Minnesotans have proudly driven the “10,000 Lakes” license plates all over the continent. Now thousands of us have adopted the state bird, the Common Loon, to identify us as motorists from Lake Country. We’ve always assumed that there was plenty of clean, fresh water in our state. The Father of Waters starts here, occasionally flooding downstream cities and farms that occupy its acknowledged “flood plain.” So it comes as a shock when these pristine waters, that European settlers “discovered”, become contaminated, polluted, and clogged with clumps and blooms of dangerous algae. We read about fish kills when manure ponds from feedlots breach their dams.
MODERN WATER TREATMENT
Suburban developers buy off and take over natural open space to clear cut and bulldoze forest, farm fields, and wetlands to house the thousands who flock to the Cities for better paying jobs and for their cultural amenities. The rainfall on these made-over suburban communities runs downhill into ponds, streams, wetlands, rivers, and lakes. The roofs, asphalt driveways, decks, patios, and chemical lawns all add their ingredients into our once beautiful waters. To escape their routine of commuting, working, and schooling, the families search out a “lake place” for summer weekends. They bring their horticultural habits with them, as well as memories of winter vacations on the saltwater beaches in the Gulf of Mexico.
These Minnesota lake properties used to be the province of resort owners who offered weekly rentals with housekeeping cabins, a fishing boat, and a swimming beach.
Most of them have gone the way of the family farm, with only a few large Ruttgers or Craguns left, but quite a few RV campgrounds around the settled lakes. A large number of northbound folks decide to buy land. Pull up a house trailer and someday maybe build a cabin or retirement home. They may find vacant resort property for sale, with cabins that can be remodeled and enlarged. Everyone wants his own dock and sand beach. In this way the shoreline on many lakes is altered, and the lake water changes to not-so clear.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is asking for residents and users of lakes in Aitkin County to volunteer as “monitors” of the water quality in our lakes. Just because you have a lake association where you vacation or spend the summer doesn’t mean that there is a water monitor who measures the transparency or chemical composition of your lake. If somebody is doing this job, he or she would very much like to hear from you. You can listen to their water quality story and offer to help them take readings. Or you can receive training and become one of hundreds of Minnesota volunteers who are helping protect our lakes. It starts with a phone call ( 927-6565 ) to Janet Smude, who coordinates our Aitkin County Rivers and Lakes Fair and all of Aitkin County water testing.
- Gordon Prickett, Waterworks Columnist, Aitkin Independent Age
Friday, June 26, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
COME UP TO OUR LAKE
Memorial Day Weekend is the opening of the "Come up to our lake" Season. Retired cabin people get back from Arizona and Florida in time to put the dock in the water. Year-round folks and Twin Citians are all set for the arriving relatives. Everyone is ready to fish, ride the pontoon, and watch the campfire.
During the memorable weekend I was out in the canoe for some perfect paddling on calm water. Over near the public access a watchful loon kept boaters at a distance from the family nest. The major boat traffic was fishing parties and touring pontoons. Suddenly from nowhere a motorboat came alongside my canoe at high speed - only to cut the throttle and coast up to a nearby dock.
SPEED LIMITS ON OUR LAKES?
This fast boat was powered by a 150 hp outboard motor and rigged for fishing. It reminded me that there are no speed limits generally on Minnesota lakes, unless local ordinances are adopted. We don’t see too many large motors on our lake, which is less than a mile across in any direction. But on holiday weekends, when visitors come towing their boats, we are seeing larger and faster watercraft every year.
In Aitkin County we have just completed work on the Governor’s Clean Water Initiative and adopted new Shoreland Standards for protecting our waters from over development at the water’s edge. Out on the lake on a busy Saturday afternoon I saw another need for protection. A regulation that will protect waterfowl, small craft, and the shoreline from wave action and collision.
