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In This Issue
What's New At MN COLA?
Upcoming Events
News
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March meeting highlight: Michigan’s Glen Lake Association sets a high bar protecting water quality
- MN COLA introduces new website!
- Rare report of zebra mussel attached to lake chub
- Midwest Glacial Lakes Partnership’s Conservation Planner provides insights on Lakes
- Shoreline Living Booklet Volume 2 is now available
- DNR unveils summer walleye rules for Mille Lacs
Best We've Seen
- Vermont may establish aggressive wake surf regulations
Commentary
- Four-Billion-Year-Old Clean Water
www.lakeadmin.org featured posts
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What's New at MN COLA?
MN COLA President Joe Shneider describes some of the big things that have been going on in the last few months. It has been a very busy time for your MN COLA Executive Committee and Board of Directors as they work on our new website, planning for our 2023 Lake Resiliency sessions, supporting the bills we care about at the Minnesota Legislature, and more!
More information
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Clearwater River Watershed District Hosts AIS Forum
The Clearwater River Watershed District (includes counties of Wright, Stearns, Meeker) is hosting its 4th AIS Forum. A great line up of speakers is planned, along with information about the District’s enhanced carp management.
April 6, 2023 (Virtual-Zoom) 5:00-6:30 p.m. CT
The event is free, but pre-registration is required.
Speakers include:
Ariana Richardson, Meeker Co AIS Coordinator
Cole Loewen, Stearns County Environmental Services
Alicia O'Hare, Wright Co Water Resources Specialist
Paul Pattee, Clearwater Lake Property Owners Assoc - Clearwater Lake AIS Action Plan & Results from Recent Sediment Studies
Bruce Hall, Clear Lake Property Owners Assoc - Clear Lake Harvester Success Story
Curt Forst, Wright Co Coalition of Lake Assoc - AIS Strategies for Wright County Associations
Jeff Forester, MN Lakes & Rivers Advocates - MN Legislative Updates on AIS
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Hennepin County with U of M Extension
offers free AIS Detector training in May
Partnering with the U of M Extension, Hennepin County is hosting two free aquatic invasive species (AIS) detector course options this spring.
The course is an introduction to AIS science, identification, and surveillance. You will learn how to identify and report invasive species, best practices for preventing the spread of AIS, relevant rules and regulations, and how to search for AIS on your own.
This course consists of two portions: a self-paced online course and an in-person workshop with the instructors. The self-paced online course takes approximately 8 hours to complete and must be completed prior to the in-person workshop.
In-person workshop options (only 1 day required):
· Friday, May 5 in Minneapolis from 9 am to 5 pm
· Friday, May 12 in Wayzata from 9 am to 5 pm
Learn more and register
(Note: Expand section EXT XFO.0063 – Minneapolis for the Minneapolis session and EXT XFO.0063 – Wayzata for the Wayzata session)
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Check out these MGLP sponsored
educational events for Spring
Managing for RADical lake change: applying the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework to support walleye management in Wisconsin
April 11, 1:00 P.M.
Register here
Managers facing transforming lakes can benefit from considering broader objectives beyond a traditional focus on resisting change. They can also consider whether accepting inevitable change or directing it along some desirable pathway is more practical and appropriate under some circumstances (the RAD framework). Here, we’ll introduce the RAD framework and highlight a decision-support tool for the walleye recreational fishery in Wisconsin as an example of how to link the RAD framework to real-world management of a large recreational fishery.
On thin ice: Are lakes feeling the heat?
April 18, 1:00 P.M.
