The roof of this garage behind an apartment complex in downtown Spirit Lake collapsed Thursday, heavily damaging several vehicles that were in it at the time. A number of other roofs throughout the region, mainly on garages and other larger buildings, have collapsed recently due to the heavy weight of snow and ice on them. Insurance companies recommend roofs of homes and businesses be cleared of the heavy snow.

Source:  exploreokoboji.com

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Andrea Kemp – Staff Writer

Christmas storm damage totals to receive consideration

As the result of severe winter storms, Gov. Chet Culver recently asked President Obama to declare 27 Iowa counties federal disaster areas. If approved, Dickinson County could see a much-needed financial boost to keep summer maintenance projects on track.

Combined snowfall totals increase aid chances

Mike Ehret, Dickinson County emergency management coordinator, submitted totals from Dickinson County for FEMA consideration early this year, but, on Jan. 29, was given an initial notice that Dickinson County did not qualify for FEMA aid.

Since that announcement, the prospect of combining snowfall amounts with neighboring Clay County has been presented; an option Ehret says may help increasing funding chances for the county.

“They tell me that, at the time, they did not believe we had received enough snow over the period,” Ehret said. “I disagree with that. Since Friday’s announcement, they’ve decided that they do believe we’ve had enough snow because … they’re using the snowfall amount from Clay County, and because we’re contiguous with them, they believe we can now qualify.”

Dickinson County damage totals exceed $390,000

According to Ehret, towns in Dickinson County were able to submit figures for the most cost-burdening 48-hour period of the winter storm that hit during the Christmas weekend. Totals submitted by each town encompass costs incurred by snow removal, damages and overtime work. The community-wide cost totaled over $390,000.

Cost burdens for individual communities within Dickinson County were substantial as well. Spirit Lake submitted a figure of more than $87,000, and county maintenance crews single-handedly saw a $165,000 expenditure.

Ehret knows that maintenance costs were unavoidable, especially the payment of overtime to tireless road crews.

“It’s just something they have to do (work overtime),” Ehret said. “We can’t stop moving snow and keeping roads clean just because the budget is getting tight,” Ehret said.

Dwight Dohlman, public works director for the city of Spirit Lake, can attest to the long hours his crews worked to keep the city streets clear during the weekend.

“We had 13 guys … working 12 hours on Christmas day and (who) turned around the day after and worked 14 hours that Saturday,” Dohlman said. “And then a bunch of them came in on Sunday, so it was a lost Christmas for a lot of people.”

Winter costs to impact summer projects

With city and county budgets already tight, the added strain of winter road maintenance could have a wider-spanning impact.

“I know there’s been comments that some of the summertime maintenance of roads might get pushed back because the funds that were set aside for that are going to end up getting put toward snow removal,” Ehret said.

Dohlman is already prepared to continue work on a shoestring maintenance budget.

“There are a number of things that can be considered to cover the shortfall we’re going to see,” Dohlman said. “We were hoping to do some selective excavation in East Lake Okoboji and Center Lake and we have a number of street repairs that were scheduled, water quality projects, you name it. Anything we have is really on the chopping block at this point.”

FEMA hopes still alive

Ehret is optimistic that FEMA aid may still come through, and recalls the response after a late-spring snowstorm three years ago.

“In ‘07 we kind of thought that (it would be impossible to get FEMA aid) because I don’t think we’d ever gotten it before,” Ehret said. “We did and so we’re somewhat optimistic that we’ll get something again this time, especially since we did meet or even exceed the record snowfall amount.”

Ehret also looks to the timeline of the March ‘07 response as a possible time line for when FEMA funds could come through.

“Once they submit it to Washington it takes them up to three weeks to make a decision,” Ehret said. “We went through this in ‘07 where we weren’t included initially. At that time, it was three-to-four weeks after the initial declaration that we were added. So, it could be into March before we find out; but hopefully a little sooner.”

