The heavy rain this spring produced extremely high water levels for the reservoir. The highest that anyone can ever remember. Those high waters produced more logs, fallen trees and debris than we have seen in recent years. Not to mention the havoc, dock destruction and lost property to those living on the shore lines.
We held our 9th Annual Cleanup earlier this year to help clean up the huge mess left behind by the storms. We did manage to collect 9 dump truck loads of logs and debris which is normal. However, we could have collected 2 to 3 times as much. We were limited by the number of volunteers and the number of pontoon boats to help with this enormous challenge. Many of us still had not had the chance to get our boats in the water prior to the May 18th date. Also, schools were still in progress and the kids soccer and baseball games. So, I apologize to those who still have logs and debris we could not haul away.
I would like to thank all of you who helped with the cleanup this year including Gary Rhodes, Gary Holgeboom, Larry Seacat, Dick Van Voorhis, Dean Denhart, Chuck McCarleywho have shown up every year for this 4 hour event. Thanks to Art Hall, Jim Koss and Jim Seebeck for organizing this year’s Cleanup. And thanks to the Cicero Utilities Department for supplying the backhoe and hauling away the 9 dump truck loads of debris.
We are considering holding a second cleanup later this summer. We would like to hear from you if you could help us in the late July, early August time frame. We also need to know if you still have the any large logs and your dock number. Please send an email to info@morseh2o.org if you can help or if you have logs to haul away. If you live near the Noblesville Marina, you can still haul any logs to the holding area to the west side of the courtesy docks and tie them off with an old rope to the other logs already located there. We will be disposing of these within the next few weeks. Please remember that we need your help and cannot continue to do complete cleanup with only 20-25 people and 2 pontoon boats for hauling.
On May 22nd, we held our annual Spring public meeting which was attended by 40+ people. I would like to thank the South Harbour Club House for allowing us to use their great facility.
We have a new Conservation Officer responsible for Morse reservoir this year. Officer Bill Doss has taken over these responsibilities from Officer John Gano who is focusing his efforts on Geist. Officer Doss lives
in Arcadia and attended Hamilton Heights Schools, so he is very familiar with Morse and surrounding area. Here is his contact information: BDoss@DNR.IN.GOV or 765-635-5916 if you have any specific questions.
This year, the DNR is asking us to abide by the buoy regulations. We are asked to complete the permit request which can be found on the DNR web site
Buoy Permit – http://www.in.gov/dnr/lawenfor/2747.htm
Click on this link and then open the “Structure Permit” pdf form. Complete the form and mail to the address on the form. Be sure to include your street AND your dock number. There is no cost for this permit. The DNR will then come to your home and set the buoys no further than 185 ft. from the shoreline. The reason for this process is to makes sure DNR has record so that if they issue a ticket for going inside the buoy, this is difficult to be challenged in court of law by the offender. The DNR is also requesting that we use the standard 200 ft. cylinder buoys rather than homemade buoys or inflatable balls. Again, the reason is for enforcing any ticket violations so there is no confusion on the buoys. I will add that from a cosmetic perspective, the lake will look better if we all use the same standard type of buoy. If you are purchasing new buoys, get the 200’ buoys.
Shaena Reinhart and Michelle Kearns from the Upper White River Watershed Alliance (UWRWA) gave a presentation on their organizations goals and objectives preserving our and improving our water quality within our watershed. Our MWA group has been a member of the UWRWA for 5-6 years. They have been invaluable helping us with grant funding and their expertise. They discussed the current grant funding for rain gardens and shoreline stabilization which is available to us living on the shoreline. The program is entitled Healthy Shores Initiative and you can read more about it on our web site www.MorseH2O.org A few people attending the meeting signed up for the program.
Roger Goings discussed new forecasting tools now available to Citizens Water for predicting water supply. The good news is that this year is forecast to be a good year good water flow in the White River. This means that less water will be required from Morse Reservoir. Based on the rainfall so far this year, it looks really good. Citizens has also help to alleviate demand from Morse by dredging the canal feeding the 16th Street plant and opening another inlet on the White River North plant.
Regarding the proposed Andersen Reservoir, this project still needs a number of regulatory approvals, but so far there has been no negative responses from State or Federal agencies. The current plan is to have completion by the year 2020. If and when this does get built, this could be a positive for Morse.
As many of you know, we have been discussing dredging with Citizens for the past 12 months. We are specifically looking at Big and Little Cicero Creeks and Hinkle Creek. We hope to be in a position to have a meeting with interested parties on those 3 inlets towards the end of summer.
If anyone needs a replacement for their dock number sign, you can order it from Autografix, 700 N. 9th St. in Noblesville. Their phone number is 774-9090.
