Serpent Lake News

Always chores to do around the lake.  You mow your lawn. Remove weeds from the lake.  Apply chemicals to your land or lake. Adjust or alter your shoreline in some manner.  Remove bushes or a tree.  Plant bushes or a tree.  Clear your land.  Trim your bushes or trees.  Rake your lawn. Add a driveway or walkway.  Enlarge your home.

These are things that we all do.  Those of us who are property owners of lakeshore know there is always something more to do.  So, beyond taking care of our own property, what difference does it make?

I recently read a book entitled For Love of Lakes by Darby Nelson (Michigan State University Press, 2012)  Darby Nelson is a retired professor of aquatic ecology and an expert on limnology.  Limnology is the “study of the biological, chemical geographical and physical features of freshwaters, especially lakes and ponds.” (New World Dictionary)

If you don’t think it makes much difference in the chores and choices you make with regard to taking care of your own property, think again.  Nothing we do on our land or adjacent lake is without consequences…for good or not so good.  Collectively what we do has a tremendous impact.

The history of this realization was slow in coming.  One scientist (Forbes) conjectured that lakes had their own ecosystem that would not be affected by what happened on land.  Darby Nelson says that that slowed down research quite a bit. (page 85)  Further, that when a scientist (Lindeman) first postulated that the ecosystems and lakes and watershed were intrinsically intertwined he was scorned by scientific colleagues. (pages 154,5&6)

We are way beyond that in the year 2012.  It is unequivocally a scientific certainty that land and water are connected in terms of the health of each.  Some people still do not believe it, some people do not know this and others, unfortunately, do not care.

As this publication has reported and continues to report there are many things to consider when cutting, trimming, landscaping, spraying and managing our lakeshore property.  It behooves us all to think about the effect of any changes we are making to our land or adjacent lake.

Of course there are things beyond our control which also bring unwelcome changes to our ecosystem.  Nelson identifies them as mercury poisoning, warming temperatures and acid rain.  These negative changes are brought about primarily by our worlds use of fossil fuels.

I have never heard much about acid rain being a problem in our area. On the other hand, warming temperatures and mercury contamination are quite real for our fish population.  Tulibees most likely disappeared from Serpent Lake in the past 20 years or less because they could not be sustained in a thermocliine area of low enough temperatures with adequate oxygen levels.  I would speculate that the die off of eel pout in the past two years has similar origins.  (Have you missed them floating about during the late summer?}

Mercury contamination of fish is also quite real for the Serpent Lake fish population.  My check of the Minnesota Department of Natural resources website says that it is only healthy to eat one meal of Northern Pike per week from Serpent Lake.  Northern Pike are the top of the food chain and gather the most mercury through consumption of other fish.

Of course the other threat to our dear lakes is the introduction of exotics.  So far Serpent Lake only has curly leaf pond weed, which we pay dearly to treat.  At our doorstep is Eurasian milfoil and zebra mussels.  Let’s all check our boats carefully if we have launched them in a different lake.  It is difficult, if not impossible to monitor what other might do.

Which brings me to my final point:  there are things we can control and cannot control with regard to the quality of our lake.  Let’s do what we can to keep our lake the best it can be by following shoreline and landscaping guidelines..  What we do does make a difference.  Collectively we can have a huge impact for keeping our lake healthy for future generations. (or not healthy….I opt for the former.)

If you are interested in reading For Love of Lakes by Darby Nelson, a copy is in the Jessie F. Hallett Memorial Library in Crosby.