09-24-2018 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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09-23-2018 Dear Ms. Schleuning: I attended the August 14th Orono Council meeting and was taken aback by the gross exaggeration and lack of scientific understanding of many of your comments. I feel it is important to correct some of your statements and provide information based on science and facts rather than on an institutional or emotional connection to a program that has long outlived its usefulness. The LMCD's position that weed harvesting may reduce toxic blue green algae blooms is an overstatement and is not supported by science. While research indicates regular plant harvesting may reduce phosphorous in small, shallow lakes, a study completed in 2004 to determine the quantity of phosphorus removed from Lake Minnetonka by the LMCD's harvesting program, written by John Barton, at the time, the Natural Resource Director of the Three River's Park District, found it only removes about 2-4 percent of the annual phosphorous load into Lake Minnetonka. Since milfoil and other rooted aquatic plants get their nutrients from lake sediment, the amount of nutrients removed by the harvesting program is negligible and has an infinitesimal impact, if any, on the growth of blue green algae in Lake Minnetonka. The LMCD's position that the harvesting program reduces the rate and amount of Eurasian water milfoil in Lake Minnetonka is false. Scientific research indicates just the opposite. A study published in the Journal of Aquatic Plant Management on the "Effects of Harvesting on Plant Communities Dominated by Eurasian Watermilfoil in Lake Minnetonka, MN' (attached) found that, "harvested plots had significantly higher relative growth rates over the remaining field season than did reference areas." Furthermore, one of the primary ways Eurasian water milfoil and other aquatic invasive spread is through fragmentation. Since the harvesters are unable to collect all of the plant fragments it creates, the LMCD harvesting program may unknowingly spread starry stonewort, hydrilla, and other invasive species, many of which require trained aquatic plant specialist to identify. The harvesting program may also be contributing to the spread of flowering rush in Lake Minnetonka, an invasive plant that chokes out waterways and which is spreading across Lake Minnetonka. The Pelican River Watershed District discontinued its weed harvesting program in 2000 and emphatically states, "Mechanical harvesting WILL NOT WORK FOR CONTROL and CONTRIBUES TO THE SPREAD and INCREASE IN PLANT DENSITY/POPULATIONS of flowering rush." (See attached). Minnesota Rules Chapter 6280.0350, Chapter Subp. 3. Requires that "a person who mechanically controls aquatic plants in a public water must immediately and permanently remove the vegetation from the water and dispose of it above the ordinary high water level." While the LMCD disputes residents' concerns that plant fragments wash up on their shores after harvesters have been in their bays, the LMCD has acknowledged publically the harvesters only pick up about 80 percent of what they cut. The LMCD is knowingly in violation of state rules, has compromised their DNR permit, and may be in danger of personal and class action lawsuits to recover damages from residents and businesses who have spent thousands of dollars to clean their beaches and marinas after harvesters have been near their property. The LMCD indicates it is partnering with other agencies researching AIS in Lake Minnetonka, yet the primary agencies involved conducting (Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, University of Minnesota, and USGS) does not list the LMCD as a partner (attached). It is not even clear if the LMCD is interested