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Lino Lakes Local Water Management Plan 15 November 2018 – WSB Project No. 02988-500 2.4 Surface Water Resources Lakes, wetlands, and judicial and county ditches dominate the landscape of the City of Lino Lakes. Open water makes up 14% of the City’s land, prominently represented by the Chain of Lakes. The surface water resources are shown in Figure 2-5. These natural features play an extensive role in the way the community has developed and will develop in the future. Two watershed districts cover the City of Lino Lakes: Rice Creek Watershed District, which covers most of Lino Lakes, and Vadnais Lake Area Watershed Management Organization in the southeast corner. Public Waters The City contains all or part of fifteen lakes. Of the City’s lakes, nine of them (Baldwin, Centerville, George Watch, Marshan, Peltier, Reshanau, Rice, Sherman, and Ward) are located within or abutting the Chain of Lakes Regional Park. The City’s lakes generally fall into three shoreland management categories: Natural Environment, Recreational, and General Development. The Natural Environment lakes are primarily located in the Chain of Lakes area and include Peltier, George Watch, Marshan, Rice, Ward, Sherman, Cedar, Amelia, Rondeau, and Wilkinson. Most of the lakes in the Chain of Lakes are shallow lakes with maximum depths of 20 feet or less. Recreational lakes include Otter, Centerville, Reshanau, and Baldwin. Bald Eagle Lake is a General Development Lake. They are used for a variety of aquatic recreational uses such as swimming, boating, fishing, and water skiing. Centerville, Bald Eagle, Peltier, and Reshanau Lakes are considered game fishing lakes. The details of each lake are presented in Section 2.4 and Appendix B. Creeks The City’s river and stream resources are characterized by three major stream systems: Rice Creek and two of its tributaries, Hardwood Creek and Clearwater Creek. A network of ditches and storm sewer drain to these streams; the ditch and storm sewer system is discussed in Section 2.6. Rice Creek, Hardwood Creek, and Clearwater Creek join at Peltier Lake with a combined drainage area of 70 square miles (44,800 acres). Hardwood Creek, with a total drainage area of 28 square miles, originates in Washington County’s Rice Lake at a normal lake elevation of 920 feet and flows to Peltier Lake at an approximate elevation of 884 feet. Clearwater Creek originates in Bald Eagle Lake, which has a normal elevation of about 911 feet. From there, it proceeds to Centerville Lake and then to Peltier Lake. Two creek reaches are listed in the 2014 Minnesota Pollution Control Agency 303(d) list of impaired waters. The reach of Clearwater Creek between Bald Eagle Lake and Peltier Lake was listed in 2002 for fish bioassessments, and in 2006 for aquatic macroinvertebrate assessments. The reach of Hardwood Creek between Highway 61 and Peltier Lake was listed in 2002 for fish bioassessments. Based on a TMDL started in 2003, this listing was updated as a dissolved oxygen stressor on aquatic life in 2004. Wetlands Wetland inventories have been completed by the USFWS as published on the National Wetland Inventory Maps and by the MnDNR, as published in their Protected Waters Inventory. These wetland inventories will be utilized to assist in determining if a wetland is present on a given parcel of property within Lino Lakes. A number of comprehensive wetland studies have been conducted to guide the management of wetlands and their benefits within Lino Lakes. The three key studies are the Lino Lakes Resource Management Plan (RMP 2008), the draft Lino Lakes SAMP (SAMP 2010), and the Anoka/Washington Judicial Ditch 4 Resource Management Plan. These three studies provide the foundation for the management of wetlands, surface water, floodplains, and greenway resources within the City of Lino Lakes and establish RMUs and standards to support the wetland resources of the City under future development in a manner that integrates with floodplain management, stormwater management, and greenway management.
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