Paula West, Minnesota Waters, 218-824-5565

The 2006 Lakes and Rivers Conference, hosted by Minnesota Waters September 7 – 9 in Duluth, was attended by 550 people representing lake and river associations, local and state government, non-profits, education, and businesses who gathered around a common interest in water resources management in Minnesota. A theme of “The Changing Landscapes of Minnesota’s Waters” permeated the 48 sessions, 8 workshops, and three field trips over three days to provide attendees with increased knowledge of water issues, skills to improve the effectiveness of citizen groups to improve and protect our waters, and resources and tools to put into action for specific water issues. A plenary session featuring a panel of experts concluded that changing social expectations, shifting demographic projections from urban to rural lake areas, declining and changing recreational use patterns on our waters, and real climate changes will have broad implications for the future quality of Minnesota’s waters and our willingness to protect these resources for future generations to enjoy unless we act now.

A complete list of sessions can be viewed on the Minnesota Waters Web site. Copies of presentations can be solicited directly from presenters. Contact info@minnesotawaters.org for speaker contact information. The next Minnesota Waters Lakes and Rivers Conference will be held in the fall of 2008 at a location to be determined; watch for the specific date by the end of 2006.

Here the big meanders of the Red River of the North through Crookston are evident. The water moves slower in a sinuous channel than it does in a straightened channel because it has to travel farther.

Karen Terry, University of Minnesota Extension Service, 888-241-0843

In the last issue, rivers were described as ecosystems that can be artificially broken down into five categories to make them easier to study. Those categories are hydrology, biology, water quality, geomorphology, and connectivity. The first three were discussed in the last issue. This article will focus on geomorphology, and connectivity of rivers will be covered in the next issue. As a reminder: there is a lot of overlap and interdependence among these five categories so any change to the river system typically results in impacts that fall into more than one category.

Geomorphology refers to the shape of the river. This is determined by several factors such as the amount of water flowing through it, the steepness of the river valley, and soil type. Think about the streams on Minnesota’s North Shore: they tend to be fairly straight, with few meanders, because the slope is steep and they are dominated by boulders and bedrock. They are more like mountain streams than prairie streams. Prairie streams, like those in southern and western Minnesota, tend to be low gradient (not steep), and the soils are loamy and fine. These factors create streams that are curvy, or that meander back and forth across the landscape, and often have broad floodplains. In addition to meandering across the floodplain, rivers also move up and down along their beds, forming deep places (pools) and shallow places (riffles).

This aerial photo shows a sinuous stream in northwestern Minnesota. Stable streams have predictable patterns, including size and spacing of meanders.

Although healthy rivers have predictable shapes, they do change over time. River bends, and the pools and riffles associated with them, tend to move downstream, and oxbows are sometimes created when a river abandons a bend by cutting a new channel. These changes, when not impacted by humans, happen very slowly and the river’s overall geomorphology remains the same.

Many of Minnesota’s streams have been altered by humans. Practices such as channelizing, which is removing the meanders and creating a straight ditch, and dredging, which is removing the shallow areas to make the river uniformly deep, disrupt the river’s ecosystem. These altered systems have less diverse habitat, which negatively affects the health of the plant and animal communities that live there, and the altered systems are unstable because the river’s physical properties continuously work to return to the stable geomorphology that existed prior to the disturbance. This is often visible as raw, eroding banks as the river eats away at the straightened edges to re-establish its meanders. This exacerbated erosion contributes huge amounts of sediment to the river. Channelization, because it steepens the slope of the river, also impacts the hydrology of the system by speeding up the water.

In the next issue, connectivity, the last of the five components of healthy rivers will be discussed.

