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Sunset over Skogman Lake (photo by Bradley Videen)

News from the Rum River Watershed

Volume #2 Issue #2March/April 2006

Feature: Healthy Lakes/Healthy Rivers Partnership in Isanti County

Contents:

•

From the Editor: What Does It Take to Maintain aHealthy Lake?

•

News from six Isanti County Lake Associations

•

Are You Loving Your Lake to Death?

— b

y Mike Mueller

•

Minutes for March Meeting: Friends of the Rum River

•

Earth Day Celebration April 22

at Cambridge Community College

•

In the May/June Issue: Wetland Banks and the 100 Year Flood in Mille Lacs County

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In the July/August Issue: Lake Mille Lacs: The Source of the Rum

•

Mission/Vision Statement of the NRRW newsletter

•

Signing up for the NRRW newsletter

From the Editor:

The Healthy Lakes/Healthy Rivers Partnership in Isanti County

What does it take to maintain a healthy lake? This was the question that drew together a group of 60 people on October 8

at the Wyanett Town Hall, to listen to each other speak of the efforts their lake associations were undertaking to deal with challenges in maintaining Isanti County lakes in good condition.

October 8th was the third of several meetings facilitated by the Initiative Foundation out of Little Falls,through its Healthy Lakes/Healthy Rivers Partnership Program. Don Hickman, the coordinator of theprogram, was eager to answer questions and help move the process along.At this meeting each of the eight Isanti County lake associations taking part in the program, were topresent to the group their findings on “how healthy” their lake presently is. These associationsincluded those of Long Lake (west of the city of Isanti), Paul’s Lake, Elin’s Lake, Lake Francis, GreenLake, Spectacle Lake, Skogman Lake and Lake Fannie. They each had just five minutes to do it.The Initiative Foundation is willing to give up to $5400 to each participating lake or river association tohelp focus on dealing with a selected issue. For some lakes it is the algal blooms. For others,infestations of curly pondweed. $2400 of each grant goes towards fine-tuning each association’svisioning and planning efforts. An additional $3000 will be allocated to implementing a limited numberof the projects.The energy level in the small town hall was high. The members of the associations were obviouslyknowledgeable, dedicated, and keenly interested in the process. They were happy to have thechance to network with each other and other professionals who could assist them. In this issue of

News from the Rum River Watershed

I will introduce you to some of the people in these lakeassociations, and give you an inside look on what they are doing to continue the two-year process ofthe Healthy Lakes/Healthy Rivers Partnership.

—

Kriste

Lake Francis Improvement Association History

Submitted by Don Quaintance, 3-17-06 donquaintance@worldnet.att.net

LAKE FRANCIS

(DNR ID# 30-0080) is located 5 miles west of the city of Isanti on Co. Rd. 5. Thelake surface area is 301 acres, and has a maximum depth of 7-9 feet depending on precipitation. Theaverage water clarity is 1.4 feet, but during recent summers (years 2002 through 2005) from Maythrough August the average Secchi Disc readings have been only 4-6” due to heavy algae blooms.The water starts turning green by mid May, and by June often has a toxic blue green algae bloom.

We do not have a weed problem at this time, because the rough fish and wind keep plants fromgrowing in this heavy phosphorus and nitrogen filled body of water. The lake is filled by County Ditch10 leading into the northwest side of lake, and the water level is controlled by a dam at the northeastcorner of the lake feeding into wetlands and a stream that flows into the Rum River.Originally an unnamed tributary of the Rum River flowed through the north end of the lake in itsnatural state. Sometime prior to 1930 Isanti County Ditch 10 was constructed, a part of which systemdiverted the flow of the creek around the north end of the lake. The low lake levels that followedcaused a concern in the area, and in 1932 a new ditch (and current) was constructed, redirecting partof the flow of the stream into the lake. A dam was presumed constructed at the same time at theoutlet, since such a dam was found to be in place during a 1935 investigation. This dam failed in1938, and the present outlet dam was completed on October 22, 1938.We have had an active lake association since July 1958 when “The Lake Francis ImprovementAssociation” was formed. The general purpose of the Association is to improve the physical andaesthetic condition of Lake Francis and the surrounding area: also to promote the social and culturalwell being of its members. There is an “Articles of Association” and the board consists of a president,vice president, treasurer, and secretary. Over the years, there has been an attempt to establish aLake Improvement District, but it does not look like one was formed yet. We are now in the process ofstarting this procedure again.The lake association owners treated the lake with copper sulfate a couple times per year during thelate 1960’s through 1980’s. This turned out to be more of a “band aid”; it was only a temporary fix. Itwas during the 1990’s that we found out that copper sulfate was not the best solution, and probably inthe end, added to the problem. There was quite a bit of fishing, boating, skiing on the lake up until1990 when the algae problem took over. There was a lot of wild life around the lake, which suddenlystarted to disappear in 1990.The water clarity of Lake Francis had diminished in the early 1990s to .4 .5 .7 .9 from 2.6 in 1980.This was alarming, and by 1995/1996 we were having meetings to discuss what we could do tocorrect this situation. We started water monitoring and testing in 1997 and applied for a grant in 1998to do a diagnostic study. We worked with Tim Chmielewski of Water Research and Management,Sauk Rapids, MN to do the Diagnostic-Feasibility Study on Lake Francis. We received the grant in1999 and a group of volunteers did monitoring, testing, water sampling, etc. In 2002 the end resultwas that now

