02-25-2019 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, February 11, 2019 7:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 2 of 11 PUBLIC COMMENTS Megan Dayton and Ann Marie Graywell, Long Lake Waters Association, were present. Dayton stated they are here tonight to provide an update and to describe what they hope will be the next step of the carp project on Long Lake. The Long Lake Creek Sub-Watershed Partnership is a regional partnership to work collaboratively on improving the watershed. Its members include the City of Long Lake, the City of Medina, the City of Orono, the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, and the Long Lake Waters Association. At the December partnership meeting, Tony Havranek from WSB reported the findings of the 2018 Carp Phase I project on Long Lake. The project ran from May to December and was part of a larger effort and was one of many strategies to improve water quality. Phase I had two objectives: One, implant ten high frequency radio transmitters to document carp movement to identify migration routes and winter aggregations for carp removal and, two, to develop a carp population and biomass estimate. Phase one of the project cost approximately $14,000 and was funded by the Cities of Long Lake and Medina and the LLWA. The data indicates the level of carp in Long Lake is 6.4 times the threshold level that impacts water quality and ecological integrity. This data supports the ongoing work that MCWD is doing to develop a comprehensive long-range watershed management plan. The Phase 1 project also added momentum to help leverage a larger grant, which was awarded in December to MCWD and the LLCP to work in the northern part of the Long Lake Creek Watershed in 2020. The Phase 1 carp project was a very positive collaborative project, including many community volunteers and Orono High School students. Ann Graywell stated the estimated number of carp in Long Lake is approximately 17,000 fish, which is equal to approximately 570 pounds per acre, which is well above the threshold. The orange line on the chart depicts about 89 pounds of carp per acre. The estimate ranges from around 400 to 800 pounds per acre. Even at the lowest threshold, that is well above the amount of carp that will cause an environmental imbalance in the lake. With this in mind, one of the management options is to remove a large amount of the carp from the lake by using commercial fisherman, with WSB acting as the environmental consultant. The goal is to keep the fish that are tagged in the lake. This process can be done in the winter or spring. WSB, the environmental consultants, would be hired to oversee the removal. WSB has tracked the radio tags in the fish and have found that the carp are clustering in the northeast part of the lake and by the beach. WSB would help guide the locations of the fish. Dayton stated they are asking all the members of the partnership, including the Cities of Orono, Long Lake and Medina, to support the Phase 2 effort to reduce the amount of carp in Long Lake. Because there are many variables during a biomass removal and it depends on the amount of fish caught, the total cost of the project will range between $6,180 and $11,180. To help offset these costs, the Long Lake Waters Association held a fundraiser at Birches and also participated in Give to the Max day in November. The LLWA is prepared to contribute $5,000 towards the removal, which reduces the cost to each of the partners to $1,540. For a small investment each of the partners, they can have a very positive impact on the watershed.