Category: Aquatic Invasive Species

Members of the CLLA Aquatic Invasive Species committee attended a MN DNR Workshop on how to collect beetles (black-margined loosestrife beetle and golden loosestrife beetle) that only eat invasive Purple Loosestrife. Over the last four years the group has manually pulled these plants from our lake shores.

This workshop gave us the tools and one-year permit to harvest and transport beetles to a local site. Hopefully the beetles we collected and released will like their new location. We want to establish a local colony of beetles that will biologically take care of this invasive plant in our area.

Here are some pictures from the day …

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Thanks to AIS members, Joyce Anastasi, Mary Kay Ripp and Gary Schumacher for their volunteer time!

If you want to learn more about Purple Loosestrife here is a link to more information on the MN DNR website:

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/aquaticplants/purpleloosestrife/index.html

Phragmites Workshop Agenda

The St. Croix River Association is sponsoring a Invasive Species workshop on “Figuring out Phragmites” on Wednesday, April 24 from 8:30 – 12:30 at St. Bridget of Sweden Church in Lindstrom. Keynote speaker is MAISRC lead researcher, Julie Bohnen.

Register online at https://www.stcroixriverassociation.org/events/

Great turnout to hear MAISRC Researcher, Julia Bohnen talk about the non-native Invasive Phragmites invasion in the Chisago Lakes Watershed.  Over 86 sites have been identified in our area and good news is the sites are small enough to be effectively treated. Various stakeholders will be putting together a management plan to be implemented next fall.

Ms. Bohnen described how to identify Invasive Phragmites and provided the following handout:  mnphrag_identification_guide_v6-18

The best time to treat Invasive Phragmites is late August – September using the following treatment plan:  invasive_phragmites_management_recommendations

Here is a link to her presentation: 2018 CLLA Invasive Phragmites Building Capacity.

If you think you might have Invasive Phragmites on your property, please use the comment button to send us a message.  We will be happy to come over and let you know.

Did you know that the Chisago Lakes area has five AIS Detectors trained by the Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Research Center (MAISRC)?  Nancy Moe-Mergens (Center Lakes Association), Gary Schumacher and Mary Kay Ripp (Chisago-Lindstrom Lakes Association) star in the latest video from MAISRC.

The Chisago Lakes Coalition of Lake Associations (CLCLA) is concerned with the explosion of non-native Phragmites (Phragmites australis) along our area lakes shorelines. We will be hosting a meeting of stakeholders from local governmental entities, Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center and area Lake Associations to develop an effective management plan to deal with this invasion.

The meeting will be held on Thursday, October 25th from 3:00 to 4:30 at the Chisago Lake Township Hall at 12400 316th Street, Lindstrom, MN. 

Since multiple years of treatment will be needed to achieve effective control of non-native Phragmites, we hope to slow the growth before it overtakes our shorelines and roadside ditches. But we can’t do it without your help. Please join us to stop the spread!

Benjamin Franklin was quoted as saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” An apt saying when it comes to dealing with Zebra Mussels. Best practice is to CLEAN your boat of any aquatic weeds before leaving the launch area, DRAIN water-related equipment such as your boat, bait-bucket or livewells of any water and DISPOSE of unwanted bait in the trash. If you want to keep your bait please replace the lake water with  tap or bottled water.

Another way to be proactive is to be on the look out for Zebra Mussels on your dock posts as you pull your equipment out of the water for the season. The Chisago-Lindstrom Lakes Association has seven monitoring samplers on all four of our lakes: North Lindstrom, South Lindstrom, Chisago Lake and Kroon Lake.

If you don’t have access to a Zebra Mussel plant sampler and would like to assist our efforts – tie a rope around a small cinderblock and place it under your dock.  The following link shows How to inspect a Zebra Mussel plant sampler

The Chisago Lake Lakes Improvement District has developed a rapid response plan in the event of Zebra Mussel detection. The earlier these Aquatic Invasive Species are detected the quicker we can start treatment.