03/13/25

Welcome!

This site provides information on Peltier Lake, the Great Blue Herons by Peltier Lake, the Chain of Lakes in Lino Lakes, and other environmental information.

Peltier Lake is located in Anoka county in the cities of Lino Lakes and Centerville, Minnesota, about 15 miles north of Saint Paul.

This site is maintained by Wayne LeBlanc. He does volunteer lake sampling for the Rice Creek Watershed District, MPCA, and the Sentinel Lakes Program. He monitors streams with the Stream Health Evaluation Project, has over 30 years of experience with lake issues, and helps monitor the Great Blue Herons. He has completed the Minnesota Master Naturalist Volunteer program.

Peltier Lake Heron Report, Feb 26, 2025

The new Lino Lakes Environmental Coordinator, Thomas Hoffman, organized this year’s protection and survey effort for the Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets of Peltier Lake Island, rounding up 10 volunteers to count nests, and inspect and manage protective metal flashing on the trees.
MANY THANKS to new organizer Thomas Hoffman, Lino Lakes, Anoka Parks, and all involved!

Wayne LeBlanc, Teresa O’Connell, Russ Birkholz, John Morrison, Kevin Fitzpatrick, Tom Hoffman, Marty Asleson, Quinn Palar, Barbara Bor, John Sullivan

There are often Great Egrets that nest with the Great Blue Herons and the nests look the same, so they are not distinguished in the count or in the chart. For the summer of 2023, ice conditions were unstable most of the winter and a count was not attempted. The nest count, taken Feb 26, 2025, reflects the summer of 2024 and that count increased from roughly 200 to 301. There were about 40 additional smaller sized or incomplete nests that are not counted in the chart below. Before trouble, the count had been as high as 1,149. It would be nice to get closer to this number as the island looks like it has plenty of habitat for further expansion of the colony. John Sullivan, Teresa, Marty, Barbara, and Wayne conducted the nest count.

 Many of the nesting trees are ash trees and it looks like the Emerald Ash Borer has killed most of them. Ash trees are not known to stand very long after dying. There is an effort to plant more trees on the island but with dry summers, survival of the new trees can be tough. In 2023, 82% of nests (153) were in ash trees and 65% of nesting trees (40) were ash. The total number of nests was 187 and total number of nesting trees was 62. In addition, tight flashing may be causing damage to the trees. Flashing was loosened to allow more air flow and flashing was removed from trees without nests. Flashing on ash trees may not matter as they are not expected to survive EAB. The Rotary Club and others have planted trees in anticipation of ash tree decline. Tom, Russ, John Morrison, Kevin, and Quin worked on the metal tree flashing.

Nests of the Great Blue Heron and Great Egret on Peltier Island

Three protections need to continue to encourage continued improvement for the Great Blue Heron colony:

1) The No-Wake Zone established by Anoka Parks, the city of Lino Lakes, the city of Centerville, the DNR and others protects the sensitive environment from disturbing high speed boat traffic. This zone not only protects birds, it also protects sensitive aquatic plants and shallow water sediments in the north part of the lake. Even if the herons left for good, this No-Wake Zone is required! In 1998, a heavily used slalom waterski course was installed right next to the heron colony on the north side of the island where nobody ever did speed boating and where nests were concentrated in an isolated, rarely visited area of the lake. The nest count immediately plummeted from 1,149 to 550, more than half gone in 1 season. The black-crowned night herons totally vanished the same year the ski course was installed. The black-crowned night herons have never returned (1998 to 2024). With great concern, an informal agreement was set to keep the high-speed ski traffic away (note the nest count recovered from 550 to 700) until 2000, when the heavily used, loud and disturbing slalom waterski course returned, and this time, the 2 users refused to stop using the course. Hundreds of thousands of square feet of native aquatic plants were destroyed. Formal and final protection was finally established after 4 years of gut-wrenching work, in 2004, by establishing a No-Wake Zone, but the heron colony was so reduced in numbers that predators became the dominant force. If this heron colony and sensitive environment is to be safeguarded, high speed boating must not occur near the island. This lesson must be remembered. All the black-crowned night herons abandoned the island in one year, and 25 years later, not even one has returned. Native aquatic plants in the area took over 15 years to partially recover.

2) In 2004, in a University study, Andy Von Duyke found raccoons to be a cause of predation. He recommended metal flashing on nesting trees to reduce predation from raccoons and possibly opossum. For many years, a team of people has maintained metal tree flashing on nesting trees to try to protect the herons.

3) Signs posted around the island help keep people off the island so nesting birds of all kinds are free of human disturbance. Great blue herons are finicky & spooked when people are around. If black-crowned night herons ever did return, they are especially finicky. People must keep their distance.

Let’s hope the Herons, Egrets, other birds, wildlife, aquatic plants, and rare plants have better and better years on Peltier Island.

Wayne LeBlanc, wayneleblanc@comcast.com. Also see www.PeltierLake.Org
“Rookery Blues,” Minnesota Conservation Volunteer:
https://webapps8.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer_index/past_issues/article_pdf?id=2111
 

Wayne LeBlanc
wayneleblanc@comcast.com
Feb 26, 2025
Also see www.PeltierLake.Org

“Rookery Blues,” Minnesota Conservation Volunteer: www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer/marapr04/rookery.html.

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Troubled Waters at Peltier Lake

Wikipedia describes the former pristine condition of the watershed before houses, farms, and roads. It certainly isn't that way anymore!

"According to the Minnesota Historical Society, Rice Creek was named for Henry Mower Rice, one of the first pair of U.S. Senators sent to represent Minnesota upon its statehood, who acquired extensive lands near the lower course of the creek in 1849. Early surveys conducted by Joseph Nicollet record the name of Rice Creek as "Ottonwey River" or Atoonowe-ziibi in the Ojibwe language meaning "River for making Canoes." However, its Ojibwe language name has also been recorded as "Manominikan Sibi" or Manoominikaan-ziibi, meaning "river full of wild rice," which is known to have grown plentifully in the lakes of the watershed. Nicollet described the creek as: "At 2:45, as we left the islands behind, a rivulet about thirty feet wide entered the river from the left. Its shores are adorned with beautiful white lilies. Chagobay told me that it winds back to the vicinity of the Falls of the St. Croix River, being separated from the latter by only a short portage. Its course links several alkes, while irrigating a land abundant with wild rice where the Sioux gather their yearly provisions. The Sioux call it in their language Wild Rice River, and the Chippewa Manominikan Sibi, which means river where one reaps wild rice. "Manomin" (wild rice) was also the basis for the naming of the former Manomin County, which later was incorporated into Anoka County and ultimately became, in part, the city of Fridley, where the creek joins the Mississippi River."

"Archaeological evidence exists that suggests ancestors of the Sioux hunted and fished in the vicinity of Bald Eagle Lake (approximately present-day White Bear Township) in the Rice Creek watershed, and had a summer village in the present-day city of Centerville as early as 2000 B.C."