Fifty-three landowners in Crow Wing County completed 79 water quality projects that will reduce soil erosion, filter polluted runoff and provide habitat for wildlife. More than 120 area residents volunteered more than 1,000 hours to help prep sites, install and maintain the projects.
Cumulatively, these projects cover about 1.1 professional football fields with native plants area of 64,545 square feet. Projects were funded by the Clean Water Fund (from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment), Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) State Cost-Share, landowner cash and volunteer time.
Robert & Eloise Stancer, summer residents of Fifty Lakes, received a grant from the Clean Water Fund.
The Stancers said they installed a rain garden on their property because they wanted to prevent erosion caused by runoff rain water and to keep West Fox Lake clean. The Stancers said they are happy to be involved in the program and suggest other people talk to the Crow Wing Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) if they have runoff or erosion issues on their property.
The SWCD completed water quality projects on four streams and 17 lakes including Gull, Pelican, East and West Fox Lakes, Crosslake, Big Trout, Serpent Lake and the Mississippi River.
Melissa Barrick, SWCD district manager, wrote grants to receive competitive Clean Water Fund dollars.
“The SWCD targeted lake areas that contain a high ratio of lake area to impervious surface area. Impervious surfaces such as driveways, roads and buildings cause more polluted runoff than natural vegetation. The SWCD also took into account lakes that have a decline in water quality, addressed erosion issues on specific sites and targeted lakes that have high property tax values,” Barrick said in a news release.
Jeff Hrubes, a BWSR clean water specialist, said: “This is a great example of using Clean Water Legacy Funding to target, to enhance and to improve water quality in the Brainerd lakes area,”
“Because of the Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment, the SWCD has completed five times more projects in 2012 than (it did) in 2008,” Barrick said.
Beth Hippert, district technician, managed many of the projects.
“More than 17 local contractors were involved with construction and installation of the projects,” Hippert said. “The SWCD purchased supplies and plants from local businesses and nurseries. The success of the clean water projects has helped to create a demand for stormwater and natural shoreline landscaping services in CWC.”
Darren Mayers, district technician, said: “The SWCD also partnered with churches, lake associations and cities to install six raingardens and one shoreline buffer in public spots to help educate the public. People can see firsthand the benefits of shoreline buffers, shoreline stabilization and raingardens.”
To ensure the projects function properly, the landowners are required to maintain the project for 10 years. The SWCD staff will inspect the projects on a regular basis.
Landowners who participated in the water quality projects include: Char Wentzell of Crosslake, Immanuel Lutheran Church of Crosby, Marvin and Patricia Hannon of Fifty Lakes, Lowell and Linda Naley of Nisswa, Tom and Deloris Hintz of Emily, Charles Costa of Breezy Point and Robert Stancer of Fifty Lakes.
Partners were the Department of Natural Resources, BWSR, local government units, volunteers, contractors, lake association and landowners who participated in water quality projects. Visit http://www2.co.crow-wing.mn.us/swcd/ for project photos. For more information, contact Robert Bauer via email robert.bauer@crowwingswcd.org or by phone at 828-6197.
Comments (3)
Add commentrunoff=nutrients, zero nutrients=sterile water and no fish
Hope you folks don't like to catch and eat fish cause it'll take 50 years for the fish to get big enough if you stop all the nutrients from getting into the lakes. That's the trade off for having "clean water" and you are volunteering for it.
Wait a minute: Once the lakes are sterile and the fish are gone we won't need the DNR anymore...maybe this is a good thing.
Soil & Water Science refresher needed
First of all, big fish do not equal tasty fish. Secondly, runoff pollutes the water with excess nutrients and sediment that create too much algae and weed growth. Please review soil & water science and get your facts correct. And, if you really want to eliminate the DNR, good luck dealing with overkill, uncontrolled population management and poaching. Dream big.
Soil/Water Science refresher needed for you from Real world Data
The comment I made of "fish big enough to catch" meant a quantity of fish not the size of candy bars, but big enough to fillet. If you like eating the bait that's up to you. Runoff does not pollute the water, but brings in nutrients and has done so for millions of years. Only recently, last 20 years or so, has local government tried to stop this practice so they can add money to their pockets by fining some and by hoodwinking others who believe their [filtered word] that nutrients are bad for fish production. I suppose you believe in global warming too and not that the world has been coming out of an ice age for some 10 to 15,000 years now and is due for a nice warm up.
What do you think causes algae growth? Certainly, it can't be from an over population of small zooplankton eating fish. That would also mean an under population of copepods in the lake allowing excess amounts of algae to grow unchallenged. The copepods can't eat it all with their reduced numbers and this has nothing to do with runoff, but everthing to do with small fish overpopulation. The right balance of the right water dwelling residents = clear water.
Phosphorus runoff is nonexistant since the phosphorus collects in the mud in the bottom of the lake and is not available for production anyway.
Also, just for fun did you know that fish produce an enzyme that eliminates mercury from their flesh...I didn't think you did, but a university in North Dakota did a lovely scientific study on this and proved this to be true. Seriously if a fish had so much mercury in its flesh that it would harm us to eat a couple of them a week it would kill them before we had a chance to catch and eat them.
Do you know how hard it is to get a news agency to run a story on something like this? Nearly impossible. But we'll keep trying.
Small government, 'nuff said.