Register here
Our planet is experiencing accelerated climate warming, with dramatic consequences not only on lake ecology, but also on the ecosystem services we rely on from our freshwater resources. Lakes with seasonal ice cover, which represent more than half of the world’s lakes, are especially sensitive to a changing climate, as ice cover is a strong determinant of lake ecosystem functioning. Lakes are losing ice cover at unprecedented rates. On average, ice duration is shorter by 17 days/century. However, in the past 25 years, lake ice loss is 6 times faster, with some lakes not freezing every winter. By the end of the century, over 200,000 lakes may no longer regularly freeze and almost 6,000 lakes may permanently lose ice cover with climate warming. With reduced ice cover, lakes may stratify earlier which can lead to elevated water temperatures, primary production, and likelihood of algal blooms, some of which may be toxic. Mitigation of greenhouse gases is essential to preserving this ecological, cultural, and economically important resource.
Shoreline Living Volume Two: Property owner experiences in lakefront conservation
May 2, 1:00 P.M.
Register here
This presentation will introduce the second volume of the MGLP’s Living document. With over 90,000 copies in circulation, both versions of the MGLP’s Shoreline Living document are excellent resources for starting conversations about natural shorelines. These magazine-style publications contain articles highlighting families who live on natural shorelines and have taken a variety of steps to benefit themselves and their lakes. Beautiful photographs of each property accompany the articles, where the families share their process in creating, maintaining, enjoying, and protecting their natural shorelines. This presentation will provide an opportunity to hear directly from some of the featured property owners as they share their experiences in conservation.
Conservationists' perspectives of governance in the Iowa Great Lakes
April 18, 1:00 P.M.
Register here
Multiple activities within watershed boundaries impact the quality of freshwater systems. Since many of these systems are managed by complex governance structures, there is a need to understand how social settings and interactions between stakeholders can impact governance. This presentation examines stakeholders' perspectives of governance in the Iowa Great Lakes region. These lakes are a valuable freshwater system because they are a popular tourist destination and drinking water source for communities, but they reside in a watershed with large amounts of agricultural production and development. Because of these various interests, conservationists must work within a complex governance structure to protect these lakes. This presentation examines conservationists' perspectives on the region's environmental pressures, barriers they encounter, and solutions within this system. Our results highlight the difficulties of working with this system to mitigate environmental pressures as well as possible solutions.
Healthy Watersheds, High-Quality Waters- A New program for protecting the wonderful waters of Wisconsin
May 16, 1:00 P.M.
Register here
Wisconsin DNR seeks to protect Wisconsin’s wonderful waters and way of life. Not only is Wisconsin blessed with a landscape filled with water resources, but those lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands also provide tremendous public health, recreation, and economic benefits. The Healthy Watersheds, High-Quality Waters initiative is a first step towards greater balance between restoration and protection to conserve water resources and the values they provide. The overall goal is to keep 100% of the priority healthy watersheds and high-quality waters within them at or better than their current conditions through 2030. This presentation will share modeling and assessment results, geographic priorities, partner feedback, action plan, and experiences from the first year of implementation.
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March meeting highlight:
Michigan’s Glen Lake Association
sets a high bar protecting water quality
Our Lake Resiliency topic at the March Membership meeting was a follow-up to December’s presentation on using drones for surface water management, but it was much more.
Rob Karner, the biologist for the Glen Lake Association in Michigan, took center stage and talked through their comprehensive approach to using their shoreline survey to drive water quality improvements. Rob was supported by Dennis Wiand and Ron Reimink who spoke about the drone technology in December.
It was a fascinating discussion, full of common sense and insights. One came away from the discussion with the thought that this is a lake association that is driven to preserve and protect their water quality. They are well organized, focused, and have set the bar very high. Everyone who watches the video can gain something that will help propel your lake association forward. It’s worth your time!
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MN COLA introduces new website!
a fresher look, better organized and easier to use
To better serve our members MN COLA developed its new website. Our goal was a clean, modern, and inviting website with up-to-date information useful to members and other visitors. We organized our areas of focus and put them in one place (Our Focus Areas). We provide a list of water-oriented events and webinars for professionals from Minnesota and surrounding states. We also provide current news from around the region and beyond, and there’s a quick reference page for links to organizations, government and private. Take a look at mncola.org and let us know what you think!
