Prior Lake Spring Lake Watershed District
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Posts tagged "Lower Prior"

Successful Grand Opening Event at Sand Point Beach

Posted by PLSLWD Staff - October 5, 2018 - News, Prior Lake

Many thanks to those who were at the Sand Point Beach Park Clean Water Project Grand Opening yesterday! It was a huge success & it was awesome to see so many smiling faces and helping hands.

Several groups helped ‘Plant the Prairie’ groups including: Jr. Naturalists, Boy Scouts and a Robotic’s Team, along with other volunteers. The native prairie plants have deep roots which absorb excess nutrients and provide erosion control. Thank you to all who helped and were willing to get their hands dirty!

The night followed with caramel apples, a wonderful explanation of the project and a ceremonial ribbon cutting with Prior Lake Mayor Kirt Briggs and PLSLWD Board Manager Curt Hennes. The weather held off and we couldn’t have asked for a better evening! Check out our Facebook page for some great photos from the event.

View Full Article Lower Prior, Prior Lake, Sand Point, Sand Point Beach

FREE Boating Cleaning @ Prior Lake public accesses this fall

Posted by PLSLWD Staff - September 18, 2017 - News, Prior Lake

A DNR decontamination unit at the Sand Point public access in August.

This fall, there will be a decontamination unit from the DNR stationed at the public boat launches on both Upper and Lower Prior lakes for lake users, including residents taking their boats out of the water for winter storage. The DNR will clean boats for FREE to help prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species (AIS) through September 28th. The public accesses are located at Sand Point Beach on Lower Prior Lake and at Dewitt Ave. on Upper Prior Lake.

View Full Article AIS, Lower Prior, Prior Lake, Upper Prior, aquatic invasive species, boat launch, boat storage, decontamination units, lake residents, public access

UPDATE: Where’d the Ice Go? Early 2017 lake ice-outs with a twist.

Posted by PLSLWD Staff - March 28, 2017 - News, Prior Lake
Originally published March 9th, 2017. Updated March 28th.

Wow, that sure went fast! Running 10.3 degrees warmer than average, February’s unusually warm weather* started melting the lake ice early this year. February was the 18th straight month that was warmer than average in the Twin Cities, which has never happened here in 143 years of record keeping (for more see Huttner’s article**).

Prior Lake ice-out. Photo credit: a resident on Paradise Bay.

The one-two punch of warm February weather, followed by a couple of crazy windy days chased the ice right out of town. This year, Haas, Spring, Pike and Fish were declared ice-out on March 7th. Lower and Upper Prior were close behind, reaching ice-out only a day later on March 8. As smaller lakes usually melt first it was especially strange that Buck Lake held out, not seeing ice-out until March 25th. Lakes are considered “ice-out” when more than 90% of the lake is ice-free.

In a strange twist, cold weather returned and the ice was back on all of the lakes less than a week after the first ice-out. This unexpected development sent agencies across the state scrambling to determine which date should be considered the official ice-out date. Even long-tenured staff could not recall any other year in which the ice refroze after the initial ice-out. Upon consideration, DNR Climatology staff decided that the last ice-out date is considered the official ice-out date, but the first ice-out date should also be noted.

The lakes re-thawed last week, icing out for the second time this year. Lower Prior reached ice-out for the second time on March 20th and Spring, Pike, Fish and Upper Prior all followed on March 21st.

While the District does not have many years of lake ice-out dates for many of the District’s lakes, we do have 45 of the last 60 years of ice-out dates for Upper Prior Lake. This year’s first ice-out date on Prior Lake was 6 days earlier than the previous recorded record in 1987 and a week earlier than last year (the 2nd earliest ice-out on record). This year’s first ice-out marked the earliest recorded ice-out dates for all of the above lakes, with the exception of Buck Lake. The median ice-out date for Prior Lake is April 6th. Historic lake ice dates can be always be found here and on our Lake Monitoring data page. For more lake information, visit the individual lake pages under the Waterbodies tab.

