TITLE - STATE ENFORCEMENT IN AITKIN COUNTY A WATERWORKS Column by Gordon Prickett for the 8/7/2013 Aitkin Independent Age STATE ENFORCEMENT IN AITKIN COUNTY A year ago SarTec Corporation from Anoka, Minnesota, was observed emptying 275-gallon canisters containing a dark oily liquid on a 20-acre hay field in Section 4 of Nordland Township. Repeatedly, over a period of weeks, neighbors watched as a SarTec truck hauled trailer loads of this industrial waste into the middle of the field, where a backhoe had prepared pits to receive this material. The pits were then covered. Towards summer’s end, they didn’t bother digging any more pits, but poured the contents directly onto the sloping land, farther in from the township road. The oily liquid collected in pools in a wetland that drains into Nord Lake. The current owner of this land is an officer of SarTec Corporation. Placement of such material on land in Aitkin County requires a permit from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. This action was reported to Aitkin County Planning and Zoning in October, and an inspector was on site the very next day. SarTec has been fined for this violation, but it has appealed its penalty. An administrative judge will hear the case in St. Paul in September. It is being prosecuted by the State Attorney General’s office. Violations of our shoreland regulations do have consequences. The neighbors are waiting to learn about the chemistry of these waste products and what remediation is planned. HOW MANY LOONS? After the BP Horizon oil platform fire and spill in the Gulf of Mexico there has been concern by Minnesota’s Non-Game Wildlife Division in the DNR, because loons from this region winter over in the Gulf. As a loon watcher for the DNR, I take a yearly census in early July. In 2012 I counted eight loons on my early morning patrol. We have observed three nesting pairs, six adult loons, on our lake for several years. In the census this year I counted only three adult loons, and there appear to be only three resident adults as the summer progresses. We have observed no surviving loon chicks for 2013.

TITLE WHAT PRICE SAFETY? A WATERWORKS Column by Gordon Prickett for the 7/3/2013 Aitkin Independent Age. Every year drowning victims are reported in the news - starting before ice-out until a solid freeze-up state-wide. One of the best safety posters I have ever seen shows two enlarged pieces of fishing tackle. On one side is a Bobber and on the other a Sinker, with the word "OR" between them. Near the bottom of the poster is the command "WEAR YOUR LIFE JACKET!" It is one of the DNR’s better messages. I thought about that poster early last week shortly after sunrise as I saw two guys standing in a small fishing boat with large outboard motor, speeding from the public landing. It’s now the time when loon chicks have just come from the nest, and they are vulnerable to speedboats and other quicker predators. We have three nesting pairs of loons on our lake which is only 400 acres in area, less than a mile across it. This was a concern a week ago when a brand new neighbor brought two jetskis to the lake, and his kids and guests displayed no knowledge of the restrictions on these watercraft. Like "slow, no-wake speeds until 150 feet from shore." Some lake people have complained that nobody can estimate such distances. Maybe they have never seen the 50-yard-line on a football field. The jetski can speed up when it gets to the goal line. Each yard is three feet. (old math) Boating safety becomes a major concern on summer Saturdays when every type of watercraft is afloat. Canoes, kayaks, and sailboats, dodge among power boats towing wake boarders or their tiny tots hanging onto rafts. And some of us are quietly fishing. As boat traffic increases, now that a very short spring has left us and summer is here, I just hope that all of these fragile bodies have life jacket protection.

TITLE - LEARNING AT THE LAKE - A WATERWORKS Column for the Aitkin Independent Age, June 5, 2013. Before settlement a hundred and fifty years ago our lake country was pristine, the pines and hardwoods had not yet been clear cut. Shorelines of the lakes and rivers were natural. Bands of the Dakota and Ojibwe people had lived many years in the region without impacting the wildlife and forests. Today our children are being given an environmental education, and older folks can learn how to make a smaller footprint beside our beautiful waters. On Saturday, June 15th, at Rippleside School in Aitkin, from 9 am to 2 pm, the 17th Annual Aitkin County Rivers and Lakes Fair will be celebrated. We will learn about beaver, the floods of 2012, aquatic life, and bats, to name just some of the topics. Stop by our ACLARA booth for an exhibit about the 20 lake associations that make up our coalition. If you live by a lake without an active association we have outreach workers to lend a hand. When new folks buy lake property or families inherit the cabin in which they have grown up, there is a lot learn about: individual sewage treatment systems, water wells, fire regulations, seasonal road restrictions, limits on impervious surfaces, private road funds for grading and snow plowing, and watercraft and dock regulations. At least four state and county agencies have something to tell you about your life at the lake. A good place to look for answers is our Rivers and Lakes Fair. The many booths in the Rippleside gym will inform you about what is new up here. There are classroom programs and hands-on activities for all ages. FISH STICKS The DNR Fisheries Division wants you to leave the trees that fall into the water at the shoreline. No need to clear away branches or trunks. In fact, these trees enhance the fish habitat along the shore. Shelter and shade provided by this downed timber makes a place where the population can grow. Once again we can regain some of the natural aspect of our lakes.

