About the time it seems things could not get worse, that view turns out to be wrong. Like Mark Twain's condition and to paraphrase his response, the report of our lake's sad fate may have been an exaggeration. The complaints from our neighbors about MNDOT's abuse of the lake with the freeway drainage plan some carefully planted suggestions that our business neighbor, Gopher Electronics, has been less than environmentally conscious has drawn the attention of an otherwise slumbering bureaucracy, the DNR.
A few weeks ago, Rocky Waite dropped by and introduced someone from the DNR office who had seen the articles on this blog regarding MNDOT's drainage damage. She made a lap around some of the lakeshore and found enough evidence of abuse to recommend work be done on the lake. Who knows, we might even have some help, finally, with the Eurasian Watermilfoil and nonnative waterlilies. It's pretty obvious that efforts to control those species are failing in Gervais Lake and a lap around our lake would demonstrate where the seeds for the downstream contamination are coming from.
Rocky has put a lot of time, thought, and effort into getting attention for our lake and we all owe him a big "thanks" for his work. He has been a persistent advocate for Savage Lake and our neighborhood for the nearly two decades that I have known him.
At any rate, it sounds like we might see some serious dredging action where the freeway has filled the lake with silt and freeway runoff. The drainage problems from Gopher Electronics might get addressed, too.
The freeway construction project seems to be making a reasonable effort to contain construction noise late at night and that has brought back a little peace and quiet to our neighborhood. Our state representative, Jason Isaacson (rep.jason.isaacson@house.mn), has been extremely helpful in getting some attention brought to this issue and it wouldn't hurt to let him know we appreciate his efforts.
No comments:
Post a Comment