Important Announcement of AIS in Long Lake

Dear Long Lake Property Owner,

Invasive Species: 

The Long Lake Area Association (Hubbard County) Inc. Board of Directors learned Thursday July 23rd through the MN DNR Northwest Region AIS Specialist, Nicole Kovar, and Hubbard County Environmental Specialist – AIS Program, Nicholas Macklem, that MN DNR has confirmed finding adult zebra mussels in Long Lake.

The zebra mussels are the little shells surrounding our native clam

The invasive, fingernail-sized mollusks likely went undetected last year based on the size of the zebra mussels found by DNR scuba divers at the south access. Zebra Mussels may encrust boat motors/hulls, smother native clams (see a MN DNR image below), and sharp shells can cut swimmer’s feet. 

What can we all do to contain the spread of ZM,  faucet snails, and prevent other AIS in Long Lake?  It is important for us plus our guests to use the FREE Hubbard County Decontamination Station when trailering boats to/from another body of water. Call ahead for your appointment: 218-252-6738; 812 Henrietta Ave. S, Park Rapids. The hot water kills adult Zebra Mussels and invisible ZM veligers, invasive aquatic vegetation like Eurasian Watermilfoil (confirmed in Big Mantrap) or Starry Stonewort (confirmed in Wolf Lake near Bemidji). Clean, Drain, & Dry gear & equipment. Allow 21 days dry time in moving a dock, lift, or raft.

Some Next Steps:   Having mapped the ZM genome in 2019, the University of MN Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center is experimenting with potential Zebra Mussel 
treatments. (https://www.maisrc.umn.edu/copper-control) . The board needs to explore whether Long Lake's situation can be helped by any of these treatments.

As soon as possible Please Check along your shoreline, rocks/sticks/native clams plus your dock/lift to help determine where Zebra Mussels adults are visible here on Long Lake.  

Find something? Email sharonmnatzel@gmail.com so we can ID/track locations to help determine if Long Lake meets qualifications for a DNR pilot project for treatment. Continue to use your zebra mussel settlement samplers as part of our “Eyes on the Water” program. 


Learn how to identify aquatic vegetation & look for AIS for Early Detection by joining Sharon Natzel's outdoor class on Thurs 8/6 at 10 AM at the South Access (socially distanced training – bring your own mask/gloves) 


The LLAA Board will continue to explore additional tools to help prevent the spread of Zebra Mussels and all other invasive species. 
The LLAA (HC) Foundation is also working on its annual fund raising driving which is starting the last week of July. Please watch for the information in your mailbox in the following weeks.

Click on this link for Frequently Asked Questions about zebra mussels in MN

Link to Minnesota DNR press release on finding 2 adult Zebra Mussels in Long Lake
 

New Information on Firepits by the Lake

During Keith Manlove's presentation at our LLAA annual meeting, he mentioned that fire pits close to the lake contribute to phosphorus runoff into the lake. The Hubbard County Shoreland Guide published by the Hubbard County Soil and Water District has rules for fire pits and other methods to help control run off into Long Lake.

The following is taken from the Shoreland Guide:

• Locate fire pits away from the shore and dispose of ash. The leftover ash from burning wood is very high in phosphorus.  If the fire pit is located near the lake, rain can wash the ashes into the lake.
• Locate the fire pit at least 50 feet away from the lake.
• Remove ashes from the fire pit regularly to prevent the phosphorus-loaded ashes from being blown or washed into the lake.

Find out more about methods to reduce phosphorus run off here:
Hubbard County Shoreland Guide to Lake Stewardship

FYI:  The average one acre lawn yields one pound of phosphorus to the lake every year.  One acre is approximately 208.71 feet × 208.71 feet.  An acre is 43,560 square feet.  Therefore the small 50 foot lots on Chippewa Loop and other older development areas along the lake are about a third of an acre.

A slideshow of some of the Activities on Long Lake this July 4th

Thank you everyone who participated in the Flotilla this year.  It seemed to be one of the biggest yet and we had such nice weather in the morning too.  Afterwards many people were out skiing, boating, riding the big floats etc.  The day was capped off with several people having their own fireworks displays.  Enjoy the pictures of the activities.

LLAA June 27, 2020 Annual Meeting Recap

Thank you to all members who were able to join us on our Zoom Annual Meeting last Saturday.  The Board practiced and practiced to make the presentation go as smoothly as possible.  We realize that not everyone had a good internet connection or the time at 10am on a weekend morning to watch it live.  In this post is a link to the full agenda, an image of our election outcomes, and an image the of Ice Out contest results.  The videos of both speakers were posted on June 30, 2020. See that post immediately below this one for those links. 

LLAA Annual Meeting Agenda:
Slides - June 27, 2020 Annual Meeting Agenda

Congratulation  to our newly elected board members.  Thank you to everyone who responded and voted by email.

Election Image from Presentation

Prize Image from Presentation

If you have any questions about the information presented during the annual meeting, please email the board at longlakeliving@gmail.com.  Contact information for current our board will be posted later this week.

We hope many of you will be participating in our Flotilla on Saturday, July 4th, at 10am!

(See the June 18, 2020 post below this blog for more Flotilla details.) 

Lake Friendly Living & Gardening

Presentations from the Annual Meeting 

on Lake Friendly Living and Gardening

Please share this post with your family and neighbors so that we can achieve our goal of reducing Phosphorous in our lake by 43 pounds each year.  As you can see in the *slide below, all it takes is for 50 of us to make some changes on our own lake shore properties.  Since there are around 250 members, that should be easy.  Take a look at the videos and slides.  What can you do on your lot?  Every little bit helps Long Lake.   
Send us pictures and details of your changes.  They would make fun blogs to post during the winter.

*Slide:

Link to view:  Keith's slides with links for more information

Keith Manlove's Video Presentation:

This was one of the questions asked & answered in the Q&A after the presentation:
How do you turn your lawn into a pollinator friendly spot?

Please contact Keith Manlove at  manlove.keith@gmail.com.  He will be glad to walk through your lot with you and provide ideas on how to improve our lake clarity by changing your lake shore.

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Link to view:  Slides used in Steve Henry's Video Presentation

Steve Henry's video presentation:

 

In this video Steve showed us some pictures of the Deer View project.  Use this link for the Deer View project presented by William Lee at HC COLA for the Hubbard County SWCD