Mary Blickenderfer, University of Minnesota Extension Service, 888-241-0885

The four erosion control treatments installed in 2005 to stabilize the sandy slopes of County and DNR islands on Rush Lake (Crow Wing County) continued to hold the slopes in place one year later. In spite of the recent drought, many of the native flowers that were planted and most of the grasses that were seeded in 2005 survived and spread over the slope— as well as a few uninvited weeds. The drought took a toll on the upland bare-root trees and shrubs with less than 50% survival after one year. However, live-stake and bare-root shrubs installed in the wet fringe area had greater survival. The remaining eroding slopes on the islands were seeded with a mixture of native flower and grass seed (no flower plants were installed this year) and covered with one coco blanket. Brush bundle terraces were added on long slopes.

A new hydro-mulch product and technique were tested this year. Instead of mixing the seed with the mulch slurry prior to spraying (done in the 2005 application), the seed was hand-broadcast on the slope prior to hydro-mulching for more even distribution and greater germination. However, little plant life was evident at the end of the season, presumably due to the drought and not the new product and technique (see Table 1 for details).

The toe treatments installed in 2005 were not affected by ice heave during the winter or spring ice-out. There was no visible erosion behind the live fascine, coco log, rock gabion, and rock rip rap treatments and only minor erosion between the gaps in the log rafts and stump revetments. The live fascines failed to root in spite of numerous roots visible in 2005. This is likely due to roots not having access to an appropriate rooting medium — the roots were unable to penetrate the geotextile to reach the soil behind it or sediment and organics did not adequately fill in the voids within the fascine. Other products and techniques involving fascines will be tested in 2007. The aquatic emergent plants installed in 2005 were well established and spreading in areas where they were protected by wave breaks or behind the toe treatments, but had washed away in unprotected areas.

* Includes contractor installation cost. Other trials were installed by volunteers and cost includes only materials.

In this 2006 photo, the river bulrush that were planted as apre-vegetated mat in 2005 are well-established behind thebrush bundle wave break and are spreading toward the lake.

Two new shoreland toe protection products were added to the research project this year. These include Shore Sox and flax logs. Both were installed along the eroding shoreline in late spring. The flax logs are similar to coco logs, but with flax stalks replacing the coconut fiber filling and a photo-degradable poly netting replacing the jute netting surrounding the coco logs. These are anchored along the shore with wooden stakes. The Shore Sox are made of corn husk bales placed in photo-degradable woven bags. The bags are held together with ropes strung through sleeves at the top and bottom of the bags. They are anchored to the shore with wooden stakes. Once the bales are saturated, plants can be installed in them. Only licensed and trained dealers of this product are allowed to install Shore Sox. These products have not been tested for long-term, site specific erosion control (i.e., Does the shoreline remain stable when fiber filling and cover have decomposed in three to five years?) See Table 2 for a comparison of all the toe treatments used in the project.

* Includes contractor installation cost. Other trials were installed by volunteers and cost includes only materials.

Barb Liukkonen, Water Resources Center and Minnesota Sea Grant, 612-625-9256

Forty-seven volunteers in Minnesota are collecting water samples from their favorite lake or stream this summer to test for the presence of E. coli bacteria. They split the sample they collect and send half to a certified lab for analysis and take the rest home where they analyze it using two simple test kits. Volunteers are monitoring 24 sites on 15 different lakes and rivers in 11 Minnesota counties. So far they’ve detected a few sites that exceed the state standard for E. coli bacteria on a regular basis and a few sites that have been occasionally high. Many volunteers have been pleased to find that the sites they are monitoring have very low bacteria counts and do not present a human health risk for recreational use.

Their work is part of a six-state regional project assessing the accuracy and reliability of those test kits when used by volunteers. The three-year study, funded through the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) is evaluating six different test kits, including the Coliscan® EasyGel and 3M Petrifilm™products that Minnesota volunteers are using. The Water Resources Center is the fiscal agent and Barb Liukkonen is coordinating the project. Five other states are in the project: IA, WI, MI, IN, and OH.

The research project team received the 2006 national Gold Team Award from the Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals at the association’s annual conference in Park City, Utah, in May.

