articles from August, 2005 newsletter:

** President's Message
** 37th Annual Meeting of Sportsmen's Club
** Legends of Lake Vermilion
** VERMILION DAM REPAIR PROJECT
** THE 2,005 LOON SURVEY REPORT
** The Loons Are Still Crying 'Help!
** NEW DAY USE PICNIC SITE
** 'INVASIVE SPECIES'
** St. Louis Co. Secchi Transparency Trends
** WALLEYE SLOT LIMIT




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President's Message


Well, we pulled it off! It was truly a great opener with some typical NE Minnesota weather for the Governor. I've never seen so many snowmobile suits worn on the lake without ice to stand upon. All the members of the SCLV and other individuals who volunteered their time, their boats, their expertise to take guests fishing or sight-seeing, to organize the events, or who participated in any manner are to be thanked and complimented. Only good things have been heard! As a group, I can't think of finer people than our membership and I personally want to give you all a big thank you and special thanks again to John Zwieg for coordinating for the SCLV.

We are presently in a waiting period. We're waiting for a response to our comments and for the final Environmental Im- pact Statement (EIS) from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) about the MINNTAC Tailings water discharge proposal. And we are waiting for additional input from USX on their "3 Bays on Vermilion" project. When we know more we will respond again.

Additionally, we had been asked to comment on the US Forest Service EIS concerning a possible logging road near the BWCAW to reach some timber on the north side of Lake Vermilion. Rick Borken followed up on this with the Forest Service and the DNR and found that plans for a possible road were only very preliminary, so we are putting that on the back burner for now.

On a slightly different subject, Bob Wilson is heading our "Invasive Species" boat inspections and has an article in this issue about the first two sessions of this year's fishing season. It's encouraging to hear that the great majority of people launching are aware of the necessity for inspecting and cleaning their boats, live wells, trailers and other gear. If people continue to act responsibly we may have a chance to keep "Invasive Species" out of Lake Vermilion. Also Bob was approached for comments to the DNR on fishing tournaments, which we will provide. As you may remember, we have proposed some rule changes previously and this may have some positive impact on upcoming legislative changes. We'll keep you informed.

As you may be aware, we have been replacing the battery-powered navigation lights with solar lights that will operate year around. We have just one more battery-powered light at the entrance to Pike Bay to replace on the East End and 4 or 5 to replace on the West End if we can find suitably sunny locations for them. If anyone feels there should be additional lights installed, please contact a member of the SCLV board with details. We did make some slight location moves to assure adequate sunlight exposure for charging, but we tried to keep the line of sight the same in each case. This is so you are aware, if they seem a little different. The light that was on Indian Point was moved to the little rock pile approximately 100 yards or so due south of that channel entrance because we had one solar powered light disappear from there shortly after installing it last year and a battery-powered light destroyed prior to that.

Remember that our annual meeting is scheduled for Satur- day, August 13, 2005, at the Fortune Bay Resort. All members are welcome to attend. We would appreciate a good turnout for a fun evening with lots of door prizes, short speeches and a good meal. Maybe a good Norwegian or Finn joke if I can find one. Get your reservations in right away.

Finally, it has come to my attention that some members are wondering if we are playing both sides of the aisle when it comes to claiming that Lake Vermilion is becoming cleaner, but is also right on the edge of changing from a mesotrophic lake to a eutrophic lake. When I am quoted in news articles, I am getting this data from a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Environ- mental Outcomes Division report identified as: Lake Vermilion (1D #69-0378), St. Louis County, Minnesota; LAKE ASSESS- MENT PROGRAM 2000. Published in May 2001. It reports that Lake Vermilion water quality has improved as evidenced by the Secchi Data collected since 1976. The water clarity has improved from an average of a little more than 5 feet visibility in 1976 to a little better than 9 feet in 1993 due I think in great part to the new sewage treatment ponds at Tower and repair of many failing septic systems. However, since 1993 through 2000 the water clarity has remained at an average between 8 and 9 feet. This indicates a plateau has been reached. Slight varia- tions will occur depending on many factors such as weather, time of day, sunlight, and wind when the readings are taken that can account for the 1 foot variation for the last 7 years of data.

