Minutes for November 20, 2007 Meeting

Minutes
November 20 2007

Attendees:
Katie Vail (Billings Middle School)
Gayle GarmanRichard FlemingEllen HewittKaren SchurrMary Lou KnoxRebecca TimsonKevin StoopsRob ZisetteMarcia NormanKris Fuller

Standing Committee Reports

Monitoring – Richard Fleming – Report from Katie Vail, and Rebecca Timson of Billings Middle School.

1. Katie – Lake level, goose count, precipitation, weather, and air are monitored. Heavy metals were found in sediment sample from construction project in GL village. Phosphates are found in air around the lake.
2. Alum Treatment – Kevin Stoops of Seattle Parks and Recreation
   
   1. Ten composite water samples collected by Parks Dept in summer 2007.
   2. Overall lake water quality is excellent
   3. There was a mild algae bloom in the late summer
   4. Milfoil doesn’t appear to be spreading
   5. The alum treatment appears to be holding up
   6. Lake levels have been unusually high. The cause was the clogged Meridian Drain fish screen (wheel) which was acting as a dam. As a result of the clogged screen, the lake level rose 8-9 inches.
   7. Lake stratification and then mixing from the wind is not good because it brings up phosphorous from the lake bottom. In contrast, constantly mixed water reduces this problem since the oxygen in the mixed water prevents phosphorous release. Rotting vegetation in the lake, however, uses up oxygen which allows the phosphorous to rise up. Milfoil decay may stimulate algae growth.
   8. Rain brings nutrients into the lake that stimulates algae growth. SPU’s model suggested that 40% of the phosphorous in the Lake is from rainfall.
   9. Sally Abella will present monitoring data from Metro at the January 15th meeting.
   10. In late September/early October concentrations of blue/green algae were observed along the shoreline. A new program by the Dept of Ecology provided for analysis of a sample, which showed predominantly the (bluegreen) cyanobacteria Anabaena, with some Gloeotrichia. The lab measured one of the toxins produced by cyanobacteria, microcystin, which was less than 0.05 ug/L, the detection limit.
3. Monitoring needs –
   1. Better milfoil monitoring
   2. Do we want counts of the numbers of blue/green algae? FOGL could collect samples for algae composition counts to record how it changes thru a normal summer.
   3. Per Rob, there is a new program whereby Ecology will sample a bluegreen bloom and pay for the laboratory analysis, including microcystin. The contact person is Trisha Shoblom at Ecology in Bellevue.
   4. FOGL supports monitoring of both GL beaches for bacteria counts.

   Kevin stated that West Green Lake has lower bacterial counts than most other beaches monitored by Metro (King Co). The storm drains are located at the East Beach but not at West Beach. Kevin will talk with the new Parks Superintendent, Tim Gallagher.

4. More comment from Richard. The following birds have been seen: Horned Grebe, Cackling geese, and Wood ducks. Nesting boxes for the Wood ducks were suggested. Kevin will check to find out who oversees Duck Island.
5. Richard agreed to work with Rosellen Brittenham on suggestions for plant managment on Duck Island. Rebecca Timson noted that shaded lakeshores with native plantings seem to keep waters cleaner.

Celebration– The beach clean up was a great success and brought lots of excellent publicity and new web site enrollees. Marcia will write a thank you note to the Seattle Times reporter and photographer, and to Don Allen of the Seattle Parks Dept.

Treasurer’s Report

The meeting adjourned at 9:00pm.