Minutes 2/21/18

Board Meeting Minutes

February 21, 2018

7:00 pm, White Bear Lake City Hall

Call to order at 7:04 PM Members present were: Dale Bacon, Steve Laliberte, Jim Grisim, Tom Merritt, Ryan Hoops, Deb Vernon, Terry Huntrod and Nick Voss from VLAWMO

1.      Approval of Agenda

Motion: (Grisim/Merritt) Move to approve agenda.  Motion carried.

2.    Approval of Minutes

Motion: (Grisim/Merritt) Move to approve Nov 1, 2017 minutes.  Motion carried.

3.    Treasurer’s Report

Motion: (Hoops/Grism) Move to approve Treasurer Report.  Motion carried.

We have received the first portion of the tax levy.

4.      Status Reports

Admin

        2 annual reports were returned because no one is currently living at those addresses.

        Deb researched when the terms of office started.  Tom Merritt term is up in July.

        Standard operating procedures

                    SOP should be presented to the board for review. 

                         Done are Aerator use and permit application, how to develop the action calendar, How to do the Annual Report, Minutes, Notice of Meetings.

                         Need to do Position Responsibility (each office is to do theirs), Treasure duties (Tom is working on that), Spring lake clean up (Jim is working on it), Weed Harvesting Permit, Contract requirements (Steve and Jim), Lake access.

Aerator System

        Is functioning

        We received a bill from the paper.  The bill was paid in advanced.  Steve will give Deb the bill.  

VLAWMO

        Nick Voss VLAWMO Education and Outreach Coordinator

(651-204-6070 nick.voss@vlawmo.org )

Nick talked about doing Picture Posts around the lake. A citizen science project to study environmental changes over time. Members would take photos of the lake and upload to a website.  

He also talked about doing Adopt a Drain.  Nick will let Dale know where the drains are located around the lake. 

Steve and Dale will look at doing this and present the proposal to the board at the next meeting

      Phosphorus removal project

Location is 4^th and Otter lake Road.  The hope is this will be installed by the end of the year.  When this is done it will have a drain that needs to be cleaned monthly.  (Adopt a drain)

                 Annual Report

2017 Water Monitoring Report is out.  See VLAWMO website.  (www.VLAWMO.org/news )

The automated storm sampler on 4^th and Otter Lake Rd showed very high nutrient level during storms.  Birch Lake is still below the State standards. The Phosphorus removal project should help to improve this.   Lake is at a B+ grade. 

5.      Action Items

Annual lake clean-up day

Jim will take the lead and work on putting it in a SOP.  Katie Piehl sent an email to board about getting scouts to help out.

 2018 Weed Harvesting Program

Steve and Jim will work on SOPs for doing a permit for harvesting and a contract for harvesting.  Permit is good until September when it is approved by DNR.  DNR does not approve it until weeds show that they need to be harvested. They will talk to DNR about getting permit early since we seem to always need to cut.  They will also try to figure out a better way to have the weeds cut (mark the lake with buoys?).  They will report to the board at the next meeting.

 Annual meeting

Meeting is June 20^th. 

Treasurer term is up – Tom is considering retiring from that position. 

Dale will ask Nick from VLAWMO to come and talk about Phosphorus removal project, picture posts and adopt a drain.

Terry Hunstrod is interested in helping out on the board.

Deb Vernon would be interested in taking over the treasurer spot if Tom decides to retire.

6.      Communication

        Website

For now we will use email, Nextdoor (https://nextdoor.com/  and Blog (http://Birchlake-id.blogspot.com)

        Newsletter

          Dale and Tom are working on one for the Spring.

7.      General Discussion

Lake Vegetation survey was done in 2015.  Fish survey was done in 2014.

City wants to connect Hwy 96 path with S. Birch Lake (where the path in the grass already exists.)

Otter Lake Road will not be done until 2019 or 2020

Next Meeting will be April 25^th at 7 PM in Conference Room on 2nd floor (Not enough officers here in March)

8.      Adjourn at 8:50

Motion: (Grisim/Merritt) Move to Adjourn.  Motion carried.

Minutes done by Deb Vernon

Minutes 11/1/17

BLID Board of Directors Meeting

November 1, 2017

Call to order at 7:05 PM with the following members present:  Dale Bacon, Jim Grisim, Tom Merritt and Ryan Hoops, Deb Vernon

Approval of Agenda

Motion: (Grisim/Merritt) Move to approve agenda.  Motion carried.

