Shoreland Owner Training for AIS Prevention

Shoreland owners play an integral part in AIS prevention by understanding the risks their watercraft and shoreline equipment like docks, lifts and rafts pose when moving from one waterbody. This training video lays out the best practices each of us can take to mitigate the risks to protect our resources for future generations.

Cold Spring Dam Update

SRCLA members brought up concerns about the effectiveness of the Cold Spring Dam after the flooding and lake-level volatility in 2022 and 2023. The SRCLA began working with stakeholders like the DNR (owners of the dam), Stearns County, the Sauk River Watershed District, Stearns County Soil and Water Conservation District (SCSWCD), and others to examine the state of the Cold Spring Dam. The following links show the evolution of that discussion starting with the DNR's initial response and ending with the SRCLA's support of a SCSWCD feasibility study of potentially changing the existing dam into a rock arch rapids-type dam.
DNR's Iinitial Response (Jan 2024)
SWCLA Letter of Support (July 2024)
Below are several examples of similar projects. For more examples see the Projects page.

Blue Green Algae reported on the Chain

It's that time of year to watch out for blue green algae on Minnesota lakes! Learn more about blue green algae and how to reduce your risks from harmful algae blooms HERE.

How Well Do you Know Minnesota? Part 4

There are so many water quality issues for which there is no simple solution. But the spread of Aquatic Invasive Species has a simple solution - if everyone thoroughly Cleaned, Drained and Dried their boats and water related equipment after each use, and then inspected it prior to each use in a new water body, AIS would not spread. This is why education is the cornerstone of all efforts to protect our lakes and rivers from aquatic invasive species."~Jeff Forester, Executive Director, Minnesota Lakes and Rivers Advocates.

Minnesota Public Lands Chapter of Pheasants Forever Hosting event 9/8

The Minnesota Public Lands Chapter of Pheasants Forever is hosting on September 8th.
Questions? Contact Abi Parker, Education & Outreach Coordinator, Office: 320-352-2231, Direct: 320-527-1051, abigail@srwdmn.org

A note about the recent rainfall…

From Steve Weeres, SRCLA Board Member: Due to the recent heavy rain the SRCL level has gone up 1 foot since 7/30.

The river stage at St Martin crested on Tuesday afternoon and is starting to drop. There is a picture of the current river level is below. The lake level should crest 1-2 days later.

An expected maximum level would be around 1088.3 feet on Thursday and then it should begin to drop, based on historical data.

Be sure to monitor the lake level at srcl.org.

Be a Hero Transport Zero - Use Decon Stations

Fight the spread of aquatic invaders. Be a hero, transport zero. Use decontamination stations to help stop the spread of aquatic invasive species.

Notice of Public Meeting

IMPORTANT NOTE:  The experimental channel catfish regulation currently on the chain as well as Long, North Brown’s, Eden, and Mud/Vail’s lakes will be up for review this fall.    

Channel Catfish: The current Possession limit is 10 of which only one fish over 24" is allowed in possession.  This limit is being considered to decrease back to state possession limit of five.  

Interested parties can make comments on the regulation here FAW Public Input | Engage with DNR | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources  or attend the public input meeting which will be held Tuesday September 10 from 6 pm – 7 pm at the Richmond City Hall, 45 Hall Ave SW, Richmond, MN 56368.

Spring assessment results: Joe Stewig, DNR Fisheries Manager

Data and comments from Joe Stewig, DNR Fisheries Manager, for fish counts completed on the Sauk River chain so far this spring and summer.  To view the file with charts click here.

• The main purpose of the spring trapping was to see if any Musky remain in the chain. This is the first time the DNR has ever used large frame trap nets in the SRCL, so we really don’t have anything to compare it to.

• We did measure crappies and sunfish, but with the weather the way it was the larger sunfish had not moved in. It was a cool week, and the fish were not really moving around a great deal during the weeks the traps were in place. Only 3 musky were caught, with sizes from 38-44.5 inches in length!

• While we didn’t measure any catfish, but we did learn that the large frame trapnets are very effective at sampling large catfish! The biggest one we measured was 34-inches and 16 ½ pounds.

• Gill net surveys of the chain were completed July 29 – August 2, with 12 gill nets being set across the East Lakes (Bolfing, Great Northern, Knaus, Krays, Schneider, and Zumwalde-two in each lake). Two gill nets will also be set in Becker Lake. Cedar Island will be surveyed the week of August 12 – 16 (12 gill nets) and Horseshoe will be surveyed the week of August 19 – 23 (9 gill nets). We will use this data to see how the walleye population is doing as well as the catfish.

**IMPORTANT NOTE: The experimental channel catfish regulation currently on the chain as well as Long, North Brown’s, Eden, and Mud/Vail’s lakes will be up for review this fall.

Channel Catfish: The current Possession limit is 10 of which only one fish over 24" is allowed in possession. This limit is being considered to decrease back to state possession limit of five.

Interested parties can make comments on the regulation here (FAW Public Input | Engage with DNR | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources or attend the public input meeting which will be held Tuesday September 10 from 6 pm – 7 pm at the Richmond City Hall, 45 Hall Ave SW, Richmond, MN 56368.

Notice of Public Meeting

The Stearns County Park Department is holding a public input meeting regarding the new park south of Cold Spring.

Chain of Lakes County Park is located at 16163 County Road 49, in Cold Spring, MN 56320.

The Park Department is currently working on a management plan for the property and will gather feedback from the public at this meeting.

Topics of discussion will include potential amenities and limited hunting area. The SRCLA letter of support highlighting the Association's interest can be found here.

