Lately, I have been asked about the size of the watershed. I looked it up in the Bald Eagle Lake TMDL study, published in 2012. According the the study, the watershed for our lake is about 10:1. So, since our lake is about 1,000 acres, the watershed is 10,000 acres. The following image is from the TMDL study. It shows our watershed outlined in red.
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Tom Weyandt posted a few links on our Facebook page that might be of interest.
Since White Bear Lake's issues, there has been a more attention paid to water resources. Here are the links Tom posted:
Four interesting articles about ground and surface water in our area.
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/04/28/ground-level-our-legacy-of-contamination?from=hp
http://blogs.mprnews.org/cities/2013/09/water-supplies-in-the-east-metro-by-the-numbers/
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/03/31/ground-level-beneath-the-surface-permits
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2014/01/ground-level-beneath-the-surface/
Tom also posted the following report:
Final note on the spring dinner. We had about 150 people attend. Dellwood Country Club was a great host. The food was delicious. Fun was had by all. AND, we made some money for the association.
Dam update... Tom did some investigation in Washington County about ownership and came up empty.
Until later,
Jim Moore
President, Bald Eagle Lake Association
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/04/28/ground-level-our-legacy-of-contamination?from=hp
http://blogs.mprnews.org/cities/2013/09/water-supplies-in-the-east-metro-by-the-numbers/
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/03/31/ground-level-beneath-the-surface-permits
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2014/01/ground-level-beneath-the-surface/
Tom also posted the following report:
Carp Forum April 28, 2014 Dr. Peter Sorenson, U of M Invasive Species Program
Dr. Sorenson started with a history of the spread of the common carp from the middle Europe region throughout the Roman Empire as a food source for the population and occupying Roman forces and then expanded further by Roman Catholics for the same purposes. Ultimately, carp was brought to the U. S. as a government attempt to provide food and sporting opportunities. First brought to Minnesota and stocked in Como Lake in the late 1870's. Interesting tidbit was that the railroad cars used to transport the stock had to be guarded to prevent theft.
Dr. Sorenson was adamant that past attempts at control such as commercial fishing, use of poison and draw downs haven’t worked in the past and as sole controls won’t work in the future. Carp can migrate significant distances, a single female can lay up to 3 million eggs, they grow up to 9 inches in the first year and can live as long as 60 years. Carp eat plant material and can dig up to 12 inches into a lake bed to seine out small material to eat.
His research over the past 8 years has shown that carp spawn in shallow areas of lakes and most importantly they migrate into shallow ponds in the spring. These ponds become nurseries, a refuge for the young of the year. In the winter the adult fish go out and spend time in very specific areas in deep water portions of adjoining lakes. Radio tagging of adults have shown that they use the same areas year after year. The fish disburse across the entire watershed in the summer.
Extensive work was done and Dr. Sorenson and his students were surprised to learn that they have not been able to find a single young of the year carp in the deep water lakes over many years of searching. While the carp do spawn in these lakes evidence has shown that game fish, particularly sunfish, gorge on the eggs within 3 days of their being deposited by the female carp. Since it take 5 days for the eggs to hatch this predation has resulted in elimination of carp fry in the deep water portions of the watershed.
The key finding of the research was that successful recruitment of the carp was taking place in several shallow ponds and marshes and that it is possible that a great deal of carp population control could be achieved by solving the problems created by these small areas. Markham Pond south of Saint John’s Hospital and Casey Lake northeast of White Bear Avenue and County Road C, were the primary places where the fry were developing and overwintering. Population studies showed close to 11,000 young carp in Casey and 35,000 in Markham. Small fish were radio tagged in these areas in warmer weather and then their migration into the larger bodies of water was monitored. Recently 3,000 young fish were tagged and only 27 were found to be migrating to the larger bodies of water.
Dr. Sorenson and his staff of graduate students have been testing various methods of preventing adult carp migration into the nursery wetlands and steps that could be taken to eliminate their use by carp fry. Deepening the ponds and using winter aeration to allow use by game fish, particularly sunfish, are two techniques that hold promise. Some work with chemical controls and winter draw downs is also being attempted. Barriers have been installed to limit adult carp migration into those nursery areas.
