Thirty Lakes Watershed District is to Conserve Natural Resources through land use planning, flood control and other Conservation Projects to Protect Public Health, Safety and Welfare.

The District adopted a Standard which requires developers and/or residential property owners to contain a 100 year rain event on their property.  A “100 year rain event” consists of 5.5 inches of rainfall in a 24 hour period.

The Major Challenges of the District are:

·         Increased Growth

·         Development Pressures

·         Changes in Land Use

·         Wastewater Management

·         Maintaining Water Quality

·         Storm water runoff

30lakes.org

Our website contains historic data as well as new information about the lakes within the District.  The Overall Plan, which also contains Management Strategies for each of the lakes can also be viewed on the website. 

Organizational Information

The Board of Managers:

Tom Ebnet, President

            Dale Armstrong, Vice President

            Ray Wilson, Treasurer

            Joe Hampl, Secretary

            Bruce Yund, Manager

Staff:

Marty Peisch, Administrator

Mary Lou Cody, Accounting

Technical Consultant: 

Alan Cibuzar,

A W Research Laboratories, Inc.

Advisory Board:

Robert Albrecht

Bill LaTour

Alex Bogdanovich

Joan Mondale

Rick Johnson

Meetings:

Regular public meetings are held beginning at 9:00 am the second and fourth Mondays of each month in the District Office at:

17064 Commercial Park Road

Barbeau Pines Complex

Brainerd, MN  56401

We welcome and encourage anyone interested to attend the meetings.

Contact Information:

  Thirty Lakes Watershed District

  P. O. Box 376

  Brainerd, MN  56401

  Phone: (218) 828-0243

  FAX:  (218) 824-7006

  Email:  lakeswsd@brainerd.net

  Website:  30lakes.org

Erosion/Sediment Control 

Three of the Managers, Tom Ebnet, Dale Armstrong and Joe Hampl have been certified by the University of Minnesota in Erosion/Sediment Control Site Management.

Lake Levels:

The Managers, Staff and Volunteers are making their biweekly checks of the lake levels throughout the District.

Are you interested in the level of a particular lake?  Check our website 30lakes.org.  Years and years of data have been compiled in charts.

For the first time this year, tiles will be attached to the lake gauges.  At the end of the season the tiles will be analyzed for Zebra Mussel or other Undesirable Critters making their home in the lake.

Mass Balance:

All year long the District will be monitoring inlets and outlets of lakes to determine the volumes and nutrient loading of water entering and leaving.

This data can be used to target certain areas that may need a plan to manage excess nutrients.

Winter Sampling:

In the winter of 2006, seventeen lakes were tested for Phosphorus and Chlorides.

The results of the sampling are on the website at 30lakes.org.

The Watershed District was concerned by the increase of these two elements in many of the lakes sampled.  Some will require special management strategies.

 Precipitation Study:

Rainwater contains Phosphorus.  That’s not a surprise.

The Thirty Lakes Watershed District is one of three Districts throughout the state participating in a Study to determine not only what is in our rainwater, but also where that rainwater came from.  This project was originated by the Lake Hubert Association, then taken over and expanded by Thirty Lakes.

The chemical makeup of the precipitation will be tracked along with the global winds, hot & cold fronts, and other weather conditions to shed light on how and where the chemical loading is taking place.

Crow Wing County

Sanitary Management District:

The Sewer District is up and running now!

The pilot area has been established and will include the City of Crosslake and the following townships:  Mission, Center, Ideal, Lake Edward, Pelican and Unorganized First Assessment.

The Sanitary District Board is made up of the following members:

Dave Bergin, District 1

Barb Simon, District 2

Dennis Palmer, District 3

Jim Knudsen, District 4

Bob Ebert, District 5

Martin Joyce, At-Large Representative

Dean Swanson, City of Crosslake

Gary Walters, County Commissioner

Joe Hampl, Thirty Lakes Watershed

Once the Board gets past the details such as drafting a Sewer Ordinance, By-Laws and Management Standards, the work of gathering data on each and every on-site sewer system will begin.

The Management District’s aim is assist property owners in maintaining their on-site system in the most efficient method possible.

MPCA Air, Water & Waste Conference:

Thirty Lakes’ own Tom Ebnet made a presentation at the MPCA Conference last February in Bloomington.

He spoke about the importance of storm water runoff control.  Slides were shown from various sites within the Thirty Lakes District where single and multiple methods of runoff retention were successfully employed.

Breezy Point Storm Water Project:

A site of concern was established in and around the Point Place Condominium and Lodge Apartments in Breezy Point.  It appears that runoff from parking lots and other places is going directly into Pelican Lake.

At this time engineers are gathering elevation data and designing options for controlling and retaining runoff.  We hope to have a solid plan to present at a Public Hearing in late September or October of 2006.

Swimmer’s Itch

This annoying skin infection is caused by a tiny parasite found in/on waterfowl.

Measures to prevent the nasty Itch include:

• Briskly towel off after leaving the water.
• If at all possible, avoid wading or swimming in shallow areas near the shore.
• Do not feed waterfowl on your property

If these measures don’t work, contact the Department of Natural Resources for a Permit to treat the water with Copper Sulfate.

Did You Know?

1 Meter increase in lake water clarity has an economic worth of $50 per foot of lake frontage?  That’s $5,000 per 100ft.

Thirty Lakes Watershed District:

Our Boundaries remain unchanged, although we hope to expand to include the Gull Lake Chain in the future. 

The general response to our proposal for expansion has been favorable, however the “wheels of Government turn slowly” and certain procedures must be followed.

Bill LaTour continues to lead the Boundary Expansion Project.  If you would care to share your comments with Bill, he can be reached at (218) 831-2626.

See You at the Fair!

This year, for the very first time, Thirty Lakes Watershed District will have a booth at the Crow Wing County Fair, August 1st through the 5th.

We encourage you to stop by, meet the Managers and share your thoughts, concerns and ideas.

Thirty Lakes Watershed District

17064 Commercial Park Road

P. O. Box 376

Brainerd, MN  56401