Karen Terry, University of Minnesota Extension Service, Regional Extension Educator, 218-998-3927

Like other ecosystems such as forests, prairies, and oceans, Minnesota’s rivers and streams are complex ecosystems made up of interdependent components. The health and stability of riverine ecosystems depend on these components functioning in a balanced way. In recent times, scientists have categorized rivers into five major components: hydrology, biology, water quality, geomorphology, and connectivity. However, it is important to note that these categories are somewhat artificial because there is a lot of overlap between them. This article will look at the first three components. The other two components will be covered in the next issue.

Healthy rivers are a balance of elements that can be grouped into five components: hydrology, biology, water quality, geomorphology, and connectivity.

Hydrology relates to the flow of water through a watershed. Water is often discussed in terms of quantity, but the timing of the water moving through the watershed is important, too. An area may receive an average of 15 inches of precipitation in a year, but if that falls in a single week, versus at intervals throughout the year, it makes a significant difference within the ecosystem. Human actions can greatly alter the flow of water. In agricultural settings, for example, wetlands and small streams have been drained, ditched, straightened, and tiled in efforts to move the water off the surface of the land faster. In developed areas, such as along lakeshores and in cities, water moves off of impervious surfaces very quickly, and enters nearby waters. In these ways and others, humans have changed the timing of the water moving through watersheds, resulting in negative impacts on rivers.

The biology component encompasses all living things in rivers, both plants and animals. Diverse communities of plants and animals cannot exist without diverse habitat types within the ecosystem. Healthy rivers are typically made up of combinations of deep, slow pools and shallow, fast riffles, and such rivers are better able to support all the life stages of a species. A change in the population of a plant or animal is often the first indication that the balance of the five components has been disturbed. A decline in water quality, for instance, may be detected as a drop in numbers of gamefish in a river.

The water quality component relates to the chemical and physical properties of river water. These properties are not the same for all rivers, and they can vary within certain amounts on each river. Temperature, for example, varies considerably from cold-water streams to warm-water streams. Even within a warm-water stream the temperature can vary some without causing the system to become unstable. In addition to temperature, water quality is also determined by levels of sediment, oxygen, nutrients, alkalinity and pH, and contaminants. Water quality is closely linked to hydrology and biology.

Watch this space in the next issue of From Shore to Shore, for the second article in this series that will describe what relationship geomorphology and connectivity have with healthy rivers.

Molly Zins, Minnesota Waters, 800-515-5253

Join lake and river advocates from around the state on September 7-9 for the 2006 Lakes and Rivers Conference being held at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center (DECC). Networking, excellent speakers, new program opportunities, and fun are guaranteed in beautiful Duluth, the world’s largest inland seaport, surrounded by dramatic hills and a breathtaking historic waterfront. Take a couple of extra days and wander up the North Shore as the colors begin to turn. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn and play atop Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake in North America.

• Over 35 concurrent sessions from Thur. through Sat.
• Special workshops on advanced topics
• 85 exhibitors of lake management services and products
• Field trips to view innovative projects in the Duluth area
• Local water planning track Thursday sponsored by the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources
• Session tracks on citizen monitoring, building healthy organizations, watershed stewardship, shoreland development, river ecology and more
• Gala Minnesota Waters Celebration overlooking the harbor
• 1,200 hotel rooms within walking distance of the DECC. An extensive climate-controlled skywalk system connects attendees to lodging, attractions, restaurants, shopping and the DECC, or stay in historic Canal Park, just three minutes away.

For more information, registration, and program agenda, check out the conference web site.

Mary Blickenderfer, University of Minnesota Extension Service, 888-241-0885

At the base of the food web, algae support nearly every aquatic creature. They are essential to a diverse and productive fishery and the overall health of our lakes. Many species of algae occur in lakes. The exact species and their population within a given lake reflect the available nutrients, water clarity, temperature, acidity, time of year, and abundance of algae grazers.