Approval of Minutes

Motion: (Grisim/Bacon) Move to approve the September 20, 2017 minutes.  Motion carried.

Reports

Treasurer’s Report

Motion: (Hoops/Bacon) Move to accept report.  Motion carried.

Updates

1.     Admin update

Organized files and upload electronic ones to Google drive

Updated Member list – still working on getting more emails

Created a 2018 action calendar

Created a SOP template and did a few

2.     VLAWMO

They are cleaning out Sucker Channel (It is off Hwy 96 past Cub)

Next month they are going to discuss the grant

3.     Ramsey County

GIS site has made a change to the South end of the lake

4.     White Bear Lake

       Hearing on the budget generated a lot of positive comments about BLID

5.     Aerator Operation

The permit was filed.  The aerator is working, the stakes are in.  Jim will check with Steve about doing the posting that is needed to turn it on.  Jim will move the extra pump into the new shed. 

Discussion

1.     Newsletter/website

Working on articles for the newsletter

Talked about hosting a website and decided for now Deb will post new stuff to blog and to Nextdoor lake front group.

2.     2018 harvesting

We can harvest 50%.  We will try to get the permit as soon as ice is out and weeds are up.

Adjourn

Motion: Move to Adjourn (Grism/Bacon) – Motion Carried.  Adjourned at 7:45 PM.

Next Meeting:  Wednesday February 21, 2018 7:00 PM. 

Minutes prepared by Deb Vernon

Minutes 09/20/17

BIRCH LAKE IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

September 20, 2017

Call to order at 7:05 with the following members present Dale Bacon, Steve Laliberte, Jim Grisim, Tom Merritt, Deb Vernon

1.     Approval of Agenda. 

Motion to approve Steve/Tom.  Motion approved

2.     Approval of Minutes. 

Steve passed them out.  Motion to approve Dale/Jim. Motion approved.

3.     Treasurer’s Report. 

Tom passed out report.  Motion to approve Jim/Dale.  Motion approved.

4.      Updates:

VLAWMO

An automated sampling has been installed for next year.

Invasive Species Research at U of M.

Dale attended a conference.  There is a new mil foil, it is a hybrid and more resistant to chemicals.

City of White Bear Lake

 Next year we will send the Pin # to the city.  Should be 63 members.       

      5.     Action Items

Admin Priorities

            1. Member List

            2. Email addresses

                        Tom will send the Cloister emails

            3. Standard Operating Procedures 

4. Need for a laptop. Dale will check with his son.  Deb took all the old files off and put them on a flash drive because the notebook could not open the documents.

            5. Dale will introduce Deb to the city staff. 

     6.     Discussion Items

State of Lake

Weeds are still there.  Dale talked to the guy from the U of M.  It might be good to harvest earlier.  Want to make sure we do not cut too much.  Folks are seeing fish and lots of frogs.

Surveys

      2016 Plant was done

      2015 Fish

SLMP

Need to look at SLMP plan.

DNR does not recognize lake management plan because it was done by VLAWMO. Jim will check to see if we should updated.  

Budget hearing

Oct 24 at 7PM. Board members should attend.  Steve will do presentation. 

Annual Report

      Dale has a draft.  Must be in by Oct 15 

Piehl Project

Agreed amount was to pay for electrical and $1500 for shed. Costs were $1698 for electrical, $5000 for shed, $5500 for landscape.  Nic sending invoice, BLID cost is $3198 

Aerator

      Jim applied for the permit. 

7.     Adjourn

Jim/Tom motion at 8:05.  Motion approved.

Next meeting is Nov 1,^, 2017 at 7 PM

Minutes done by Deb Vernon

2017 Annual Report

Birch Lake Improvement District

2017 Annual Report

Birch Lake is a shallow suburban lake with an area of 123 acres and a maximum depth of 6-8 feet.  It is considered to be one of the healthiest lakes within the Vadnais Lake Area Water Management Organization (VLAWMO).  Concerns over maintaining the quality led lake property owners to petition the City of White Bear Lake to form the Birch Lake Improvement District (BLID) in 2006.

