Additions such as a new boat for faster response, new positions to manage workers and new fixes and upgrades to equipment make coordinators hopeful that the organization will be better prepared for emergencies that may arise this spring and summer.

CLA General Manager Heather Caskey-Nolan detailed how the organization received a new pontoon boat, along with a trailer and lift. Nolan noted the addition of this boat will be beneficial to the organization in more ways than one. The boat will promote a faster response time for if there is an emergency that occurs on the water. Additionally, Nolan stated that the pontoon boat will allow the supervisors to access more information on weed growth around the lake. This could allow the group to focus more attention to areas that are in greater need, before any growth gets out of hand.

“Last year there was tremendous effort from the community, lake partners, municipalities, governments, and we’re just hoping that we can continue the partnership and keep the momentum going for this summer,” said Nolan.

The CLA will also be implementing a water supervisor. Nolan said the organization will often receive criticism for hiring high school and college aged kids. Criticisms typically pertain to the fact that these young adults are on barges and operating equipment with slightly lacking supervision at times, said Nolan. The water supervisor will oversee the boats and youth that are working, hopefully preventing any mistakes from occurring. Nolan also noted that the supervisor will have a greater perspective on the overall operation, being that sightlines will be different from the shore than from the water. With this, the group hopes that operation will overall remain safer and more efficient.

Pictured is The Neptune harvester that received repair work.

“If there’s equipment down or a barge runs out of fuel on the water, if they’re out there seeing it and hearing about it they can take action and have the problem solved immediately rather than calling somebody to bring five gallons of gas out ans then finding another barge to run it out to them,” said Nolan. “They’ll be out there, they’ll be prepared, they’ll be ready to assist.”

Additionally, the CLA also completed repairs to one of the harvesters in the fleet, The Neptune. Nolan stated that the machine is already quite aged, being that it is from the 1980s. Due to this, the machine would see the need for the cutting bar and teeth to be replaced, which is the entity of the machine’s head. Nolan stated that it is unknown if the actual breakage was caused by overuse or harsh conditions, but regardless the organization rushed into action. The CLA’s Chief Mechanic James Cappalino was able to gather more steel for the project, and weld the replacement pieces into place. With the Neptune back up and running, the team will have a full roster of seven harvesters to tackle nuisance weeds in the lake this summer.

Pictured is The Neptune harvester that received repair work.