Join the Association
Approximately 80% of our annual budget pays for inspectors at the public boat access. When that program runs, this lake stays clean. When it doesn’t, neither does the lake.
The public boat access on the west shore is the single most likely point of entry for zebra mussels, starry stonewort, Eurasian milfoil, and other aquatic invasive species. For years, Association-funded inspectors have been stationed there during the busiest weeks of the boating season, checking trailers, hulls, and live wells of every boat coming in and going out.
That program is why Grace Lake still has no zebra mussels, no Eurasian watermilfoil, and no starry stonewort — confirmed again by LimnoPro’s 2026 lakewide survey. Curly-leaf pondweed is the one invasive that did get in, and the 2026 surveys found it established in five localized beds rather than as the single stray specimen netted in 2025. It most likely arrived long before modern inspection protocols. Every dollar we spend now is to prevent the next one.
The 2026 season shows what that buys. Inspectors staffed the access for 1,055 hours between May 11 and September 27 and carried out 2,383 inspections. Thirteen of those found vegetation or other material on a watercraft before it went in the water — thirteen chances for something to reach Grace Lake that were stopped at the ramp. Drain-plug compliance came in at 99 percent, and no zebra mussels were found on any boat inspected. Full season data (PDF) →
Make your check payable to “Grace Lake Watershed Improvement Association” for $50 (annual dues) and mail to our Treasurer:
Please include your name(s), Grace Lake address, phone number, and email so we can keep you on the mailing list for the newsletter and annual meeting notice.
Any donation over and above the $50 dues is tax-deductible and goes into our spendable budget. We partner with the Northwest Minnesota Foundation’s Grace Lake Charitable Fund for online giving and memorial donations.
Donations made through the Foundation are processed securely and a receipt is emailed directly from NW MN Foundation for tax purposes.
This is a heavier year than usual, and dues alone will not cover it. If you can give an additional $250 to $500, it goes directly to lake protection.
Here is the honest picture. Finding the curly-leaf pondweed took two lakewide surveys, now complete and published in full. Our $5,000 grant covers the delineation survey that mapped the beds — $1,664.78. It does not cover the point-intercept survey that located the plants in the first place, which was the necessary first step and comes to $4,689.11 paid by the Association directly.
At the same time, costs for our public-access inspection program have risen, and outside contributions we have counted on in past years are not assured going forward. On the curly-leaf, the board decided in July to hold off on chemical treatment for 2027 and monitor the mapped beds instead, which keeps that cost down for now. Monitoring still has to be paid for, and treatment may be warranted in a later year.
None of this is cause for alarm. The Association is on solid footing and the board is planning carefully. But this is a year where extra giving genuinely changes what we are able to do.
Where the extra dollars go
Thank you for supporting Grace Lake. Every check, every online gift, every extra hour of volunteer inspector time adds up.
The Grace Lake Watershed Improvement Association is completely member-supported. No other local organization serves as the voice of lakeshore owners — and no other organization is funding the inspections that have kept this lake clean. The strength of the Association is directly proportional to the strength of its membership.
If you own property on Grace Lake, fish here, boat here, or simply care about the lake staying the way it is, your $50 matters. And if you can do more, that matters too.