2020 Crow Wing County AIS Prevention Plan Presentation and Comment section - January 3rd, 2020

2020 Crow Wing County AIS
Prevention Plan Presentation
   and Comment section
         January 3rd, 2020

Topics covered today

       County presentation – 2020 prevention planning
        process/ drafting the plan
          Recap: Listening session
          AIS in Crow Wing County
          Proposed plan
             Watercraft inspections
             Decontaminations
             Education and outreach
             Milfoil Treatments
             Early AIS Detection
       Summary Significant changes in 2020
       Comments and Feedback
       Next steps - 2020 AIS prevention plan

CWC AIS Prevention Listening Session
 and Wrap-up Presentation Feedback
                          October 9th, 2019
 Watercraft Inspection
     Don’t decrease inspection hours
     Increase inspection education/ outreach
 Decontamination
     Increase education/ outreach on decon.
     Increase decon locations and availability
 Education and Outreach
     More school presentation/ programs to get kids involved
     Increase Social Media
 Milfoil Treatments
     Increase funds for treatments
 Early AIS Detection
     Increase in earlier monitoring AIS prevention

Newly AIS Infested Water Bodies in
       Crow Wing County
  2019
   No infestations of Zebra Mussels occurred on Crow Wing
    County lakes 2019. Water bodies infested with AIS in CWC in
    2019: 1; Upper South Long (Eurasian watermilfoil). Hanks,
    Portage, and an unnamed stream connected to Crooked
    (Eurasian watermilfoil).
  2018
   Water bodies infested with AIS in CWC in 2018: 4; Bay Lake
    (zebra mussels), Crooked Lake (Eurasian watermilfoil), Cullen
    Brook (zebra mussel), Middle Cullen Lake (zebra mussel).

2020 CWC AIS Prevention Planning Process
        Watercraft Inspections
   September 2019: State of Minnesota allocated $441,715 to CWC for
    local AIS prevention aid funds
   $379,563 allocated for watercraft inspections with 17,240 watercraft
    inspections hours on 42 access landings across the County
       This allocated amount includes all salaries

    Results of model:
         Crow Wing County worked with MAISRC and USFS to update
          the model for 2020
         32 lakes/ landings identified (not all lakes identified had
          public access).
         Predicts coverage on approximately 85% of watercraft
          moving from infested to uninfested water bodies.
         County added 10 additional landings not identified in the
          model, based on high-use landings and one inspection per
          hour.

2020 CWC AIS Prevention Planning Process
        Watercraft Inspections
   2019 Vs 2020 Watercraft inspections
       2019 allocated 16,700 inspection hours
       2020 allocated 17, 240 inspection hours
   All allocated hours are the same as 2019 besides the following below:
   Increased Hours
       Borden Lake increased hours from 300 to 520
       Nisswa Lake increased hours from 100 to 300
       Pelican, City Ramp increased hours from 300 to 520
       Pelican, Halverson Bay increased hours from 100 to 300
       White Sand Lake increased hours from 300 to 520
   Decreased hours
       North Long Lake on 371 decreased hours from 520 to 300
       Nokay Lake eliminated hours

2020 CWC AIS Prevention Planning Process
        Watercraft Inspections
      Hire seasonal part-time lead inspector.
      Lead Inspector will benefit the AIS program by assisting
       in inspector spot checks, education/ outreach,
       inspector training, fishing tournaments, operate new
       mobile decontamination unit.
      The Lead inspector will be working closely with the
       Environmental Services Specialist to enhance the AIS
       plan in Crow Wing County

2020 CWC AIS Prevention Planning
    Process Decontamination
   Allocated $44,421
   Crosslake Permanent decon. Station will have the same allocated hours as
    2019 but will be open 5 days a week. Open Thursday through Monday
    9:00am to 5:00pm and closed from Tuesday and Wednesday with no-call
    available.
   New in 2020, Crow Wing County plans to purchase a mobile
    decontamination unit to be located at various landings throughout the
    County. Approximately 480 hours (+/-), starting Memorial weekend through
    end of September, open Friday through Sunday, 9:00am to 5:00pm.
   Increased signage, education, and information for decontamination units

2020 CWC AIS Prevention Planning
 Process education and outreach
  Allocated $14,100
  The County plans to continue its important partnership with the Mississippi
   Headwaters Board (MHB) through their Minnesota Traditions Social Media
   AIS prevention campaign.
      Share/like campaign
      AIS Articles in April – September
      Photo/ Video – 6 days, to produce dozens of social media products

  18 lakes for lake association public awareness campaigns ($250 per lake
   with a boat landing).
  Education/outreach materials and AIS presentations for public schools,
   youth groups, and civic organizations.
  The County plans to apply for a MN DNR local grant to start a pilot
   program highlighting Community-based Social Marketing.
  The County will continue host Starry Trek in 2020 to get the general public
   involved in search for AIS across the County.
  Education materials and hand outs at the landings
  AIS survey in August passed out by inspectors

2020 CWC AIS Prevention Planning
    Process Milfoil Treatments
   Allocated $33,000
   AIS monies will pay for one survey and all treatments for control of
    Eurasian Water Milfoil up to $3,000 total per-lake on 11 eligible
    infested lakes with a public access.
   The MN DNR will also have Lake Association grants available in
    2020 maximum grant $6,500 for Invasive Aquatic Plant
    Management.