Many Minnesota lakes have algae “blooms” – the mats of vegetation or “pea soup” green water that occur on hot, calm days. On rare occasions blue-green algae blooms can produce toxins that are harmful to fish and other animals, including cattle and dogs.

Algae “blooms” occur under conditions that favor algae growth or when algae grazers are scarce. Turn up the water temperature and add some phosphorus and you have the perfect recipe for algae soup! The small amount of phosphorous that naturally occurs in our lakes is usually insufficient to support large algae blooms. However, phosphorus entering our lakes from the surrounding watershed (the large land area that drains to a lake) or resuspension of phosphorus that has settled on the lake bottom will fuel algae blooms – under optimal conditions, additions of only one pound of phosphorus can lead to 500 pounds of algae!

Fishing pressure on a lake can add to the problem. The saying, “tug on one part of the food web and you’ll affect all the other parts” holds true. Excessive removal of northern pike, walleye, bass, and other game fish from a lake affects populations of small fish and grazers and can ultimately lead to a greater abundance of algae.

The most cost-effective strategies that produce long-term results involve reduction of phosphorous inputs to a lake. Phosphorus commonly enters a lake attached to soil particles, dissolved in runoff, in seepage from failing septic systems and through resuspension of lake bottom sediments. On-land strategies to reduce phosphorus loading to your lake include maintaining septic systems, planting vegetative buffers along streams and lakes, and re-routing runoff into rain gardens and stormwater ponds. In-lake strategies to reduce phosphorus re-suspension include maintaining or restoring the native aquatic plant population, removing/ controlling carp (if they exist in your lake), reducing motorboat speed in shallow water and eliminating other activities that “stir up” sediments.

Lakes with high phosphorus levels will benefit from the strategies listed above, but may also require additional efforts to reduce existing phosphorus. These are best determined with the assistance of a limnologist or lake consultant (not a product sales representative). Your local Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR) office may provide direct assistance or help you find a consultant. Examples of treatments to consider are: phosphorus inactivation, sediment removal, artificial circulation, algae harvesting, foodweb manipulation, and algacides. Keep in mind, implementation of these treatments will require planning, substantial funding, and may require a Minnesota DNR permit. Depending on the method used, repeated treatments are often necessary, some may have negative impacts on a lake, and none of them alone will be affective in the long-term restoration of your lake unless phosphorus inputs from watershed and in-lake activities are also controlled.

Want to know more?

Information on the Web:

• http://www.extension.umn.edu/water/
• http://www.shorelandmanagement.org
• http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/naturalresources/DD7040.html

For permit information:

• http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/ecological_services/pubs_regulations.html

[This article is adapted from the new Extension “Lake Home and Cabin Kit”]

What is Swimmer’s Itch?

Swimmer’s itch, technically known as Schistosome dermatitis, is a common malady around Minnesota’s lakes during midsummer. It appears as red, itchy, bite-like welts within several hours of leaving the water. The irritation may last from a few days to several weeks, depending on an individual’s sensitivity. About 30-40 percent of people who come in contact with the parasite are sensitive and experience irritation. There are no reported long-term effects from swimmer’s itch and the parasite that causes it will not survive in humans.

Where Does it Come From?

Swimmer’s itch comes from a microscopic flatworm parasite Schisosome cercariae that lives as an adult in aquatic birds or mammals, usually waterfowl. The adult worm sheds its eggs into the feces of the host, and the eggs are released into the water where they hatch into free-swimming miracidiae. The miracidiae swim in search of an intermediate host, one of four species of snail that inhabit shallow waters in Minnesota. The host snails live in all sorts of areas including weedy, rocky, and sandy bottoms. After 3-4 weeks in the snail, a second free-swimming stage, called a cercaria, emerges, in search of a primary host (another bird or mammal) to complete its life cycle. The cercariae are about 2 mm long and barely visible.

