Citizen's Environmental Quality Committee

July 3, 2023 Citizens Environmental Quality Committee Winona, Minnesota 55987 Dear Committee Members: The next meeting of the Citizens Environmental Quality Committee meeting will be held on Thursday, July 6th, 2023 at 4:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at City Hall. 1. Call to Order 2. Review of June Meeting Minutes 3. Community Garden Update (10 minutes) 4. West Lake Winona Curly Leaf Pondweed Options (30 minutes) 5. Other Business (5 minutes) 6. Adjournment Sincerely, John Howard Natural Resources Sustainability Coordinator CITIZENS ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE MEETING NOTES DATE: Thursday June 1, 2023 TIME: Scheduled for 4:30 pm in the City Hall Council Chambers PRESENT: Sadie Neuman, Madalyn Bollig, Paul Schmitt GUESTS: STAFF: John Howard, Gabby Walker (Summer Impact Corps) 1. Call to Order: Call to order at 4:32 PM by Paul Schmitt (interim Chair). 2. Review and Approval of April 2023 Meeting Minutes: Motion by Madalyn, second by Sadie. Approved unanimously. 3. Summer Impact Corps Introduction: Gabby introduced herself and shared her background. Sadie, Paul and Madalyn shared their backgrounds. Paul asked Gabby if there was anything the CEQC could do to help Gabby with her service term. Each member shared some of the topics and projects that they are working on. 4. Community Garden Update: Paul shared that there are a number of events happening in the garden this month. John provided a brief update on community gardens throughout Winona. A lack of staff capacity has held up much work on proposed west side garden. John noted that the City still intends to have public meetings about gardens. Additionally, the City is exploring a new West side location that may be donated. Madalyn shared that St. Mary’s community garden is still open, but not heavily used. The sustainability club is working on developing a community model. Maddy will explore if community members could use the unused portions of the St. Mary’s garden. WSU has a SEED garden that is still in operation. Sadie suggests inviting all the community garden entities to have a conversation. Paul asked if volunteer efforts would help advance the community gardens. John said volunteers at the garden would be very helpful. Cotter students are required to do community service so may be a big help. 5. Boulevard and Park Tree: John summarized that tree planting is well under way with Abby leading the way. The hope is for 200 boulevard trees to be planted. Seventy additional trees are going into Prairie Island campground. The City likely has availability for additional boulevard locations, so residents are invited to contact John or send an email to eab@ci.winona.mn.us to request a boulevard tree. Sadie asked where the trees are being stored? They are stored in a gravel bed at the City’s wastewater treatment plant. Sadie wondered about alley tree planting? John said the City would allow a resident to plant there, but is unlikely to supply a tree for an alley. 6. Lake Winona Condition Analysis: The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) does decadal monitoring of lake conditions, and recently reviewed the data for Lake Winona to gauge progress between 2010 and 2021. Lake Winona is impaired for nutrients based on both of these reviews. Neither the big lake or small lake is meeting any of the three parameters (Phosphorus, chlorophyll-A, clarity) for nutrient impairment. Some progress on the individual metrics, but not enough to end the impairment. One piece of good news is that Pleasant Valley Creek is likely no longer impaired. John noted that there have been an unusual number of questions and concerns about the appearance of the little lake. Curly leaf pondweed has been very abundant this year, so has been alarming to some park users. John hopes to discuss options for curly leaf pondweed more extensively at a future meeting. John also brought up that the MPCA is suggesting the little lake be recategorized from a shallow lake to a standard lake. Doing so would lead to a more rigorous impairment standard, which would be much harder to meet. For this reason, and the fact that the little lake fits more criteria of a shallow lake, the City staff recommendation is to maintain the current categorization. Paul asks why the MPCA is proposing this change? John relayed that the MPCA staff noted some large lake characteristics, which is the only explanation John can think of. Madalyn asked what actions are being taken to improve the water quality of the lakes? Doesn’t seem much change in conditions in the last 10 years. John said there were some local initiatives such as rain gardens and shoreline protection/restoration, but larger structural pieces haven’t been done. A report commissioned on lake quality in 2019 recommended structural changes like a large pre-treatment pond that would divert water into the wetland area before the little lake. Probably the most impactful action would be doing an alum treatment, but that requires carp removal, which has yet to receive funding. John reported that Dr. Neal Mundahl of WSU is doing a carp population count, so that may get the ball rolling. There is also the possibility of applying for Clean Water Funds now that the City has a completed watershed plan. Sadie asked if the report was detailed enough to show where phosphorus was entering the watershed. John said that the report had general divisions of where phosphorus is entering the lake system, but not enough detail to pinpoint actions. Sadie asked about the street sweeping program of the City. John said the City emphasizes fall clean up, but is unsure of the schedule otherwise. Sadie attended a recent webinar that said spring sweeping can also be effective. 7. Other Business: Paul shared the community garden schedule. 8. Adjournment: Motion to adjourn by Madalyn, second by Sadie. Accepted by acclamation. Adjourned at 5:13. Notes prepared by John Howard.  CITIZENS ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE AGENDA ITEM: 4. West Lake Winona Curly Leaf Pondweed Options PREPARED BY: John Howard DATE: July 6, 2023 The west basin of Lake Winona experienced a heavy crop of Curly Leaf pondweed (Potamogeton crispus) this spring and early summer. Residents noticed and staff received a higher than usual number of concerns and requests to fix the situation. Curly leaf pondweed, like most invasive aquatic plants, is very difficult to eradicate once established. There are a few options to control the infestation, which are outlined below. Any CEQC input would be helpful to this discussion. Staff will provide a presentation to further elaborate on the control options. Curly Leaf Pondweed Control options: 1. Herbicide application in spring. Diquat and formulations of endothall can be applied to the water surface, and will kill on contact. They are contact herbicides so do not get absorbed into the plant like systemic herbicides (triclopyr and roundup for instance). A trial run of enothall (Aquathol K formulation) was piloted in 2020 and proved to reduce overall pondweed by an estimated 90%. This was achieved using 66 gallons applied to about 15% of the lake. Seven or 8 years of consistent application has proven effective in some Twin Cities area lakes. Annual cost of $8,000. 2. Mechanical harvesting: The method seemingly most familiar to residents, a special boat with a paddlewheel like harvester cuts or pulls biomass from the water. The City attempted control via a mechanical harvester in the 1980s and early 1990s, but did not see long term effects, and continual maintenance and staff availability curtailed the practice. Newer technology now can pull up roots and thereby provide more lasting results, in theory. Hauling and disposing of the harvested material also is a significant time and resource commitment. Annual cost of 160 hours of staff time, plus $100,000 machine for the machine. 3. Dredging: Curly leaf pondweed cannot grow in more than 15 feet of water, so deepening areas of the lake would reduce the total suitable area for the weed. Potential co-benefit of diluting phosphorus load in the lake. Costs are certainly higher than options 1 & 2. The best estimate would be $3.25-5 million to reposition sediment within the basin (hydraulically pump dredged material) and would consume 15-20 acres of lake area to store the dredge material. The project cost to dredge and remove the material would be $7-10 million. There are also significant environmental review considerations and state DNR permits to obtain.