Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Meeting with Hugo staff on the damn dam
Greetings,
Thanks to Tom Weyandt for the minutes from our meeting last night at the Hugo American Legion.
Minutes
A group from the Board of Directors of the Bald Eagle Area Association on July 22 met with Hugo City Administrator Bryan Bear and City Engineer Jay Kennedy for an update on the replacement of the dam on Bald Eagle Lake.
The low bid brought the project cost to $820,000, $152,000 over available funds. Money for the project has come from MNDOT Bridge Fund ($252,000), DNR Dam safety funds ($160,000), Rice Creek Watershed District ($113,000), City of Hugo ($113,000) and St. Paul Regional Water Service ($30,000).
Mr. Bear and Mr. Kennedy have been talking to the organizations to see if they will contribute additional funds. They feel that there is a likelihood additional monies will be provided but as of now they don’t know if they will be able to make up the shortfall. Mr. Bear indicated that the hope is that commitments could be obtained within 2 weeks, but cautioned that the City of Hugo has extended a lot of resources to try and get the project completed and that there was a limit on how much more effort will be expended.
Additional issues with completing the project this year include the high water and the need to work out additional details on the permit with the DNR.
BEAA members also discussed investigating DNR listing of Bald Eagle as an impaired water due to Eurasian watermilfoil (EWM) and flowering rush. Steve McComas (the Lake Detective), Matt Kocian with RCWD and DNR staff will be contacted on how to proceed. The DNR may have funding for EWM control this year. It was also decided to defer action on the purple loosestrife in the lake.
Photos
Sorry, no photos this time, but if you love the North Shore of Lake Superior like I do, there are three photographers that share great pictures of the North Shore.
Bryan Hansel is a photographer out of Grand Marais. He posts photos daily on his Facebook page. Here is his personal web page. He's one of my favorites.
Paul Sundberg is another photographer from Grand Marais. He retired as park manager of Gooseberry State Park some years ago. Here is his personal page.
Christian Dalbec is from Two Harbors. Christian also shares his work on Facebook. Here is his personal page.
Have a great day,
Jim Moore
BEAA President
Thanks to Tom Weyandt for the minutes from our meeting last night at the Hugo American Legion.
Minutes
A group from the Board of Directors of the Bald Eagle Area Association on July 22 met with Hugo City Administrator Bryan Bear and City Engineer Jay Kennedy for an update on the replacement of the dam on Bald Eagle Lake.
The low bid brought the project cost to $820,000, $152,000 over available funds. Money for the project has come from MNDOT Bridge Fund ($252,000), DNR Dam safety funds ($160,000), Rice Creek Watershed District ($113,000), City of Hugo ($113,000) and St. Paul Regional Water Service ($30,000).
Mr. Bear and Mr. Kennedy have been talking to the organizations to see if they will contribute additional funds. They feel that there is a likelihood additional monies will be provided but as of now they don’t know if they will be able to make up the shortfall. Mr. Bear indicated that the hope is that commitments could be obtained within 2 weeks, but cautioned that the City of Hugo has extended a lot of resources to try and get the project completed and that there was a limit on how much more effort will be expended.
Additional issues with completing the project this year include the high water and the need to work out additional details on the permit with the DNR.
BEAA members also discussed investigating DNR listing of Bald Eagle as an impaired water due to Eurasian watermilfoil (EWM) and flowering rush. Steve McComas (the Lake Detective), Matt Kocian with RCWD and DNR staff will be contacted on how to proceed. The DNR may have funding for EWM control this year. It was also decided to defer action on the purple loosestrife in the lake.
Photos
Sorry, no photos this time, but if you love the North Shore of Lake Superior like I do, there are three photographers that share great pictures of the North Shore.
Bryan Hansel is a photographer out of Grand Marais. He posts photos daily on his Facebook page. Here is his personal web page. He's one of my favorites.
Paul Sundberg is another photographer from Grand Marais. He retired as park manager of Gooseberry State Park some years ago. Here is his personal page.
Christian Dalbec is from Two Harbors. Christian also shares his work on Facebook. Here is his personal page.
Have a great day,
Jim Moore
BEAA President
Thursday, July 2, 2015
4th of July Events
The 4th of July is almost upon us. I'm sure there will be lots of activity on the lake. It looks like it will be a perfect day.
4th of July events to look for:
4th of July events to look for:
- Informal annual pontoon race, starting on the SW corner of the lake at 3pm. It just sort of happens. No one wants to take ownership. It's pretty funny to see a bunch of pontoon boats racing around the island.