A means used to evaluate the trophic status of a lake and to interpret the relationship between total phosphorus, chlorophyll-a a and Secchi transparency is Carlson's Trophic State Index (TSI). Basically this method currently classifies Lake Vermilion overall as mesotrophic. In the charts shown in the above cited report, a TSI figure between 40 and 50 is consid- ered mesotrophic (good, but less than 40 is better), a TSI figure between 50 and 65 is considered eutrophic (not good, more than 50 is getting worse and more than 65 is bad). In those charts, Pike Bay already has aTSI of 55, Big Bay has aTSI of 49, and Wakemup Bay has a TSI of 47-48. This means it will not take much more phosphorus dumped into the lake to push all bays of Vermilion over the TSI figure of 50! Because we do not know the trophic status of Lake Vermilion prior to the cleanup ef- forts, it might be that those efforts brought the lake back from a eutrophic state to a mesotrophic state.

It is true that the lake water quality has improved since the 1970's. It is also true that the lake is fragile and can very easily be pushed into the eutrophic state unless we are aware of what's happening and take steps to reduce the impact of new develop- ments to an absolute minimum.

As a final thought, I think it's about time for another "LAKE ASSESSMENT" of Lake Vermilion. What do you think?

Sportsmen's Club of Lake Vermilion President,
Walt Moe

P.S. The report mentioned above can be obtained from the MPCA if you would like more details on the state of the lake. Also, the results from the core samples the SCLV had taken last year show phosphorous levels in the sediments have increased from a little over 300 ppm to a little over 900 ppm in the last century or so. Take care and enjoy the rest of the summer.



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37th Annual Meeting of Sportsmen's Club
is Saturday, August 13 at Fortune Bay Resort



Our 37th Annual Meeting and dinner is set for Saturday, August 13, at Fortune Bay Resort. This is the ninth year we have had the dinner meeting at Fortune Bay, and if you were among last year's attendees, you'll recall that the food was excellent, the room was com- fortable and we had a great time. As in past years, the meeting will be held in the resort's second floor banquet room.

We're planning a social hour beginning at 5 p.m., followed by a 6 p.m. buffet. Dinner prices are $14 for adults and $7 for children age 12 and younger.

Please phone in your reservation by Monday, August 8. The following members will take your reser- vations: COOK: Vi Harris, 666-2300 or Cathy Raps, 666-5544. TOWER: Shirley Korpela, 753-3034, Julie Friesen, 753-2500 or Paula Bloczynski, 753-2107.

After dinner, the business meeting agenda will include a review of the past year's activities plus reports on day-use picnic sites, water quality, the annual loon count and the status of the comprehensive plan for the lake.

Election of board members is also part of the agenda, and this year we will be electing members to fill the 3-year board positions currently held by Ray Harris, Dale Lundblad, Cathy Raps and Bob Wilson. All four will be seeking re-election to the board for three year terms.

The program following the business meeting will feature Maya Hamady from DNR Nongame Wildlife, who will give a presentation on loons, and Duane Williams, DNA-Fisheries, who will give an overview of the DNA walleye regulation proposal.

There will also be drawings for several prizes, including a trolling motor, dock flagpole, fishing rods, framed nongame wildlife posters, sweatshirts, caps, cups and many others. Drawing tickets will be $1 and for sale only to those attending the dinner.

The club's annual dinner meeting is always casual - come as you are in vacation attire - and we'll plan to wrap up the evening early so that our boat-access folks have plenty of daylight for their trip home.

This is our one get-together of the year and a good opportunity for members to bring up matters of personal concern regarding club business or problems around the lake.

We hope to see you on Saturday, August 13. Please mark your calendar, phone in your reservation and plan to join us at Fortune Bay Resort for the Sportsmen's Club 37th annual dinner meeting.

- Paula Bloczynski





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Legends of Lake Vermilion
in the Beginning...

They had no idea that it would end up like this - more than 2,000 members, a respected voice for the interests of people who live, work and play on Lake Vermilion, an outfit with a fancy newsletter with pictures and everything, for Pete's sake.