CLASSES OF PROTECTED WATERS
Minnesota law defines three classes of lakes for local governmental shoreland ordinances. Each class has specific rules for shoreline land use. These classes are based a lake’s environmental condition and its historical settlement. They are: General Development (GD), Recreational Development (RD), and Natural Environment (NE).
It is during these crowded boating weekends that I have concluded "There ought to be a law!" A speeding law. Perhaps there are others on our lakes who also wonder if there isn’t a slower, safer way to enjoy our beautiful waters.
To start the ball rolling, here is my proposal - a trial balloon for lake associations, the DNR, and state government. On Minnesota’s protected waters, watercraft shall be limited to the following top speeds: For GD Lakes, 50 MPH. For RD Lakes, 40 MPH. Finally, for NE Lakes, 30 MPH. Let’s talk it over.
During the memorable weekend I was out in the canoe for some perfect paddling on calm water. Over near the public access a watchful loon kept boaters at a distance from the family nest. The major boat traffic was fishing parties and touring pontoons. Suddenly from nowhere a motorboat came alongside my canoe at high speed - only to cut the throttle and coast up to a nearby dock.
SPEED LIMITS ON OUR LAKES?
This fast boat was powered by a 150 hp outboard motor and rigged for fishing. It reminded me that there are no speed limits generally on Minnesota lakes, unless local ordinances are adopted. We don’t see too many large motors on our lake, which is less than a mile across in any direction. But on holiday weekends, when visitors come towing their boats, we are seeing larger and faster watercraft every year.
In Aitkin County we have just completed work on the Governor’s Clean Water Initiative and adopted new Shoreland Standards for protecting our waters from over development at the water’s edge. Out on the lake on a busy Saturday afternoon I saw another need for protection. A regulation that will protect waterfowl, small craft, and the shoreline from wave action and collision.
CLASSES OF PROTECTED WATERS
Minnesota law defines three classes of lakes for local governmental shoreland ordinances. Each class has specific rules for shoreline land use. These classes are based a lake’s environmental condition and its historical settlement. They are: General Development (GD), Recreational Development (RD), and Natural Environment (NE).
It is during these crowded boating weekends that I have concluded "There ought to be a law!" A speeding law. Perhaps there are others on our lakes who also wonder if there isn’t a slower, safer way to enjoy our beautiful waters.
To start the ball rolling, here is my proposal - a trial balloon for lake associations, the DNR, and state government. On Minnesota’s protected waters, watercraft shall be limited to the following top speeds: For GD Lakes, 50 MPH. For RD Lakes, 40 MPH. Finally, for NE Lakes, 30 MPH. Let’s talk it over.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
The Engineer on Our Lake: American Beaver
Some of the best times on my wilderness canoe trips in Minnesota have been spent in the company of wild creatures - moose, common loons, black bears, and the American beaver. In this week's broadcast of "Living on Earth" on KAXE 91.7, writer and photographer Mark Seth Lender is interviewed by Jeff Young and gives a poetic tribute to this creature who shares Nord Lake with our neighbors.
A beaver takes a tree. (Photo: Mark Seth Lender ©)
Pablo Picasso once said creativity is a sum of destructions. Salt Marsh Diary writer Mark Lender observes that nature is a sum of creations and destructions, as exemplified in the American Beaver.
YOUNG: People aren't alone in their desire to change the places where water and land come together. Writer Mark Seth Lender spent some time watching one of nature's engineers at work.
LENDER: The pond is still as polished stone, a duotone, tannic brown and gray. And quiet. A quiet made of fine rain. Slow churning of earthworm. Purr of woodpecker on a dead tree across to the other shore. Hush of river rolling over the dam of crossed sticks, which holds all this, this space, this wetted openness.
Toward me now comes the Engineer. Fast as a blur he comes, the V of his wake deep and sure, nose lifted just above the water. Thick fur, wet but warm, covers him all but where he sees and breathes and hears, and the pad of his paw. He has no gills, no fins, no scales. When he dives he holds his breath. Where water flows he must stop it. Wherever it goes he will find it. He is drawn by the sound and by the feel and perhaps, even the scent. Now closer, as close to me as curiosity demands, 'til the flat of his tail waves goodbye and smooth as a silk scarf he disappears, under water.
