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Minnesota Extreme Cold Aids in the Fight Against Curly-Leaf Pondweed
While most people are tired of the extreme cold, for Long Lake it’s helping with the fight against invasive curly-leaf pondweed.
A drawdown which began in September will expose the lakes bottom to a deep freeze cold enough to kill the pondweed which forms thick mats on the water surface. Because it is the first plant to come up in the spring, curly-leaf blocks light to more slowly growing native plants, and when it dies back at the end of July, it releases phosphorous, which promotes green algae growth.
The cold is especially welcome after a challenging drawdown. Rain in September and October kept refilling the lake. The lake level finally dropped low enough to allow the use of earth-moving machinery to remove built-up sediment conveyed into the lake by storm sewer pipes in two locations. There is about a foot of ice on the lake, and a trickle of water is still draining.
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