The future of Lake Minnetonka by Dick Osgood
Posted by Steve Frazier
on Mar 15, 2011
Our Programwas titled "A Look at Lake Minnetonka", and was presented by our own member, Dick Osgood. Dick is the president of the Lake Minnetonka Association, and an expert in water management matters.
His talk took the form of a 1,000 year look at the lake, from what Minnetonka was like 500 years ago to what it will be in 500 years from today. 500 years ago, about the time that Columbus discovered the new world, Minnetonka was a series of medium-sized lakes unconnected to each other, and with heavy underbrush along all of the shoreline. You would have to be in the water before you could see that the area was a water-filled lake. Fifty years ago, the lake was one body of water with well-defined shoreline, and was just ending the era where it was used as a summer resort area. Five years ago, the AIS era (Aquatic Invasive Species) was in full swing. All of us are familiar with the lake today, and the problems with milfoil and zebra mussels.
Five years from now, Dick predicts that milfoil will be under control and no longer a problem. New invasive species will become problems, and control over the Minnetonka (and other lakes in Minnesota) will be shifting from federal and state agencies back to local control. Ten to twenty years down the line, the citizens and agencies will be sifting through all of environmental rules ,and making them unified and sensible throughout the area. Fifty years in the future, the use of lakes for fishing will be severely diminished ( a trend that has already started), and scientists will have discovered and implemented cures for the AIS (invasive species) that plague the waterways. 500 years from today, Lake Minnetonka will still be the recreational magnet that it is today, and people will have discovered new and unique ways to enjoy the water. Personal submarine, anyone?
His talk took the form of a 1,000 year look at the lake, from what Minnetonka was like 500 years ago to what it will be in 500 years from today. 500 years ago, about the time that Columbus discovered the new world, Minnetonka was a series of medium-sized lakes unconnected to each other, and with heavy underbrush along all of the shoreline. You would have to be in the water before you could see that the area was a water-filled lake. Fifty years ago, the lake was one body of water with well-defined shoreline, and was just ending the era where it was used as a summer resort area. Five years ago, the AIS era (Aquatic Invasive Species) was in full swing. All of us are familiar with the lake today, and the problems with milfoil and zebra mussels.
Five years from now, Dick predicts that milfoil will be under control and no longer a problem. New invasive species will become problems, and control over the Minnetonka (and other lakes in Minnesota) will be shifting from federal and state agencies back to local control. Ten to twenty years down the line, the citizens and agencies will be sifting through all of environmental rules ,and making them unified and sensible throughout the area. Fifty years in the future, the use of lakes for fishing will be severely diminished ( a trend that has already started), and scientists will have discovered and implemented cures for the AIS (invasive species) that plague the waterways. 500 years from today, Lake Minnetonka will still be the recreational magnet that it is today, and people will have discovered new and unique ways to enjoy the water. Personal submarine, anyone?
(Story by Tad Shaw and posting and picture by Steve Frazier)