Back in 1968, the fishing on Lake Vermilion was lousy. In those days before 4-lane expressways and spectacular lake "cabins," almost every boat on Lake Vermilion carried two guys and their fishing tackle, and lousy fishing was about as popular as Communism. Those fishermen were probably staying in one of the 30 or so resorts on Vermilion, and if the fishing didn't improve, life would be pretty tough for the resorters.

Then, in January of 1968, the columns of the Cook News-Herald began to carry stories about a bunch of resorters who had decided to do something. It started with Jay Mault, who owned Vermilion Dam Lodge. He called on his fellow resorters Bob Mann (Mann's Resort, now Voyageur Cove) and Theodore Anderson (Anderson's Resort, now Head of Lake) and others, Val Cook of Cold Springs, Inc.; Elton Olson of the Tower Chamber of Commerce; Bill Ellison of Minnesota Power; John Aronson of Aronson Boat Works; and Abel Anderson to solve the problem. They set up shop as the Sportsmens' Club of Lake Vermilion and got to work. They called for others around the lake to join the club, at annual dues of $3; the dues were kept low because they understood that, as Jay said, "We don't need money, we need a voice." According to the News-Herald, the first memberships received were from Ed Wallace of Elgin, Illinois, and the Marshall Batchelder family. By the time the club held its first annual meeting in August, membership had grown to 1,700 and this publication, The Vermilion Sportsman had been launched.

One of the group's first concerns was to build up the walleye population. The fish hatchery in Pike Bay had been closed in 1946, at least in part because some local citizens believed that the Department of Fisheries was taking fish out of Vermilion. For more than 20 years, no eggs were harvested or walleyes stocked in Lake Vermilion, and by 1968, fishermen, and their resort hosts, were feeling the effects. Val Cook recalled recently that the group first asked local Fisheries officials to stock the lake, and when they didn't get any action, they decided to just do the work themselves. Cook had been in the bait business since 1955, and supplied all of the resorts with minnows. He knew what it took to get from eggs to adult fish, and he had the equipment to do it. In talking about those days, Cook displayed the attitude that typified the men who founded the SCLV: "The resort guys weren't just my customers, they were my friends. As long as I was their bait man, I wanted to help out."

At first, local Fisheries officials fought the club's plan to do their own stocking, even to the point of threatening to throw them in jail if they went through with the plan to stock the lake with walleyes hatched in Cook's tanks. On February 19, 1968, a group led by Mault met with Conservation Commissioner Jarle Leirfallom, equivalent to the current DNR Commissioner. Leirfallom agreed to issue permits so that the group could trap suckers and other rough fish that were believed to cut into walleye populations, and he assigned a team of biologists to figure out why the fishing was so poor.

Stories from that spring's sucker trapping ranged from back-breaking labor to high comedy. Fifteen rivers and creeks were selected for trapping, and most of the traps were made by the Orr High School shop class. The board members and other volunteers put in hours of work setting nets, pulling them out and disposing of the suckers. A business had originally been found that would take all the suckers, but when the market price for suckers dropped, the business backed out and volunteers not only had to man the traps, they had to dispose of the results. You're not likely to find white suckers on the menu of your favorite restaurant anytime soon, but they're not bad smoked or pickled, so most of the catch ended up on local tables. Va! Cook remembered a woman from Tower who pulled up to a group of men dumping suckers into buckets and said she'd take three bucketfuls. They asked if she had plastic bags or buckets to carry them, and she said, "No, just throw them in the trunk." She popped the trunk of her Chrysler Imperial (for pre-baby boomers, today's equivalent might be a Lexus), and the men dutifully dumped three buckets of suckers inside. Sucker slime makes northerns look positively clean, so one can only imagine what her trunk smelled like later that summer. That story reminded Bob Mann of a group of young people from Virginia who came by in a Corvair (I don't know what the heck to compare that to!). They loaded their trunk with so many suckers that they broke the axle on a frost heave not far down the road. Anyway, the project succeeded in getting the sucker population under control.

