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MPCA
Staff Report:
Maintain an intensive Citizen Lake Monitoring
Program (CLMP) like Caribou and Pike Lakes have and encourage volunteer
recruitment for other area lakes.
Obtain chemical sampling every two or threeyears
as money permits, to help track trends in water quality coinciding with
improvements in wastewater treatment
Best
management practices should be used when applying road deicers.
Specifically, minimize the salting of roads near the lakes, and stockpile
snow in upland areas away from the lakeshore. Caribou. Grand, and Pike
Lake all had chloride concentrations considerably higher than the
ecoregion expectations. This is most likely due to urban runoff. A
chloride analysis of midlake surface water should be included in any
monitoring effort (see above). NRRI data for the entire water column
during the overturn period indicated relatively little depth or seasonal
variation in chloride and so a single sample to characterize the lake for
that year should suffice.
Although most beds of shoreline emergent
aquatic vegetation on Pike Lake have likely been removed by homeowners
over the years, a significant stand of bulrushes remains about midway
along the southern shoreline. This is potentially important habitat for
invertebrates and juvenile fish and also acts to trap washed-in sediments
and nutrients. Efforts to educate shoreland homeowners about the benefits
of this habitat should be encouraged. A new website developed by the
University of Minnesota’s Sea Grant College and Water Resources Center,
The Minnesota Shoreland Management Guide at http//www.shorelandmanagement.org
provides additional useful information on this and other issues relevant
to conserving the lakes’ beneficial uses
Any development in the immediate watershed
should be completed so that impacts to lake water quality are minimized.
Setback provisions and natural buffer strips should be strictly adhered
to. Soil loss can be reduced by utilizing best management practices during
construction or road building. Protection of the existing vegetation along
the shore will minimize erosion and preserve the aesthetic value of the
lake. Use of sedimentation basins should be considered to minimize the
impacts of urban development. Grass clippings should be collected
properly, and not allowed to enter the lakes. Any improvements that might
be realized from the sanitary sewer could be quickly masked by increases
in the amount of stormwater/urban runoff.
Jesse
Anderson/Steven Heiskary
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