Secchi Social

Today a friend and I left Ramsey together to attend the secchi social in Little Falls. This is a gathering of citizen scientists who monitor the water of streams and lakes for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.  I've been doing it for, I'm not sure, 6 or 7 years.  I monitor the Rum River on a bridge in Anoka and also Coon Creek just before it dumps into the Mississippi directly downstream from the Coon Rapids dam.  I spend a few minutes at each location every week from ice out until October measuring the water temperature, the recreational suitability, the physical condition, the water clarity and the depth of the stream.  To measure the water clarity I have a bucket tied to a rope.  I throw that baby over the bridge and bring up enough water to fill my 100 cm secchi tube.  From there I can raise and lower the secchi disk until I have determined the depth at which the disk moves from visible to invisible.  I write all that down and turn it in to the Pollution Control Agency in the fall.  They use that information with other information to determine which streams or lakes are "impaired" and take steps to repair the impaired water.  Coon Creek, for example, was determined to be impaired and now restoration projects are being completed.  I monitor the last spot on Coon Creek before it enters the Mississippi watershed so of course, that spot is more impaired than other sites upstream.  Much of the problem for Coon Creek is from urban development.  Other streams are impaired from agriculture, feed lots, and recreational use.   My friend and I sat together at a table with some lake monitors and we learned a lot.  A lot, I say.  For one thing, the h in secchi is not pronounced (much like the h in my last name!).  One guy I met monitors Snail Lake. I've been there.  Another guy does two lakes; both Como and McCarrons Lake in Ramsey County.  I've been to both.  McCarrons is where this old lady learned how to swim!  He said both lakes are about the same size in terms of acres.  He can lower his secchi disk to 9 feet on McCarrons Lake and only 9 inches in Como. Fascinating! Mc Lake Como is very shallow.  He said the city of Saint Paul dredged the lake in the year 1900 but at most, is 5 feet deep.  Another guy monitors a lake near Paynesville.  All three guys had a wealth in information and I enjoyed them very much except for heavy amount of aftershave one guy wore.  Axe body spray much?  Holy cow, he was choking me in his perfume.  We gathered in the Great River Arts Building in Little Falls.  We heard information about how the data we collect is used and the process used to improve the water of Minnesota - our greatest resource.  About 2/3 of the group monitored lakes.   They were also involved in lake associations.  They talked about the problems they faced and how they solved them.  Some of the information was encouraging and some was discouraging.  Also discouraging was, in looking around the room, I saw only two people that I estimated to be less than 50 years old.  One encouraging project was discussed by a volunteer on Big Sandy.  His lake association raises money and funds a school for children in the summer that includes a bunch of state agencies and offers education on dragonflies, lake vegetation, pollution control, invasive species, birds, and nature.  I was so impressed with his efforts that will surely have a good effect on the future.  We had a great speaker on phenology which you would think would be a politically safe topic but no, one of our fellow citizen scientists had the audacity to interrupt her with questions (that weren't really questions) such as has global warming been proven?  Wouldn't it be better if the earth did warm?  What about all the useless land in Russia that, with global warming, could be used to raise food?  Isn't carbon a good thing?  Don't plants require carbon?  While my mind is reeling from the shock of his questions, other members of the stream and lake monitoring citizens have more social graces.  They politely and firmly shut his fake questions down and got the speaker to move on.  Seriously?  I could not believe the audacity of this old man.  I need to get out more. As uncomfortable as it is, I benefit when my beliefs are challenged. Hours later, when we left the Great River Arts building, I lingered to see if this Hawaiian shirt clad trouble maker with his fake questions drove away in a Hummer. I made an assumption, based on his questions, that he drove a Hummer.  He was a slow walker  and an obviously arthritic old man, so I didn't get to see what kind of car he drove, and seriously, what does it matter?  I'm pretty sure he didn't drive a Prius. Why does he even monitor the stream or lake that he does since science appears to mean nothing to him?  Except for that dude, the rest of us were, from what I could tell, all tree huggers and great people in general and I am proud to be included in the group invited to the first secchi social. One guy I met monitors a lake and part of the Crow River near Paynesville..  He's seen county commissioners get elected for the sole reason they don't want to be held financially accountable for their personal septic system and feed lot failures to abide by pollution control laws. Rather than pay the fines they owe or (shocking, I know, change their practices), they change the laws so they can do what they want and make money without having to pay.  He talked about the difference between wave action caused by wind and wave action caused by 100 hp boat motors.  It's a law that boats leave "no wake" within so many feet of emergent vegetation, docks, and and boat landing.  To curb the boats from tearing up the vegetation on the lake he lives on, he and other lake owners installed 4 swimming platforms. The fine for breaking the no wake law is a small amount.  I can't remember if he said it was $300 or $700.  But to a boat owner of a $50,000 boat and a huge, expensive trailer, the fine is negligible.  He got the DNR to enforce the no wake law with a radar gun from a county road.  After the big boat owner paid the fine every day for 4 consecutive days, the boat owner decided it wasn't worth racing around on this little lake.  Success! Boat motors of 100 HP can churn the water so much that weeds 20 feet long are sucked out of the sediment at the bottom the lake. Waves caused by wind do not do that kind of damage. That was news to me. I'm striking "jetskiing" off my bucket list. So he was encouraging.  On the other hand, his lake has starry spinewort and that news was totally discouraging.  Except zebra mussel love starry spinewort.  What a rollercoaster this day has been.  Some guys have been monitoring their lake or stream for 30 years.  Yeah, that is a citizen scientist right there in the flesh.  Cool beans.  I had a great day in Little Falls, Minnesota!