Eventually Jay Mault's vision of a group of members large enough to give the area a voice paid off with the Department of Fisheries. The persistent efforts of the board and the support of a few legislators helped convince Fisheries to reopen the hatchery, which it did in 1972. Since then, millions of walleye have been released in Lake Vermilion, and the population is higher today than at any time in the last 35 years. The founders of the SCLV had their hands full with their businesses and families, and the easy course would have been to disband once the suckers were vanquished and the hatchery fight was won. Instead, they decided to continue working to improve the lake and its fishing. Although Vermilion is usually thought of as a walleye lake, northerns and muskies have always inhabited the lake. Reports of fishermen tying into a big muskie date back more than 100 years, although it's not clear that these were native muskies rather than big northerns. In any case, the club worked with the Department of Fisheries and Muskies, Inc. to introduce the Leech Lake strain of muskies. An October 10, 1968, Cook News-Herald story includes pictures of Jay Mault and Ted Anderson releasing foot-long muskies. Although there are fishermen who argue that a big muskie population is incompatible with walleyes, the fact is that as the muskie population has increased over the last thirty years, the walleye population has grown too.

Over the years, those eight men and the board members who followed them have led the club in dozens of projects to benefit the lake. Long term water quality work has been instrumental in keeping the lake's water clear in the face of development pressures, aging septic systems, and lawn fertilizer runoff. Recent efforts to prevent the introduction of invasive species are the only thing that stands between all of us and the zebra mussels and other invaders that would wreak havoc with the fishery. Speaking for all of us on subjects ranging from tailings pond discharges to maintenance of the Vermilion River dam, the club has become the "voice" Jay Mault intended. Working on projects large and small, sometimes at odds with the DNR but sometimes defending them, those eight men helped transform Lake Vermilion into a lake that could proudly host the Governor's fishing opener almost 40 years later. Everyone who uses Lake Vermilion will be forever in their debt.

Tom Morrow



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VERMILION DAM REPAIR PROJECT



The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is proposing to repair the Vermilion Dam located at the outlet of Lake Vermilion into the Vermilion River. The dam was originally constructed of cyclopean concrete, which consists of layers of boulders and mortar, and has been reconstructed and repaired multiple times since its inception in the late 1800s.

Presently, the dam is showing some signs of spauling on some surfaces that are not submerged under normal conditions. The concrete in these locations is cracking and is in need of repair, but the integrity of the dam is not in jeopardy. The spauling is occurring on the west side of the dam and extends approximately 20 feet from the edge. Repair of this portion of the dam will include removing the damaged concrete and replacing it with a new layer of concrete which will be finished to match the existing surface of the dam without changing the elevation of the crest of the dam.

Additionally, recent inspections of the dam by DNR staff have shown that portions of the upstream toe of the dam are in need of repair as well. It appears as though portions of the toe have separated from the structure and fallen away from the structure. This problem is believed to be caused by poor construction methods and materials from past activities on the dam rather than from natural causes, such as ice damage. The repair of this damage to the dam will involve filling in the gap between the dam and the displaced portions of the toe with concrete. The concrete is specially designed to be placed under water and a pump truck with a long boom will be brought on site to pump the concrete and place it where it is needed along the entire width of the dam. The surface of the concrete will be finished to match the original profile of the dam as close as possible. The existing crest elevation of the dam will not be affected by this repair.

With the above repairs, seepage of water through the dam will be moderately reduced; however, since seepage has little effect on the water level of the lake since it is quite small when compared to the losses due to evaporation, water levels will likely remain unchanged as a result of the repairs. The dam is not in danger of failure at the present time, but it is better to stay ahead of any potential problems before they turn into larger ones. The proposed repairs to the dam should ensure the integrity and functionality of the dam for many years to come.



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THE 2,005 LOON SURVEY REPORT



That pesky south wind didn't show its strength when we started on our respective territories at 9:00 Monday morning, on July 11. In fact, along the south shore of our big lake it was fairly calm. But then, on a lake this size, the conditions aren't the same all over. A while later the south wind began to intensify and our ideal day went down the tube for some of us. It only affected the territories that embodied the largest expanses of water - three territories on the west end and three on the east end. There were five territories that showed an increase in the number of loons that were counted, eight that were the same or varied by one or two, and eight that showed a decrease. The decreases were significant.