WATERWORKS by Gordon Prickett A monthly Outdoors Column for the 5/1/2013 Aitkin Independent Age WEATHER GUESSING One of the veteran pilots in my Navy Air Anti-submarine Squadron had been trained as a meteorologist and had served in that capacity at the Jacksonville, Florida Naval Air Station. Commander “Red” Reider was his name, and he introduced me to the term “Weather-Guesser” when we needed a weather briefing for a scheduled launch. Red had a sense of humor and always emphasized that forecasting the weather was a shaky business. These are memories from the 1960's. With modern atmospheric models for the 21st Century we might expect some improvement. Just maybe we have had our final “Spring snowstorm.” It is the First of May. But forecasts and predictions have been shaky for the entire month of April. Last year the ice went out in March on our lake - the earliest in at least 36 years, and this year it will surely be the latest ice-out date in as many years. It’s fair to say that we have had weather extremes in recent years. Severe rainstorms and flooding last June and July were followed by the dry spells of September and October. In the words of my shipmate Red Reider, what will come next is “anybody’s guess.” IMPERVIOUS SURFACES One of the best little water quality booklets that I’ve come across has just been published by the University of Wisconsin Extension Center for Land Use Education. Its title is "Impervious Surfaces - How They Impact Fish, Wildlife and Waterfront Property Values." Copies are available from the county zoning office. It is illustrated with underwater photographs of fish, pictures of waterfowl and wildlife, as well as good and not-so-good treatments of shoreline. There are graphics to show what happens to runoff volume, phosphorus input, and sediment input when shoreland is managed in different ways. Certainly when you pour concrete and spread asphalt near the lake there will be harm, but is gravel considered impervious? Here is a quotation that I found to be helpful: “A common question is whether gravel driveways and walkways are considered impervious surfaces. Noncompacted gravel “mulch,” such as that used as landscaping material, is generally not considered impervious. On the other hand, gravel used for driveways, parking lots or other high-use surfaces, becomes compacted. After compaction, gravel driveways and parking areas will create runoff even during minor rain events. If gravel is used, it should be free of clay and other fine particles to help prevent compaction and “clogging” of spaces between gravel particles. Half-inch or 3/4 inch “clear” crushed rock is a good choice for this application. “Clear” indicates that the gravel is virtually free of fine particles.”

WATERWORKS: FIFTEEN YEARS

WATERWORKS by Gordon Prickett A column for the 4/3/2013 Aitkin Independent Age FIFTEEN YEARS! This monthly column called “Waterworks” has now completed fifteen years in the Sports and Outdoors Section of the Aitkin Independent Age. Back in 1998 the Citizens Water Planning Task Force was looking for a way to get the attention of the public. We were a group of citizens and agency people who had come together a decade earlier to write a Comprehensive Local Water Plan for Aitkin County. I had written letters to newspapers while living in several states over a number of years, and I volunteered to gather the ideas from the task force each month and submit an edited outdoors column. Marcia Thurmer was the member who coined the name “Waterworks” for our column. Publisher Dick Norlander agreed to run the column for us every month. After a year of collecting input from the task force, I announced that the source of Waterworks content would usually be from this writer. Since that time I have concentrated on water quality topics within Aitkin County, and the current publisher, Matt McMillan, has continued to carry Waterworks once a month. SOME MILESTONES Eight years ago this month a revitalized coalition for county lake associations, called ACLARA, was launched. The new Aitkin County Lakes And Rivers Association grew out of three educational meetings arranged by the Citizens Water Planning Task Force and the Executive Director of the Minnesota Lakes Association. From a corps of leaders in five lake associations, ACLARA has expanded to include twenty active member lake associations. Regular meetings and programs are held in April through October. A major emphasis by ACLARA has been upgrading and publicizing the shoreland standards by which the state government mandates how county and local governments manage the shoreline of the water bodies within their jurisdictions. After several years of development by a DNR-led pilot project, a set of alternative standards was published for our five-county area. Within three years the Aitkin County Commissioners amended our Shoreland Management Ordinance to include new shoreland standards that were most appropriate for Aitkin County, effective January 1, 2009. The time has come for a Fifth Generation of the Comprehensive Local Water Plan. Citizens will be asked once again for their views about the quality of our waters, and what measures we should take to insure that healthy surface and ground water will be here for future generations.

