Frustrated Minnesota residents are seeking urgent solutions to pollution in a local lake, which sees around 14,500 pounds of bird poop fall into it per year.
Lake Augusta, located in the city of Mendota Heights, becomes a haven for migrating cormorants each fall due to the dead trees that line the shore.
Though the birds are a native species, protected by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a recent report from the Lower Mississippi River Watershed Management Organization found them to be “the estimated largest contributor of phosphorus to the lake.”
Seabird droppings, often referred to as guano, are a well-known source of phosphorus.
“Fourteen thousand five hundred pounds of bird poop is a lot of bird poop," Joe Nunez, a resident right on the water, told KARE 11.
The report from LMRWMO outlines possible ways to address this specific issue with pollution.
Suggested solutions include “hazing” or “harassing” with the use of loud noise, strobe lights, fireworks, or other methods. It has also been suggested that portions of the cormorant population be culled.
However, experts told the Star Tribune the birds would adapt quickly to such deterrents and that interfering with them could prove problematic should the colony migrate towards a nearby airport and collide with planes.
LMRWMO’s report also notes that “management of bird populations by a watershed management organization is uncommon, if not unprecedented, to improve water quality of a lake.”
Ryan Ruzek with the Mendota Heights Public Works Department told KARE 11, the city was not looking to use such methods.
Another suggestion is the removal of trees surrounding Lake Augusta to deter the cormorants, though again, the impact “is unknown, may be ineffective, and/or may have unintended consequences,” per the report, and funding for such removal may be difficult to obtain.
The city is also considering other solutions that would have little impact on the cormorants, including the building of a separate outlet to help clean the water and remove the phosphorus caused by the droppings.
A Mendota Heights city hall meeting is scheduled for Tuesday to discuss possible solutions.
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