1. Our hot dry summer has continued into Fall. Since September 1st, Wonder Lake has only received a total of 3.4 inches of rainfall, as measured at the USGS Thompson Road gage.

2. In cooperation with the Village of Wonder Lake, the Nippersink Watershed Association has been awarded a McHenry County Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to provide funding assistance for a pedestrian footbridge over Merchant Creek at E. Lake Shore Drive. A contract to begin the engineering and permitting aspects of the project has been executed, to allow construction by sometime next spring / early summer.

3. With the Fall season, comes yard work and leaf raking. If yard waste ends up in the lake, the result will be additional accumulations of organic material and nutrients; both which degrade water clarity and can contribute to nuisance algae blooms. Whether you do your own yard work or hire landscape services, please be aware that raking yard waste and leaf litter into the lake is not an acceptable practice. Similarly, those folks who have property which contains a tributary stream to Wonder Lake should also avoid raking yard waste and leaf litter into their stream, as it will eventually end up in the lake.

4. All MPOA buoys have been removed for the season, thanks to the Yacht Club. Late season boaters will need to use caution when operating near known shallow water areas.

5. The annual inspection of the Wonder Lake Dam, as well as the Wonder Lake Sediment Drying Facility, will be conducted on Friday, October 15th. This is a requirement of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources – Office of Water Resources.

6. The MPOA recently received copies of a publication called “Shoreline Living”, produced by the Midwest Glacial Lakes Partnership. While Wonder Lake is not a glacial (natural) lake, the document contains a wealth of information on creating and maintaining a healthy shoreline along lakefront property. We encourage all Wonder Lake lakefront landowners to obtain a copy from the MPOA office. If the 200 copies we received run out, the document is also available at: https://midwestglaciallakes.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/VBCD_2020_Sh…