Minnesota Coalition of Lake Associations

Itasca Waters virtual session addresses impending AIS threats: Can they kill my pet or hurt my kids?
2023-08-03 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago)
Dr. Cody Sheik is a microbial ecologist at the University of Minnesota Duluth where he focuses his work on the roles microorganisms, especially cyanobacteria, play in freshwater ecosystems.
In this virtual session he will share important research to identify what microbes are present across Minnesota and the Great Lakes, and to consider the implications to our environment and our use of water for recreation and daily living. He will also talk about some non-native microbes that can cause even bigger problems as they invade our lakes.
The sessions are free, but registration is required.
Check out these links for more information about Itasca Waters and their Practical Water Wisdom series.

MAISRC hosts AIS workshop for North Central MN
2023-06-23 08:00 - 2023-06-24 17:00
Join the Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center (MAISRC) and regional leaders in a two-day workshop about priority aquatic invasive species concerns for North Central Minnesota.
Date: Friday, June 23 and Saturday, June 24, 2023
Location: Cedar Lakes Casino, 6268 Upper Cass Frontage Rd NW, Cass Lake, MN 56633
Cost: $45 for both Friday and Saturday; $30 for Friday only. There is no option to register only on Saturday.
Registration required. For more information visit the Lab to Lakes page on the MAISRC website.

MN COLA Annual Meeting
2023-06-13 10:00 - 15:00
The 2023 MN COLA Annual Meeting will be held in person at the Initiative Foundation in beautiful downtown Little Falls, MN!
Our Annual Member Meeting promises to be content rich and an exciting opportunity to meet in person.
The agenda includes the all-important Legislative Update. Jeff Forester of Minnesota Lakes and River’s Advocates will be there to share details of what happened and what it means for protecting Minnesota’s public waters. Three important items on the MN COLA Legislative Agenda were being addressed this session:

Stable funding for MAISRC (the AIS Research Center at the University of Minnesota);
Watercraft Operator’s License;
Improved funding for AIS treatments.

We are thrilled to have author Ted Rulseh as our lunch speaker. His most recent book, Ripple Effects: How we’re loving our lakes to death, will be featured. It provides a history of how our lifestyle changes and upward mobility have increased the demands we place on our lakes in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Rulseh addresses the reasons behind our vanishing natural shorelines and other impacts to lake life.
Registration is free, and there is an option to have a box lunch for $10. We hope to see you there and please register today!

May 31 webinar - Update on wakes, waves, and propeller wash research from UMN's SAFL
2023-05-31 18:30 - 20:00
Register today for this webinar with Jeff Marr and Andy Riesgraf of the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota for an update on this critically important research: recently completed, in-process, and future.
This free session is on May 31 from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm, but you must register in advance. Big thanks go to Minnesota Lakes and Rivers Advocates for hosting the session.
Jeff Forester, Executive Director of Minnesota Lakes and Rivers Advocates said this about the upcoming webinar:
“Boating season is upon us. Minnesotans, as they have for generations, will enjoy sun and water and fun. But there the similarity ends. Many of the new boats on the water bear no resemblance to your grandfathers fishing boat.
The boats now are larger and far more powerful. Where once boats were powered with 25 HP or maybe 50 HP motors and 40 knots was considered fast, there are boats on the market now that go over 70 mph or have engines generating 400 hp or more. And there are more of them.
It is time to try to see what the impacts of our boats, wakes, prop thrust and boating habits are on lake ecology and wildlife. Minnesota Lakes and Rivers has been working the last few years to support funding for world class researchers to begin exploring these issues.
We wanted to provide an opportunity for you to learn more.
This presentation by Jeff Marr will summarize completed comparative research on the size, energy, and power of boat-generated wake waves produced by a number of recreational boats under various modes of operation and data-informed guidance on recommend operational distances for enhanced wake watercraft.
The presentation will also share an update of ongoing research focusing on characterizing the propeller wash created by recreational boats and potential implications of propeller wash on lake health.
Finally, Jeff Marr will present our research plans for an upcoming research study, pending funding by the State of Minnesota, that will explore environmental impacts of boat-generated wave, propeller wash and wind driven waves.
The presentation will allow time for questions and discussion.
We hope to see you there and enjoy the spring.

