The Lake Iroquois Association (LIA) will put the pallet and clock on the ice of Lake Iroquois for our third (3rd) Annual Ice-Out Challenge on Monday, February 6th at 11:00 a.m. You are invited to watch Ernie Rossi, LIA Board member set up the pallet and clock to record the Ice-Out date and time. Last year’s Ice-Out date was April 2, 2022.
Participants in the Lake Iroquois Ice Out Challenge pay $1 per ticket to guess the date and time a concrete block mounted on a pallet will break through the ice on Lake Iroquois. A line attached to the pallet and cinder block loops around a power cord that disconnects and stops a clock mounted on shore when the entire assembly sinks. Tickets for the Ice-Out Challenge are available until March 1, 2023, from www.lakeiroquois.org. Ice out dates recorded on Lake Iroquois since 1987 may be found on LIA’s website: https://www.lakeiroquois.org/enjoying/ice-out-dates.
All funds raised by the Ice-Out Challenge are used to improve water quality and protect the lake from invasive species. The Lake Iroquois Association is a volunteer organization whose “sole purpose is to maintain and enhance healthy ecosystems and appropriate public uses of Lake Iroquois and those aspects of its watershed which impact on the health and well-being of the lake”. (LIA Bylaws)
One program the LIA organizes is the Lake Iroquois Greeter and Boat Wash Program. Greeters at the VT Fishing Access on the lake inspected boats, trailers, and other watercraft and informed boaters about invasive aquatic species of plants every weekend from Memorial Day through Labor Day 2022. Greeters inspected 1,.000 additional watercraft this past summer. With the marked increase in boating, fishing, and swimming on the lake, the need for additional funding to protect the water quality of lake is crucial.
The Greeter Program has been supported in part by grant funding from the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation as well as by the members, donors, and volunteers of the LIA. However, this grant funding is decreasing due both to the increasing number of greeter programs across the state and to reductions in available funds. More information about the Lake Iroquois Association’s Greeter and Boat Wash Program can be found at https://www.lakeiroquois.org/invasives/greeters-boat-wash.
If you are interested in learning more about the Lake Iroquois Association’s efforts, or would like to get involved with any of LIA’s projects, please visit our website at https://www.lakeiroquois.org/ or send an e-mail to lakeiroquoisassociation@gmail.com.
Please join us on Monday, February 6th at 11:00 a.m. Parking is available at Rossi’s, 802 Beebe Ln., Williston—either in front of the house or across the road from it. Beebe Ln. is accessed from Oak Hill Rd. in Williston.