manhattan Point Boulevard, Crosslake.

The program will be in-person with coffee and sweets as well as presented in a “virtual format” this year.

Whitefish Area Property Owners Association members, area lake association members, local government officials, neighbors, students and all interested persons are invited to attend the free event. Registration is required at https://tinyurl.com/2bvrnsrk .

Keynote speaker will be Dr. Nick Phelps, assistant professor at the University of Minnesota and director of the Minnesota AIS Research Center. Phelps will provide a report updating AIS research successes and plans and new decision-making initiatives about AIS management. Minnesota AIS Research Center research successes are the long-term key to managing AIS populations, Whitefish Area Property Owners Association reported in a news release.

In addition to Phelps, the program will include presentations from graduate fellows on present AIS research for using eDNA in the detection of invasive species; presence and impacts of invasive, hybrid cattails on habitat and fish populations; and the impacts of zebra mussels on walleyes and water quality in our lakes and waterbodies.

“Thanks to (Minnesota AIS Research Center) research, invasive species can be located earlier, better response to new infestations is available, and new tools have been developed to control established populations,” Whitefish Area Property Owners Association officials said in a news release.

For more than 50 years and as a Minnesota AIS Research Center partner, Whitefish Area Property Owners Association has advocated for actions to sustain and improve quality surface and groundwater in the Whitefish Chain of Lakes area and the Pine River Watershed.

For more information, contact Tom Watson at twatson@iphouse.com .

Related Topics: WHITEFISH CHAIN CROSSLAKE

By Dispatch staff report

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