2002-03-12 P& Z Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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· Voted Citizen of the Year for Centervillt: tor the year 2000. · Participate in the Centerville Park and Recreation Committee and advocate community trails. I'm afraid that virtually everything I've worked tor in trying to preserve and improve Peltier Lake is in jeopardy. Details - The Rool,erv Peltier Lake contains a large wilde11less island that used to be home to Blade-crowned Night H<:rons and a larue number of Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, and other birds. The shoreline areas of the lake to the north, east, 0 and west of this isl.md are also essentially wilderness. People rarely .frequent these areas because the waters there are only 3 to 5 teet deep with a loose silty mud bottom and the area is packed with mostly beneficial aquatic plants. It is an ideal rookery. [ believe it has been there a long long time. On July 7, the day [encOlmtered the slalom wate1'-ski course in use north of the island, [did not see any Herons or Egrets north, east, or south of the island (I could not see west of the island). On July 8, the course was again in heavy use. On July 25, r did a caretul survey and could not tind any Herons or Egrets anywhere on Peltier Lake west, SOUdl, or east of dIe island. The Herons and Egrets seemed essentially gone for the season. There may be some here and there but for 22 years previous to 1998, I have always seen Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, and Blade-crowned Night Herons from my house from spring to fall essentially every day. TIley land on the dock or tIy to the delta at Clearwater creek about y.; mile away from my house. From my house since July 7, ! did not seen any Black-crowed Night Herons, Great Egrets, or Great Blue Herons for at least 3 weeks. Most significant, however, the Blade-crowned Night Herons disappeared 3 years ago, exactly corresponding to the establishment of the first slalom water ski course. Whenever r have gone behind the island by the rookery, r notice tllat they ate disturbed and flyaway. To me, it is quite clear that the activity of the slalom water-ski course disturbed the birds. TIle summer of 2000 also saw abandOlmlent of the rookery sometime in June. The DNR estimates that between , ,000 and 2,000 chicks died when the adults abandoned the rookery. r believe there are two possibilities. It ight have been the I35W road reconstruction, but it could easily have been slalom water-ski activity. In 200 I, ..he slalom water-ski course was coneealed and difficult to see. [n 2000, it could well have been setup and in heavy use and no one noticed. r would like to know if anyone saw dle use of a slalom water-ski course north of the island in 2000. That area is not easy to see trom the main part of the lake (which is why the birds like it). North, east and west of the island, most vegetation consists of native beneficial aquatic plants such as coontail. An image showing the course cut through these aquatic plants is available to anyone via www.1l1aPQuest.com. Type in "Peltier Lake" with zip code 55038, pick one of the results and recenter upward (nordlward) to the top of the island. Click on the "Aerial Photo" tab. Right click it and do a "save as" and lighten the image to better see the track. The ski track is almost horizontal just north of the island angled slightly upward (see dashed line in the image on page 1) and the right hand end has a counter clockwise curl where the ski boats turn around. Details - Slalom Water-sId Course [mPlIct Almost everyone on the lake lives south of the island with the western shore belonging to Anoka County Parks. The area south of the island is narrow and small. ReIer to the map of Peltier Lake with a slalom water ski cow'se drawn to scale. !n the eenter, is the course (with its 22 buoys) and two turnaround ends (which could optionally contain another 6 buoys). Surrounding it all is a buffer of 150 feet. The total estimated impact tootprint for a course with a short turn around is about 2,300 teet by 400 feet and for a course with a long turn arOlUld, 2,500 teet by 400 teet (course data from www.iwsf.com). The geography of Peltier Lake does not allow for easy placement of a course without severely hampering other users of the take. People tend to tish in a trolling circle around the lalee soudt ot' the island right through the areas where the two vertical courses are shown. With a slalom water-ski course on either the east or west side of ihllee, the fishing area is essentially reduced by almost half Because Peltier Lake is long and narrow instead rcular, the placement of a slalom water ski course ,lllywhere dramatically atfeets the ability of others to use , ake. There lS no reason relativdy small Peltier Lake should dedieate :'.300 teet by 400 teet to such a resource hogging specialized activity tor one boat.