November Ob Wells

I completed our monthly ObWell monitoring again last week. Nine of eleven shallow wells showed increases again this month but average only about an 1.5" rebound. Four of six medium depth wells also increased a bit although average increases were again less than 2 inches. Water levels in both of our deep wells near the continental divide continued to decline (as they have monthly since 2002). /dps

More on docks

The DNR Dock Advisory Committee met for the third and final time last Thursday. Our draft recommendations should be available on the DNR Waters webpage soon. What follows below is a slightly edited draft of a piece I wrote for our forthcoming SWCD newsletter. The above photo shows the kind of over-water private patio systems that are becoming increasingly common usurpations of public waters in some areas (click photo for larger image). The patio portion alone has an overwater footprint of ~ 500 square feet!

Very large private dock systems pose signficant threats to public access, natural aesthetics, and ecological integrity of Minnesota waters. At this point, problems are occurring primarily in certain areas (e.g., Lake Minnetonka and the Brainerd-Nisswa corridor) and are highlighted by a few especially egregious examples. However, these expansive dock systems are proliferating across the state as demographic changes increase lakeshore property values and developmental pressures. Because many of these dock systems clearly violate existing dock rules, the DNR commissioner last spring responded to political pressure and issued a temporary one year general permit authorizing dock platforms up to 170 square feet. With that temporary permit set to expire at the the end of November 2007, the DNR earlier this fall established a 20 member state-wide Dock Advisory Committee to address the controversy. Through an odd set of circumstances, I served on that committee which met three times in November and submitted recommendations to the DNR.

Although a signficant majority of committee members felt strongly that extending another General Permit for non-compliant docks would be equivalent to granting an after-the-fact variance for blatant violators of existing rules, there was also a reluctant consensus that a two year General Permit with explicit size restrictions for dock platforms (ie., private over-water patios) would be better than nothing, particularly if it served as a bridge to appropriate new rules. Unfortunately, although there was virtually unanimous consent that existing DNR rules are badly in need of revision, there was also a sense that appropriate new rulemaking is unlikely to occur under the current commissioner. In effect, through its understandable unwillingness to enforce obsolete rules and its less justifiable reluctance to formulate appropriate new rules, the DNR is effectively abdicating its statutory responsibility to protect public waters. In any event, this problem is only likely to intensify and several legislation or legal challenges are likely on the horizon.

So, what now? The bottom line is that it is time for Minnesota citizens and, if necessary, the State Legislature, to insist that our DNR Commissioner carry out his statutory responsibility to formulate new and appropriate dock rules. Issuing General Permits after-the-fact to excuse blatant violations is an inexcusable breech of public trust and Minnesotans need to hold the Commissioner fullyt accountable for this travesty. /dps

Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy

One of my colleagues on the MN DNR Dock Advisory Committee is affiliated with the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA), an organization which has been around since 1974 and looks to be doing some very good things. I don't know enough about the group to offer any sustantive comments but added a link on my homepage and plan to learn more in the future. Once potentially nice feature on the MCEA page is a link to Minnesota Environmental News. /dps

Mississippi River History

Bob Melchior, an emeritus professor of geology from Bemidji State University, has studied the geological history of the Mississippi headwater region in rich detail. He introduced me to the wonders of paleontology in a course some twenty years ago. Yesterday, Bob stopped by and shared a powerpoint presentation that he used for a public talk earlier this summer. It includes some fascinating prehistory of our region. The two slides reproduced above (click to enlarge) are especially intriguing and are directly relevant to understanding the current dissolved oxygen impairment of the Mississippi between Itasca and the confluence with the Schoolcraft River.

The top image relates the establishment of the Mississippi River to a global temperature record from the Greenland ice sheet. As the Laurentide Itasca Phase Glacier begins a slow northward retreat during a warm period commencing roughly 14,500 years ago, the river flowed north through a tunnel valley laden with intermittent masses of glacial debris which acted as dams, forming a series of at least eight shallow lakes which exist as visible relicts even today.

As the second figure clearly reveals, these eight relict lakes comprise most of the Mississippi's course from Itasca to Lake Bemidji; modern day Lake Irving is situated in the last of these eight basins. Seems to me these relict lake should have some catchy names -- Bob simply uses the numbers 1 though 8 on one of his slides -- so how about (1) something mundane like the days of the week plus Irving, (2) something earthy like the eight spokes (sabbats) in the Wiccan Wheel of the Year, or (3) perhaps something really exotic based on the elements of the Eightfold Path or the Eight Great Bodhisattvas of Buddhism or the Eight Immortals from Chinese mythology. Just a thought -- for my purposes I think I'll adopt the sabbats -- Samhain, Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltaine, Midsummer, Lunasagh, and Mabon -- as a nod to the cycles of change that gave rise to the river itself. In any case, I am looking forward to paddling this stretch of the river next summer with a new perspective.

The second slide also shows how the course of the Mississippi changed between 4000 and 8000 years ago from (1) an exit out the south end of modern day Lake Bemidji through the Necktie River then on to Leech Lake to (2) the modern course out the east side of Lake Bemidji though the Cass Lake chain. Interestingly enough this also relevant to a contemporary issue facing the city of Bemidji since the peat occlusion that re-routed the river are in the vicinity of the controversial former Georgia Pacific site, a prime piece of urban real estate. Fascinating stuff. /dps

Ads by Google?

When I set up this blog I opted in to a feature called Ads by Google which automatically places topically appropriate ads on blogs and websites. I have found that, for the most part, the products advertised on WaterBlog are antithetical to sound lake and stream management -- they offer ineffective "band-aid" solutions and "magic bullet" fantasies that are a sorry substitute for appropriate land use practices and shoreland regulations. The Solar Bee is a case in point. Needless to say then, I do not endorse or encourage the products advertised. I have recetnly considered opting out of the program but have decided instead to monitor the ads and to comment on the shortcomings of specifics products and solutions. /dps