2020 CWC AIS Prevention Planning
     Process Early Detection
   Allocated $4,500
   Zebra mussel veliger sampling and additional Spiny waterflea
    testing in July for up to 25 lakes that are uninfested by designated
    AIS.
   Zebra mussel samplers to hang off of docks for 50 lakes
    throughout the County
   Spiny waterflea sampling in July for up to 10 lakes that are
    uninfested by designated AIS.

Summary Significant changes – Crow Wing
  County AIS prevention proposed plan

    Increased watercraft inspection hours
    Hiring a lead inspector to assist Environmental Services Specialist
     with AIS program implementation
    Purchase of Mobile Decontamination unit
    Crosslake decontamination station in operation 5 days a week
    Increase signage and information on decontamination units
    Increase education and outreach awareness program to involve
     different AIS user groups
    The County plans to apply for a MN DNR local grants to start a pilot
     program highlighting Community-based Social Marketing

 Watercraft inspections have been consist between 75-80%

 Increase Decontamination and Education/ Awareness in 2020

Public Feedback

Comments:

Next Steps – Crow Wing County 2020 AIS
             Prevention Plan

     Currently, The Crow Wing County AIS Prevention Plan
      in a 30 day public comment period which will end by
      January 18th, 2020.
     Crow Wing County 2020 AIS prevention plan will go to
      the County Board on February 11th for approval.

1/3/2020 CWC AIS Prevention Plan Presentation Follow Up

 Do the inspectors track where boats have been last? Would be nice to see this data in the
  presentations.
       o Yes, on the survey’s they take when the boats are entering the water.
 Community Based Social Marketing – DNR Grant?
       o Pilot program that targets specific behaviors
       o $6500 grant coming back in 2020 (February?)
 Mission Lakes – highest risk yet still zero inspections
       o Understand it’s not as busy but want to know what to do. It’s hard to get grants
       o If they pursue a LID?
       o Offered up the trained volunteer program offered by the DNR
 LID Policy Update
       o This is coming soon
 Getting LID’s together for a meeting
       o Currently 8 Crow Wing County Lakes Alliance
 Keep the inspectors and they need to know where the decon units are, including mobile units
       o Aren’t there private companies that do decon?
 Highly encourage Starry Trek
 Separate Nicole’s salary out in the pie chart so we can see more accurately what is spent on
  inspections. People look at pie charts more!
 Breezy Point – inspections coming to CWC staff - need to figure out what to do with decon & iPads
  they have already purchased.
 What is a “high use” landing identified in model?
       o A landing with 2 or more inspections per hour
 DNR trainings need to come further north
       o DNR stated that 20 people is the general minimum for trainings, 10 is the lowest
       o DNR is looking to hire another full time trainer.
 Separate out the funds spent or budgeted to be spent more in the pie charts
       o Put county $’s into this program, not just grant $
 Fifty Lakes had 4 landings they paid for inspections on last year. They want the 42 landings we
  inspect to be increased. We have 53 with zebra mussels.
       o We need to inspect more lakes!
       o Get the inspectors out earlier – we are missing a lot of boaters in the early morning hours!
 Lake Association member #’s isn’t very high – they have less members
 Really appreciate the conversations we are having
       o What would happen if lakes were not usable?
 Why do we want more LID’s?
       o Why not one large one?
       o Multiple lakes on one LID?
       o Let them know the boundaries of the LID are determined by the LID so it could be possible
           for multiple lakes to be a part of one LID
 Need decon more convenient

 We will be doing Spiny Water flea testing now along with Veliger testing
 U of M class for AIS detection
      o Highly recommended
      o About $200 per person but the DNR or CWC Lakes Alliance may help you pay to attend
 Mayo Lake – a small lake, maybe 50 people, so they don’t have the people or the money to form a
  LID. What do they do?
 Do inspections stop infestations? Not saying they don’t but…
      o Is there any data to back this?
      o DNR noted that we amped our inspections and our number of infestations isn’t skyrocketing
          so it must be working
 Provide a copy of this presentation to everyone.