As I've reported to you before, when the lake is choppy, the loons stay under water most of the time. They'll bob up for a quick breath, take a "look-see" around and dive again. They can stay down for as long as 10 minutes. (This is partly due to their dense bones, which give them the ability to dive to depths of 200 feet.) So they can really fool us when we don't see them reappear, as they can bob up way behind our boats. Their legs are positioned way back to give them more strength in navigating, plus being excellent swimmers.

Claire Zwieg, coordinator of the west end of the lake, reported the sighting of 89 loons from her nine territories, down 34 from last year. At the east end, we had a total of 139 from our 12 territories, down 24. Together, we had 58 loons fewer than last year, when we counted 286 to our 228 for 2005. But there is some very exciting news regarding the chick count. Last year we had only 14 for the whole lake.

This year we had a total of 36! Hooray for our 49 pairs. Without our enthusiastic volunteers we wouldn't have the Sportsmen's Club Loon Survey, so the Club thanks you, Claire thanks you and I thank you. These are the folks we owe our thanks to:

Bruce Tode
Bob and Norma Reed
Dick and Betty Kerber
Gretchen Turn
Rusty and Gayle Miller
Harold and Shirley Korpela
Bayard French
Jerry and Becky Ketola
Norm and Caroline Miller
Kathy and Jeff Lovgren
Mel and Ellen Hintz
Joe and Nancy Dennie
Don Johnson
Mary Hoff
Darryl and Joan Johnson
Dick Johnson
 Mardy Jackson
Char and Jerry Jacobson
Mike and Sally Marquette
P.K. and Dorothy Edwards
Judy and Rick Pearson
Jed Hejda
Leon Johnson
Ron Kmett
Bob Hommez
Jerry Robins
Dawn and Mal Berg
Joe, Merv, and James
Ray and Vi Harris
Ted and Greta Jeske
Jean McClellan
Claire and John Zwieg

If any of you in the Club would like to take part in our Loon Count, please let me know. From time to time we need alternates for one reason or another, and sometimes a territory will open up.

Mardy Jackson
(218) 753-3549



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The Loons Are Still Crying 'Help!


I think we can be proud of the fact that Minnesota is the center of the fishing industry universe. After all, we brought the Rapala and the Lindy Jig to the fishing world. We are taking baby steps toward a trend which is switching from lead to a non-toxic tackle.

The size of the fishing tackle industry in the U.S. is mind boggling - $19 billion in 2001, and of that, $342 million spent annually on jigs, hooks and sinkers. In Minnesota, our take on this was $17 million, and from that sum about $8.5 million was spent on lead tackle.

There are more Minnesota companies getting behind the slogan "Get the Lead Out!" Kevin McDonald, head fishing tackle education coordinator for the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance (OEA) says they are so glad for the trend as they didn't want to see our companies turn into dinosaurs. White Bear Lake- based Water Gremlin, the nation's biggest maker of lead sinkers, has added a new line of bismuth sinkers. Bemidji-based Northland Fishing Tackle, a premier maker of lead live-bait jigs, has added the Nature Jig line of non-toxic bismuth sinkers to its product line. At least four smaller companies are manufacturing non-toxic sinkers and jigs in Minnesota as new businesses start up to fill demand. But they're all in business to make money, and it gets back to the supply-demand equation. So if you fisher folks would ask for non-toxic tackle, they would get into the manufacture more deeply. Duane Peterson, co-owner and vice president of Northland Fishing Tackle, says the transition has been slow and that price is an issue. His non-toxic jigs sell for 790 each in bulk, while lead sells for 390. But hey - isn't it worth an additional 440 to save a loon or a duck or a fish? That's less than half a buck! Locally you can buy this equipment in Ely at Wilderness Outfitters; however, if you ask for it in any tackle shop, and enough of you do, they will stock more, thus hurrying the trend.

