2002-02-13 CC Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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I~ ----. - - r' '.' To Whom It May Concern: February 7, 2002 I am very concerned for the unique environment and wildlife in Peltier Lake and I am concerned for the hundreds of users of the Lake. In 1998, 2 individuals got a permit from the sheriff and constructed a slalom water-ski course in a sensitive part of Peltier Lake just north of the island right next to the Heron rookery CODtaining roughly 800 birds. At the end of the year bird populations seemed down and there was great concern. A meeting with lakeshore owners, the DNR, Anoka Parks, the city ofLino Lakes, the city of Centerville, and the Anoka sheriff was held on April 27, 1999, and an agreement was reached that there would be no water-skiing in the sensitive area near the Heron rookery (see meeting minutes in appendix). Some expressed the desire for no fonnal regulation. On July 7, 2001, I saw these same 2 individuals using a "secret" slalom water-ski course again in exactly the same place they were supposed to avoid. They had it rigged so it sunk when they weren't using it so nobody else could see it or use it. They were both at the meeting in 1999. When I approached them while they were using it with my concern, they said they "didn't agree to anything" and they "could do anything they want." The slalom course turned out to be illegal because they did not have a permit to keep it in the water overnight. It is crystal clear to me that "informal agreements" do NOT work. If the Heron rookery and the sensitive environment in that area is to be preserved, local formal protection and regulation is required this year. Even if these 2 individuals quit their activities, there is always the potential for anyone from anywhere to come in and do the same or worse. The rookery has failed two years in a row and the roughly 800 birds may decide they have had enough and they will never return. ..- In addition, mostly coon tail and other beneficial aquatic plants were uprooted by their powerful boats as they cleared a way for their course causing environmental damage that can easily be seen from an aerial photo (See figure at left, the dashed line indicates the path of the course. The counterclockwise curl at the end of the dashed line on the right shows their turn around). The lake is only 3 to 5 feet deep in that area and I believe huge amounts of silt were put in suspension by their downward thrusting heavy V8 inboard water-ski boats. The fall of 200 1 gave Peltier Lake perhaps the worst water quality I have seen in my 22 years on the lake and I suspect it could be due to the environmental disregard demonstrated by these two individuals. I have never seen before large floating mats of coontail aquatic plants in midlake or seen so many wash ashore like they did in August (see pictures in the appendix). After the sheriff fmally made them remove the illegal slalom water-ski course, they continued to set up the course in the same location. Later, the sheriff apparently gave them a permit. Later they moved into at least 2 different main parts of the Lake south of the island causing hardship and restricting others from full use of Peltier Lake. I saw fisherman and other boats forced to go around the slalom water-ski course they established. They essentially cordoned off their own huge private area in what is supposed to be a public resource. Some background on Minnesota law and slalom water-ski courses is in order. A slalom water-ski course consists of 22 to 28 buoys with lines and anchors. When in use it has an impact of about 2,300 feet by 400 feet. 8rhat is, everyone else must give way to one boat that controls the area. When not in use, the course is about 830 -r~t.by 100 feet and with its buoys underwater floats, lines and anchors, fishing is virtually impossible (see details presented later). Current Minnesota law allows anyone from anywhere to setup such a course anywhere on most lakes, use it all day, and as long as it is removed by nightfall, no permit is required. This can be done every day of the year. To prevent this requires ajoint powers agreement and ordinance from both Lino Lakes