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1. On April 15th, with the cooperation of the Woodstock Fire/ Rescue District, the Wonder Lake Fire Protection District and Hebron-Alden-Greenwood Fire Protection District performed a controlled burn at the Wonder Lake Sediment Drying Facility on Greenwood Road. Conducted as a FPD training exercise, this burn was done at the request of the MPOA, to burn off undesirable vegetation growing in the highly fertile dried sediment. Thanks to all involved for getting this accomplished.

2. As the summer boating season is rapidly approaching, some concerns have recently been raised about boating on Wonder Lake after dark. Various regulations exist regarding the navigational lights required for operating a watercraft after dark, as summarized here in the Illinois Boating Digest: https://www2.illinois.gov/dnr/boating/Documents/BoatDigest.pdf

More specifically, the concerns raised have been about Wonder Lake boaters keeping their docking lights on while underway on the lake, instead of just while docking. This can make it harder to discern the red/green navigational lights by other boats on the lake. The MPOA strongly encourages that docking lights only be used when docking. As the Boating Digest emphasizes:

Remember... A vessel or motorboat when underway between sunset and sunrise must have and exhibit USCG–approved navigation lights. No vessel is authorized or permitted to carry any lighting (not required by law) that will interfere with another vessel’s ability to distinguish the vessel’s navigation lighting.

The MPOA encourages all Wonder Lake boaters to take a few minutes to review the Illinois Boating Digest to make sure they are up to date on the current boating regulations, so that we can keep Wonder Lake safe for everyone on the lake.

3. An inspection tour of the islands along the east shore of Wonder Lake was conducted by boat on April 24th to begin to develop ideas on how to further protection the shoreline soils from erosion, remove undesirable vegetation, and restore desirable vegetation. One item of concern is that some lake users in canoes / kayaks have been removing rock from the installed shoreline protection collars around these islands, to gain access to the area inside the collars. This creates weak spots in the structure and can allow wave action to hit the island shoreline soils. If lake users observe anyone moving the rock out of position, they should be told that it is not acceptable to do that. A plan is in the works to have volunteers replace the displaced rock to its proper position.

4. An Indiana website with various ideas on protecting water quality. https://indiana.clearchoicescleanwater.org/