Seen Around Birch Lake

Winter is wonderful on Birch Lake.  From migrating birds to enjoying fun on the ice.  Here are some photos of winter activity.

Snow Bear

Duck Duck Snow Goose

Best Hockey Rink

Fall 2015 Photo Corner

This is a new feature.  Birch Lake is beautiful!  We all see it.  How many times do you take out your phone or camera and snap a picture.

Now you can share them.

The Photo Corner is a new section that will share your moment with our Birch Lake community.

Here are some submission over the summer.

Sunset from Ryan Hoops

From Dale Bacon 

Steve Laliberte - Daddy Loon

Send your photos to slaliberte@sorttosspack.com

Fall 2015 Chairman's Corner

By Dale Bacon

The ninth annual meeting of the Birch Lake Improvement district was held on June 17, 2015, at White Bear Lake City Hall.  A near-record 24 district members were in attendance. 

Chairman Bacon reviewed the highlights of 2014 – 2015.  In addition to a review of operational items such as weed harvesting and aerator operation, special emphasis was placed on the following topics.

•   Board members participated in a wide range of conferences, such as the Road Salt Symposium and the Shallow Lakes Conference.  This is all a part of an effort to stay abreast of emerging regulatory and scientific issues. 
•   BLID is supporting VLAWMO to conduct water sampling and analysis to establish a chloride base level for Birch Lake.  This will enable BLID to monitor the lake for potential road salt impacts.
•  The BLID blog site has been updated.  Members were encouraged to visit it at Birchlakeimprovementdistrict.org.  The blog serves as the repository of BLID related information and is upgraded on a regular basis.

The fish survey was completed on September 6, 2014.  It demonstrated that the only fish species impacted by the 2013-2014 winter kill was the largemouth bass.

The lake was stocked with 2,000 largemouth bass on October 16, 2014.  We should see results in 2016!

Special items in the 2015 -2016 plan include updating the BLID’s 2008 Sustainable Lake Management Plan, conducting a lake sediment survey, conducting a member survey, and painting the harvester.

The membership approved the 2016 budget of $13,000.  This will be presented for approval by the White Bear Lake City Council on October 27, 2015.

Tom Merritt was re-elected to a 3-year term on the board.  Tom serves as BLID treasurer.

Following the business meeting, Chip Welling, coordinator of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Aquatic Invasive Plant Control program, gave a presentation on DNR programs to control aquatic invasive species.

Nesting Loons

One of the measures of the wildlife quality on Birch Lake is loon activity.


For a number of years, we have had a nesting pair of loons. 

This year I caught a picture of the happy couple with two babies. 

When I saw the loon from a distance I felt something was different.  The head did not look right. 

 This photo was take on June 12 at dusk.

As I got closer, it was not one head but 3.  The two babies were so young that they were still on moms back!

 By July 12, the babies had tripled in size.  They were swimming and fishing at a distance from mom and dad.






 

A closer look at the babies on July 12.  You can see that they are brown.  They are swimming and fishing and growing.