Potato Lake Preliminary Lake Property Owners Survey Presentation - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Potato Lake Preliminary Lake Property Owners Survey Presentation

October 23th, 2010 Prepared by: Dave Blumer

Survey Particulars

• Potato Lake

– 75 surveys distributed – 46 surveys returned – 61% return rate

• Who?

– 33 of 46 put their names to the survey – 21 of those provided emails

Section One-Residency

Potato Lake # of Responses Ave Yrs on Lake Range of Years Ave # Residents Permanent 4 19 12-31 2.75 Seasonal 31 10 0.5-26 3.0 < seas/unde 6 19 7-57 3.34 Other 3 15.5 3.5-25 3.0 Overall 44 12.4 0.5-57 2.9 Potato Lake < 1 yr 1-5 yrs 6-10 yrs 11-20 yrs 21-30 yrs >30 yrs Perm 3 1 Seas 1 8 7 13 2 < seas 4 1 1 Other 1 1 1 Overall 1 9 11 17 4 2

Other Residency Information

• Average time spent at

the lake – Permanent = 251 days/year – Seasonal = 87 days/year – <Seasonal = 55 days/year – Other = 138 days/year – Overall = 101 days/year

Section 2 – Lake Use

• Rest/relaxation (89%)
• Wildlife viewing (78%)
• Swimming/wading (78%)
• Boat Fishing (70%)
• Shore Fishing (63%)
• Pontoon Boating (61%)
• Canoe/kayaking (59%)
• Skiing/tubing (48%)
• Speed boating (13%)
• Personal Watercraft (9%)
• Sailing (7%)
• Other (4%)
• Wild rice harvest (2%)

What are the main activities on the lakes?

Who? #1 #2 #3 #4 All Respondent Rest/relax Boat fish Pontoon

• Permanent

Boat fish Shore fish View wild

• Seasonal

Rest/relax Boat fish Pontoon View wild <Seasonal Rest/relax Pontoon Swim/wade View wild

How often are these activities participated in?

73% of all respondents do these things 3-4 times a month to several times a week

Type of Watercraft Owned

Type of Watercraft (%) Motor boat <50 52 Motor boat >50 28 Pontoon boat 61 Paddle boat 35 Canoe/kayak 59 Sailboat 4 PWC 9 Other (rowboat/deck) 4 No watercraft 4

Section Three – Lake Stewardship

Septic Systems

• 93% of Potato Lake septic systems have

been inspected in the last 5 years

– 17 holding tanks – 23 conventional systems – 6 other

Most Desirable Shoreline

Managed Natural (%) Unman. Natural (%) Mowed to water (%) Permanent 50 50 Seasonal 48 48 3 <Seas 33 17 50 Other 67 33 Overall 48 43 9

What shoreland improvement practices are you familiar with?

• Not fertilizing

(83%)

• Zero P fertilizer

(65%)

• Shoreline buffers

(65%)

• Rain gardens(52%)
• Septic Upgrades

(52%)

• Native tree/flower

planting (37%)

• Prairie restoration

(30%)

• Diversion of

surface water (24%)

• Runoff reduction

(20)

What is currently being done?

• At least 10% response rate

– No fertilizer (76%) – Shoreland buffers (35%) – Native plantings (28%) – Zero P fertilizer (28%) – Shoreland restoration (24%) – Septic upgrade (15%) – Runoff reduction (11%) – 7% have not installed anything

What would motivate you to install additional shoreland BMP’s?

– Improving water quality in lake (80%) – Improving water quality by my shore (72%) – Better fish habitat (67%) – Habitat for birds and wildlife (61%) – Increasing natural beauty (59%) – Tax rebate (39%) – Set an example (28%) – Financial assistance (26%) – Technical assistance (20%) – Less mowing time (17%) – Just not interested! (11%)

Section 4 – Lake Issues

• Too much weed growth (76%)
• Green water (67%)
• Poor fishing (61%)
• AIS Introduction (50%)
• Too much public use (41%)
• Overdeveloped shore (33%)
• Low water (22%)
• Odor (22%)
• Too much wild rice (15%)

Main Issues of Concern

• Overall

– Weed growth, water quality, aquatic invasive species, and fishing

• Permanent

– Weed growth, water quality, and foul odor

• Seasonal

– Water quality, weed growth, aquatic invasive species, and fishing

• <Seasonal

– Weed growth, water quality, public use, and

excellent good fair poor Very poor Perm 75 25 Seas 29 68 3 <Seas 80 Other 25 50 Overall 23 68 2 2

Water Quality

(% of Responses)

How has aquatic plant growth changed? % of respondents

increase same decrease IDK Perm 50 25 25 Seas 56 27 7 10 <Seas 80 20 Other 25 25 25 25 Overall 56 26 7 12 increase same decrease IDK Seasonal <20 yrs 53 33 14 Seasonal >20 yrs 60 20 13 7

Respondents feel July and August are the worst months for weed growth

Lake Level

• The water level is

…

– Too high (7%) – Just right (77%) – Too low (7%) – Unsure (9%)

• Has low water ever

prevented you from using the lake?

