2002 Natural Resources Management

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The watershed to lake area ratio for Bennett is 26:1, meaning that it has 26 acres of land draining to it for each one acre of lake area. This is a much higher ratio than that for Langton Lake, which has an 8:1 ratio. Bennett Lake's ratio is in the moderately high range for urban lakes and suggests that the lake is likely to receive high amounts of pollutant loads from its watershed. The Bennett watershed contains seven ponds, ranging in surface area from 1.4 to 13 acres. These ponds catch and temporarily hold raw stormwater from the area that drains to them, partially treating the water before discharging it downstream to Bennett Lake. Ponds WP -1, in Willow Park, and BL -4 between Brooks and Transit Avenue receive runoff from watersheds of 380 and 67 acres, and have estimated phosphorus removal efficiencies of 50 % and 37 %, respectively. They appear to play important roles treating stormwater before it reaches Bennett Lake. The lake has two aerators; the one to the northeast was installed in 1998 to prevent winterkill. Another aerator located by the band shell is mostly for aesthetics purposes. The DNR has managed the lake for kids fishing for many years. Musky was the popular choice for stocking in Bennett prior to the 90's. More recently the MN DNR has stocked the lake seasonally with Walleye, Channel Catfish, Bluegill, Northern Pike and Largemouth Bass. From water level information obtained from the MN DNR, it appears that the water levels at Bennett between 1987 and 1996 follow a different regime than those from 1997 to the present. There is a difference of at least one to one and a half feet between the mean levels for the two periods. The lowest recorded water level for Bennett was in July of 1987 at 883.94 feet and the highest was in July of 1997 at 890.54. The recorded range in elevation is around 6.6 feet. The last reading of 887.97 by the MN DNR was on October 25th of 2001. City of Roseville 49 Parks Natural Resource Management