A recent study in Michigan done on dead adult loons showed 25 percent of them died of lead poisoning. In some heavily fished lakes in the Eastern states, up to 85 percent of examined loons died of lead poisoning. In Minnesota there hasn't been a comprehensive study done so far on loon mortality, but a 1995 report by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency showed that 7 percent of the loons brought to the research center died of lead poisoning. The DNR has asked all of us if we see a dead loon to put it in a plastic bag, call them and they will make arrangements to collect it.

In the March 2004 issue of The Vermilion Sportsman, I submitted an article called "The Loons Cry 'Help." Now, if you cup your ear just so, you can hear the loons saying, "Go for it - please, let's get the lead out!" How about it - it's all up to you.

by Mardy Jackson



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NEW DAY USE PICNIC SITE



With cooperation of the U. S. Forest Service and the SCLV, we are establishing a new day use picnic site in Bystrom Bay. The SCLV has ordered a dock and the Forest Service is providing a fire ring, picnic table, and latrine. We expect it to be ready for use this fall. The dock will be paid for by a generous donation given by the family and friends of Tim Flanagan, in his memory. The Flanagans have a cabin on Birch Narrows and they have enjoyed and loved Lake Vermilion for many years and want to support something they and others that feel the same way can enjoy for years to come.

We will have the GPS coordinites in the next newsletter. This will be the sixth day use site and we get a lot of favorable comments from people who use them. There are three sites on the West end of the lake and this will make three on the East end for all to enjoy.



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'INVASIVE SPECIES' .. by Bob Wilson


Your invasive species teams have been at work. On Friday and Saturday, May 27 & 28 and again on July 1 & 2, we have been checking for invasive species on boats and trailers at Hoodoo Point, Moccasin Point and Timbuktu. The volunteers are made up of Sportsmen's Club members who received training from the DNR in the spring of 2004.

It is really gratifying that the majority of boat owners by far not only don't mind being checked, but in many cases appreciate the fact that the club is helping to protect the lake. They don't want Eurasian Milfoil in our lake anymore than do we club members. Our simple procedure is talking with the boat owners awhile and looking in, around and under their boat and trailer. We provide them with a DNR booklet called "Help Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers." This brochure is designed for boaters, anglers, and other outdoor enthusiasts. It provides the simple steps the individual can take to stop the spread of invasives. In addition, we give them a copy of our last Vermilion Sportsman newsletter in hopes that they will want to become club members. That approach seemed to work well with three of the boaters in May as they signed-up for club membership on the spot.

I am going to pay tribute to the volunteers who participated in the boat checks this past May & July by listing their names below. I believe the participants believe it is an interesting and educational experience just being involved. Also, notice how many boats and trailers we looked at. While our count was probably average for holiday weekends, we only performed this service for a short period of time (three two-hour shifts) at three public boat ramps. There must be several thousand boats being launched into Vermilion from these same ramps, marinas, resorts, etc. in a typical summer.

Have we ever found any problems you might ask? For the first time ever we found a small strand of Eurasian Milfoil on a boat trailer about to be launched at Moccasin Point. The boat was last used in White Bear Lake, Minn. This lake is known to have Eurasian Milfoil. We didn't have the proper ID card for Milfoil available to us right away, but upon obtaining it, we could confirm it was indeed Eurasian Milfoil. Would that have floated off the trailer and become rooted in Lake Vermilion? Of course we don't know. What is frightening is that our boat checks came up with an invasive species weed at all. Again, think of the thousands of boats being trailered to Vermilion waters and the small number of boats we can actually check. One small, comforting aspect of this scenario is that approximately 60 percent of the boats we checked came from Lake Vermilion last. The remaining 40 percent coming from other lakes still probably amounts to thousands of boats.