The release of cercariae typically occurs in late June or early July, when lakes are nearly at their warmest summer temperatures. If the spring has been very warm, problems with swimmer’s itch may begin earlier in the summer. Most cercariae are released around midday, and will swim to the surface to increase their chances of finding a host. Wind and currents have been shown to carry cercariae as much as four miles from the area they were released.

In some areas snail populations may be as high as 400 per square meter, and one infected snail may release up to 4,000 cercariae per day. Even if not all the snails are infected, that can mean millions of cercariae on a typical beach each midsummer day.

When a swimmer leaves the water and the water drops on their skin begin to evaporate, the tiny cercariae burrow into the skin in an effort to survive. The swimmer may feel tingling on exposed parts of the body. Where water is held near the skin (at waistbands and leg openings) the cercariae have more time to burrow in. The cercariae are killed by the body’s natural defense mechanisms, but they cause a welt, or red itchy spot like a mosquito bite. People cannot become a host for the parasite, either through skin penetration or by swallowing lake water.

Is there any treatment?

Some sunscreens and lotions may reduce the infections, although nothing is known to be completely effective. If you get swimmers’ itch, lotions or ointments may relieve the itching. In severe cases, you may need antihistamines or steroid creams that can be prescribed by a physician.

People often want to control the snail hosts or the free-swimming cercariae, but neither option is practical because the cercariae can swim or be carried long distances. To control severe infestations of snails, the application of copper sulfate in the lake is a possibility, but it requires application over a large area and copper sulfate can also kill smaill fish. Waters treated with copper sulfate should not be used for 48 hours after application. ANY chemical treatment in the water requires a permit from the Department of Natural Resources, Section of Fisheries. Contact your regional DNR fisheries office for assistance and permit information.

How Can I Avoid Swimmer’s Itch?

You can reduce the likelihood of suffering swimmer’s itch by following these simple guidelines. Although even careful adherence to the recommendations may not be 100 percent successful in preventing an outbreak, you can minimize the extent of irritation and itching.

• Dry off as soon as you leave the water. Rub your skin briskly to remove water drops before they begin to evaporate. Be sure to dry underneath waistbands and around leg openings of swimming suits. Encourage children to dry off thoroughly each time they leave the water.
• Shower with soap and fresh water or change into dry clothes as soon as possible after swimming.
• Don’t wade or play in shallow water, especially in weedy areas. Swimming off of a raft or pontoon minimizes your exposure.
• Clean beaches of weeds or other debris that have washed up on shore. They can harbor the snails.
• Don’t swim when there has been an onshore breeze that may have carried parasites to your beach.
• Don’t feed geese and ducks or allow them to congregate near your beach. Waterfowl are an important adult host for the parasites.

Cynthia Hagley, Minnesota Sea Grant, 218-726-8106

If you’ve ever heard the heart-stopping sound of lake ice cracking under your feet, then you have firsthand knowledge of the tremendous power contained in that sheet of ice. What you are hearing (and feeling) when the ice cracks and snaps on cold nights, is the ice contracting in response to cooling air temperatures. The opposite situation causes ice ridges to form – warmer air temperatures cause the whole ice sheet to expand with great force, pushing against the shoreline. Added to this are the impacts of wind moving ice around as lakes thaw. In some cases, such as along hard rocky shorelines, we get to enjoy beautiful pressure ridges in the ice, but quite often the result is a newly formed earth mound or ice ridge pushed up against the shore. Most ice ridge impacts usually occur in years with repeated temperature fluctuations and little insulation from snow.

Although property owners may be unhappy about this natural process, it is not something we can prevent. In fact, these natural ridges can be beneficial to the lake by collecting nutrients and sediments on the shoreward side of the ridge, preventing them from reaching the lake and harming water quality. In natural situations, plants thrive in these fertile ice ridge areas, helping stabilize the shoreline and creating habitat for birds and wildlife.