A board of directors elected by improvement district members governs the Birch lake Improvement District.  Current members are: Dale Bacon, Chair; Ryan Hoops, vice chair; Steve Laliberte, secretary, Tom Merritt, treasurer and Jim Grisim, member at large.  The board is responsible for implementing the Birch lake Sustainable Lake management plan.  These responsibilities include activities such as coordinating scientific studies on lake water quality, maintenance of recreational use of the lake and communication to the membership regarding threats to lake quality.

During 2017, the following activities were carried out by BLID:

The annual cleanup day was held on May 6, 2017. 

BLID members continue to participate in VLAWMO Citizen’s Water Monitoring Program.  This involves taking biweekly lake water samples and making water clarity and lake level readings.

During winter months, BLID operates an aeration system to prevent complete fish kills from oxygen depletion.  Muskrat tunneling under the compressor enclosure resulted in system failure at the end of the season.  The system has been relocated and reinforced to prevent future disruptions.

Several BLID board members maintain Minnesota DNR certification as a lake services provider.   This training focuses on preventing the movement of invasive species from lake to lake.

BLID is supporting VLAWMO to develop a chloride baseline to help better understand the potential impact of road salt on the lake.  This involves conducting chloride analysis on monthly water samples taken at the four major inflow points on the lake. 

Approximately 1000 largemouth bass and 500 crappies were stocked in the lake in Spring 2017.

BLID provided monetary support to VLAWMO to provide extra maintenance to the restoration project on the north shore of the lake.

BLID has joined with VLAWMO and the City of White Bear Lake to investigate remediation of the wetland area located in the NE corner of Otter Lake Road and 4^th Street.  This area receives storm water runoff from a surrounding area.  An engineering study conducted by Barr Engineering recommends that an iron sand filtration system be installed to remove phosphorous prior to discharge into Birch Lake.  VLAWMO has submitted a grant application to the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources to cover $97000 of the total project cost of $127000.

VLAWMO has initiated a yearlong program to establish a baseline of the phosphorous input from storm water flowing through the wetlands.  This project utilizes automated storm water sampling technology to sample after rainfall events.

A number of factors such as a mild winter, early ice out and a warm spring again contributed to excessive aquatic plant growth in the lake.  The 2017 harvesting program was carried out by Warner Outdoor services.   The permitted level of harvesting (30 acres) was reached after about seven days of harvesting.  The 2017 harvesting activity did not result in a lasting improvement in the recreational use of the lake.

A quarterly newsletter is published in both print and electronic format.  The BLID blog at  BirchLakeImprovementDistrict.org is operational.  The goal is to communicate primarily by electronic format.

The tenth annual BLID meeting was held on June 15 2017.  Twenty-two of the 63 parcels in the district were represented.  The 2018 operating budget of $19,000 was approved by the membership for submittal to the White Bear Lake City Council.  Dale Bacon and Ryan Hoops were reelected to three-year terms.

The next annual meeting is June 20, 2018.

Submitted for the BLID board by Dale Bacon, Chairman

October 11, 2017

2016 Annual Meeting

Call to order at 7:04PM with the following board members were present:  Dale Bacon, Ryan Hoops, Steve Laliberte, Tom Merritt, and Jim Grisim.  

A total of 22 members were in attendance constituting a quorum.

Motion (Grisim/Krueser) Move to approve agenda.  Motion carried.

Motion (Hoops/Grisim) Move to approve the minutes of 2015 Annual Meeting.  Motion carried.

Treasurer Report: 

Merritt presented the proposed budget.  The budget is similar to the prior year.  The levy will not change.  There is currently a reserve of $22,000 for harvester replacement and $6,000 for general operating needs.

TOTAL INCOME	13,000.00
	Budget
Aerator
Aerator electricity	300.00
Aerator Maintenance	500.00
Administration
Stamps & Copies	600.00
Admin secretary	1,300.00
BLID Insurance	750.00
Weed Harvester
Harvester Repairs
Tune up	1,000.00
Weed Cutting Operations	4,000.00
Harvester DNR Permit	125.00
Miscellaneous
Special Projects
Fish	3,000.00
Restoration site maintenance	1,000.00
Monitoring	1,000.00
TOTAL EXPENSES	13,575.00
Surplus/Deficit	(575.00)

Motion (Nash/Krueser) Move to approve the Treasurers Report.  Motion carried.