The only answer to this horrendous problem would seem to be more public education from the DNR, bigger warning and educational signs at public and private boat ramps, more boat checks, etc. Read the following excerpt from a 2004 piece on invasive species from a DNR Website. "The DNR hired 40 watercraft inspectors to work at public water accesses, primarily on lakes and rivers already infested with invasive species. They inspect boats, inform owners about the problems invasives can cause, and demonstrate actions that boaters can take to prevent spread. This year inspectors worked 20,000 hours and inspected over 50,000 watercraft during the open water season. Inspections were conducted at 21 fishing tournaments and continued through October in order to reach waterfowl hunters. Conservation officers spent 2,396 hours enforcing invasive species laws and rules. Statewide, a total of five civilian citations, 20 written warnings, and three summonses were issued to individuals for violations." The emphasis from the DNR would appear to be stopping invasives from leaving contaminated lakes, a reasonable strategy. Still, more needs to be done. Think of the state with "10,000 lakes."





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St. Louis Co. Secchi Transparency Trends
Water Quality/Surface #2.69 April 2005


Detecting trends in water quality over time is a primary goal for many lake programs. For Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) analysis, detecting trends requires taking a minimum of four readings each summer for eight to 10 years. Secchi transparency is one of the best parameters for determining a lake's overall health (trophic status) and assessing trends in Minnesota lakes. Transparency is a preferred param- eter for many reasons: low cost, easily incorporated in existing lake monitoring programs, and it allows for the collection of a large number of samples in a given sampling period on many different lakes. Transparency of a lake may vary from year to year in response to changes in amounts of algae, watershed runoff, precipitation and many other factors. It is important to consider all of these aspects when determining if any significant long-term changes have occurred, or if changes are random in nature. All available Secehi transparency data from STORET (U.S. EPA's national water quality database) were used for the 2004 assessments. The majority of the data collected is from volunteer lake monitors in the MPCA's Citizen Lake-Monitoring Program (CLMP).

For our trend analysis, we ran Kendall statistical tests using WQ Stat Plus TM software on lakes with four or more transparency readings per summer (June - September) and eight or more years of data. We used a probability (p) level of p 0. 1. At this p-level, there is a 10 percent chance of identifying a trend when it does not exist.

There were 822 lakes in Minnesota that met the minimum requirements for trend analysis. Of the 822 assessed lakes, 246 of them exhibited a statistically significant improvement in transparency over time. In contrast, only 46 lakes exhibited a statistically significant decline in transparency. The remaining 530 lakes exhibited no change in transparency at this time. There were 34 lakes in St. Louis County that met the minimum data requirements for trend analysis. Of these, seven exhibited significant improvements in transparency, 26 exhibited no change in transparency at this time, and there was one with a significant decline in transparency over time. The St. Louis County lakes had data sets spanning eight to 26 years. Lake Vermilion was among seven lakes in the county with improving transparency.

SCLV and SECCHI DISK READINGS


SCLV members serving as volunteers in the MPCA's Citizen Lake Monitoring Program are: Steve Lotz, Karin and George Marjanen, Richard Wullschleger, Tern Lee Paulsen, and Mel and Ellen Hintz. During the 2004 summer, these volunteers collected 58 secchi disk readings from eight sites spread across Lake Vermilion. Lake wide, the readings averaged 10.05 feet and ranged from a low of 5.0 feet to a high of 16.0 feet.



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WALLEYE SLOT LIMIT


The DNR is proposing a special walleye regulation on Lake Vermilion starting in 2006. The SCLV, Lake Vermilion Resort Association, and most of the guides on the lake are supporting the implementation of this proposal. We all know that successful fishing means that we have to practice conservation so that future generations will have the opportunity to experience good fishing.

Duane Williams, Large Lake Specialist with the Tower DNR, will present the highlights of the new pro- posal and answer questions at our annual meeting in August. It is important that our members contact the DNR offering support of the following proposal. You can call, e-mail or write to:

Duane Williams, Large Lake Specialist
DNR Fisheries 650 Hwy. 169
650 Hwy. 169 Tower, MN 55790
Phone. 218-753-2580 Ext. 224
e-mail: duane.williams@dnr.state.mn.us

Joe Geis, Area Fisheries Supervisor
DNR Fisheries 650 Hwy. 169
650 Hwy. 169 Tower, MN 55790
Phone: 218-753-2580 Ext. 222
e-mail: joe.geis@dnr.state.mn.us







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