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We were surprised to hear some of the troubles discussed last week at a meeting with the Shell Rock River Watershed District about the district’s efforts to obtain a permit for the final phase of dredging for Fountain Lake.

Plans call for the dredging of not only the east basin of the lake’s main bay but also portions of Bancroft Bay and part of the channel leading up to it.

According to watershed officials, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has no concerns with the dredging of the east basin of the main bay but has several concerns with the dredging of Bancroft Bay, citing the need for more data. It has also questioned the impact the project would have on Blanding’s turtles and whether that portion of the project was included in earlier proposals for dredging.

Watershed staff as well as a staff member from ISG, one of the companies the district is working on the project, went through each of the concerns in depth at the meeting, refuting the concerns and showing the need to continue forward.

The Watershed District has collected data on this project for numerous years and spent thousands of dollars already to bring the plan to where it is today.

Of the top reasons to dredge: Samples taken from the bay have shown some of the highest levels of phosphorus released during conditions that favor loading of any other sediment cores taken across the lake. If people want the remainder of the lake to keep the clarity that has come through dredging, it is critical that the bay be dredged.

We also ask the DNR to consider the decades worth of work that has been done to bring this project to where it is today as it reviews the request for the permit to move forward with the final phase of dredging.

Watershed staff and other consultants have studied this lake for years to figure out the best way to move forward with this project and have made extra efforts to go above and beyond to meet requests from the state.

We hope the DNR will consider this knowledge as they review the permit. We also remind them that Fountain Lake will never be able to be removed from the state’s impaired waters list without the dredging of Bancroft Bay.