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The District is pleased to announce two internship opportunities for Summer 2017: a Conservation Outreach Intern and a Water Resources Intern. The internships are a great opportunity for students who are exploring careers and are interested in the Natural Resources or Environmental fields. Furthermore, there is flexibility built into the internship to allow the intern to focus on topics which interest her/him.
The positions provide valuable career opportunities and experience such as: monitoring conservation easements; identifying native and invasive plant species; updating the District’s website and social media accounts; creating outreach materials; providing water quality monitoring assistance; assisting with erosion and sediment control inspections for open permits; developing baseline documentation for easements; conducting education and outreach for landowners; and working on a special project based on the applicant’s interests.
Click on the links below to view the full position descriptions:
Interested candidates should submit a cover letter and resume by March 17th, 2017 for priority review. However, applications will continue to be accepted until the position is filled. Application materials can be sent via email to kkeller-miller@plslwd.org or by mail to 4646 Dakota St SW, Prior Lake, MN 55372. Please include the position title in the subject line of your email. Contact Kathryn Keller-Miller with any questions: via email or at 952-447-4166.
View Full Article Water quality, education and outreach, intern, internshipA seine event on Spring Lake last week caught 2577 carp weighing 17 TONS! That’s over 34,000 pounds of carp removed from Spring Lake. Check out some awesome photos (with explanatory captions!) from the seine on Facebook page!
Upon discovering all eight of the active tagged Spring Lake fish closely grouped up on the north side of the lake, our partners at WSB & Associates were able to coordinate a seine with a commercial fisherman and his crew. Five tagged carp were ultimately caught along with the 2572 other carp, the average carp weighed 13.2 pounds. The tagged carp were returned to the lake so we can continue to track them and hopefully use them to identify their spawning grounds and future seine locations.
The fisherman sold over half of the carp (20,000 lbs!) to a buyer on the East Coast for consumption (yes there’s a market for that) and hope to sell the rest to another buyer. Based on our preliminary population estimate, this seine may have removed as much as 50% of the carp in Spring Lake. Tracking of the carp will continue and future seines will be conducted when conditions allow.
This spring, temporary carp barriers will be placed on connections to wetlands or waterbodies where carp are suspected to be spawning. This comprehensive carp control effort will lead to long-term gains for lake users, Spring Lake residents, and all those living downstream.
The seine was part of a larger carp management grant project funded by a MN Pollution Control Agency grant. You can learn more about the project on the Carp Management page on our website.
View Full Article Spring Lake, carp, carp management, seineThe Stormwater Management & Flood Mitigation Study is now complete and was accepted by both the Prior Lake City Council and the Prior Lake-Spring Lake Watershed District Board of Managers in December 2016.
The Study was initiated two years ago as a result of the 2014 flood. The Study was sponsored by the Prior Lake-Spring Lake Watershed District and City of Prior Lake in collaboration with Spring Lake Township; Barr Engineering served as the consultant. The Study was comprised of four project phases: 1. Update the Watershed’s Model 2. Identify Flood Reduction Options 3. Evaluate Flood Reduction Options and 4. Develop an Implementation Plan.
Policymakers representing the three entities agreed upon four goals: Protect public safety and maintain emergency access; protect public utility infrastructure; maintain traffic flow through the County Road 21 corridor and maintain access to private properties.
Out of an initial list of 20 alternatives, the policymakers selected three to implement. They are: actively manage the Prior Lake Outlet; enhanced protection and secure upper watershed storage.
Actively managing the Prior Lake Outlet is considered a short-term goal and is the responsibility of the District. The District will create a process to analyze weather forecasts, storage capacity of existing wetlands and lakes and the flooding potential as part of updating its procedure to open the Outlet Structure’s low-flow gate. Currently, the District is only authorized by the Department of Natural Resources to open the low flow gate in response to snowmelt in the spring.
Enhanced protection is a short-term goal, as well. The City of Prior Lake will lead efforts to coordinate temporary enhanced protection measures during flood events. The City will develop a written policy which will be reviewed and adopted by the City Council.
Securing upper watershed storage is a long-term goal. This goal will identify potential storage areas that could provide flood damage reduction as well as provide water quality improvement benefits. The storage areas will be carefully considered with a key factor which includes the willingness of landowners to participate in a program to create storage areas.
A copy of the complete Stormwater Management and Flood Mitigation Study is available on our website along with other information about the project.
View Full Article Flood Study, Prior Lake, flooding