04-14-1986 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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5. Suburban Hennepin Regional Park District (SHRPD) The SHRPD has collected data on use of its properties on Lake Minnetonka since 1978. These properties are on Big Island, Wild Goose island and Wawatasso Island. The data is collected by SHRPD research staff or ranger personnel and is reported by month. User numbers are all that is reported. In addition, the SHRPD did a stu-' of the Gray's Bay Causeway Access in 1981. User numbers, activity, length of stay, equipment and origin were observed during this study. What )o We Know About Recreation Use of Lake Minnetonka? In reviewing research conducted over the last 10 yea,, the task force con- cluded that the data do not support wide-ranging conclo,!-)ns about lake use. Research has been either narrowly focused or has involved the testing of new data collection methods with little repetition. In most cases, the validity of a given piece of informati-.�i, can only be determined by comparison to a similar piece collected by another agency at another lime. Only a very small number of studies possess sufficient validity and reliabiiity to sand on their own. However, there is some useful information. For example, consistent data from the DNR. and LMCD show that peak use is about 2,200 boats at auout 2 p.m. on a good summer Sunday. The approaches yield very consistent data when standard- ized for time and type of day. The LMCD data goes back 10 years. The rates of change are somewhat larger than increases in other types of water -based recrea- tion activity in the Metropolitan Area over this time period. The percent of boats of various kinds at peak time doesn't show a clear pattern. Major cate- gories are significantly different when comparing LMCD data and the two most recent DNR studies. There are some definitional inconsistencies as well. The LMCD data on boat types shows an increase in the proportion of runabouts and miscellaneous boats at peak times. The proportions of other types are steady to slightly declining. A second piece of information concerns the number of boats stored on lake Minnetonka. The LMCD data shows that cruisers have increased their proportion, rowboats and miscellaneous craft have decreased, and the proportions of other types have remained relatively steady. Quite a bit of information has been collected on public access users at least at the larger sites. About 50 percent of them are there primarily for fishing. This proportion varies only 4 percent over four independent DNR and Metropolitan Council studies. The mean distance travelled to launch is about 19 miles for the major public accesses. Limited DNR and MC data indicates that distances travelled for the minor accesses is less. About 25 percent of public access users think the lake is crowded. Limited MC data indicates this rises to about 60 percent at peak times. Average motor size is about 85 horsepower. Activity data reported by the Sheriff's Water Patrol shows that the primary time for violations is during the weekend evening hours (Frida, and Saturday). The number of "activities," which include citations, warnings, -iccidents, prop- erty crimes and miscellaneous incidents, has been nearly constant for the last three years at approximately 2300. Results are mixed as to whether the pattern of activities is being dispersed to more and more sections of the lake. It should t^ remembered that changes in actual amounts of activity from police records may be difficult to determine because of limits on staff available to note activity during busy times and variation in patrol patterns. 22