Hello Clam Lake!
The big stars (literally) of the week were the Northern Lights. What a wondrous sight they are to behold!
ELK HUNT UPDATE – On Saturday, October 12th the 2024 elk hunt got underway. This year there were more than 25,000 applicants for the once in a lifetime chance to hunt elk in Wisconsin. (Out of each $10 application $7 goes towards elk research.)This will be the first year the Black River Zone will be included in the hunt. Per treaty rights, the Ojibwe tribes may declare four bulls of the eight bull harvest quota within the ceded Territory which includes the Clam Lake Zone but not the Black River Zone. There were 17,761 applicants for the Clam Lake Elk Zone and 7,750 applicants for the Black River Zone. Between the two zones a total of 12 bull elk will be harvested. The Native hunt got underway in September with them having filled three of their tags as of this printing. Each tribe that is chosen to participate can designate the ones who will hunt from their tribe and all meat is shared between the tribes. Theirs is a very ceremonial hunt. We wish everyone a safe season.
BOOK CLUB RECAP – Last Monday, the Clam Lake Book Club met with attendees bringing favorite books to discuss and share with the group. This made for some interesting discussion and gave us a host of new reading material to choose from for future book club selections. We thank everyone for attending and sharing. The group has decided to keep meeting through the winter with meetings being held earlier in the day due to shorter days and the challenges of winter driving. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, November 12th running from 2:30 to 3:30 at Lisa’s house. The book being discussed will be “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Reid is the author of “Daisy Jones and the Six” which was made into a drama miniseries. If planning to attend, please contact Lisa Peifer at LisaSPeifer@gmail.com for directions and RSVP.
COMMUNITY CLUB MEETING RECAP – On Thursday, October 10th the Clam Lake Community Club held their monthly meeting with a lively group in attendance. The main topics of discussion were Todd Rongstad’s work over at the cemetery and the Day Lake Dam Breach Inundation Map. Todd explained how everything fell together like it was meant to be regarding the stones he was able to attain to replace the seven deteriorating wooden crosses on the graves of our long ago Clam Lakers. We are grateful to him for letting the hands of the “old souls” steer him where he needed to go to help them be remembered. Also on the roster was the presentation of the Forest Service Day Lake Dam Inundation Map. This map shows what would be affected and how quickly if the Day Lake Dam would ever breach. This will be put up on the wall of the Community Center for all to see. On that note, I have been reassured by District Ranger Mike Martin that the Dam is checked quite frequently by Forest Service personnel and that it has an alarm which would alert if the water level dropped quickly. They also do a practice drill of what would be done if such an event were to happen every five years.
Until next week……
Pictured are the Northern Lights strutting their stuff in my neck of the deep, deep woods.