Year In Review:

Bacon reported on state of the BLID. 

Water level is high.

Publish quarterly newsletter and updated the blog at www.birchlakeimprovementdistrict.org.

We conducted a water sediment to monitor the level of salt in the lake.  Salt levels are high but below level of concern.

Operated the aerator over the winter

Weed harvester was painted.  The weeds did not require harvesting due to high water.

Several board members participated in a city planning activity for non motorized transportation plan development.

2016-17 Plans

Weed harvesting – we will begin cutting in three weeks.  The permit has been requested and Aspen has been retained.

Harvester is updated with new hydraulic hoses.

We will continue to participate in non motorized transportation with the goal of acquiring funding from Ramsey County and the City of White Bear Lake to add a pathway on the north bound lake of Otter Lake Road along the east shore of Birch Lake.

2016 Budget Review:

Motion: (Laliberte/ Krueser)  Move approve the budget. Motion carried.

Election:

Steve Laliberte is up for re-election for board member.

Motion (Krueser/Bacon) to elect the board member.  Motion carried.

Adjournment

Motion to adjourn  (Auger, Grisim) Motion carried.

Meeting adjourned at 8:50 PM

Next annual meeting June 14, 2017

Minutes prepared by Steve Laliberte

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

Currents

The BLID installed an aerator in 2002 after a severe winter fish kill.  The purpose of the aerator is to oxygenate the water during the winter to ensure that the fish don’t suffocate from lack of oxygen in the water. 

I always thought that shallow lakes would freeze out when the ice got so thick that there was not enough water left.  That was what killed the fish.  In researching the aerator, I leaned that the real cause is lack of sunlight.  A high snowfall winter is actually more dangerous than a cold low snow winter.  Here is why.  Birch Lake is weedy.  Weeds grow all year long including the winter.  If the weeds have enough sunlight, they grow and produce oxygen.  If the snow and ice get too thick, the sunlight is blocked.  Instead of growing and creating oxygen, the weeds die, rot, and consume oxygen.

So, how effective can an aerator be if Birch Lake is 100 acres and the aerator keeps less than ¼ acre open and oxygenated?  I discussed this with fishing pro and naturalist Larry Dahlberg, the host of Hunt for Big Fish on the Outdoor Channel.   

http://outdoorchannel.com/the-hunt-for-big-fish    

Larry explained that the aerator would only save the fish within a certain radius of the aerator.  It would ensure that some fish survive and be a spawning stock for the fish population to recover - unless there was a current in the lake.  A current would move the water and carry the oxygen across a larger portion of the lake.

I always wondered if there were still currents in the lake.  Most of the natural water flow was cut off when the construction of Highway 96 separated Birch Lake from the water inflow on the south side.  The construction of North Birch Lake Blvd. cut off the out flow on the north side.

This winter I was able to observe something interesting.  The mild winter and low snowfall has made it easier to see where currents are be operating.   The first thing I noticed is that there is a line of melting snow that stretches from the culvert on North Birch Lake Blvd. to the aerator.

Here is an areal view from over the aerator.  You can actually see the flow lines.

Looking north from the aerator you can see the flow to the culvert on North Birch Lake Blvd.

The flow goes directly to North Birch Lake Blvd.  Sure enough, the water was flowing out of the culvert to the Rotary wetlands.

I also noticed that much of the shoreline adjacent to the Rotary Park wetland was full of water.  The culvert opening is small in comparison to the volume of water attempting to get out.  I began to wonder if the water is flowing out by seeping through the fill of the road. 

On my way over to the culvert I noticed something odd.  There is an in-flow of water from a sping at the Cloisters.  There is a current line from the cloisters to the aerator!

 The following picture is taken from the Cloisters facing south toward the aerator.

 

The last question that came to mind was why would the flow run through the aerator?  The aerator may act as a breather for water movement.  Have you ever poured gas into your lawnmower without opening the breather on the gas can?  The gas does not flow.  When you open the breather it clears the vaacum and lets the gas flow.  I think the opening in the lake caused by the aerator is like a breather.  The ice is putting pressure on the lake.  The water wants to flow out but can’t.  The aerator releases the vacuum and allows the water to flow.

What do you think?