A years-long effort to restore waterfowl habitat in Pelican Lake in Wright County has received a key recommendation for $2 million in Legacy Amendment funds.
The Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council unanimously voted this month to recommend $2 million to fund a plan by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Ducks Unlimited to significantly lower the water levels of the 2,800-acre lake near Annandale.
The goal: kill all the fish, thus allowing the lake to shed its turbidity and foster regrowth of aquatic plants crucial to waterfowl and shorebird habitat.
Pelican Lake is among the most valued lakes close to the metro for its heritage of waterfowl production and hunting opportunities as a stopover for migrating ducks.
Although still a popular hunting destination, these days Pelican often sports a pea soup color from algae blooms. Instead of underwater fields of rooted vegetation -- macrophytes -- sections of the lake appear as open water speckled with islands of cattails.
The decline has been observed since the late 1970s and, according to the DNR, is attributable to higher water levels from agricultural practices, including drain tiling and ditching. The higher water has reduced the frequency of winterkills of fish. The last one was in 2001.
Today, Pelican supports a fishery of bluegill, crappie, largemouth bass and carp. Carp, a species not native to Minnesota waters, are known to ravage native macrophytes and increase water turbidity.
The result: wild celery, sago pondweed and other duck food disappears.That fishery, which has become popular, is targeted for termination under the plan, according to DNR area wildlife manager Fred Bengtson.
"The lake evolved with winterkill," he told the Lessard-Sams Council on Sept. 21.
Bengtson said the lake was of "national importance" for waterfowl, and the DNR's plan is to manage it for wildlife, not fisheries. He noted about 1,000 acres of federally protected land lie along or near Pelican's shores -- key grasslands for duck nesting and breeding.
The lake has no natural outlet. The plan involves creating a gravity flow outlet that will allow the lake level to drop nearly two feet to its "ordinary high water level." Bengtson and Ricky Lien, wetland habitat team supervisor for the DNR, said the goal is to adjust the outflow to lower the water level an additional two feet. That likely will allow some level of winterkill, which occurs when oxygen is depleted under ice and snow.
However, to ensure what Bengtson called a "full fish kill," a pump will take over, and after several years, the lake will be about 10 feet below its current level. When all is said and done, the water should return to a "clear water state," and the duck grub should return soon after, according to the plan, which envisions completion of the pump station and water control outlet in 2015 and drawdown in 2017.
At a public meeting in Wright County this year, 70 percent of those commenting supported the plan, Bengtson said.
A similar system is reducing water levels at Lake Christina, near Ashby.
The DNR's initial request was for $2.1 million. The council's recommendation of $2 million is subject to approval by the Legislature and governor.
Pelican Lake was among $92 million in projects approved in the Lessard-Sams Council's "tentative final allocation recommendations." To see the full list, go to blogs.twincities.com/outdoors.
Dave Orrick can be reached at 651-228-5512. Follow him at ttwitter.com/OutdoorsNow.
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