2005 RLAA General Activities

September 9 - DNR rejects request for a Rice Lake drawdown for 2005-2006 based on a lack of historical plant studies done in previous years.  RLAA will be insuring these studies are completed and made available to both City of Maple Grove and DNR in future.

August 16 - RLAA working with DNR to request a drawdown on the lake this winter. DNR must approve before Maple Grove City Council can grant Public Works permission to conduct drawdown. Letters will be mailed to lakeshore owners if a drawdown will be conducted this fall/winter.

August 12 - New algae blooms appearing on lake, but not to the degree of earlier bloom. No treatment is deemed necessary at this time by the RLAA Board of Directors.

August 10 - Copper Sulfate algae treatments appeared to have reduced the amounts of algae on the lake.

August 9 - Treatment #3 of 3 applied today on southern half of lake at 25% application rate. This concludes the entire lake treatment at a rate of approximately 5.8 lbs/acre coverage. There are no further applications planned at this time. No fish kills were reported during the treatments.

July 28 - RLAA Board of Directors met and agreed to request a drawdown this winter. DNR approval is being sought to provide to the Maple Grove City Council justifying the request. Details will be forthcoming on this website.

July 25 - Treatment #2 of 3 applied today on northern half of lake up Elm Creek to the dam. Remaining treatment to be applied around August 1 on southern half of lake.

July 18 - Lake Restoration applied 25% of the dosage of Copper Sulfate to the lake today. They will apply 50% of the dosage next week and the remaining 25% the week after that. All treatment should be completed by the first week of August.

There are no restrictions on the lake during the treatment periods.

July 13 - DNR approved permit for Copper Sulfate complete lake application. Treatment will begin early next week (7/18-19). Some dead fish have been observed in recent days, most likely as a result of the algae bloom.

July 9 - Algae conditions on lake are getting poor with visibility

under 1 foot in the creek.  If you see any fish kills, please e-mail this website at [email-masked]

July 8  - Update on Algae Treatment plans in Rice Lake in July:

7/5 - Collected 53 signatures from lakeshore owners with OK

(of 55 homes collected, 2 voted No and 53 voted Yes)

7/6 - Submitted signatures to Lake Restoration to get DNR permit to authorize complete

lake/creek treatment

7/8 - Awaiting DNR inspection of lake to grant permit. Next Step - Once DNR approves

permit, apply first 1/2 application followed by second 1/2 within one week later

June 26 - Floating blue-green algae called "aphanazomenon" has been present on Rice Lake during the past 2 weeks. Water clarity has dropped 50% and surface scum is beginning to appear. RLAA Directors have voted to treat this algae with Copper Sulfate or an equivalent algaecide, which will only impact the algae and leave vegetation, fish, and pets untouched. Efforts are under way to meet DNR requirements for treating by getting more than 50% of the lakeshore owners around the lake to approve by signing a petition. Directors are visiting neighborhood this weekend to collect those signatures.

There was also an outbreak of this same algae late last summer that went untreated. RLAA believes the subsequent fish kill and terrible decomposition odors were direct results of that failure to treat the algae.

May 29 - RLAA Lake Management Plan is now available on-line. (Go to 'Current Projects' link on the left for details of the plan)

May 24 - No signs of Curlyleaf Pondweed have been found in the areas exposed by the drawdown. Native plants are showing signs of recovering in the same vicinity. There have been some signs of CLP growth in the deeper portions of the lake, but the severity of the growth is not yet known.

April 28 - RLAA Annual Meeting Minutes (Click here for details)

April 28 - RLAA Annual Meeting date; click here for details.

April 16 - Lake level back to normal.

April 3 - Ice Out on majority of Rice Lake. Lake level 2 feet short.

April 2 - Winter Aerator removed from the lake.

March 11 - City Public Works Department will be raising water level to normal in near future.

March 10 - Aerator turned off for the season (per DNR permit). Will be removed when either: 1) Ice is strong enough to recover it; or 2) Can be accessed by boat.

February 16 - Carp Control meeting held with Dr. Peter Sorensen from University of Minnesoa. Go to 'Current Projects' page for details.

February 12 - Aerator shaft and motor replaced and started up again. Water began to open up same day. Several Thin Ice signs were righted into position.

February 5 - Aerator shaft not propelling oxygen into the water. Motor/impellar housing removed to be brought in for service at local manufacturer. Float and flags remain intact in same location.

Blown over Warning and Thin Ice signs replaced per DNR poscard to RLAA on 1/31/05.

January 26 - Oxygen levels tested and reported as "good" by DNR analyst.

January 24 - Blown fuse replaced in Aerator and it was restarted. Has been running the past week and continues to supply oxygen into the water. However, ice is not melting to form open water yet.

January 22, 2005- Aerator has stopped running sometime this past week (we believe since Tuesday). The Aerator is completely frozen in at this time. A replacement fuse needs to be installed to get it running again. We are trying to locate one now.