10th & 11th
Crow
Wing
Lake Association
“Neighbors helping neighbors
for the greater good of the lakes”
April 18, 2008 Spring Newsletter
Hello neighbors! The unexpected blizzard last week with it’s FEET of snow added a new dimension to the term “spring fever”. It has melted quickly, but everything’s a muddy mess and all the lakes up here are still frozen with ice. I swear I heard a loon a couple nights ago and we saw a pair of tundra swans flying overhead yesterday. We wondered where the HECK they are finding a place to land. Hmmmmmm . . . . everyone and everything in the northwoods is way past ready for spring! CURLY LEAF PONDWEED (CLP) INVASION Last season we scheduled 4 consecutive Saturdays in May for a volunteer project we called Pondweed Round-up! What did we learn from this? *sigh* Well, we learned that you can’t schedule a date to identify aquatic plants, due to weather issues (wind, white caps, churning water, rain). A big THANK YOU needs to be acknowledged to those of you handful of neighbors who tried! (We also want to thank those half dozen or so volunteers from Portage Lake, other Lake Associations, COLA and the DNR for wading into that cold May water with rakes, gloves and a good attitude! You guys ROCK!) Other things learned last season: Hand-pulling the weeds DID WORK. We, at Crow Wing Crest Lodge, applied and paid for a DNR permit and purchased $150 of dried chemical specifically to treat CLP. We applied this stuff three times over the course of the season throughout our contaminated beach and boat ramp areas and it, too, seemed to work very well. Neighbors around the lake who learned they had CLP around their docks took the time and effort to hand-pull what they could and this eliminated much of this invasive plant! That’s the good news. The bad news: fresh batches of CLP were cropping up and seen growing as late as mid-September. HELP! New plan of attack for this year? We’re up for suggestions. Maybe a Scout & Tag effort? If every property owner around the lake could donate 1 hour of their time this summer in helping to control the CLP growth, this could really make a difference! HOW? - •
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E-mail us more suggestions, or we’ll see you at the meeting in two weeks! Take good care until then . . . . - Kim (& Big John) Bowen, Crow Wing Crest Lodge 31159 County Road 23, Akeley, MN 56433 (218) 652-3111,
kimbowen@eot.com
WE NEED YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS! We’d like to keep you connected with the happenings on your lake. Eventually, we’d like to go “paperless” with this newsletter (to save postage, and save trees!) Please contact me at
kimbowen@eot.com
to get you on the e-mail list. Current minutes from the last Lake Association Meetings are always posted on the local community bulletin board website:
www.akeleymn.com
What is an invasive species? Why is Curly Leaf Pondweed such a concern for our lakes? An invasive species is any plant, animal or organism (i.e. microbe) non-native to an eco-system, whose introduction causes economic or environmental harm. Because Curly Leaf Pondweed is the first aquatic plant to grow during spring (sometimes even under the ice!) it insidiously gets a head start before any native species. The plant spreads rapidly, crowding out native plants and creating mats and mats of vegetation. We do not want this invasive aquatic plant to spread to the other lakes in our chain, or surrounding communities. AND we’d like to contain/control it on 11th Crow Wing Lake so as not to inhibit swimming, recreational boating and fishing activities.* If we cannot find enough volunteers to hand-pull, rake and/or act as “scouts” to detect areas of growth throughout this season, our lake could end up like poor Portage Lake.* A future control alternative will be professional chemical treatment. This could cost every property owner around the lake lots of dollars and a possible decrease in property value. Let’s protect our lakes. We need your HELP! *Wanna see the damage it can do to a lake? A lake here in Hubbard County (only 3 lakes in Hubbard Co. have CLP) had mats of curly leaf pondweed so thick, you could almost walk across the lake on them! View photos at the Portage Lake Association website and to learn the cost of dealing with this issue after it got out of hand;
www.peteport.com/portage