Invasive Mussel Collaborative hosts: How invasive mussels impact and are affected by North American ecosystems
2023-05-30 09:00 - 10:30
Want to delve a little deeper into the zebra and quagga mussel invasion? Try this webinar put on by the Invasive Mussel Collaborative. It includes two presentations:
Mussel squeeze: dissolved oxygen and temperature can “squeeze” zebra mussels out of invaded reservoirs by Rich Miller and Crysta Gantz with Portland State University, Portland, OR
Dreissena (zebra and quagga mussels) in the Great Lakes: what have we learned in 35 years of invasion by Alexander Karatayev with SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo, NY
The webinar is free, but registration is required.

MGLP: Healthy Watersheds, High-Quality Waters- A New program for protecting the wonderful waters of Wisconsin
2023-05-16 13:00 - 14:00 | In Person, 1st Street Southeast, Little Falls, MN, 56345, United States
Register here

Wisconsin DNR seeks to protect Wisconsin’s wonderful waters and way of life. Not only is Wisconsin blessed with a landscape filled with water resources, but those lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands also provide tremendous public health, recreation, and economic benefits. The Healthy Watersheds, High-Quality Waters initiative is a first step towards greater balance between restoration and protection to conserve water resources and the values they provide. The overall goal is to keep 100% of the priority healthy watersheds and high-quality waters within them at or better than their current conditions through 2030. Modeling and assessment results, geographic priorities, partner feedback, action plan, and experiences from the first year of implementation will be shared.

MGLP: Shoreline Living Volume Two: Property owner experiences in lakefront conservation
2023-05-02 13:00 - 14:00 | In Person, 1st Street Southeast, Little Falls, MN, 56345, United States
Register here

This presentation will introduce the second volume of the MGLP’s Living document. With over 90,000 copies in circulation, both versions of the MGLP’s Shoreline Living document are excellent resources for starting conversations about natural shorelines. These magazine-style publications contain articles highlighting families who live on natural shorelines and have taken a variety of steps to benefit themselves and their lakes. Beautiful photographs of each property accompany the articles, where the families share their process in creating, maintaining, enjoying, and protecting their natural shorelines. This presentation will provide an opportunity to hear directly from some of the featured property owners as they share their experiences in conservation.

MGLP: Conservationists' perspectives of governance in the Iowa Great Lakes
2023-04-18 13:00 - 14:00 | In Person, 1st Street Southeast, Little Falls, MN, 56345, United States
Register here

Multiple activities within watershed boundaries impact the quality of freshwater systems. Since many of these systems are managed by complex governance structures, there is a need to understand how social settings and interactions between stakeholders can impact governance. This presentation examines stakeholders’ perspectives of governance in the Iowa Great Lakes region. These lakes are a valuable freshwater system because they are a popular tourist destination and drinking water source for communities, but they reside in a watershed with large amounts of agricultural production and development. Because of these various interests, conservationists must work within a complex governance structure to protect these lakes. This presentation examines conservationists’ perspectives on the region’s environmental pressures, barriers they encounter, and solutions within this system. Our results highlight the difficulties of working with this system to mitigate environmental pressures as well as possible solutions.

MGLP: On thin ice: Are lakes feeling the heat?
2023-04-18 13:00 - 14:00 | In Person, 1st Street Southeast, Little Falls, MN, 56345, United States
Register here

Our planet is experiencing accelerated climate warming, with dramatic consequences not only on lake ecology, but also on the ecosystem services we rely on from our freshwater resources. Lakes with seasonal ice cover, which represent more than half of the world’s lakes, are especially sensitive to a changing climate, as ice cover is a strong determinant of lake ecosystem functioning. Lakes are losing ice cover at unprecedented rates. On average, ice duration is shorter by 17 days/century. However, in the past 25 years, lake ice loss is 6 times faster, with some lakes not freezing every winter. By the end of the century, over 200,000 lakes may no longer regularly freeze and almost 6,000 lakes may permanently lose ice cover with climate warming. With reduced ice cover, lakes may stratify earlier which can lead to elevated water temperatures, primary production, and likelihood of algal blooms, some of which may be toxic. Mitigation of greenhouse gases is essential to preserving this ecological, cultural, and economically important resource.