*More on February’s weather here: http://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/03/08/study-climate-change-goosed-odds-of-freakishly-hot-february

**Huttner, Paul. “Unprecedented Climate Event Unfolding.” http://blogs.mprnews.org/updraft/2017/03/warm-front-ahead-60s-again-by-sunday/

View Full Article Fish Lake, Haas Lake, Lower Prior, Pike Lake, Prior Lake, Spring Lake, Upper Prior, ice, ice-out

Protecting Lower Prior Lake, One Park Project at a Time: Indian Ridge Park Project Completed

Posted by PLSLWD Staff - January 4, 2017 - News, Indian Ridge Park Water Quality Project, Prior Lake

The last lake in the Spring and Prior chain of lakes, Lower Prior Lake is an important recreational and ecological resource within the region.  Unlike the other two lakes in the chain, it remains clean, clear and off the Impaired Waters list and the Prior Lake-Spring Lake Watershed District (PLSLWD) and the City of Prior Lake want to keep it that way.  The District coordinated efforts with the City to install a water quality improvement project at Indian Ridge Park in Prior Lake as part of the ongoing effort to maintain good water quality in Lower Prior Lake. The project at Indian Ridge Park was finished in November.

The project re-shaped an unused grassy area (above; before project) on the east side of Indian Ridge Park to create a shallow depression with gentle slopes (below; after project completion). When it rains, this area now receives stormwater from the surrounding neighborhood and can fill up to roughly a foot in depth for a short period of time – usually one to two days.  This will provide time for pollutants to slowly settle out of the water and be captured by the biomaterial mixed with sand which lies hidden beneath the grass before the stormwater makes its way to Lower Prior Lake.  This area has been planted with low maintenance turf grass to allow for passive use. Vegetation will continue becoming established once the snow melts in the spring.

This project complements the recently completed project at nearby Fish Point Park.  The project at Indian Ridge Park will help to filter out some of the pollutants from the stormwater before it reaches the water quality features that were installed at Fish Point Park, creating a “treatment train” that will help to improve the water quality of Lower Prior Lake.

Funding for this project came from the Prior Lake-Spring Lake Watershed District, the City of Prior Lake and a Clean Water Partnership Grant from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

View Full Article Lower Prior, Lower Prior Lake, Water quality, projects, stormwater, water quality improvement project

The Ice is IN!

Posted by PLSLWD Staff - December 12, 2016 - News, Prior Lake

Last week most of the District’s lakes officially iced over. With the help of citizen volunteers reporting, lake ice-in dates were noted once the lakes were 90% covered in ice. This year’s ice over dates were much closer to average, unlike last year when lakes did not freeze over until the last few days of December.

This year, Haas Lake and Buck Lake were the first lakes which reported ice-on conditions on December 7th, 2016. Pike Lake was next on December 8th and Fish Lake, Spring Lake and Upper Prior Lake followed on December 9th. Lower Prior Lake was the last reporting lake which iced over on December 10th.

You can also view historical ice-on and ice-on off dates on our monitoring page.

Please remember that ice should be at least 4″ thick before you should walk out on the ice. New clear ice is stronger than white ice (or “snow ice”). Ice often freezes unevenly and can be influenced by many different factors. To learn more about ice thickness guidelines and ice safety, visit the Minnesota DNR’s website.

View Full Article Fish Lake, Ice-On, Ice-Over, Lower Prior, Pike Lake, Prior Lake, Spring Lake, Upper Prior, ice, lake ice

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Prior Lake – Spring Lake Watershed District

The District covers about 42 square miles in Scott County, MN. Water in the PLSLWD flows mainly from the southwest to the northeast through Spring, Upper Prior and Lower Prior Lakes, and then north through the Prior Lake Outlet Channel to the Minnesota River near Valley Fair amusement park.
Clean Water Land & Legacy Amendment

Prior Lake - Spring Lake Watershed District
4646 Dakota Street SE
Prior Lake, MN 55372

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Email: info@plslwd.org

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