- I heard desires for a lighted boat parade. We have had this event in the past, but it has been absent for some years. I'm going to take a flyer and offer a time and place to meet. Meet at 9 pm near Ramsey Country Park. Line up and putt along the shoreline for as long as you wish. People have gotten generators and used Christmas lights to light up their boats. Lots of imaginative presentations in the past. I leave the judging up to you.
- Fireworks display at twilight in the SW corner of the lake.
- I measured the lake clarity last Sunday. I measured 12.5' of clarity. Pretty amazing.
Weed watch:
- I'm not sure it can get much worse and it all washes up on our shoreline. At present, we have floating weed remnants 35' out from the shoreline. Luckily, our dock is 140' long and we just walk past it (so far).
- We will be contacting the DNR to see what we can do about the weeds. I doubt there is much.
Purple Loosestrife (PLS):
- We had a PLS bug collection event in early June. It wasn't very fruitful. Five of us were there. We ended up giving the bugs to the Brekke's, who have PLS in front of their home. I'll be checking on it later this summer to see how much they are damaging the plants.
No criminal activity has been reported to me so far.
Sunsets this past month (Click photo to enlarge)
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Great water clarity and beautiful sunsets to kick start the summer months.
I'm sure you have all noticed the continued clarity of the lake. My last Secchi disk reading was two weeks ago at 12 1/2'. Mike Doran just measured 16' near the north sailing buoy! So nice to see.
The debris that was on my beach earlier this year has melted away, consumed by the lake.
It is the season for battling the Purple Loosestrife invasion. As I said in an earlier email, we are going to be collecting beetles at White Bear Pkwy and Hwy 96 at 9 am Saturday (6/6) and then dispersing them to the large infestations. We can use your help. Contact Tom Weyandt at: weyandt12@msn.com.
We will also be investigating controlling the invasion with chemicals this year.
There are a few interesting articles on Lake Management that I have read recently: Zebra Mussels and Lake Management: What Works.
We've had a few beautiful sunsets. Here are the best of my collection this spring.
The debris that was on my beach earlier this year has melted away, consumed by the lake.
It is the season for battling the Purple Loosestrife invasion. As I said in an earlier email, we are going to be collecting beetles at White Bear Pkwy and Hwy 96 at 9 am Saturday (6/6) and then dispersing them to the large infestations. We can use your help. Contact Tom Weyandt at: weyandt12@msn.com.
We will also be investigating controlling the invasion with chemicals this year.
There are a few interesting articles on Lake Management that I have read recently: Zebra Mussels and Lake Management: What Works.
We've had a few beautiful sunsets. Here are the best of my collection this spring.
(You can click on a photo to see a larger image.)
No other news to report. Enjoy the season.
Regards,
Jim Moore
Friday, May 8, 2015
Spring has sprung along with lots of debris in the water from spring storms
A mess on our shoreline
Well, these past rains and hail have really created a mess on my shoreline this week. It appears that the hail broke off the tops of the old brown cattails and now they are deposited on our shoreline, along with the a significant amount of the fall leaves that washed up in the spring winds. The mess is probably 15' wide. I think the hail storm also washed a lot of nutrients into the water with all the stripped leaves and small branches. There is quite a bit of the green slim mixed in with it, which I hadn't seen all spring. This is probably the worst spring for organic material on our shoreline that I have seen in 17 years. I have never seen cattail segments before.
Interesting article on water quality
A long time friend of mine, Dick Osgood, is a retired fresh water biologist. He helped manage lakes on the west side of town, including Minnetonka. He also writes a blog about lake issues. I found his latest blog entry to be very interesting. Here's the link.
Basically, the article states that the only way to really improve the water quality of a lake is to use Alum. Cleaning up the inflow will not clean it up in our lifetime. Once the phosphorous is in the lake, it just keeps giving.
Speaking engagment
On Tuesday of this week, I spoke in Burnsville at the Crystal Lake Association meeting. They have similar issues to us (Curly Leaf, lots of weeds, green water) and their current president, Greg Klaus, thought their members would be interested in hearing our story. Their members/residents asked lots of questions and were appreciative of my visit. It was nice to see another association taking charge of their lake.
Tonight's the night!
If you're interested in getting to know some of your neighbors, the Full Moon group, which also does the bonfire the Saturday before the Super Bowl, has their regular gathering at the north sailing bouy, which is north of the island. If it's a nice night, you will see several pontoons tied up together well into the night. Just bring a treat to share. People start to gather at around dusk.
Have a great weekend,
Jim
Well, these past rains and hail have really created a mess on my shoreline this week. It appears that the hail broke off the tops of the old brown cattails and now they are deposited on our shoreline, along with the a significant amount of the fall leaves that washed up in the spring winds. The mess is probably 15' wide. I think the hail storm also washed a lot of nutrients into the water with all the stripped leaves and small branches. There is quite a bit of the green slim mixed in with it, which I hadn't seen all spring. This is probably the worst spring for organic material on our shoreline that I have seen in 17 years. I have never seen cattail segments before.