MGLP: Managing for RADical lake change: applying the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework to support walleye management in Wisconsin
2023-04-11 13:00 - 14:00 | In Person, 1st Street Southeast, Little Falls, MN, 56345, United States
Register here

Managers facing transforming lakes can benefit from considering broader objectives beyond a traditional focus on resisting change. They can also consider whether accepting inevitable change or directing it along some desirable pathway is more practical and appropriate under some circumstances (the RAD framework). Here, we’ll introduce the RAD framework and highlight a decision-support tool for the walleye recreational fishery in Wisconsin as an example of how to link the RAD framework to real-world management of a large recreational fishery.

Clearwater River Watershed District’s 4th AIS Forum
2023-04-06 17:00 - 18:30 | In Person, 1st Street Southeast, Little Falls, MN, 56345, United States
Register here

The Clearwater River Watershed District (includes counties of Wright, Stearns, Meeker) is hosting its 4th AIS Forum. A great line up of speakers is planned, along with information about the District’s enhanced carp management.

The event is free, but registration is required. Click here for more information

Speakers include: Ariana Richardson, Meeker Co AIS Coordinator Cole Loewen, Stearns County Environmental Services Alicia O’Hare, Wright Co Water Resources Specialist Paul Pattee, Clearwater Lake Property Owners Assoc – Clearwater Lake AIS Action Plan & Results from Recent Sediment Studies Bruce Hall, Clear Lake Property Owners Assoc – Clear Lake Harvester Success Story Curt Forst, Wright Co Coalition of Lake Assoc – AIS Strategies for Wright County Associations Jeff Forester, MN Lakes & Rivers Advocates – MN Legislative Updates on AIS

MGLP: Dissolved oxygen in warming lakes
2023-03-28 13:00 - 14:00
Register here

Dissolved oxygen (DO) is a fundamental component of lake ecosystems. It is an important attribute of habitat in that low levels make habitat unsuitable for most aerobic organisms like fish. In addition, because of its role in redox reactions, DO strongly influences water chemistry. Low oxygen can result in internal loading of limiting nutrients, accumulation of the greenhouse gas methane, as well as formation of the toxic form of mercury in the water column. Therefore, changes to lake DO strongly impact the functioning of lake ecosystems with implications for drinking water quality, biodiversity, and possibly, fish toxicity. In theory, DO should respond to warming surface waters through a variety of mechanisms. This talk will summarize recently published work that used long-term and geographically extensive lake water quality data to explore the relationship between warming of surface waters and DO.

MN COLA Round Robin
2023-03-14 11:00 - 12:00 | In Person, 1st Street Southeast, Little Falls, MN, 56345, United States
Register Here:
The Round Robin event is an “open mic, ask any question” event. This is your chance to get your topic on the table and find out what other lake and river professionals and supporters think. Just stay online following the Membership Meeting.

MN COLA March 2023 Membership Meeting
2023-03-14 09:00 - 11:00 | In Person, 1st Street Southeast, Little Falls, MN, 56345, United States
Register Here:
Winter is still here, but the 2023 season on the water will be here before you know it. Like most of you, MN COLA continues working during these shorter days to help protect our Minnesota waters. Join us at our March Membership meeting to find out what’s happening in St. Paul related to our priorities and take in the next session on Lake Resiliency. This meeting will feature Rob Karner, Watershed Scientist (Glen Lake Association, Michigan) presenting Riparians in the Driver Seat: Collective Action Can Make a Difference. Joining him will be Dennis Wiand (Zerogravity Aerial) and Ron Reimink (Freshwater Solutions) who leverage drone technology for water quality projects and how they have partnered to move projects forward. We will have updates on our MN COLA Legislative Agenda. The Legislature is no longer divided so we this is a very interesting year and you won’t want to miss this update.
