09-25-2004, 02:22 AM
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department' Save Our Lakes program is slowly but surely making some state lakes better for fish, and people. In the last two years alone, according to Scott Elstad, SOL coordinator, the department has already completed improvement projects on 28 lakes.
SOL was developed in 2001 to help improve water quality and restore aquatic habitat to protect fishery resources of North Dakota. "Our waters are suffering through an accelerated aging process due to land use practices and pollution," Elstad said. "So we are looking at ways to reverse this process through different conservation measures."
Watershed erosion and sedimentation of reservoirs and lakes are being addressed with conservation easements, cooperative agreements and watershed modeling.
The SOL program emphasizes projects that reduce nutrients in lakes through trapping and/or removal of sediments, noxious water evacuation, creation of buffer strips and other conservation practices. Watershed projects also include noxious and invasive species control.
The program has a $1 million budget per biennium, and nearly $800,000 has been spent since July 2003. "Fisheries managers across the state provide a list of 10 lakes that are of concern in each district, and then we discuss merits of each and get it down to 35 priority lakes to work on for the biennium," Elstad said.
Some of the work entails creating sediment dams, low-level draw downs, and planting trees and native grasses on cultivated property. "Our bigger projects include repairing eroded shorelines and removing sediment so fish have habitat and people have access," Elstad said.
Time invested in each lake depends on the project. At Velva Dam in Ward County, Elstad said, a sediment dam was completed from start to finish in two months. "The outlet was failing so we put in a passive low-level draw down that took a couple months to complete," he added. "But at Lake Hoskins (McIntosh County), we had help from scout troops and landowners and had 14 acres fenced off in three hours. When local groups get involved to do some leg work it goes a lot faster."
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SOL was developed in 2001 to help improve water quality and restore aquatic habitat to protect fishery resources of North Dakota. "Our waters are suffering through an accelerated aging process due to land use practices and pollution," Elstad said. "So we are looking at ways to reverse this process through different conservation measures."
Watershed erosion and sedimentation of reservoirs and lakes are being addressed with conservation easements, cooperative agreements and watershed modeling.
The SOL program emphasizes projects that reduce nutrients in lakes through trapping and/or removal of sediments, noxious water evacuation, creation of buffer strips and other conservation practices. Watershed projects also include noxious and invasive species control.
The program has a $1 million budget per biennium, and nearly $800,000 has been spent since July 2003. "Fisheries managers across the state provide a list of 10 lakes that are of concern in each district, and then we discuss merits of each and get it down to 35 priority lakes to work on for the biennium," Elstad said.
Some of the work entails creating sediment dams, low-level draw downs, and planting trees and native grasses on cultivated property. "Our bigger projects include repairing eroded shorelines and removing sediment so fish have habitat and people have access," Elstad said.
Time invested in each lake depends on the project. At Velva Dam in Ward County, Elstad said, a sediment dam was completed from start to finish in two months. "The outlet was failing so we put in a passive low-level draw down that took a couple months to complete," he added. "But at Lake Hoskins (McIntosh County), we had help from scout troops and landowners and had 14 acres fenced off in three hours. When local groups get involved to do some leg work it goes a lot faster."
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