Taming of the liquid force is the lifework of the American Beaver. It is the product of both forethought and design and an agile mind. First, a survey must be made. Noting where the bank is high and the river narrow he will begin there. He needs no protractor. No T square. Lacking transit and plumb bob he proceeds by rack of eye alone yet what he builds endures. With saplings and small lumber, in a weave that seems random but is not, with mud, with stones, layer by layer the dam is raised until all water will be conquered.
In the finishing of a pond a beaver takes many trees. Teeth are his adze and ax and he works in the round. Carefully. His lodge laid of branches is the keep where his family shelters, and their safety is his purpose. High in the leafy tops, predators may lurk in the form of eagles. Low down, cougar and coyote may hide behind the trunks. To hold the standing woods at a distance is not unwise in a beaver's nearsighted eyes.
Among the beaver's works trout and minnow swim and great blue herons fish for them. Wood ducks in Kandinsky colors. Kingfishers, querulous lovers. Painted turtle, drifting ark. Dragonflies hunting, near dark; Late returning red-shouldered hawk...
All this is here from what the beaver clears. Much depends upon the Engineer.
YOUNG: Mark Seth Lender writes a syndicated column called "Salt Marsh Diary." To see some of his photographs, go to the Living On Earth website: www.loe.org
A beaver takes a tree. (Photo: Mark Seth Lender ©)
Pablo Picasso once said creativity is a sum of destructions. Salt Marsh Diary writer Mark Lender observes that nature is a sum of creations and destructions, as exemplified in the American Beaver.
YOUNG: People aren't alone in their desire to change the places where water and land come together. Writer Mark Seth Lender spent some time watching one of nature's engineers at work.
LENDER: The pond is still as polished stone, a duotone, tannic brown and gray. And quiet. A quiet made of fine rain. Slow churning of earthworm. Purr of woodpecker on a dead tree across to the other shore. Hush of river rolling over the dam of crossed sticks, which holds all this, this space, this wetted openness.
Toward me now comes the Engineer. Fast as a blur he comes, the V of his wake deep and sure, nose lifted just above the water. Thick fur, wet but warm, covers him all but where he sees and breathes and hears, and the pad of his paw. He has no gills, no fins, no scales. When he dives he holds his breath. Where water flows he must stop it. Wherever it goes he will find it. He is drawn by the sound and by the feel and perhaps, even the scent. Now closer, as close to me as curiosity demands, 'til the flat of his tail waves goodbye and smooth as a silk scarf he disappears, under water.
Taming of the liquid force is the lifework of the American Beaver. It is the product of both forethought and design and an agile mind. First, a survey must be made. Noting where the bank is high and the river narrow he will begin there. He needs no protractor. No T square. Lacking transit and plumb bob he proceeds by rack of eye alone yet what he builds endures. With saplings and small lumber, in a weave that seems random but is not, with mud, with stones, layer by layer the dam is raised until all water will be conquered.
In the finishing of a pond a beaver takes many trees. Teeth are his adze and ax and he works in the round. Carefully. His lodge laid of branches is the keep where his family shelters, and their safety is his purpose. High in the leafy tops, predators may lurk in the form of eagles. Low down, cougar and coyote may hide behind the trunks. To hold the standing woods at a distance is not unwise in a beaver's nearsighted eyes.
Among the beaver's works trout and minnow swim and great blue herons fish for them. Wood ducks in Kandinsky colors. Kingfishers, querulous lovers. Painted turtle, drifting ark. Dragonflies hunting, near dark; Late returning red-shouldered hawk...
All this is here from what the beaver clears. Much depends upon the Engineer.