“the lake is the problem”.

When testing first started the incoming stream (CD-10) didhave low clarity, but working with the farmers and feed lot people upstream, the water began to clearthe next year, when the farmers took an interest in correcting some of the problems with run off, etc.Now the lake is the problem

—

because it is shallow, and the winds, carp, and recreation keep stirringup the sediments from the bottom of the lake. This prevents any light for good plant growth to helpclean the water. We were advised by the Diagnostic & Feasibility Study that a lake drawdown mightbe the best solution to our problem. This would allow the 12” plus of muck at the bottom to harden,and also would allow plant growth to begin.

In the past three years we have seen a few more birds coming back to the area, and the bald eagleis making a comeback. A couple years ago we had a couple pairs of eagles that took up residence onor near our lake, and this year there have been several more spotted in the area. The blue herondisappeared for 1 or 2 years, but now they are back.To keep the sediments from our lawns, roadways etc from running off into the lake, some lakeshoreowners started lakescaping their properties. Much of this is on a trial basis, to see what works. Wealso are working with Isanti County regarding the mowing of the ditch along Isanti County Rd 5, thatruns along the south end of Lake Francis. After meeting with the County, this year they left a lot of thegrowth there for a barrier (buffer), cutting the taller bushes and trees tops off, but leaving about 3 feetof the plants to hold the soil in place, and filter out sediments. Since the County did not mow down tothe water edge as in previous years, this leaves a nice buffer zoneThere has been an erosion problem since 1969, since I have been a lake resident. I have lost about30 feet of lawn from my house to the lake. I can see that it is not only my property that has beenaffected. In my opinion, this may be one of the reasons the lake has become so shallow and nutrientrich. This soil must be “in the lake” since it is not likely to be washed out over the dam.Our goal is to have a cleaner lake with clear water. We need help in reaching this goal.

History of Paul's (Lake Florence) and Elin's (Elms) Lake Improvement Association

Submitted by Kevin Hartnett, 3/15/06 Khartnett@exemplomedical.comBelow is a quick summary of both Paul's (Lake Florence) and Elin's (Elm's Lake). As you well knowwe are surrounded now by the city of Cambridge. I feel our lakes have a great chance to makesomething good come out of this urban development. No other lakes in Isanti County have had sucha rapid growth in regards to development and possible incorporation into a city as these two lakes. Ifeel if we do things right and document the changes to the lakes we could become a pilot program forthe state of Minnesota.In 1987/1988 Minnesota lakes were affected by a severe drought. At that time, the lakes in CentralMinnesota suffered a significant change in the littoral surface given their bowl shape and sandybottoms. The loss of surface water caused area lakeshore homeowners to place their docksapproximately 100 feet from shoreline. Boat landings became unusable and shorelines became overpopulated with non-aquatic weed growth. Area residents did not use the lakes for recreational use.Residents of Paul's and Elin's lakes formed a volunteer partnership to address the multiple problemsassociated with the drought.In the spring of 1988 a lake association was formed now known today as Paul's and Elin's LakeImprovement Association. A constitution was drawn up, bylaws were passed, and a governing bodywas elected. Dues were voted in as a means of financing our goals. The first year we accomplishedthe construction of a cement pylon boat landing at the public access. The next year we cleared anavigational path within the channel between the two lakes. Area residents worked hard on thisproject with just garden tools. It became very apparent that neighbors helping neighbors could makethis volunteer lake association work.Next we were faced with a severe winterkill of the fish to both lakes. That spring we were able to getthe DNR fisheries to restock the lakes and build a carp barrier at the exit of Paul's lake to the IsantiBrook that feeds to the Rum River. Also that summer we constructed a bridge that connected thenorth shore of Paul's lake to the Nelson pond. Today this pond is called the Bay View Pond and is astorm water runoff-holding site from the Bay View holding basins. These basins were formed to dealwith the large housing additions to the south side of Cambridge.