Potato Lake Preliminary Lake Property Owners Survey

PresentationOctober 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-ResidencyPotato Lake

# of Responses

Ave Yrs on Lake

Range of Years

Ave # Residents

Permanent 4 19 12-31 2.75Seasonal 31 10 0.5-26 3.0

< seas/unde 6 19 7-57 3.34Other 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 0 0 0 3 0 1Seas 1 8 7 13 2 0

< seas 0 0 4 0 1 1Other 0 1 0 1 1 0

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

AllRespondent

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 OwnedType of Watercraft (%)

Motor boat <50 52Motor boat >50 28Pontoon boat 61Paddle boat 35Canoe/kayak 59

Sailboat 4PWC 9

Other (rowboat/deck) 4No watercraft 4

Section Three – Lake StewardshipSeptic 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 0

Seasonal 48 48 3

<Seas 33 17 50

Other 67 33 0

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 poorPerm 0 0 75 0 25Seas 0 29 68 3 0

<Seas 0 0 80 0 0Other 0 25 50 0 0

Overall 0 23 68 2 2

Water Quality(% of Responses)

How has aquatic plant growth changed?% of respondents

increase same decrease IDKPerm 50 25 0 25Seas 56 27 7 10

<Seas 80 20 0 0Other 25 25 25 25

Overall 56 26 7 12

increase same decrease IDKSeasonal <20 yrs

53 33 0 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 7Some 26 Probably 18

Very little 51 Unsure 20Only from this

survey16 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 9Some 55 Probably 45

Very little 27 Unsure 9Only from this

survey9 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 12Some 39 Probably 26

Very little 39 Unsure 14Only from this

survey14 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 OverallDefinitely 25 38 20 25 33Probably 25 28 20 50 29Unsure 25 24 40 25 26

Prob. not 0 7 20 0 7Def. not 25 3 0 0 5

What kind of plants should be managed?Submerged 88%Emergent 54%Floating leaf 77%Shoreline 35%

Aquatic Plant Management Alternatives

Potato Lake Support/OppositionAlternative Support (%) Oppose (%) More Info (%)Small-scale

mech39 11 50

Large-scale mech

35 10 55

Hand pulling/rake

69 0 31

Small-scale chem

24 37 39

Large-scale chem

10 38 51

Biological 26 21 53No

management13 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 PLAPotato Responses (%)

Satisfied Unsure DissatisfiedCommunication 93 7 0Meet frequency 79 18 3

Meet atmosphere 86 13 1VLA Business 87 13 0Promote Coop 85 10 5

Finances 79 15 6Listening 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 EndQuestions