03/26/2008 Env Bd Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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A Triumphant Return: BringMg The Great Blue Herons Home By Kristin Walters LINO LAKES - A few miles north of Main Street, where Cen- terville meets Lino Lakes, there was once a natural habitat the likes of which is found in few places on earth. Peltier Island used to be the home of thousands of herons — a place they returned to each spring, where year after year they built their nests and waited for their chicks to hatch and grow. These herons are a historic part of Lino Lakes, and Peltier Island's heron rookery was the reason why. Over the years, the birds have become the namesake of a local elementary school and neighborhood road. In addition, the blue heron serves as the focal point in the city's logo and for Blue Heron Days, its annual.com- munity festival. according to local residents) the rookery on Peltier Island has been nothing short of spectacular. In fact, it was once the second -larg- est waterbird colony in central Minnesota. Bird lovers found cause for alarm in the late 1990s, however, when the rookery expe- rienced a mass exodus. The num- ber of nests went from thousands to nearly none. A Rookery On The Verge of Dis- appearing A number of passionate peo- ple have spent the last eight years trying to figure out why so many of these birds left, and how to bring them back. The birds are expected to make their annual return this week, and many are- hoping this year's numbers of PHOTO COURTESY OF WAYNE LEBLANC Metal flashing was installed on heron nesting trees on Peltier Island in an attempt to reduce the incidence of chick mortality due to predators. Pictured are Tim Payne ion the ladder) and Lino Lakes Environmental Coordinator Marty Asleson. The herons chose Peltier Island because it provides a perfect bal- ance of everything a heron needs: enough tall trees for an entire colony to live together, easy ac- cess to food and nesting materi- als, and an isolated, quiet locale where they can raise their families in peace. Since it was officially "discov- ered" in 1989 (and much earlier, nests and hatchlings will be something to celebrate. Local resident Wayne LeBlanc is one of those interested parties. LeBlanc has lived on Peltier Lake since 1979, and recalls the her- ons' heyday. "There were thou- sands of nests before — think about that, thousands." LeBlanc said. "Now we're talking 30 or 40. It's been on the verge of ex- tinction, so this [expected come- back) is really encouraging." LeBlanc has been around long enough to recall other species that also nested on Pel- tier Island, like Great Egrets and Black- Crowned Night Her- ons. According to LeBlanc, the Night Herons are one species that never returned. "Every eve- ning they would fly by, and make this peculiar `quark' sound," he said "It's an ancient, prehistoric sound, and I miss it." The potential to lose the her- ons altogether is just one of the reasons he feels such an urgent need to protect the colony to- day. "I've made it my life's hobby to study the lake, the watershed, and what it all means;' he said. "We need to preserve it for fu- ture generations' enjoyment." LeBlanc was instrumental in creating the Peltier Lake Associa- tion, and worked with the cities of Lino Lakes and Centerville to establish a no -wake zone near the island, protecting both the her- ons and the water quality overall. He also volunteers on the Her- on Task Force and through the Stream Health Evaluation Pro- gram (SHEP) in the Rice Creek Watershed District. LeBlanc is a retired software en- gineer, and has never shied away from details and data. Recently, he overtook • responsibility for monitoring the Great Blue Her- ons on Peltier Island from Andy Von Duyke of the University of Minnesota's Department of Fish- eries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology. Von Duyke had been leading the observations of the heron population on the island since 2004. Von Duyke began studying the herons as a graduate student, in a funded study designed to find the cause of their sudden decline. After carefully installing sensitive time -lapse video cameras into the island's 80 -foot high trees, Von Duyke was able to gather video evidence that showed preda- tors like raccoons invading the herons' nests. His research also showed predators like crows and great - horned owls were to blame; however, Von Duyke and others believe that predators weren't the only factor. In the second year of the study, Von Duyke and a team of volun- teers plus people like City of Lino Lakes Environmental Specialist Marty Aselson (see photo), be- gan taking action. They attached metal flashing to the trunks of Mabel Hut& 1iirnc 1 nni The Great Blue Herons of Lake Peltier in Lino Lakes and Centerville tradi Day. They will be welcomed back this year by many who are anxious to see re establrsh their rookery on Peltier Island. trees in order to deter raccoons, and also trapped and removed some raccoons and opossums. The next year, they made some adjust- ments to the flashing to make it even more successful, and contin- ued to remove a small number of predators. These efforts continued through 2007, and the popula- tion has begun to bounce back: the number of nestlings increased from 4 chicks hatched in 2005 to 43 chicks in 2007. Another person who was re- cruited by the DNR to help track heron activity on the island until he passed away in 2006 was Lino Lakes resident Art Hawkins. I-Iis t s' daughter, Amy Donlin, accompa nied him on a few occasions, as did her daughter and mother, Betty. Hawkins was a waterfowl biologist by training, and during his career was a pioneer of waterfowl surveys in the United States and Canada. "The herons kept hirn very active and involved up to his 92nd year," Donlin said. "It was a wonderful connection for him." "Dad would go four or five times per week, quietly park in [Peltier Lake resident Ron Mari - er's] bean field, arid make obser- vations on his clipboard," Don- s lin said. "He'd watch every bird that left and where they were