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Hawkins watched this scenario play out again in 2001 and 2002. For three consecutive years, the herons prematurely abandoned their nests in June. "Only something unusually drastic could account for the abandonment of a colony of birds sitting on eggs or young," Hawkins wrote in his notes after the 2000 failure. In his mind, that most likely meant human disturbance. Vagabond Birds It was, in large part, human disturbance that pushed the herons to this island in the first place, according to DNR nongame wildlife specialist Joan Galli. "These herons are victims of urban sprawl and our love of living on lakeshores," says Galli. "The only place these herons could get away from people was on this island." Around the Twin Cities, it appears heron rookeries are facing similar pressure on their habitat. Of the 11 known active heronries in the seven - county metro area, nine are on islands. "We don't have the resources to properly analyze great blue heron populations," says Galli, "but the Minnesota heron population isn't growing by leaps and bounds, that's for sure. There are certainly fewer colonies." In 2002 herons abandoned another island rookery north of the Twin Cities, along the Mississippi River. Unlike the Peltier Lake herons, these did not return the following year. The DNR determined teenagers holding island beer parties and shooting off fireworks caused the abandonment. In other words, human disturbance. Citizens Meet On Peltier Lake the suspected source of human disturbance was a slalom water -ski course, set up in 1998 in the shallow and quiet northern end of the lake. Even though the course had a permit from Anoka County, the DNR and some lakeshore homeowners were concerned that high -speed boating would disrupt sensitive herons on their nests. After receiving phone calls from residents who said they were seeing fewer herons around the lake, Peltier Lake Association president Wayne LeBlanc called a meeting in April 1999 to discuss the rookery issue with officials from Anoka County, as well as Lino Lakes and Centerville -the two towns that straddle Peltier Lake. Also present was one of the ski - course permit holders, Jerry Lindner. According to Anoka County park operations manager Jon Oyanagi, the consensus was to "voluntarily keep any water - skiing to the main body of the lake south of the island. There was agreement to avoid skiing in the area north of the island." Yet, according to some people who live on the lake, water - skiing continued.