A message from Carol and Dick

Dear Friends,

We feel so fortunate to have made so many new friends in these eighteen years. What a great way to start the new Millennium!

The summer of '99 was exciting. Plenty of sunshine!  Good fishing! An abundance of good times! We began to utilize some of the facilities across the road with a few picnics in the new pavilion, programs in the Rec Building, and use of the new fire pit. As always, there were many sleep overs in the Fish Hatchery Building. August brought a fun decathlon for the many active teenagers along with the annual photo contest .  Our hope is to expand the use of the area in 2000 with sports facilities like volleyball, horseshoes, frisbee golf, basketball etc. The area was rough graded last fall and we intend to complete it before the end of the season. We are considering changing the entrance to the area by putting in an access road directly across from the main Village entrance.  We also plan to improve the Nature Trail around the lake.

This past year we have continued to be very involved in an in-depth lake monitoring project of the three lakes. Bill Grunwald and Dwight Sandman have been very faithful at collecting water samples and taking dissolved oxygen readings.  We received a grant from the state DNR in order to determine the cause of the '95 fish kill and prevent if from happening again.  With help from the DNR our fish population has mad a near complete recovery. Many Muskies and walleyes were caught last summer.  Several 20"+ walleyes were caught this winter.

We continue to move ahead with our fish rearing ponds. As many of you know, we did have fish in one pond last summer.  They did really well until late fall when the blue heron and mink had a fall harvest. They depleted the pond in three nights. We are still working on completing the fourth pond for bass and hope to solve the mink problem.  We will soon be successful fish farmers?!

Our other major undertaking this winter is the implementation of a mattress replacement program. Due to the large numbers of beds, this will require a significant investment and will probably be accomplished in stages, starting with some queens this year.

Our plans are to have the Barn open for rental by July1.  As yet, we do not have a firm rental rate established.  If you think you might be interested in renting and would like more details, please give us a call at 815-399-3113 or 715-385-2182.

Becky is no longer with us as she accepted full time employment with a realtor. We will miss her after many years of good service. Bill Grunwald will take over the office, front desk and Sue will assist him with housekeeping responsibilities.

As our Village has become larger and more complex, we have had to do considerable hard thinking and planning about the future of White Birch Village. That planning resulted in our hiring Rod Lankey as Manager of Building and Grounds. He brings with him a strong maintenance background.  The combination of talents from Rod and Bill - and Sue - is the foundation for us to build a long term relationship for White Birch Village.

The season will soon be upon us and we look forward to seeing all of you.

Carol and Dick Malmgren