02-27-2017 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Hennepin County Natural Resources Opportunity Grant Project Title: Long Lake Creek Subwatershed Restoration — Phase 1 Partners: City of Medina, Long Lake & Orono, Long Lake Waters Association, Minnehaha Creek Watershed District and WSB & Associates. Long Lake Creek Subwatershed - Water Resource Issues Overview The Long Lake Creek Subwatershed is located in Hennepin County, within the cities of Medina, Orono and Long Lake, and within the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District. It's composed of eight named lakes and six unnamed lakes, and outlets to Lake Minnetonka. Water resource issues in the subwatershed can be broken down into three broad categories: Water Quality A 2014 TMDL identifies six of the lakes in the subwatershed as impaired for excessive nutrients, with internal and external loading issues identified. Common carp, a known driver of internal loading and other ecological impacts, are listed in the TMDL as possibly contributing to internal loading, but at an unknown level. Other typical drivers of internal loading include phosphorus release from the sediment under anoxic conditions. External sources typically include urban runoff and wetlands. Water Quantity Two significant areas in the subwatershed are landlocked, Mooney Lake and Lydiard Lake. Long Lake is generally the primary receiver of water within the subwatershed, with three lakes upstream listed as impaired for excessive nutrients. Long Lake Creek is the primary stream in the subwatershed and outlets from Long Lake, flows through a series of wetlands and then drains into Tanager Lake and Lake Minnetonka. Wetlands and streams in the subwatershed all rely on surficial groundwater. Ecological Integrity Water quality issues in Long Lake are likely impacting the fish community, as well as habitat diversity and biodiversity within the lake. There are several interconnected wetland corridors providing excellent connectivity between wetlands of different types. Many of these have exceptional vegetative diversity, including School Lake and wooded swamps in the Wolsfeld Woods Scientific and Natural Area. There are also numerous upland areas in the subwatershed that Hennepin County and the Metropolitan Council have identified as important conservation corridors. Subwatershed-wide Partnership Three cities in the subwatershed, Medina, Long Lake and Orono, have all passed resolutions agreeing to this larger system wide partnership to begin pursuing and showing support of the pursuit of water quality improvement grant funding in the Long Lake Creek Subwatershed. Recently, a citizen group has formed called the Long Lake Waters Association, and is composed of residents scattered across all three cities and across the subwatershed. With MCWD in the midst of developing its next comprehensive plan, a major focus has been put on coordinating with the cities and newly formed association group to ensure all of our short term plans and long range goals are in sync. The partnership among the cities outlined potential projects to pursue, which include regional infiltriation projects, wetland/stream restoration, and carp management. A carp assessment and