Fish Survey Report Doug Kingsley, Park Rapids Area Fisheries Manager, gave a FANTASTIC presentation at last fall’s Lake Association meeting. Thank you, Doug! The DNR makes attempts to survey the Crow Wing chain of lakes every 4 years. Detailed graphs and info can be found by going to
www.dnr.state.mn.us
and clicking on “lake finder”. Spell out Eleventh Crow Wing Lake or any other lake you are curious about, to see results (including statistics on the 11th’s successful walleye stocking program, the generally low pan fish populations, but surprising figures for larger sized northern pike.) Did You Know? 11th Crow Wing Lake is deeper per littoral foot, on average, than any other lake in Hubbard County? (Wow! That includes approximately 90 lakes!) Large Mouth Bass: There has been discussion at the last several Lake Association meetings about the possibility of putting a DNR restriction limit, or a “catch & release” program on bass in an effort to increase the size of caught fish. After a telephone conversation with the Area Fisheries Manager last Monday, April 14, the DNR has decided to steer their bass conservation efforts to other lakes in the county (i.e. Belle Taine) for the immediate future. This last fish survey (summer 2006) was the first time they utilized electrofishing as a survey technique on 11th Crow Wing Lake, so now that they have a starter baseline point, it will be interesting to note the bass numbers/size during the next survey (around 2010). The survey showed only moderate bass populations compared to other lakes of its class, although this has not been a change since the last survey done in 2002. (It was mentioned at the presentation that bass are a difficult species to survey.) How do you find the fishing on 11th & 10th Crow Wing Lakes? We welcome your own personal observations at upcoming meetings. Your opinions matter, and will be passed along to the DNR to help them maintain our valuable natural resource: our lakes! Not a member? BECOME ONE, it’s easy! Mail $12 (annual dues -what a deal!) to Treasurer Lisa Hanson and you can VOTE at the next meeting. Plus you will know that your dues are helping to pay for this newsletter mailing, water clarity tests of your lake, and future needs of the lake (i.e. Curly Leaf Pondweed eradication). Thanks for supporting the health of your lake!
Spring Lake Association Meeting May 3, 2008 (Saturday) 10:30 a.m. Senior Center (downtown Akeley, next to Blue Ox Market – this is directly following the pancake breakfast 7 – 10 a.m. -- feel free to partake!) MEETING AGENDA - •
- •
- •
- •
Fall Meeting tentatively scheduled for Saturday, September 20 at 10:30 a.m. at Senior Center. PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDAR! (If we have your e-mail address, we will zip you a reminder notice prior to the meeting.)
 Curly-Leaf
Pondweed
(Potamogeton
crispus)
Grows from
the shore to depths of up to 15 feet
Description: Leaves
are somewhat stiff and crinkled, approx. ½ inch wide and 2-3
inches long; leaves are arranged alternately around the
stem, and become more dense toward the end of branches;
produces winter buds.
Hints to
identify: Has small
“teeth” visible along edge of leaf, begins growing in EARLY
spring before most other pondweeds (even starting under
ice); dies back during midsummer.
The flower stalks, when present, stick up above the
water surface in June; appears reddish-brown in the water,
but is actually green when pulled out of the water and
examined closely.
Easily confused with Clasping-Leaf pondweed, which has
leaves with no “teeth” around their edges.
Provides
some cover for fish; several waterfowl feed on the seeds.
Will not
succeed in propagating itself if enough native aquatic
plants are established.
Tendency to start invading at areas of
disturbed lakeshore
(i.e. boat ramps, newly developed areas, swim areas, etc.)
Source:
Lake Weeder’s Digest,
www.lakeweeds.eventwebsitebuilder.com
Doug Kingsley, DNR Park
Rapids Area Fisheries Manager has graciously agreed to
attend our meeting so that we can utilize his expertise on
how we might best handle the Curly-Leaf Pondweed invasion!
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The
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is
making more than $300,000 available for grant proposals for
restoring native shoreline vegetation across the state.
