ABOVE: A photo of Curly Leaf Pondweed in Hall Lake in June 2023. Some stakeholders began talking about developing a Lakes Management Plan on Thursday that would aim to combat the invasive species, among other matters. Sentinel file photo.

FAIRMONT– Several stakeholders met for the first time in Fairmont on Thursday to begin talking about forming a Lakes Management Plan. Inevitably, one of the main things discussed was Curly Leaf Pondweed and how to combat it.

Those present included Fairmont city staff, members of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Martin Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) and Fairmont Lakes Foundation Inc.

Community Development Director Pat Oman opened the meeting by saying they’re calling those included a Lakes Management Team because it will not be made into a committee until the city provides guidance on it.

“All of you have a certain role dealing with water,” Oman said.

He introduced a Curly Leaf Pondweed management timeline. It starts with going over a survey that SWCD did in conjunction with Ryan Wersal, an associate professor of aquatic weed science at Minnesota State University- Mankato.

“He had his team come out and survey the lakes. They did a grid pattern of all five lakes and identified what plants they found,” said Dustin Bene of SWCD.

The survey was done in the late summer of 2024, at which point Curly Leaf Pondweed usually dies off, but other native plants were looked at, too.

Other key parts in the timeline include the budget, getting contractors identified, engaged and hired and applying for an Invasive Aquatic Plant Management (IAPM) permit and starting management in the late spring of 2026.

“This is a timeline that hopefully we can shorten, but it is a timeline that we have to be conscience of,” Oman said.

Hannah Neusch, water resource coordinator with the city of Fairmont, went over some Curly Leaf Pondweed survey notes.

“The take-home notes that I took, is that Curly Leaf Pondweed was still the most prominent species that they found,” Neusch said.

This she stressed was despite the survey being done in late August when much of it had died off. Other native species was also identified in the survey which she said was beneficial because it will help with management efforts in those areas.

Neusch said that a 2025 survey is expected to include core sampling which will show how many turions or seeds are in the lake bed sediment that are ready to grow.

“It was said in our meeting that these turions can hibernate for up to three years before they have the right conditions to grow,” Neusch explained.

Speaking to overall water quality issues that were discussed and looked at, Neusch said there were a lot. Some of these included excess nutrients, murky water, blue-green algae and invasive species.

“Excess nitrogen and phosphorous can essentially work as a fertilizer to help Curly Leaf Pondweed grow very vigorously in the early season,” she said.

The survey also showed that at about 19 inches from shore the water becomes too murky to allow for native plant growth and that the murky water can be due to a number of factors.

Blue-green algae was also detected in the 2024 survey and can occur after Curly Leaf Pondweed die off. Blue-green algae poses health threats to people and animals.

Finally, Neusch said there are other invasive species to consider, not just Curly Leaf Pondweed.

“We’re focusing on Curly Leaf Pondweed this time and when we do choose a contractor for this project it would be beneficial to consider one local to this area because that will reduce the amount of contamination we might get from other lakes or vice versa,” Neusch said.

Wersal then went over some more findings from the survey.

“Lake Sisseton is the most species-rich lake… it would be good to get that list to grow a little bit,” Wersal said.

He said that the main limiting factor is light availability and that the majority of plants found were within the first three to five feet from the shore.

“If we start to get a handle on the Curly Leaf Pondweed, the water clarity is going to limit native species expansion into that ditch space and deeper areas of the lake which would be beneficial to consolidate the sediment, reduce phosphorous release from the sediment and help clear the water up,” Wersal said.

He stressed that Curly Leaf Pondweed is a main contributor to some of the water quality issues.

Wersal said he and his team plan to be in Fairmont this coming week and then again later in the season to look at what Curly Leaf Pondweed and other species are doing.

Some of those present began talking about different ways to treat Curly Leaf Pondweed and Jon Omvig said that the Lakes Foundation has had more than one discussion on the topic and that the general consensus has been split with half being okay with the idea of using a licensed applicator with approved chemicals and half being against the application of them.

“If you get private property owners just dumping it in and it’s not licensed and it’s not in a controlled manner…,” Omvig said.

He said he thinks they need to go after the problem with a well managed and well thought out approach, which city council member Britney Kawecki agreed with.

“It would have been easy for me to do it last year. I could have easily hired someone to do it. When you start to put restrictions on things, that’s when you start to have problems,” she said.

Neusch said that that’s why the group was trying to put a plan together to gather thoughts and move forward.

Wersal added that he believed it was important to understand how much Curly Leaf Pondweed there is that needs to be dealt with.

“If you have 50 acres then harvest to your heart’s content. If you have 300 or 400 acres of Curly Leaf, you’re not going to be able to harvest all of that,” Wersal said.

Kawecki said she thought they needed to start providing education to people otherwise they’re going to start trying to handle it on their own using chemicals or whatever they can get their hands on.

“That’s what worries me,” she said. “We need to start providing the education because I think people, as we start using the lakes, are going to start wanting to see some kind of solution.”

Wersal pointed out that even if homeowners want to apply a chemical themselves, they still need to apply for a permit. However, Jeff Flory with the DNR said that unfortunately a lot of people either don’t know or don’t care.

Oman returned to the timeline and touched on the budget. The Fairmont City Council had recently increased the restoration charge on the utility bill from $1 per month to $4 per month, which will generate about $195,000 a year and goes into the Lake Restoration Fund.

“It is a fund and not part of the operating budget so if we don’t spend that money we don’t lose it. It stays in the fund and continues to grow. The goal is to budget about $225,000 a year which is a significant amount of money,” Oman said.

Neusch reiterated that it’s a significant amount of money but that it needs to be determined how best to spend it so that it makes sense.

“It’s good that it’s a fund because I don’t anticipate that, looking at 2025, that we’re going to use a significant portion of this which meant that we’ll basically have a bank that rolls over from year to year so we can potentially be more aggressive with our efforts as the years go on,” Neusch said.

Speaking to treatment options, Neusch said there are a variety of options including mechanical, scuba divers doing hand pulling and then chemical treatment.

“Those are the three main ones that we could combine potentially through the use of a management plan,” Neusch said.

Oman said he was looking to gauge the city’s council interest in having an entity serve as an advisory to the it on these matters. He would also like help identifying partnerships and getting public participation and involvement.