06-25-1990 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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LOSING LAKES: Enjoyment of a Unique Metropolitan Resource is Threatened 7 Surface use ordinances are believed to help reduce user conflicts on many lakes in the seven-county area. The restrictions on motorized boats on Minneapolis and St. Paul lakes (Calhoun, Como, etc.) arc frequently praised as examples of good management practices appropriate to their urban settings. Outside of the central cities. Lake Johanna has been cited as an example of a lake where zoning by time of day and common direction of travel nilcs have been used cffcctivdy. Effectiveness of surface use restrictions is limited because lake users are often unaware of the regulations. In a 1984 DNR survey, only about half of the boaters interviewed on metropolitan lakes with surface use restrictions knew about them.'' Boaters entering from public, private, and riparian accesses were equally unaware of the restrictions. Ignorance of surface use restrictions has been found to be a contributing factor to boating accidents on Lake Minnetonka. CONCLUSIONS Without changes in the present system of surface use management, conflicts and safety problems on metro lakes will increase along with user density. While severe crowding and safety problems are relatively rare at present, we strongly believe that pressures on the lakes will increase. More and more people have the time for recreation and the income to indulge themselves in expensive watercraft. Boating densities on many area lakes continues to increase. Planning agencies, such as the Metropolitan Council, stress the need for more recreational facilities to accommodate members of the "baby-boom" generation and their families. In particular, the popularity of boating and fishing is expected to grow as the baby-boomers age. A few user groups are increasingly being pushed onto less preferred lakes. While little information is available on the phenomenon of user displacement, managers seem to depend heavily on displacement to regulate levels of lake use. This leads to a pecking order of lake user groups. Left unrestricted, powerboaters and water-skiers effectively control the surface of a lake because other user groups can be displaced by them. Some uses are intq)propriate for certain lakes. Activities like powerboating and water-skiing can disturb lake sediments and wildlife. They are obviously inappropriate for natural environment and shallow lakes. They may also be undesirable in densely-populated areas where they can bother other lake users and riparians. Regulation of surface use must be consistent with the planning and management of lake use. Regulations aimed at maintaining natural conditions would be difficult to enforce if access, shoreland facilities, and channel dredging favor large, fast powerboats Likewise, intensive fish-stocking on a lake managed for water-skiing and jet skis will tend to increase conflict ^2 RECOMMENDATIONS We recommend; □Surface use on metropolitan lakes should be managed and regulated with the following goals in mind: minimizing conflicts among lake users; ensuring safe enjoyment of the lakes; 11 12 Baistad and Karasov. Noic that it would be possible and perhaps desirable to stock a wa*er-skiing lake with fish even if fishing was limited to the spring and fall months when few peopL water skL