The easiest approach to avoiding ice ridge problems is to minimize disturbance of the natural vegetation along your shoreline and to keep your personal property out of harm’s way. This is one reason why shoreland regulations include “setbacks” restricting development near the shore.

Unfortunately, many of us are living with already disturbed shoreline where ice ridge damage has caused significant problems. If your shoreline fits this description, what alternatives do you have? Note: As you consider alternatives remember that it is best to check with your local Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR) Area Hydrologist and county Soil and Water Conservation District (go to www.shorelandmanagement. org/contact/index.html for contact information). They can give you advice, and provide information if permits are required for some activities.

Sometimes the solution is as simple as replanting shoreline vegetation or building a ramp over the ice ridge. More intensive (and expensive) solutions involve trying to over-power the force of the ice by installing rock rip-rap or an engineered retaining wall or similar structure. Both rip-rap and retaining walls are expensive alternatives that require ongoing repair and maintenance, and are most effective if professionally designed. Permits are required for many rip-rap projects and all retaining walls. Engineered solutions are discouraged by the MN DNR but allowed in extreme cases. As with any big investment, it pays to do it right the first time, so take the time to check on permit requirements and consult with the experts. The fact sheets and Web pages listed in the boxed area will give you a place to start.

Remember – the cheapest, most natural and sustainable, and most effective solution is to accept ice ridges as part of a natural shoreline, retain or plant native vegetation, and enjoy those amazing winter nights of cracking ice.

• A MN DNR printable fact sheet on ice ridges
• More information on ice ridges and MN DNR permit requirements
• A MN DNR printable fact sheet on rock rip-rap

Mary Blickenderfer, University of Minnesota Extension Service, 888-241-0885

Along undisturbed shorelines, native plants or natural rock guard against erosion by waves and ice. The research sites on County and DNR islands in Rush Lake are eroding primarily due to historic water level changes as well as increased size and frequency of boat wakes. These factors have made it difficult for native plants to reestablish.

Multiple goals were considered in the design of this portion of the Rush Lake project: provide long-term, nomaintenance stabilization of the slope toe, discourage boater foot traffic on the steep slopes above, and create fish and wildlife habitat.

Toe Stabilization – Where Land Meets Water

Six toe protection methods were tested on Rush Lake:

Live fascine

a 1-foot diameter bundle of willow and redosier dogwood branches backed with geotextile and held in place with wooden stakes pounded through the bundles.

Cocoa log

a woven jute sock 1 foot in diameter filled with compressed cocoa fibers. The sock is held in place with nylon rope attached to wood stakes or cable attached to duckbill anchors.

Rock gabion tubes

1.25 diameter tube of 4-8 inch diameter rock surrounded by chain link fencing (secured with tiger ties) and backed with geotextile.

Anchored log rafts

bundles of 3 to 5 logs anchored along the shore with a cable attached to duckbill anchors.

Stump revetment

large stumps placed so that they overlap with roots facing the lake.

Rock rip rap

a layer of 8-12 inch diameter rock placed over geotextile.

The table below summarizes the cost, installation time, maintenance time, and effectiveness of each treatment after one year.

During this initial year, all toe treatments, except for the anchored log rafts and the stump revetments, were effective at stopping erosion. The anchored log rafts were very problematic in that several duckbill anchors did not hold, allowing logs to work loose from the rafts and pose a hazard to boaters. This was corrected by replacing the duckbill anchors with earth anchors, as well as loosely fastening the cables to the logs with fencing staples.

Continued erosion behind the stump revetment was due to waves washing between the widely spaced stumps.

A tighter stump placement may diminish this erosion. In addition, wave action working on the cabled cocoa log cut the log in several pieces. It was replaced with a live fascine.

Our Minnesota winter will continue to test these toe treatments over the next few months. Look for a more detailed report and project updates on University of Minnesota’s Extensions Program web site beginning in January 2006.