Interesting article on water quality
A long time friend of mine, Dick Osgood, is a retired fresh water biologist. He helped manage lakes on the west side of town, including Minnetonka. He also writes a blog about lake issues. I found his latest blog entry to be very interesting. Here's the link.
Basically, the article states that the only way to really improve the water quality of a lake is to use Alum. Cleaning up the inflow will not clean it up in our lifetime. Once the phosphorous is in the lake, it just keeps giving.
Speaking engagment
On Tuesday of this week, I spoke in Burnsville at the Crystal Lake Association meeting. They have similar issues to us (Curly Leaf, lots of weeds, green water) and their current president, Greg Klaus, thought their members would be interested in hearing our story. Their members/residents asked lots of questions and were appreciative of my visit. It was nice to see another association taking charge of their lake.
Tonight's the night!
If you're interested in getting to know some of your neighbors, the Full Moon group, which also does the bonfire the Saturday before the Super Bowl, has their regular gathering at the north sailing bouy, which is north of the island. If it's a nice night, you will see several pontoons tied up together well into the night. Just bring a treat to share. People start to gather at around dusk.
Have a great weekend,
Jim
Monday, February 9, 2015
Annual Meeting
Greetings!
We had our annual meeting last week with a presentation by Rice Creek Watershed District (RCWD) and Steve McComas of Blue Water Science. Thanks to everyone in attendance. Glad you could make it.
Tom Weyandt was nice enough to record meeting minutes. The following is from Tom, with minor edits by me.
We had our annual meeting last week with a presentation by Rice Creek Watershed District (RCWD) and Steve McComas of Blue Water Science. Thanks to everyone in attendance. Glad you could make it.
Tom Weyandt was nice enough to record meeting minutes. The following is from Tom, with minor edits by me.
Bald Eagle Area Association Annual Meeting 2-5-15
Approximately 25 members were
present.
President Jim Moore announced
that an attempt will be made to control purple loosestrife on the lake using
beetles collected from a wetland near Highway 96 and White Bear Parkway and
chemicals for smaller areas. We may be
looking for volunteers to assist with the treatment.
Rice Creek Watershed District
represented by Matt Kocian and Jessica Bromelkamp
- Alum Treatment first
application completed successfully.
Life expectancy of the treatments is 20 years with dramatic
increases in length if phosphorous additions to the lake are cut. It could extend to 50-100 years
depending on how significant the phosphorous additions are cut.
- A second Alum application
will be done in 2016, with the expectation the it will extend the life of
the full treatment.
- Phosphorus and Chlorophyll
A are below maximum limits for first time in recorded history. Secchi disc reading mean was 1.7 meters.
- Aquatic Invasive Species -
92 acres treated for Curly-leaf pondweed with a cost of $30,600. Small patch of flowering rush found on
the northwest side of the lake north of the West Oaks dock and
mechanically removed by RCWD. No
zebra mussels found yet in the lake.
- Oneka Ridge Golf Course
project completed and will be operational in 2015
- Dam Replacement will
likely take place in late 2015.
Rain Garden assistance with
design and up to 50% funding are available from the RCWD.
- Explained the survey methods for determining locations and density
of Curly-leaf pondweed patches and described treatment.
- Advised that there was a bit of an increase in natural vegetation
in the lake and how he expects it to expand from current 8 foot max depth
to 11 or 12 feet in the next few years.
- Explained that there will be a period of increased vegetation in
the water due to the increased water clarity. There will be a 2 -3 year cycle to this
and then eventually equilibrium will return with expectations that the vegetation
will be less robust.
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Annual Bald Eagle Tree Burning Party this Saturday 12/31.
Hear ye, Hear ye
Come one, come all.
The annual tree burning party is about to happen this coming weekend. The party starts at 8 pm. The fire is started at 11 pm.
In order to make this successful, we need 30 volunteers on Saturday, starting at 10 am, to build the tree tower and set up the party area. We are usually done with setup by 4:30-5:00 pm. Come when you can and leave early if you have to.
Weather willing, we'll have an ice bar with shots of liqueurs at the asking. Bring a bottle of liqueur to share. We have fire rings to keep you warm. Lots of lights to light up the party area.
Bring your friends, neighbors, relatives. It's the best party of the year. Everything happens on the ice in the Hobie neighborhood bay in the NW part of the lake.
Most years, I drive on the ice to the party. It looks like this year we'll be able to do the same.
Hope you can make both the setup and the party.
Scenes from past years.
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