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Rare report of zebra mussel attached to lake chub
No, this is not news from The Onion, but a research report published in Biological Invasions on March 6, 2023. This was a rare case of a zebra mussel attached by byssal threads to the lateral scales of a 6” lake chub. In the abstract, the authors note that Charles Darwin had previously recognized the potential for this kind of animal-assisted dispersal to occur. Also of note is that in 1882 Darwin published research entitled “On the dispersal of freshwater bivalves”
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Midwest Glacial Lakes Partnership’s Conservation Planner provides insights on Lakes
The Midwest Glacial Lakes Partnership website makes their Conservation Planner available for your use. The Conservation Planner provides information to support ecosystem-based conservation to benefit inland lake fish habitat.
Once you are in the Conservation Planner, you can get to the User Guide which also has suggestions as to ways you could use the Planner.
Data in the Conservation Planner is based upon the MGLP’s Phase II Assessment of Inland Lake Fish Habitats. To learn more about the Conservation Planner and the underlying fish habitat assessment, go to the Midwest Glacial Lakes Partnership website.
Please note that the planner works best with Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, or Edge browsers; it does not work in Internet Explorer.
More Information
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Shoreline Living Booklet Volume 2 is now available
The Midwest Glacial Lakes Partnership is proud to share two volumes of its Shoreline Living series, which provide examples of everyday shoreline property owners that dipped their toes into rehabilitating or protecting a natural shoreline.
There’s something magical about spending time at a lake, whether you’re swimming, boating, fishing, or just sitting and listening to the lapping waves. There are simple steps property owners can take to keep their lakes clean and healthy for generations to come. The Shoreline Living series shares the examples of ordinary property owners who have done something extraordinary. Each is taking steps in their own way to do their part to care for the lake. From small steps to rehabilitate a relatively manicured property to protecting an almost fully forested and natural landscape, the articles within feature the efforts of people just like you.
Print copies of Volume 1 and Volume 2 can be ordered for minimal cost, or links can be used for free to provide access to your association. Check out this great content and more in the Resources section of the MGLP website.
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DNR unveils summer walleye rules for Mille Lacs
State-licensed anglers will have the opportunity to harvest a walleye 21-23 inches in length or greater than 28 inches throughout the 2023 open water season on Mille Lacs Lake. A lower walleye harvest this winter and an improving walleye population are combining to allow this year’s more liberal regulations.
As context for the 2023 summer walleye regulations, Brad Parsons, fisheries section manager for the MN DNR said “The lake has been in a state of change since the 1990s. As the water started to clear, we began seeing warmer water temperatures. Change continues with the introduction of invasive species such as zebra mussel and spiny water flea.”
The northern pike population in Mille Lacs is healthy, and harvest of fish under 30 inches is encouraged for anglers looking for another option to bring home a meal of fish. Mille Lacs is also home to a smallmouth bass population that opens to catch and release angling on May 13, with harvest of fish less than 17 inches allowed starting on Saturday, May 27.
More Information
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Vermont may establish aggressive wake surf regulations
On February 15, 2023, the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation held a listening session regarding their proposed regulation for wake boat operation in Vermont lakes, which if approved, would be the most restrictive wake boat regulations in the US.
We think you might like to see some of the press about the public hearing:
An OpEd from John Dillon published before the meeting in the Rutland Online Herald: Opinions on wake boats
An OpEd from Anne Wallace Allen published after the meeting in Seven Days: Wake Boat Opponents Pack Vermont Hearing on Regulation
A news story after the meeting from WCAX, the CBS affiliate in Burlington, VT: Vermonters chime in on proposed wake boat rules
More Information
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Four-Billion-Year-Old Clean Water
Blaine Barkley, former MN COLA Treasurer, and current Executive Committee member, shares a perspective about clean, safe, accessible, and fragile water.
More information
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MN COLA Board of Directors
(As of June 2022)
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