YOUNG: Mark Seth Lender writes a syndicated column called "Salt Marsh Diary." To see some of his photographs, go to the Living On Earth website: www.loe.org
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
REAL CHANGE - At Water's Edge
REAL CHANGE - AT WATER’S EDGE
For more than a year we heard this call, "Are you ready for change?" As the housing recession sank into something worse; as our soldiers were blown up with devices we had invented two decades earlier, you bet we were! Now it’s been 107 days of change at the White House. Is it still too early to tell how we like it?
For several years I watched the DNR carry out the slogans and the concepts of our conservative, clean water governor. I voluntarily became part of the process. Using this column - which costs the Independent Age no fees - I urged on the participation of readers, lake associations, and shoreland residents in the clean water initiative for Aitkin County.
In October 2008 the County Board agreed formally and unanimously. It was time for a change to shoreland regulation of our lakes and rivers. As of today, May 6th, it has been 126 days - of living with the revised Shoreland Management Ordinance, which went into effect on January 1, 2009.
The Planning Commission, the Board of Adjustment, and the Board of Commissioners haven’t processed cases yet that deal with resort improvements, or with conservation subdivisions, or with newly-required setbacks on very small lakes. Or with alternative standards for preventing runoff and erosion, or limiting visual blight from densely-settled, clear-cut beaches. But we will begin this summer. The ordinance is available over the counter in the Zoning Office, where guidance is given to builders, buyers, and resorters. By the October one-year anniversary of the Board’s decision on this new law, you might ask "How has it worked so far? This Clean Water Initiative."
LAKE ASSOCIATIONS AND THE WATER FAIR
To help introduce these new shore standards to a wider segment of residents and property owners, the Aitkin County Lakes and Rivers Association (ACLARA) has asked for individual copies of the new ordinance for each member lake at its May meeting. These ordinance booklets are being distributed in time for preparation of annual meetings and newsletters this summer.
At the Rivers and Lakes Fair, Saturday, June 20th, there will be materials on display about building rain gardens and installing rain barrels. These are two important ways to prevent runoff pollution from entering the watersheds. Fact sheets about shoreland rules are being updated and created. Ask for them.
As you launch your boats this Spring from public access landings, look around and notice how well our state officials are doing in managing their shoreland property. Our local county regulations should be followed in this shore impact zone as well.
For more than a year we heard this call, "Are you ready for change?" As the housing recession sank into something worse; as our soldiers were blown up with devices we had invented two decades earlier, you bet we were! Now it’s been 107 days of change at the White House. Is it still too early to tell how we like it?
For several years I watched the DNR carry out the slogans and the concepts of our conservative, clean water governor. I voluntarily became part of the process. Using this column - which costs the Independent Age no fees - I urged on the participation of readers, lake associations, and shoreland residents in the clean water initiative for Aitkin County.
In October 2008 the County Board agreed formally and unanimously. It was time for a change to shoreland regulation of our lakes and rivers. As of today, May 6th, it has been 126 days - of living with the revised Shoreland Management Ordinance, which went into effect on January 1, 2009.
The Planning Commission, the Board of Adjustment, and the Board of Commissioners haven’t processed cases yet that deal with resort improvements, or with conservation subdivisions, or with newly-required setbacks on very small lakes. Or with alternative standards for preventing runoff and erosion, or limiting visual blight from densely-settled, clear-cut beaches. But we will begin this summer. The ordinance is available over the counter in the Zoning Office, where guidance is given to builders, buyers, and resorters. By the October one-year anniversary of the Board’s decision on this new law, you might ask "How has it worked so far? This Clean Water Initiative."
LAKE ASSOCIATIONS AND THE WATER FAIR
To help introduce these new shore standards to a wider segment of residents and property owners, the Aitkin County Lakes and Rivers Association (ACLARA) has asked for individual copies of the new ordinance for each member lake at its May meeting. These ordinance booklets are being distributed in time for preparation of annual meetings and newsletters this summer.
