News

The below message is from Justin Townsend, Ramsey County Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator.  Please keep a lookout for Zebra Mussels on Long Lake so we can act fast ~ It's important to catch these infestations as early as possible.  Email llianewbrighton@gmail.com if you see anything suspicious.  

As some of you may already know Lake McCarrons has been listed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) as infested with zebra mussels on Friday 8/22/2019. Ramsey County will be releasing a more formal press release. I wanted to give you some background and future plans in a short email here. As always if you have questions contact me.

A volunteer on a regular search of the lake found the zebra mussels and promptly reported it to the DNR. The DNR confirmed the presence and worked with Ramsey County and Capitol Region Watershed District to search the whole lake. Unfortunately, zebra mussels were found widespread and evenly across the lake. Based on the size and spread the infestation is likely 2 years old, possibly more. The population was far to widespread for a treatment. What I would like to do is monitor the population levels so we can better understand the patterns of infestation. I am also going to reach out to the University of Minnesota’s Genomics lab to see if we can see where these zebra mussels are from. All of this will take time. As information is given to me I will pass it along to the wider group.

You can find the DNR press release here http://news.dnr.state.mn.us/2019/08/22/zebra-mussels-confirmed-in-mccarron-lake-in-ramsey-county/. I echo their prevention language and would add that this once again reinforces the obligation we all have to protect these beautiful resources. Clean, Drain, Dispose and do not sell or purchase docks, lifts, etcetera unless it has been dry for 21 days.

Per the Public Notice: 2019 Milfoil Treatment, LRI will be on Long Lake the week of July 22nd to perform the weed treatment.

We've been informed by LRI that it is too late to obtain permits for individual treatments, so we'll need to get a jump on that for next year.  This year's high water pushed the delineation mapping and overall schedule out a few weeks. 

Issuing this posting to our members is part of the due diligence required to obtain a signature waiver per the DNR permit approval requirements.  

We have contracted with Lake Restoration Inc (LRI) and will determine a treatment date contingent on the approval of our Invasive Aquatic Plant Management (IAPM) Permit, which will likely be the first half of July.

LRI will be using a product called "2-4-D", which is the most commonly used herbicide in Minnesota to control Milfoil and is DNR approved.  

The treatment areas can be found here: Long Ramsey EWM 2019 updated 070919.jpg. LLIA will file a group permit for the treatment areas listed, but if you want your dock treated please reach out to LRI directly.    

We'll be in contact once we have treatment dates locked in.  

Thanks for your ongoing support!  

John Broghammer

We send best wishes for a healthy recovery to Mike Honkanen, the boat launch and water surface patrol officer, who has served our lake so well. Mike was involved in an accident ( not on Long Lake) and sustained injuries that require recovery time. 

Mike, take good care!

The cable with the low volt wires for carp control that ran across Rice Creek - north of train tracks - will be  removed to allow safe passage for canoes and kayaks through Rice Creek.

For many years the MN DNR made about $800,000 in grants to lake associations to help them manage aquatic invasive species (AIS). But in 2016 they cut the grants in half, to $400,000. The next year they ended them altogether.

SF 1062, authored by Senator Rich Draheim, and joined by Senators Rudd, Ingebrigtsen, Jensen, and Eichorn would, if passed into law, provide $1 million of General Fund money in 2020 and 2021 for matching grants to lake associations for controlling aquatic invasive species. No more than 10% of the funding may go to a single lake association.  This is nothing within the $49 Billion dollar budget proposed.  

Please click TAKE ACTION to send our Senator an email asking them to support this legislation.  While AIS is a statewide problem, for too long the costs have been the burden of lake associations such as ours.  LLIA deserves support in the work we do to protect Long Lake for the public good of a healthy ecosystem. 

LLIA along with representatives from other lake associations in the county have been meeting to come up with an Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) plan with a goal of setting up a long term program to combat AIS.  More people to volunteer than just one person per association as not all lake association representatives are able/willing to be on subcommittees. 

We have narrowed it down to 3 subcommittees to work on the tactics provided here: Ramsey County AIS 2019.PDF  

Our very own Rich Kusick has volunteered to be on the “Minimize Infestations” committee with my main interest in helping obtaining additional funds and partnering with others for funding.  If we have anyone within our lake association that would be willing to assist with setting up and implementing the details within the 3 mission topics please contact us at llianewbrighton@gmail.com and we'll put you in contact with Rich. 

They're looking to get these subcommittees set up within the next few weeks so they get going on a plan to implement these ideas and goals this summer.  They're actually working on a long-terms plan for the next 5 years as well, which this work plan will be a part of.

Who’s in for some fun and having a part in helping improve water quality controlling AIS?

I wanted to let you all know that we continue to have the City of New Brighton's support in keeping the lake safe and clean.  The City reimbursed us for 66% of last summer's weed treatment; we paid $4,085 to Lake Restoration to treat common use areas and the City reimbursed us $2,717.

Big thanks to our member Rich Kusick for taking this matter to the City Counsel and requesting their assistance in maintaining the lake.  Also thanks to our Mayor, Val Johnson, and City Manager, Dean Lotter, and the rest of the City Counsel.  We continue to have their unwavering support.

We'll continue to push for the county to step up and recognize their accountability as steward of Long Lake.