– 93% said “no”

Wild Rice

• 75% of respondents

would probably recognize wild rice

– 54% think it a valuable resource – 67% know it is protected – 30% know it can’t be legally removed – 15% thought it could be legally removed – 2% think it is a nuisance with no resource value

Section Five – Aquatic Invasive Species

Knowledge % of Resp Identify % of Resp a lot 7 Definitely 7 Some 26 Probably 18 Very little 51 Unsure 20 Only from this survey 16 Probably Not 39 Definitely Not 16

Curly-leaf Pondweed (CLP)

Section Five – Aquatic Invasive Species

Knowledge % of Resp Identify % of Resp a lot 9 Definitely 9 Some 55 Probably 45 Very little 27 Unsure 9 Only from this survey 9 Probably Not 25 Definitely Not 11

Eurasian Water Milfoil (EWM)

Section Five – Aquatic Invasive Species

Knowledge % of Resp Identify % of Resp a lot 9 Definitely 12 Some 39 Probably 26 Very little 39 Unsure 14 Only from this survey 14 Probably Not 33 Definitely Not 16

Purple Loosestrife

57% of respondents might be willing to take part in an AIS Training Session!

Section 6 – Aquatic Plant Management

• Is it necessary?

Permanent Seasonal <Seasonal Other Overall Definitely 25 38 20 25 33 Probably 25 28 20 50 29 Unsure 25 24 40 25 26

• Prob. not

7 20 7

• Def. not

25 3 5

What kind of plants should be managed?

Submerged 88% Emergent 54% Floating leaf 77% Shoreline 35%

Aquatic Plant Management Alternatives

Potato Lake Support/Opposition

Alternative Support (%) Oppose (%) More Info (%) Small-scale mech 39 11 50 Large-scale mech 35 10 55 Hand pulling/rake 69 31 Small-scale chem 24 37 39 Large-scale chem 10 38 51 Biological 26 21 53 No management 13 46 41

Aquatic Plant Removal

• Have you removed

plants from the lake?

– 52% said yes – 45% said no

• How did you

remove plants from the lake?

– Hand pulling and raking (55%) – Self-mechanical (5%) – Self-chemical (2%)

Section Seven – Community Support

• What would you be willing to do?

– Watercraft inspection (37%) – AIS monitoring (26%) – Raising beetles (4%) – Aquatic plant monitoring (20%) – Water quality monitoring (30%) – Wildlife monitoring (28%) – Not interested in volunteering time (33%)

• How much time will you part with?

– A few hours (15), a few days (8), longer (6)

Potato Lake Association (PLA)

• Have you ever attended a PLA meeting?
• 84% yes, 16% no
• Are current meeting dates OK?

– Most said the Saturday of Memorial Day in the morning was OK – One person suggested Labor Day weekend

• What is your affiliation with the PLA?
• 84% members, 16% are former members
• Why aren’t you a member?

– Not interested, didn’t know about it, not enough time, no benefit, haven’t paid my dues, was treated rudely

Satisfaction with the PLA

Potato Responses (%)

Satisfied Unsure Dissatisfied Communication 93 7 Meet frequency 79 18 3 Meet atmosphere 86 13 1 VLA Business 87 13 Promote Coop 85 10 5 Finances 79 15 6 Listening 70 20 10

Additional Issues

• Phosphorous loading
• Over fishing in the winter
• Enforce boating

regulations

• Create a no wake time on

the lake

• Improve water quality
• Decrease weeds
• Improve the fishery
• Set and keep a determined

lake level

• Survey all septic systems
• Big waves eroding

shoreline

• Trespassing
• Do something about the

muck in the bottom

• What can be done about

algae in the wild rice

• Big black globs of algae
• No parking signs at the

landing

• What is next?

The Black Globs!

• The dominant algae in

the black masses is probably Aphanocapsa, which is a blue-green colonial algae.

• This algae probably

produced most of the transparent mucilage that forms the massive colonies.

• Microcystis, another

blue-green algae, is growing within the colony and is producing the streaks of coloration.

Next Steps

• Complete the first two phases of this project

including the APM Plan

• Seek final reimbursement
• Apply for a small-scale AIS education,

prevention, and planning grant project to support watercraft inspection, in-lake AIS monitoring, and AIS educational activities

• Think about the other phases that were talked

about in the initial project

– See budget sheet for Phases 3 and 4 – These phases were initially set up to address many of the nutrient loading issues and what can and should be done about them

The End

Questions