At the Rivers and Lakes Fair, Saturday, June 20th, there will be materials on display about building rain gardens and installing rain barrels. These are two important ways to prevent runoff pollution from entering the watersheds. Fact sheets about shoreland rules are being updated and created. Ask for them.
As you launch your boats this Spring from public access landings, look around and notice how well our state officials are doing in managing their shoreland property. Our local county regulations should be followed in this shore impact zone as well.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Earth Day Gift 2009
If you haven't seen today's GOOGLE page yet- http://www.google.com - you are in for a visual treat. And an inspiration to clean up, preserve, and conserve.
Last night, Tuesday, April 21st, on PBS Frontline, journalist Hedrick Smith hosted his two-hour production titled "Poisoned Waters." Most of the footage and interviews concerned the watersheds of Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound.
Some of the alarming topics shown were industrial scale poultry farming, stormwater runoff, sprawling over-development in critical areas, species extinction - including the Orca Whale and salmon.
The DVD can be purchased for $25 at pbs.org. I recommend earth people see it.
Last night, Tuesday, April 21st, on PBS Frontline, journalist Hedrick Smith hosted his two-hour production titled "Poisoned Waters." Most of the footage and interviews concerned the watersheds of Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound.
Some of the alarming topics shown were industrial scale poultry farming, stormwater runoff, sprawling over-development in critical areas, species extinction - including the Orca Whale and salmon.
The DVD can be purchased for $25 at pbs.org. I recommend earth people see it.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
SUPERIOR HAIKU
In Mid April I found myself in Duluth at the Lift Bridge Canal with a break between the Annual Mining Symposium and its closing banquet at the posh Kitchigami Club on Superior Street. The sky was clear. The lake the deepest blue. Even with water temperature at freezing, the lake walk was enjoyable. No camera, but I found a pencil.
SUPERIOR HAIKU
lift bridge canal ice
floating melting in the sun
sparkling white mid April
Duluth clear blue sky
natives run walk sit and smile
gulls announce their day
Now to return to Aitkin County, where lake ice is rapidly melting, and nearby loons are watching for their waterways.
SUPERIOR HAIKU
lift bridge canal ice
floating melting in the sun
sparkling white mid April
Duluth clear blue sky
natives run walk sit and smile
gulls announce their day
Now to return to Aitkin County, where lake ice is rapidly melting, and nearby loons are watching for their waterways.
Monday, April 6, 2009
The Eagles Have Landed
We took a walk past our nearby eagle nest on Palm Sunday. Pam Perry of the DNR's Non-Game Wildlife Section had said recently that bald eagles in this region will be nesting in April. As yet we hadn't seen any sign of them. Geese, swans, and ducks have been spotted already. Eagles have returned elsewhere, but not the pair on our north shore, we thought.
I looked through binouculars at the nest as we approached it from the east. No activity was apparent around this large nest at the top of the tall white pine. Directly below the nest I stopped and was peering up when my wife called, "Here he comes!"
Flying over us at low altitude, and circling, was an agitated eagle. We walked on ahead without delay. Safely beyond the nest, I stopped and looked back. Perched above the nest, and watching us closely, sat Mr. Eagle. We only saw one bird. I'm pretty sure his partner was on the nest, out of our view.
In about two weeks the ice will be out, and fishing season on Nord Lake will start for these returning neighbors.
Welcome back!
I looked through binouculars at the nest as we approached it from the east. No activity was apparent around this large nest at the top of the tall white pine. Directly below the nest I stopped and was peering up when my wife called, "Here he comes!"
Flying over us at low altitude, and circling, was an agitated eagle. We walked on ahead without delay. Safely beyond the nest, I stopped and looked back. Perched above the nest, and watching us closely, sat Mr. Eagle. We only saw one bird. I'm pretty sure his partner was on the nest, out of our view.
In about two weeks the ice will be out, and fishing season on Nord Lake will start for these returning neighbors.
Welcome back!
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