The results in reduction of carp numbers and percentage of biomass in the deep water lakes have been impressive. Estimates early in the 8 year long study showed 7-8000 carp present comprising 177 kg/ha of biomass. The most recent data showed about 3,000 carp comprising 61 kg/ha.
Primary funding for the research has been provided by the Ramsey Washington Metro Watershed Districts and the Clean Water Legacy Funds. Dr. Sorenson pledged to continued his research and control efforts so long as those fund remain available. He repeated his common theme during the presentation that while the results have been encouraging the efforts must expand and continue for many years into the future.
H.B. Fuller hosted this event in their fantastic facility.
Dr. Sorenson started with a history of the spread of the common carp from the middle Europe region throughout the Roman Empire as a food source for the population and occupying Roman forces and then expanded further by Roman Catholics for the same purposes. Ultimately, carp was brought to the U. S. as a government attempt to provide food and sporting opportunities. First brought to Minnesota and stocked in Como Lake in the late 1870's. Interesting tidbit was that the railroad cars used to transport the stock had to be guarded to prevent theft.
Dr. Sorenson was adamant that past attempts at control such as commercial fishing, use of poison and draw downs haven’t worked in the past and as sole controls won’t work in the future. Carp can migrate significant distances, a single female can lay up to 3 million eggs, they grow up to 9 inches in the first year and can live as long as 60 years. Carp eat plant material and can dig up to 12 inches into a lake bed to seine out small material to eat.
His research over the past 8 years has shown that carp spawn in shallow areas of lakes and most importantly they migrate into shallow ponds in the spring. These ponds become nurseries, a refuge for the young of the year. In the winter the adult fish go out and spend time in very specific areas in deep water portions of adjoining lakes. Radio tagging of adults have shown that they use the same areas year after year. The fish disburse across the entire watershed in the summer.
Extensive work was done and Dr. Sorenson and his students were surprised to learn that they have not been able to find a single young of the year carp in the deep water lakes over many years of searching. While the carp do spawn in these lakes evidence has shown that game fish, particularly sunfish, gorge on the eggs within 3 days of their being deposited by the female carp. Since it take 5 days for the eggs to hatch this predation has resulted in elimination of carp fry in the deep water portions of the watershed.
The key finding of the research was that successful recruitment of the carp was taking place in several shallow ponds and marshes and that it is possible that a great deal of carp population control could be achieved by solving the problems created by these small areas. Markham Pond south of Saint John’s Hospital and Casey Lake northeast of White Bear Avenue and County Road C, were the primary places where the fry were developing and overwintering. Population studies showed close to 11,000 young carp in Casey and 35,000 in Markham. Small fish were radio tagged in these areas in warmer weather and then their migration into the larger bodies of water was monitored. Recently 3,000 young fish were tagged and only 27 were found to be migrating to the larger bodies of water.
Dr. Sorenson and his staff of graduate students have been testing various methods of preventing adult carp migration into the nursery wetlands and steps that could be taken to eliminate their use by carp fry. Deepening the ponds and using winter aeration to allow use by game fish, particularly sunfish, are two techniques that hold promise. Some work with chemical controls and winter draw downs is also being attempted. Barriers have been installed to limit adult carp migration into those nursery areas.
The results in reduction of carp numbers and percentage of biomass in the deep water lakes have been impressive. Estimates early in the 8 year long study showed 7-8000 carp present comprising 177 kg/ha of biomass. The most recent data showed about 3,000 carp comprising 61 kg/ha.
Primary funding for the research has been provided by the Ramsey Washington Metro Watershed Districts and the Clean Water Legacy Funds. Dr. Sorenson pledged to continued his research and control efforts so long as those fund remain available. He repeated his common theme during the presentation that while the results have been encouraging the efforts must expand and continue for many years into the future.
H.B. Fuller hosted this event in their fantastic facility.
Final note on the spring dinner. We had about 150 people attend. Dellwood Country Club was a great host. The food was delicious. Fun was had by all. AND, we made some money for the association.
Dam update... Tom did some investigation in Washington County about ownership and came up empty.
Until later,
Jim Moore
President, Bald Eagle Lake Association
