LAKE MANAGEMENT PLAN

“The mission of the Lake Miltona Association is to preserve and protect Lake Miltona and its surroundings through public awareness and to enhance the water quality, fishery, and aesthetic values of Lake Miltona, as a public recreational facility for today and for the future generations.”

To be proactive in our lake preservation and protection, the Board decided in 2006 to hire a Lake Management Planning consultant to develop a Lake Miltona lake management plan. The committees formed to detail and implement the plan are listed here. Each committee has an individual web page, selectable at the left. The history section below relates the chronology of the plan development. At the bottom of the page is a condensed description of Lake Miltona, the lake which we are preserving.

Committees:

Water Quality – the highest priority of the visioning session
Land Use Management / Zoning – the second highest priority
Fisheries – This includes LMA cooperation with the DNR in fish management.
Aquatic Vegetation – No one wants Northern Milfoil or nuisance growths.

Select a topic page at the left for committee goals, objectives, actions and contacts – additional committee members are welcome!

Lake Management History – reverse chronological order

June 2009 – The LMA Board and four committee chairpersons presented final version of a Lake Management Plan to attendees at the annual meeting. These presentations included activities and status of the four committees.

May 15, 2009 – the four committees met with Emily Siira, Douglas County Water Planner, to kick off future activities toward achieving the Plan’s goals and objectives.

Spring, 2009 – The consultant presented the draft Lake Management Plan to the Board for feedback and approval. "

July 26, 2008 – A Visioning Session was held in Miltona, attended by concerned citizens and local government. A consensus of priority concerns was reached at this meeting, the top four concern/issues were identified for future committee forming and actions.

Fall, 2007 – An LMA Property Owners survey was mailed with the fall newsletter to approximately 700 part or full time residents within close proximity of the lake. About 160 responses (23%) identified various issues.

August 2007 – Survey forms were handed out to ticket holders (one per family) at the annual fundraiser, 46 were returned with a variety of concerns identified.

June 9, 2007 – At the annual meeting, the Board present the LMA membership with the plan to conduct a survey and visioning session.

Lake Information

The Lake Miltona Dam was built in 1937 by the Works Progress. It is located on the south side of the lake, as shown on the this figure - GPS location is N 46^o 0.149’ / W 095^o 23.250’.

The DNR re-set the Run out level (ROL) to 1,365.00 ft above sea level in 1988 with the installation of a 6” angle iron across the dam spillway. Lake data is available on-line at Lake Find, type in ‘Miltona’ and ‘Douglas’ in the selection boxes. Copied here is their graph showing the last decade of water levels. Above the ‘Ordinary High Water’ red line is a lot of rain!