Total Figures submitted for aid consideration*

Arnolds Park: $22,162

Lake Park: $20,000

Milford: $42,277.04

Okoboji: $17,830

Orleans: ——

Spirit Lake: $87,635

Superior: $3,413.18

Terril: $16,914

Wahpeton: $8,553

West Okoboji: $7,188.80

County: $165,385.06

TOTAL: $392,343.61

*Cost incurred from snow removal, overtime, damages

Figures courtesy of Dickinson County Emergency Management Services

MEDIA CONTACT: Chuck Corell at (515) 281-4582 or chuck.corell@ dnr.iowa. gov

DES MOINES — The public is invited to comment on a proposal that would set goals for how clear Iowa ’s lake water must be to be suitable for swimmers.

The DNR’s goal for lakes is to be able to clearly see things about one yard below the surface. The proposed rule would apply to about 70 public and private lakes – all with an average depth of about nine feet (three meters or more).

Other goals set a limit on the amount of minute plants or algae that can be present in a lake. Too much algae can turn the water green, especially in the summer when excess nutrients wash into the lake from surrounding land.

The DNR will host the following six public hearings throughout Iowa to hear comments on this rule proposal. Any interested person is welcome to attend.

· Des Moines: Jan. 11, 10 a.m., Wallace State Office Building , fifth floor conference rooms, 502 E. Ninth St .

· Clear Lake : Jan. 13, 1 p.m., Clear Lake Public Library , 200 N. Fourth St .

· Atlantic: Jan. 14, 10 a.m., Atlantic Municipal Utilities, conference room, 15 W. Third St .

· Milford: Jan. 14, 6 p.m., Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, Waitt Building , 1838 Highway 86.

· Independence: Jan. 21, 10 a.m., Falcon Civic Center, 1305 Fifth Avenue NE

· Washington: Jan. 21, 4 p.m., Washington Public Library, Meeting Room B, 115 W. Washington St .

People may make oral or written comments at any of the public hearings. Written comments will also be accepted through Jan. 23. Send written comments to Chuck Corell, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Wallace State Office Building , 502 E. Ninth St. , Des Moines , IA 50319-0034 ; or by e-mail to chuck.corell@ dnr.iowa. gov

By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY

Fish and wildlife officials will poison a 6-mile stretch of water near Chicago on Wednesday in a last-ditch effort to keep one of the most dangerous invasive species of fish, the Asian carp, out of the Great Lakes.

The Asian carp, a voracious eater that has no predators and negligible worth as a commercial or sport fish, now dominates the Mississippi and Illinois rivers and their tributaries.

The fish has entered the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal — a man-made link between the Mississippi River system and the Great Lakes — and is knocking on the door of Lake Michigan . Once inside a Great Lake , the carp would have free rein in the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem, imperiling the native fish of the lakes and a $7 billion fishing and recreation industry.

“We’ve got a chance to beat this thing, but we’ve got to do everything right,” says Joel Brammeier, acting president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes , a conservation group.

The poisoning will kill an estimated 100 tons of fish, which will be removed by crane and hauled to a landfill. The five-day fish kill will provide time for the Army Corps of Engineers to perform routine maintenance on an electrical barrier that has been placed in the canal to block Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan .

No Asian carp have been found on the Great Lakes ‘ side of the electrical barrier. However, recent DNA samples taken from water indicate the carp may have gotten past the barrier.

“We feel confident that our barriers repel the fish,” says Chuck Shea, the Army Corps of Engineers’ project manager. The barrier consists of low voltage sent through steel cables, electrifying the water enough to stop the fish but not enough to kill them or humans.

The Great Lakes have struggled for decades from more than 150 invasive species brought in by ocean-going vessels dumping water from around the world. The Asian carp is the first major threat to come from the other direction, upstream from the Mississippi River .

The results are potentially devastating for the Great Lakes and the rivers that flow into it.

Good intentions gone bad

Asian carp were first brought to Arkansas in 1963 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which wanted a natural way to control aquatic weeds, reducing the need for chemicals. Fish farms brought more carp to function as pond cleaners.

The fish started to escape as early as 1966, according to a Fish and Wildlife Service history. The Asian carp were spread by Mississippi River floods in the 1990s.

Once released, the insatiable fish quickly conquered local rivers and headed north to spawn and eat. Asian carp now dominate many parts of major rivers, including the Mississippi , Tennessee , Missouri , Ohio , Columbia and Platte rivers. A survey in an offshoot of the Mississippi River near St. Louis found 97% of the fish were Asian carp.

