Coralee Fox

Coralee has a residence on Sauk Lake in Todd County and has been a Shoreland Volunteer for two years. Coralee’s key interests are in shoreland restoration and lake management. She is currently working on a lake management plan for Sauk Lake and their goal is to reduce weeds algae, and to lower the phosphorus content. Coralee attends workshops, reads articles and participates in the Healthy Lakes program. In addition to planting along her own shoreland, Coralee volunteers for the revegetation project at Sinclair Lewis Park.

What is your most favorite memory or experience with the Shoreland Volunteer Program?

Working with Sauk River Watershed District to restore the Sauk Lake shoreland adjacent to Sinclair Lewis Park in Sauk Centre.

What have you done that you are most proud of or feel is the most important thing you have done with the program?

I’ve planted over 150 trees, shrubs and perennials on my lakeshore property since moving here in September 2000.

What one person do you most admire in life and why?

My mother because of her interest in wildlife preservation and conservation. I think that she planted at least 10,000 trees in her lifetime.

What is the best book you have ever read?

Of Captains and Kings

What is one thing you would like others to know about you?

In the past 20 years I’ve had 15 different addresses. I love my lake home and am looking forward to no more moves.

What questions would you like to have asked of you?

Question: What is your favorite shrub?

Answer: Red Prince Ueigelia

Karen Sherper Rohs, Regional Extension Educator, Natural Resources Policy, Planning and Management

At the January 2003 Kick-off event, Stearns, Wright, and Sherburne County Shoreland Volunteers chose to create an advisory team to work with Karen on planning local shoreland education events and the activities. This advisory team met on March 24th for what proved to be an inspiring, energetic planning session! Thank you to the advisory team members: Curt Forst, Howard Lake (Wright); Coralee Fox, Sauk River (Todd); Tom Hammer, Lake Ann (Wright); George Kydd, Briggs Lake (Sherburne); Ray Rau, Granite Lake (Wright); and Miles Rychman, Big Watab Lake (Stearns). Upcoming education topics will include algae, funding sources, presentation skills, and septic systems. We also discussed the creation of a Shoreland Volunteer “calling card” for volunteers to use in their outreach, possible booths at local county fairs, finances, updating our member list, and means for recognizing our active volunteers.

Barb Liukkonen, Water Resources Extension Coordinator

Of course, you wouldn’t do that on purpose - you’re probably careful to select and plant native species. However, hitchhiking exotics might come along with those native plants that you are planting to improve the shoreline.

Recent research, funded by Minnesota Sea Grant and MN DNR found that 92.5% of wetland and aquatic plant orders included unintended plants or animals! Kristi Maki, advised by Sue Galatowitsch, in the University of Minnesota Horticulture Department, studied how often and what types of invasive species came along with plant orders, how easy it was to obtain regulated invasive plants, and how certain species are adapting to our colder Minnesota climate.

In the first phase of her research, Kristi surveyed which exotic aquatic plants are sold commercially. Her database, including 119 vendors and 39 invasive aquatic plants, showed that more vendors sell aquatic plants via the internet than from mail order catalogs and that 6 regulated aquatic plants and 4 regulated terrestrial plants (sold as aquatics) are commercially available.

Then Kristi placed orders with a variety of vendors across the US. She ordered individual plants or assemblages from water gardening or aquarium specialists and general garden businesses, with 30 vendors outside Minnesota and 4 from within the state. Regulated species were ordered 14 times and were received, without question, in all but one case!

When plants arrived, Kristi carefully examined them and identified unordered hitchhikers that were hiding in the packaging, tangled in roots, or included in the soil. Here’s a very brief summary of what she found.

• 90% of the purchases contained plants that hadn’t been ordered
• 80% included animals (usually invertebrates, but twice she received live fish!)
• 62.5% included algae, moss, or fungi
• 41% included seeds

Many of the hitchhikers were viable plants or seeds, as Kristi found when she planted them. In some cases, hitchhikers were federally regulated plants, including purple loosestrife, hydrilla, curly pondweed, and giant salvinia. It turns out that the unintended transfer of illegal species only occurred about 10% of the time, but when you think of how many plants we’re planting to restore shorelines, there’s a huge potential to introduce invasive exotic species.

So, what can you do to help stop the spread of invasive aquatic species as you are restoring a shoreline or cultivating a water garden?

• Learn what exotic species look like
• Be careful when sharing or transplanting plants (remember you need a permit to move plants from one part of your lake to another!)
• Order from reputable growers and ask how they prevent hitchhikers when they package or deliver plants
• Expect your plant sources to follow the laws and use sound practices
• Don’t order via internet web sites without evidence that they’re concerned about exotics
• When you receive plants, carefully examine them to remove hitchhikers before planting Never introduce anything from your water garden into a stream, lake, wetland, or drainage ditch.

Mary Blickenderfer, Shoreland Vegetation and Landscape Specialist

Some of the most common questions at shoreland revegetation workshops is “Where can I get native plants for my project?” and “What do they look like?” Many people are interested in buying plant materials from a nursery or supplier, while some are interested in collecting and/or propagating the plant materials themselves. Most types of native plant materials are similar to those found in a standard nursery. However, the pre-vegetated mats for aquatic plantings are relatively new. Below is a table that will help address these questions.

* Planting below the Ordinary High Water Level (i.e. in the aquatic and wet transition zones) is limited to MN native species and requires a DNR permit prior to planting.

** Always obtain permission from property owner before collecting any plant material. Written permission (permit) may be necessary and is always advised.

Whether plant material is purchased from nurseries or collected from friends’ gardens or a wild area, it should be done with some caution. Remember, we want to use plant material with genetic origin from 1) the same ecological region as the planting site (see Feb/Mar issue) or 2) Minnesota (a much easier working definition!). A list of nurseries and suppliers of MN native plant materials recently created by a Master Gardener is available on line (http://www.uslink.net/~wetdog/nativenurseries.html). Note that our working definition of “MN native plant” may not be the same one used by the nurseries on this list or your gardening friends.

If purchasing seed, you can choose either individual species or special mixes. Ask if it is “yellow tag” or “source identified” seed, and if so, what is the place of origin (Minnesota?). Is the native seed produced from “released” varieties that have been selected from a large region, covering several states? If so, avoid. Again, be extremely cautious of “meadow-in-a-can” or “native seed” packets sold at discount stores and garden centers. Check the label - many contain seed from distant regions of the country and should be avoided. Many MN native seed suppliers listed on the website given above offer similar seed mixes for our state. Note that most native seed is much smaller and lighter than most non-native grass and flower seed. Expect to purchase significantly less (by weight).

If purchasing plants ask about the source of seed or plant cuttings used for propagation (Minnesota?). If the plants appear to have been dug from the wild (i.e. several different species in the same pot, unusual soil, etc.), determine if they were salvaged from a demolition site or dug from an otherwise undisturbed natural population. Supporting the latter method may unnecessarily put native plant populations at risk and should be avoided.

If collecting seed from the wild or transplanting make sure you have permission from the owner to do so. Then make sure that the species is truly native. If collecting seed, mark the plant or site and monitor until ripe (covered in upcoming issue). Transplanting from the wild is recommended only when the site is scheduled for future demolition. In some areas, an effort is being made to coordinate transplanting from sites of aquatic plant removal to sites of aquatic plant revegetation – ask the DNR when applying for a permit to transplant aquatic vegetation.