08-24-1998 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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1998 Lake Minnetonka Shoreline Storage Count COUNCIL meetingAUG 2 4 1998 CfTYOrORQNOINTRODUCTION The Management Plan, adopted in December of 1991, has established Lake Use Objectives for Lake Minnetonka. Beginning in 1992, and every other year thereafter, one of these objectives is to measure watercraft density and the distribution of beached and rafting watercraft on Lake Minnetonka. In compliance with this objective. Lake Minnetonka Conservation District (LMCD) staff has conducted a Shoreline Storage Count for watercraft stored on Lake Minnetonka in 1998. Three primary objectives were established for the 1998 Shoreline Storage Count. They include: 1. Establish the total number of watercraft stored in 1998. 2. Outline data collected from historical Shoreline Storage Counts. 3. Identify any observable conclusions and trends from the Shoreline Storage data collected. METHODOLOGY To ensure consist ency and accuracy in the 1998 Shoreline Storage Count, LMCD staff established parameters in which the storage inventory was to be conducted. Detailed below is a summary of these parameters. 1. Survey all 125 miles of lakeshore frontage on Mondays through Thursdays, between the hours of 7:30 AM and 12:00 PM. This time has been selected to best represent when observers could count the maximum number of watercraft stored on Lake Minnetonka. Friday was established to be an alternative day when weather conditions were not favorable. 2. The count was to be conducted during the month of June with a completion date of July 4. 3. The watercraft count was to be conducted from the districts 18 ’runabout by LMCD staff 4. A shoreline storage count worksheet was established to assist in conducting the shoreline storage inventory. Ten classifications of watercrafts were established on this worksheet to categorize each watercraft type. These watercraft classification include: runabout, cruiser, sailboat, pontoon house-boat, charterboat, fishing boat, personal watercraft, PWC’s, aircraft, and miscellaneous watercraft. Further definition of these watercraft classifications are defined in Appendix A. SUMMARY OF THE 1998 SHORELINE STORAGE GOIINT The total number of watercraft stored, beached or rafting on Lake Minnetonka for 1998 is 8,605. Appendix B details each watercraft classification by percent. Over 60 percent of watercraft counted on Lake Minnetonka, were either found in the runabout or cruiser classification. The lowest percent of watercraft stored on Lake Minnetonka were classified in the house-boat, charterboat, and aircraft c assifications. Note; A zero percent total does not mean that there were no watercraft found in these classifications. However, the number of watercraft found during the 1998 shoreline count, did not total a sum large enough to be represented by one percent. ^ppendix C provides a breakdown of the 8,605 boats counted in 1998, by watercraft classification and