Asian carp consist of four species — bighead, black, grass and silver — native to the rivers of China , Russia and Vietnam . They can consume 40% of their body weight every day and steal the food supply from other species. With no natural predators or disease found in their native waters, Asian carp quickly become the bulk of the biomass — the size and weight of fish — in American rivers.

The big problems are:

•Bighead carp. The fish doesn’t have a stomach, so it eats constantly. By vacuuming plankton, algae and everything else in its way, the fish can grow to more than 4 feet and 85 pounds. The older and bigger it gets, the more it reproduces.

•Silver carp. The 50-pound flying fish is a YouTube sensation. It leaps high from the water when disturbed by a passing boat or water-skier. Boaters and jet-skiers have been seriously injured by the airborne fish.

“You don’t see people water-skiing or flying down the Illinois River in boats anymore,” says Chris McCloud of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Asian carp are still used on some fish farms to keep ponds clean. Some carp are sold, often live, at specialty Asian markets. But the fish have little commercial value.

“It’s full of bones — floating bones in its flesh — that make it objectionable to Americans who want their fish as a filet,” says Barry Costa-Pierce, director of the Rhode Island Sea Grant program.

Carp isn’t a popular sport fish. But bow hunting for carp is gaining fans. The ultimate bow fishing prize: nailing a silver carp midair.

Perhaps an impossible task

Keeping Asian carp out of the Great Lakes may be impossible because the fish is so common in U.S. rivers, says Ron Kinnunen, a Michigan Sea Grant biologist who works on Lake Superior . “It’s hard to stop an invasive species once the genie is out of the bottle. You can only hold them in check,” he says.

The Great Lakes ‘ last line of defense is the world’s largest electrical fish barrier, constructed in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. The Army Corps of Engineers has a $40,000-a-month electricity bill for the barriers.

A demonstration barrier went up in 2002. A second, more powerful barrier was finished in 2006, but the voltage wasn’t cranked up until last February. The economic stimulus bill provides money for a third electrical barrier, which should be ready next year.

The barriers need to be turned off every six months or so for maintenance. When the power is off this week, the Illinois Department of Natural Resource will drop 2,300 gallons of rotenone, a fish poison, into the canal.

The fish kill is so large that rotenone’s manufacturer couldn’t supply enough of the poison. Illinois officials had to get donations from fish and wildlife officials in other states. Rotenone turns off the oxygen function in fish. A crew of 200 will work five days to execute the fish kill.

The fish kill has broad support from fish and wildlife officials, environmental groups and the fishing industry. The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, an industrial waterway, is 70% wastewater from local sewer systems. Fishing is prohibited.

The original barrier will keep working during the fish kill, but it delivers only half the voltage of the newer one and isn’t as effective. The new stimulus-funded electrical barrier will let the Army engineers keep one powerful barrier going while the other is repaired.

No long-term answer

The electrical barriers and mass poisoning may not be enough to protect the Great Lakes forever. Several groups are calling for the government to “disconnect” the Chicago Sanitary Canal from the Great Lakes .

The man-made canal is the only link between the basins of the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes . The canal was opened in 1900 for environmental reasons — to stop the dumping of Chicago ’s raw sewage into Lake Michigan .

The canal reversed the flow of the Chicago River, directing it south to the Des Plaines River rather than north to Lake Michigan . The American Society of Civil Engineers named the canal one of the greatest engineering feats of the 20th century. The canal remains important for wastewater, flood control and barge traffic.

A century later, the Chicago Sanitary Canal has created another environmental problem. The 200-foot-wide waterway is the sole link between the nation’s two most important watersheds and now serves as a pipeline — in both directions — for invasive species.

“We have to take care of this problem permanently,” says Marc Gaden of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, a joint U.S.-Canadian commission that coordinates fisheries management. “We need pure biological separation between the Mississippi River basin and the Great Lakes basin.” Congress has ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to study the issue.

Gaden says the Army Corps needs to quickly design a solution to restore the natural separation between the Mississippi River and Great Lakes . “We don’t have time to wait,” he says. “The electrical barriers are the be-all, end-all. This is an emergency.”

