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Molly Zender Zins,
<br />COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR, MINNESOTA LAKES ASSOCIATION
<br />ome reports indicate it will take
<br />decades to restore the quality of
<br />Minnesota's impaired waters, but Barb
<br />and Joe Lang prefer to consider the immedi-
<br />ate and paramount improvements they're
<br />making happen in their watershed .today.
<br />Having visited Pelican Lake in St. Anna for
<br />years, the Langs recently started noticing
<br />some changes occurring in the lake. The
<br />once clear sandy bottom waters were filling
<br />with algae and weeds, while parts of the lake
<br />bottom were transitioning to black silt.
<br />Moving to Pelican Lake permanent-
<br />ly in 2000 the Langs have made a remarkable
<br />impact in just a few short years. Upon learn-
<br />ing abottt the changing water quality they
<br />grew concerned and started looking further
<br />into the issue. There were simply too many
<br />unanswered questions: what was changing
<br />the lake's water quality, where were the
<br />sources, how could the evidence be gathered
<br />and who can Lakeshore owners turn to for
<br />assistance? For many, these vast and unre-
<br />quited questions would be enough to leave
<br />the .job for someone else, but for the Langs
<br />iL~,r ~PStid>~s simply indicated the actions
<br />7 `fli~ir.~~i.uiur_~ nt_~iiu nr~-•(~t ,~~i I,~~
<br />~~lx fi~)Ci~ ~ ,i~l>t~ll UU~I1. ~t ~~ l~f~~~~.' J r~~ilil~i
<br />ih~ . ~1:~~~lu~i~ :iiid uunt:~tlia. ~c ~i~~o,lir~1 <lur
<br />ii~~, il~ >~~~~ ~ ~ thaw w idcntity~fhc ~outses'
<br />and patterns of stormwatcr runoff. Joe
<br />.explained, "Iixi can sec the water and every-
<br />thin;; runs down hill to the lake. Pointing
<br />that~out andtelling folks makes everybody
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<br />Joe and Barb Lang at Citizen Monitoring Plan training.
<br />Photo Courtesy of Sandy Holm
<br />the changes of water color, cloudiness and
<br />sediment, while Joe reported the runoff pat-
<br />terns from the surrounding watershed.
<br />Originally the Langs were concerned they
<br />might find sources of faulty septics, but as
<br />they continued to compile their observations
<br />they found little evidence of Failing septics,
<br />while identifying significant signs of harmful
<br />runoff from inlets and tributaries.
<br />Armed with a wealth of informa-
<br />tion, but in need of the hard facts to prove
<br />their intuition, the Langs embarked on their
<br />path to data collection. As some of the
<br />founding members of the Pelican Lake
<br />Association of St. Anna, the Langs participat-
<br />ed in a va~iery of water quality training
<br />events, including applying for and being
<br />selected as a participant group in the Citizen
<br />Monitoring Plan training sponsored by the
<br />Rivers Council of Minnesota and the
<br />Minnesota Lakes Association. Through- self
<br />guided initiative and expert training a
<br />tance the Langs, anti P~liran T~:':~~
<br />Association, became proG~ienr ;ri'~t ~~.~ ~ ~~~ ~ ~ ~~
<br />water quality monitoring mcti~~~~' _ iri,_In~lin~~
<br />Secchi disc, T-tube, water ,,,,,il~_ a _:ti
<br />sampl?r, and rain ~au~;c~ i i~,:~~ ~ ,..~~I c,
<br />.t~ll~~c~~n~,. -i.l~ ~ari~,i,~ its I, i ~I~~n ~~~ t ~~rii-
<br />(ir~( Ial„~r;n~,r~~ I~~i „~iin~. I1~~ I .. r:~. ,.cis
<br />nu~~~ cyui~ pt~l ,vlilt ilia i,~~,!~, n.~~~,~~n I~,t
<br />telling the v/holc :story uf1'rlicati~Lah,_ ~.~. u, r
<br />quality.
<br />Did the hard data match their per-
<br />sonal observations? Indeed it did. They
<br />knew they had fo assess th< watef coming
<br />d , { k ~_
<br />"You can see the wetter ane
<br />everything runs~r~~~e 7~zll
<br />the lake. Poii~i~~od~~ t~/~lrp ©1~,
<br />and tPl~!ld ~p_ f (7~f1 ~ iif!?IZC'S 1'd!'
<br />,~~~lh ~t~~pr~~~ l~re~lg~•~ t®~~f9r' ~~
<br />I(~jJL'1'L' the lip!/~C'f' dS f'If111113t~,
<br />r~.
<br />t~~l~t~~hiarg ~~•~tss clr[~pi~l~s, c~~
<br />t~e4sE>I_s, s~:~~«:PC~~1t ltft~~ yPt~~r•~
<br />~'fltS, C'1'1'Fd ~lfSll~ted€', _~Olly ~iYt
<br />y i~
<br />t~~~ ~la~d ~.
<br />JoE L
<br />mote aware ru~ust set where_ the water is run- from trtbutanes an stu Lac to Jng camp es ro
<br />nine; watehiitg grass clippings, corn tassels, 1 ° 1 I f ~`t tal susended solids iec-~I -_~ -
<br />sedimentanc{ nutrients,even gasoline, Ilow
<br />into the. lake." At the same tune Barb
<br />'requested and received permission front the.
<br />llNR to use a spotlight in sntdying the
<br />Lakeshore and 1<dcc bottom. On calm nights,
<br />during quiet trips around the lake, she stud-
<br />fed nc~ ziquatic ~cgcruion, fish spawning
<br />areas, changes in lake-bottom patterns; and
<br />si~,~ns of runoff: Barb and others docutncnred
<br />Page 8
<br />r i~ <i ~ to test or o ~ 1
<br />colitorm, and total phosphcitous. r~s expect-
<br />ed, the results showed that ~unccnuaf ions lt~r.
<br />all major pollutants .were quire high l`rom
<br />this point the bangs were furious tu_ 1carJi
<br />60«~ aancentrations night vary when moviug
<br />further up die tributaries. They found some
<br />ct~ncenn;uions grew even higher when get=
<br />ting fu~.ther away from~h~ lake:-The Pelican
<br />Lake ~~ss<xiation Iclt this data provided them
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