Here is the official meeting notice:

https://content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd/STEARNS-3aa630e

Lakescout Back Online!

You may have noticed that our lake level montioring device, the Lakescout, was offline for a few weeks. The device received a well needed cleaning and was recalibrated. This is the most popular page on our website so we know understanding lake levels is important to you. As of July 30, the device is back online, and we've refrehed the year to date chart as well. Thank you to Steve Weeres, SRCLA Board Member for all that you do for our lakes!

Water Levels on Horseshoe page here.

How Well Do you Know Minnesota? Part 3

There are so many water quality issues for which there is no simple solution. But the spread of Aquatic Invasive Species has a simple solution - if everyone thoroughly Cleaned, Drained and Dried their boats and water related equipment after each use, and then inspected it prior to each use in a new water body, AIS would not spread. This is why education is the cornerstone of all efforts to protect our lakes and rivers from aquatic invasive species."~Jeff Forester, Executive Director, Minnesota Lakes and Rivers Advocates.

AIS Activities on the Chain this Summer

Weeds are the topic of many of our members this summer. 

Staying true to our commitment as an Association and to our members, we continue to educate and treat in the areas where we are allowed.  Our latest update below shows dates and maps of both mechanical harvesting and chemical treatments.  These areas are determined by the DNR and the permits we were able to secure, along with our budget and also areas in which are used as navigational routes.  For maps of these treatment areas, go to the Projects page.

Mechanical Harvesting 2024

Date	Lake	Vendor	Harvest
May and June 2024	Long	WeedsUp	7 acres of curly-leaf pondweed totaling 95 cubic yards or approximately 10 dump truck loads
May and June 2024	Becker	WeedsUp	2 acres of curly-leaf pondweed totaling 40 cubic yards or approximately 4 dump truck loads
May and June 2024	Great Northern	WeedsUp	8 acres of curly-leaf pondweed totaling 115 cubic yards or approximately 12 dump truck loads

Made with HTML Tables

Chemical Treatments 2024

Date	Lake	Applicator	Chemical	Target
4/24/2024	Koetter  8 acres	Limnopro	Flumioxazin	Curly-leaf pondweed
4/24/2024	Zumwalde  9 acres	Limnopro	Flumioxazin	Curly-leaf pondweed
4/30/2024	Knaus  11 acres around Sand Bar	Tigris	Flumioxazin	Curly-leaf pondweed
Week of July 29	Zumwalde  9 acres	Limnopro	2,4D	Hybrid watermilfoil
Week of July 29	Koetter  26.3 acres	Limnopro	2,4D	Hybrid watermilfoil
Week of July 29	Great Northern  Navigational channels totaling 13.66 acres	Limnopro	Diquat	All plants
Week of July 29	Knaus  Navigational channels totaling 7.39 acres	Limnopro	Diquat	All plants
Week of July 29	Krays Navigational channels totaling 8.85 acres	Limnopro	Diquat	All plants
Week of July 29	East Navigational channel totaling .5 acres	Limnopro	Diquat	All plants
Week of July 29	Horseshoe Navigational channel totaling .2 acres	Limnopro	Diquat	All plants

Made with HTML Tables

See the latest Lake Stewards!

Congratulations to our latest Lake Steward family...the Juelfs! The Juelfs applied for Lake Steward status for their property on Bolfing Lake and it qualified!

Have you been thinking about taking the Lake Steward quiz but aren't sure if your property will qualify?

If so, we encourage you to take the quiz! Several homeowners who are interested in learning more about native buffers and other shoreline 'best practices' have done so, which results in an opportunity to meet with an SRCLA Land Use committee member to see what would be required to have their parcel qualify for the program. And we can connect you with county professionals at the Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) that will draw up custom plans to meet your needs. Subsidies are available that can cover up to 90% of the cost, too!

Take the quiz today!

Water Quality monitoring time!

Allison and Ali from the Sauk River Watershed District are out on the chain with our water quality team: Jamie, Gary, and Wayne.

Richmond River Lake Days

Let’s celebrate Summer and Community! Head over to Richmond River Lake Days this weekend, Thursday through Saturday.

Wondering what’s all planned, we’ve gathered some helpful info. here for you.

How Well Do you Know Minnesota? Part 2

There are so many water quality issues for which there is no simple solution. But the spread of Aquatic Invasive Species has a simple solution - if everyone thoroughly Cleaned, Drained and Dried their boats and water related equipment after each use, and then inspected it prior to each use in a new water body, AIS would not spread. This is why education is the cornerstone of all efforts to protect our lakes and rivers from aquatic invasive species."~Jeff Forester, Executive Director, Minnesota Lakes and Rivers Advocates.

An update on weed control.

Thank you to all who attended the Annual Meeting and were part of the discussion on how we can band together to enjoy the lakes as we know them, while also battling the weed issue present from many factors. 

Attached you'll see an assessment from our partners at Limnpro, where they applied a couple of different rates of 2, 4D to treat HWM along with ProcellaCOR. The assessment shows that 2, 4D worked, so we will move ahead with looking at the cost of 2,4D vs ProcellaCOR in treating the areas approved on Cedar Island and Zumwalde.

This type of research is running in parallel to the harvesting in the areas that we've shared recently, including Becker Lake and Zumwalde. 

MPR Article

Here’s a great article from MPR News on the plans to restore wetlands and native prairie that had been farmed, which will help protect and improve the water quality of the Sauk River and chain of lakes. Click here for the full article.

Happy Fourth from the SRCLA Board!

To all SRCLA Members and Lake-Lovers, we wish everyone a spectacular 4th of July. Enjoy the water and stay safe!