LINK TO THE ARTICLE WITH PICTURES AND VIDEO www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-11-30-asian-carp_N.h

Dickinson County Engineer Dan Eckert presented two culvert options for the Lower Gar outlet to the supervisors. He tagged them option 2 (with two new culverts) an option 3 (with three new culverts) of the “compromised high water relief project.”

In option 2, two additional 14×4 culverts would be added to the current outlet structures at Lower Gar at six inches above the weir. In option 3, three new 12×5 box culverts would be added at weir elevation, with the removal of two of the current elliptical culverts currently at the outlet. Option 2 is priced at $301,666 and option 3 at $372,765.25.

Eckert pointed out that the best hydraulic proposal would be a bridge. However, even with the complete removal of the road, a flood at 1993 rainfall would still come within 10 inches of the levels of the 1993 flood.

“What we are able do is to reduce the duration of high water,” said Eckert.

Supervisor Wayne Northey made a motion to send option 2 on to the Corps of Engineers for review. Mardi Allen made the second, and the vote passed 3-2.

( Spirit Lake )– The Dickinson county board of supervisors Tuesday voted three-to-two to forward one of two options for the Lower Gar Outlet to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Iowa DNR for their approval.

The options, neither intended to prevent another flood from ever taking place, but instead are designed to bring down high water levels sooner, were dubbed the “Compromised High Water Relief Project” by County Engineer Dan Eckert, who presented the pro’s and cons of each to the supervisors. The options were identified by Eckert as options two and three.

The first, or option two, adds two 14 by 4 culverts at a height six inches over the weir (dam), with one on the north side and one on the south side of the existing structure. That option has an estimated cost of $301,666.

The other, option three, would remove two of the existing elliptical culverts, which would be replaced by three 12 by 5 box culverts. It’s cost was estimated to be about 71-thousand dollars more than option two.

Eckert said option two more closely represents a compromise reached by the county, the city of Milford and residents on the lower chain of lakes in that the new culverts wouldn’t flow until the water level was six inches over the height of the weir (dam). He said option three more closely meets recommendations of the Corps of Engineers, but would result in more flow during low water levels.

Eckert added that wile option two more satisfies the intent to strike a compromise, that the best hydraulic engineering solution would be a bridge, which was recommended in the corps report.

From a liability standpoint, Assistant County Attorney Lonnie Saunders said he’s most confident with option two.

Supervisor Wayne Northey made a motion to submit option two to the Corps and DNR, saying it best addresses concerns on both sides of the issue.

Northey, along with supervisors Mardi Allen and Pam Jordan voted in favor of the motion, while Chairman David Gottsche and Supervisor Paul Johnson voted no. Johnson said he was concerned about second guessing the Corps’ recommendation.

The option that was adopted by the supervisors is still subject to approval by the DNR and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It’s up to those agencies to issue the necessary permits for the project. And Eckert said it’s likely the Corps will want to do another study before it gives any final approval.

Lakes area yardage chart

Residential Only

October 28, 2009

Assessed Miles Average $
Lake Valuation Shoreline Per Foot
East Lake $490,574,100 25% 17 17 $5,465
West Lake $1,131,507,200 57% 21.2 21.2 $10,109
Big Spirit $279,202,900 14% 16 16 $3,305
Upper Gar $23,387,400 1% 1.4 1.4 $3,164
Minnewsahta $33,376,900 2% 2.3 2.3 $2,748
Lower Gar $27,642,800 1% 4 4 $1,309

TOTAL $1,985,691,300 61.9 $6,076

Note: State parks and church camps bring down average price per foot.

TOTAL all $3,860,847,400 51%

Residential & Commercial

October 28, 2009

Assessed Miles Average $
Lake Valuation Shoreline Per Foot
East Lake $503,548,800 24% 17 $5,610
West Lake $1,179,423,000 57% 21.2 $10,537
Big Spirit $283,338,800 14% 16 $3,354
Upper Gar $25,403,500 1% 1.4 $3,437
Minnewsahta $36,327,200 2% 2.3 $2,991
Lower Gar $29,101,200 1% 4 $1,378

TOTAL $2,057,142,500 61.9 $6,294

Note: State parks and church camps bring down average price per foot.

TOTAL all $3,860,847,400 53%