Legacy Amendment funds 2 fish barriers

Published 2:00 pm Thursday, May 28, 2009

Despite a tense legislative session, the Shell Rock River Watershed District received $655,000 to build two fish barriers on creeks running into Fountain Lake.

“It’s the next piece of the puzzle for us,” said Shell Rock River Watershed District Administrator Brett Behnke. “It’s a really big, important piece and obviously a very expensive piece.”

The money is coming through the Legacy Amendment. Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed off on the funding Saturday. Minnesota citizens voted in favor of the Legacy Amending in the 2008 elections. The distribution of the funding was determined by a panel now known as the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council.

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Behnke said the $655,000 through the Legacy Amendment will supplement the watershed district’s $3 million budget by about 22 percent, and Behnke said the local-option sales tax in Freeborn County will match the $655,000.

The two fish barriers will be built west of Minnesota Highway 13. One will go on Wedge Creek, and the other will go in the creek connecting Chapeau Lake to Fountain Lake.

In preliminary plans, electrical barriers will be built that will shock and deter the fish.

Similar electrical pulsators are used on a barrier on the outlet of Mud Lake, which drains into Fountain Lake. The electrical current can be so strong that it paralyzes fish and sends them downstream.

After the fish barriers are in place, there will be a lake reclamation, which will include killing off the fish in the lake and then restocking the lake with game fish, Behnke said. This is slated to happen on Pickerel Lake this fall, but a date has not been set for when it will happen in Fountain Lake.

Fish barriers are an important piece of the plan to improve the water quality and ecosystems in the district’s lakes. After the fish barriers are in place, the next step is to add depth to Fountain Lake through dredging.

The dredging of Fountain Lake is set for 2012, and Behnke said after all these steps, the hope is for a minimum of one meter (3.28 feet) of water clarity in Fountain Lake. Behnke said the clarity in the lake is currently around six inches.

Behnke said this clarity will aid plant growth on bottom of the lake, and it will change the ecosystem of the lake through changing water temperatures.

Other steps are being taken to decrease pollution and sediments entering the lakes. If sediments and nutrients reach the lake, Asian carp also stir up the bottom of the lake. Then good plant life can use nutrients in the lake, but Behnke said this isn’t happening because photosynthesis doesn’t occur properly when sunlight doesn’t reach the bottom of the lake.

Money is also available through the bonding bill, and Behnke said the watershed district will apply for money for the flood-mitigation project. Behnke said they hope to receive around $300,000, and that will be decided late in the summer.

“Considering the atmosphere of the Legislature this year, we did very, very, very well,” Behnke said.

“The general atmosphere was stressful. You could feel the pressure and the anxiety up there.”