Lake Timeline and Milestones

2022
  • Ice off April 7, 2022


2021


  • May 1 64 degrees temp. Up two degrees+.  No wonder the lake looks awful!
  • April 5 -  Bubbler 1 reactivated
  • March 29th - Ice is off!!!
  • March 15 - Bubbler2 Started

2020
  • Lake Restoration visited 3 times this year. Dates to be listed here.  Still not early enough.
  • Most recent dissolved oxygen levels are: 
  • November 30,  turned off the aspirator for the west basin.
  • May 22, 2020 Lake Restoration conducts its first treatment.  This is the earliest we have been able to accomplish this.
  • AH Reports dissolved oxygen level is up to 6.7 ppm which is most encouraging. DO at 4.9 is not great and larger fish (bass, sunnies) may die. 6.7 is sufficient to sustain larger fish. Dying algae consumes DO. Higher DO makes the lake less phosphorus rich for the living algae. So DO is our friend.There are other factors at play, And it may be too soon to say, but the aspirators May be making a difference. This is particularly the case given that, all else equal, warmer water holds less DO than colder water and the lake was much colder back on 4/19 than it is now. I will keep testing periodically this summer to see whether the levels change.
  • Aspirator with 2 diffuser panel turned on in West Basin on May 2,2020
  • Water Levels remain high.  Water temp is already 60 degrees F on May 2, 2020 
  • Dissolved Oxygen Reading of 4.9 in West Basin April 26, 2020 (see Alex for Details) 
  • Ice Out 3/31

 2019
  • First Treatment. Lake  Restoration came on Monday June 3 and did the first treatment.  We have an outbreak of curly leaf pondweed which Lake Restoration could not treat during this visit. 
  • Ice Out April 8, 2019
  • Lake Gauge is 230.0
  • DNR Permits Approved
2018
  • August Second Treatment
  • July 3 Lake Restoration Treatment - weeds already established
  • Water Levels - above normal
  • April ice out

2017

  • April 27 MCWD Gauge is 1.75 
  • April 19  MCWD Resets Gauge new level is 1.60.  
  • April 18.  Minnetonka lake level increases .48 from April 14th to April 17th per MCWD.  Shavers with the new guage goes up 1.5"  New guage is 201.5 from 200 when installed on the 14th
  • Ice Out versus Free Navigation.  March 6.  Ice Off but not Navigable

2016
  • High water levels throughout the summer.
  • Lake restoration continues open water treatments for Charra, etc. 

2015
  • July 20 Lake Restoration here for the first lake open water treatment

2014
  • July 31 Lake Restoration Treatment
  • All Hands Meeting at MCWD with officials from Minnetonka, Deephaven, Woodland, Corp of Engineers, DNR Dept. of Fisheries, DNR Area Hydrology,  DNR Conservation Officer, Hennepin County identifies all the stumbling blocks to clean up the bottom of the lake

2014
  • Lobbying Effort to get the OHWL level set correctly is Successful Winter

2013 / 2014
  • Experimental lake wide Cattail control program initiated

2013
  • 5 year Lake Vegetation Management Plan (LVMP) Signed by SLPA and DNR

2012
  • Minnesota Governor enacts HF461 into state law giving Shaver's residents the ability to mechanically control cattails

2011
  • MCWD Innovation Grant Application Turned Down for Nutrient Negative Lake Program

2010
  • Dick Osgood Study cites increasingly impaired condition of the lake:  "the lake is at a tipping point"
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2008
  • DNR Tickets our Harvestor for Not putting the weeds above the OHWL.  

2007
  • Efforts to proactively manage the lake take turn for the worst with changes in DNR policy and practices

2005
  • ​Lake Aspirators Purchased an Installed to improve dissolved oxygen levels.
  • They only run in the summer when we have electricity for them. 
 
1990
  • Freshwater Institute Supports SLPA with helping to fund massive cattail removal program

1984
  • Shaver's Lake Preservation Association formed by Mancinos, Mosimans, Hazletts and Schwantes. 
  • Lake Restoration retained to do the first chemical treatments to slow down the advancing invasive species

1976
  • See "The Letter to The DNR" and Others about the lake - they were mobilizing neighbors to protect the lake
  • Insert's Charlie's history

1958
  • First Houses Start to be built around the lake
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1913
  • Narrow-leaved Cattail -​Typha angustifolia is not native to Minnesota or the United States but is a native of Canada. Eloise Butler introduced the plant to the Garden on April 26, 1913 and again on May 18, 1913 with plants sourced from Kelsey's Nursery in North Carolina. Having been introduced to Minnesota long ago, it is found in many counties in Minnesota all across the state, it predominates and is invasive