A NORMAL WINTER

from WATERWORKS, a column by Gordon Prickett for the 3/6/2013 Aitkin Independent Age A NORMAL WINTER With plenty of snow for the trails and the snowplows, and timely thick ice on the lakes, this has been a pretty good winter in the northland. Septic mounds are safe under adequate snow cover. I’m reminded that this spring it is time for us to pump and inspect our individual sewage treatment system. It’s seventeen years old and doing fine. Last summer we replaced a two-inch drilled water well that was thirty-six years old. The quiet solitude of winter at the lake is an opportunity for bird watching and tracking critters in the fresh snow. Also, it is a good time for taking stock of tasks completed, and those still left. WHY JOIN A LAKE ASSOCIATION? Whether year-round residents, snow birds, or weekend cabin people, there are about two dozen active lake associations in the county that try to figure out how to get most of these property owners on their lakes to join and show up for picnics, boat parades, and special events. A fair number of us came up north to get away from crowds and congestion, and would just like to be left alone. Times change and lakes change, but as I remarked earlier, "quiet solitude" has its place. Our county coalition of lake associations, ACLARA, recently revised the statement of purpose that spells out how we serve the lakes. There are five ways in which ACLARA does this. For lake people and for associations who contemplate either joining or urging neighbors to join, I have included these five ideas: 1. Protect, preserve, and improve the waters and shoreland. 2. Serve as a voice to governmental agencies. 3. Inform citizens about stewardship of water resources. 4. Connect with other lake associations and coalitions. 5. Support safety and courtesy on the water and shoreline. UPDATE ON SHORELAND INDUSTRIAL WASTE This column mentioned an episode of industrial waste disposal near a lake in Nordland Township, first in the Age’s January 2nd edition, and then "The Rest of the Story" on February 6. Oily waste material was spread last summer and "inspected" on October 19th. I have just been informed by the County that still no information can be released or discussed by governmental agencies until the case has run its course and is closed. Stay tuned.

SPILL AND COVER-UP

WATERWORKS Column by Gordon Prickett for the 2/6/2013 Aitkin Independent Age THE REST OF THE STORY Last month I wrote in this Waterworks column about a dumping case in Nordland Township near a Recreational Development lake. Last summer industrial waste was trucked up north in canisters from a bio-diesel plant in Anoka and poured into pits dug in a hayfield in Section 4. Our zoning office was surprised last fall when they learned about this dumping, because no permit had been applied for. In October the County notified the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency about this waste disposal, and an inspector was on the site within hours. SPILL AND COVER-UP It turns out that neighbors had known for weeks that something unusual had been happening in this hayfield, which lies between a horse farm and a pine plantation. In fact, a trailer load of waste canisters had recently overturned at the corner of Highway 47 and Dove Street, a mile east of Aitkin. The sheriff had been called, and oily liquid had been cleaned off the pavement with absorbent powder. Work crews had been unloading canisters in the field and ignoring questions from neighbors. But the folks could see that the vehicles carried the name of SarTec Corporation. This activity was out in the middle of the field, hundreds of feet from the township road. Eventually concerns arose in the neighborhood about the safety of nearby water wells, so several of us took a look. We saw yellow and brown oily pools and caked white sludge, beside the freshly excavated and covered pits. That’s when the Environmental Services Department got the word at the courthouse - on Thursday, October 18th. By Monday afternoon, October 22nd, the area had been tilled and all traces of the disturbance had been removed. “No Trespassing” signs were posted. QUESTIONS REMAIN The neighborhood is still trying to find out what chemical compounds are buried in the field which lies in the Shoreland Zone of a 400-acre lake. What is the restoration plan, and what penalties were paid by those responsible for this pollution? The latest word from the authorities is that any answers are considered “non-public information at this time.” “The company has been directed to cease disposing of material at the site.” Last year the hay crop had been defoliated, and some new grasses and sedges were planted. They appeared to be non-edible plants for experimentation with bio-diesel fuels. Stay tuned.