2001-06-06 Agenda Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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little Pondweed now that regrowth of Pondweed is maintained with simpler manual methods.) Many I homeowners decided it was too expensive and dropped out of commercial harvesting or were unable to cut the Pondweed themselves. It requires equipment and work. The situation now is that uncut areas, either homeowners unable to cut the Pondweed or other public areas where no one would cut the Pondweed, are still causing obvious algae problems for the lake. The lake association wants to bring the harvesting of the Pondweed to the next step. Harvesting Experience (1999 to 2000) i In the spring of 1999, the lake association chanced upon a seminar sponsored by the Rice Creek Watershed District, won and built some cutters, worked the permit issues in a matter of a couple weeks, and began an effort to go beyond the steps taken earlier. The association set a goal to attempt to harvest all of the Pondweed in Peltier Lake south of the island and attempt to improve water quality of the whole I lake. (Note there are times when an unharvested area might have an algae bloom whereas a harvested area might not have an algae bloom. Note also that Wayne LeBlanc, starting about 1999, has observed that Coontail, Elodea, and other native aquatic plants are beginning to appear on their own.) In 1999, approximately 25% of the priority 1 area was cut. The Pondweed had an early start that year and the seminar that sparked the action occurred in late spring so the effort began quite late. In 2000, the association started earlier and cut about 50% of the priority 1 area but lack of equipment and the difficulty of the job prevented further progress. Harvestin� Proposa12001 The association realizes they need some help. The goal is to harvest 100% of the priority 1 area and, if possible, the whole of Peltier lake south of the island (see shaded area of the map). The area north of the island is shallow, muddy, and contains lots of Coontail mixed in with Pondweed and other aquatic plant species. Even though there is Pondweed north of the island, native aquatic plants seem to dominate and this area should not be disturbed at this time. The Peltier Lake Association has obtained permits to harvest Pondweed for the whole shaded area for 1999, 2000, and expects to have the permit for 2001 before May 9, 2001. Everyone residing on the lake is a member of the association and everyone has signed a form and paid for the $200 permit already. A representative for Anoka parks has signed for the park side of the lake in addition. The Peltier Lake Association is a small tight knit hard working group of people interested in improving Peltier Lake. The Peltier Lake Association is currently poised to accomplish about what it did last year, cut perhaps 50% of the priority 1 area. Realize the association does as much as it can to remove the Pondweed from the lake, but that is a difficult job without special equipment. However, with help form the Rice Creek Watershed District, the association has a good chance of HARVESTING ALL of the shaded area. I We estimate there is 15,000 linear feet of shore and the Pondweed averages about 100 feet in width. This is 1,500,000 square feet. (Ice kills the turions (seeds) to a depth of about 1 meter and it grows to a depth of about 2 meters so you see it roughly between the 1 meter and 2 meter contours on the map.) We have estimates from commercial harvesters of a cost of $130 per hour and they harvest at about %2 acre per I hour. An acre is 43,560 square feet. In summary, the proposal is to harvest the rou�hly 34 acres of Pondweed (entire shaded area) for a cost of about $8,800. Our experience from 1989 to 1993 shows that 3 to 4 vears of harvestin� Pondweed will I knock it down to a much more controlled maintenance level hopefully allowing native plants a foothold. I Page 2 of 3