Grant
recipients will be reimbursed for up to 75 percent of the total
project costs. Applicants must be able to fund at least 25 percent
of the total project costs from non-state sources. Matching funds
may be cash, volunteer labor, and in-kind contributions of
materials, equipment and services.
"This is an opportunity
for homeowners, local communities and conservation organizations to
help enhance native shoreline vegetation and fish habitat in their
local lakes, streams and rivers," said John Hiebert,
DNR
shoreland habitat coordinator. Last year, 26 projects were funded
for $296,000.
Applications for grants, are available on the
Minnesota
DNR
Web site at:
www.dnr.state.mn.us or by calling the
DNR
at
(651)
296-6157
or toll free 1-888-MINNDNR
(646-6367).
Applications are due Sept. 18.
Successful applicants will be
notified in January. Funds will be made available to successful
applicants after
July 1, 2007.
The grants are funded from state lottery proceeds deposited in
the heritage enhancement account. Grants, administered through the
DNR
Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, are designed with guidance from
local
DNR
fisheries managers.
2006 Lake
Quality Report
Submitted by
Rich Willhaus
During 2006,
our lake water was tested 5 times. A sample was taken each month
from May to September at a single location, that being the deepest
portion of the lake. There is a 72-foot spot on the lower basin
that has been the focus of the testing. It is considered that this
area is the best representation of the quality of the water in 11th
Crow Wing. Each month the sample from this location was sent to a
lab where phosphorous (P) and chlorophyll (Chl) are measured and
from an elaborate algorithm which includes lake area, lake clarity,
P, Chl; an index (TSI) is generated which can be used to compare to
other lakes.
The values of
the phosphorous in Hubbard county lakes are as high as 50+ and the
chlorophyll values may be as high as 30+. The secchi readings,
which is a visible measurement of clarity using a white disk, range
from 2 to 20+ with the TSI values ranging from low 30’s to the
70’s. In most cases the lower numbers are better with exception of
the Secchi readings where the higher numbers indicate a more clear
water reading.
As the year
progressed, the P and Chl measurements in 11th Crow Wing
decreased and then increased and the Secchi readings
increased and decreased indicating the water became more clear and
then less clear. This Secchi readings show a fair correlation to
the P and Chl measurements. From my observation, the data from our
lake are quite good when compared to other lakes in Hubbard county
|
Date |
P (ug/l) |
Chl (ug/l) |
Secchi
(ft) |
TSI
average |
|
May 15 |
17 |
9 |
9.0 |
47 |
|
June 18 |
6 |
3 |
15.0 |
36 |
|
July 17 |
8 |
1 |
18.0 |
33 |
|
Aug 20 |
11 |
6 |
12.0 |
43 |
|
Sept 16 |
19 |
6 |
11 |
46 |
|
Range
of data in Hubbard County |
3 - 110 |
1 - 88 |
1.5 -
27 |
31 - 73 |
Not a member?
BECOME ONE, it’s easy!
Mail $12
(annual dues -what a deal!) to Treasurer Lisa Hanson and you can VOTE at
the next meeting. Plus you will know that your dues are helping to pay
for this newsletter mailing, water clarity tests of your lake, and
supplies to build loon nests, etc. Thanks for supporting the health of
your lake!
2007 Spring Lake
Association Meeting
May 5, 2007 (Saturday)
10:00 a.m.
Crow Wing Crest Lodge
(31159 County
Road 23 on 11th Crow Wing Lake)
10:00 a.m. - Meeting
10:30 a.m. -DNR
Curly-Leaf Pondweed identification and logistics on Round-up!
plan
11:00 – 1:00 - Pondweed
Round-Up!
MEETING AGENDA
will be very brief (30 minute limit) to allow more time for Pondweed
Round-Up!
·
Approval
of minutes from last meeting
·
Treasurer’s Report
·
Brief
fisheries report of our lakes from last years fish count if DNR member is present
·
Open
Forum and collection of your ideas for more in-depth discussion to
be put on Fall Meeting agenda when we will have more time!
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