No-Wake

03/03/09

On May 24, 2004, the city of Lino Lakes made the protection of northern Peltier Lake permanent! Many people and organizations deserve thanks!

Thanks go to the cities of Centerville and Lino Lakes who both had to enact a protection ordinance. Centerville and Lino Lakes passed an ordinance in March 2002, but Lino Lakes needed to remove a sunset clause that would have terminated the no-wake zone protection ordinance and they did. (This no-wake zone ordinance only applies to the northern half of Peltier Lake, which is a part of the lake that is very shallow and filled with aquatic plants. It also helps protect a great blue heron rookery on a large island in the northern part of Peltier Lake.)

Special thanks go to Jeff Perry, Natural Resources Specialist for Anoka Parks, Joan Galli, Minnesota DNR Nongame Wildlife Specialist, Marty Asleson, City of Lino Lakes Environmental Coordinator, and Art Hawkins, a biologist working with the DNR. These people provided the detailed expertise and leadership to get the job done. Jeff Perry led a task force on the issue. The outstanding work of these knowledgeable people from 2001 through 2004 was crucial to enact the protection.

A total of 556 citizen petition signatures favoring the protection were submitted and was significant to enacting the protection. Thanks to each and every person who signed! It clearly demonstrated the community was in favor of this protection. Special thanks to those who helped gather signatures.

Thanks go to the many organizations that supported protection. These include: Minnesota DNR, Anoka County Parks, Rice Creek Watershed District, Anoka County Commissioner Margaret Langfeld, Anoka County Commissioner Rhonda Sivarajah, Minnesota Ornithologist's Union, Director of Bell Museum of Natural History, St Paul Audubon Society, Minnesota Lakes Association, Walter J. Breckenridge Chapter of the Izaak Walton League, and the North American Lake Management Society.

The no-wake zone has demonstrated improved water quality and some successful great blue heron nesting. Damaged aquatic vegetation appears to be returning. The no-wake zone formalizes protection for the unique and precious resources of Peltier Lake: the heron rookery, great egrets, eagles, rare plants, and high quality wetlands and shallows and waterfowl of all kinds. This year over 400 white pelicans stopped at northern Peltier Lake before continuing their migration north - without the protection now in place, the pelicans would have been forced out. The permanent protection now granted preserves these incredible resources now and for generations to come.