Taking Care of the Golden Goose (2005-05-02)

An Outdoor Column From: Tom Conroy DNR Information Officer 261 Highway 15 South New Ulm,MN 56073 507-359-6014 tom.conroy@dnr.state.mn.us

 May 2, 2005

Title: Taking Care of the Golden Goose

We've all heard it, the fable about the goose that laid the golden eggs. Each day it would lay one golden egg, eventually making the owner of this amazing goose a rich man. But then the fellow got greedy and decided to cut open the goose in order to extract all the eggs at once.

Alas, inside the dead goose he found no eggs.

In Minnesota, more than a few golden egg-laying geese have been killed and plenty of others left gasping for breath.

The "geese," in this case, are our lakes and we continue to suck the life out of them. We've done this, oftentimes, out of lack of knowledge but selfishness and indifference also come into play.

One of the more effective ways to strangle the life out of a lake is to destroy the "weeds" that grow in and along them. Truth is, most of these "weeds" are the life-giving aquatic plant community that a lake needs to stay healthy. Aquatic vegetation provides food and cover for fish and wildlife, improves water clarity and quality, and protects shorelines and lake bottoms. Why, then, would we intentionally get rid of them?

Sometimes it's simply our perception of what a lake should look like. Many of us envision a lake as being deep and clear with a nice sandy shoreline. Aquatic vegetation, in the minds of many, has little place in our view of what a lake should look like, even though they are an absolutely essential component of any healthy lake. Appreciation for habitat diversity and the fish and wildlife that are attracted to such places too often plays second fiddle to a preference for manicured lawns, barren shorelines and "weed" free water. Other times we want to remove aquatic plants because they interfere with our recreational enjoyment of the lake. What harm can there be, we figure, in removing a few thousand square feet of "weeds" from a 500-acre lake so that we can swim or boat more easily? In and of itself, it would probably have little or no impact. Problems arise, however, when you begin to multiply a few hundred square feet by ten, twenty or more. The cumulative impact, then, of small individual actions can have a significant impact on a lake.

Recently a woman called an area DNR fisheries office to express her outrage that lakeshore neighbors of hers were spraying pesticides in the lake to kill vegetation. "They all do it," she exclaimed, and she wanted DNR to stop it. What was difficult for her to understand is that in certain situations such activity is permitted - under controlled conditions.

In an effort to balance the needs and desires of lakeshore property owners with the benefits of a healthy aquatic ecosystem, the Minnesota legislature has given the DNR authority to regulate aquatic plant management.

Steve Enger, supervisor of the DNR Aquatic Plant Management (APM) program, admits that it can be "a real challenge to try to balance lakeshore property owner wishes with the desire to protect aquatic plants for the benefit of the lake or wetland. We can either regulate what happens or ignore what happens and I believe that regulating the impact is definitely a much better approach."

"What we try to do is educate property owners about the value of shoreline and in-lake vegetation," Enger said. "The area of submerged vegetation that can be removed without a permit is intended to be an incentive for lake shore property owners to remove as little vegetation as possible."

While cutting or pulling submerged vegetation is a small area for recreation is allowed without a permit, the following activities do require a permit:

? Using herbicides or algicides to control aquatic plants.

? Removing emergent vegetation such as bulrush, cattails or wild rice.

? Removing submerged vegetation in an area larger than 2,500 square feet or wider than 50 feet, or one-half of lake frontage, whichever is less.

? Removing or relocating a bog of any size that is free floating or lodged in any area other than its original location.

? Installing or operating an automated plant control device (such as weed rollers, lake sweepers, or beachgroomers).

Projects that do not require an AMP permit:

? Cutting or pulling submerged vegetation such as coontail or sago from an area that does not extend more than 50 feet along the shore, or more than one-half your frontage width, whichever is smaller. The cleared area may not exceed 2,500 square feet.

? Cutting or pulling floating leaf plants, like water lilies, to create a channel 15 feet wide extending to open water. (More extensive removal requires a permit).

? Cut or pulled vegetation must be removed from the water and the cleared area must remain in the same place each year.

Anyone considering removing aquatic plants is urged to contact a DNR Fisheries office to find out whether a permit is required and what the specifications are for using that permit. Also, a free information packet describing aquatic plant management regulations is available from most Fisheries offices or by calling 1-888-646-6367.

(Additional information can be found on the DNR web site at www.dnr.state.mn.us.

As word spreads about the value of shoreline and aquatic vegetation, how its presence helps a lake and how its absence hurts a lake, there is a growing movement toward leaving shorelines natural and avoiding the destruction of plants in the water. If we are to expect the goose to lay golden eggs for us in the future, more of us need to join the ranks of protectors.

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