Bringing Big Carnelian Lake back from the brink
Declining health highlights need for lakeshore habitat.
Big Carnelian Lake (photo by Greg Seitz, St. Croix 360)
A storm was coming one evening in July when a half dozen people boarded a pontoon boat at the public boat landing on Big Carnelian Lake, north of Stillwater. They were welcomed by Mike Isensee, administrator of the Carnelian-Marine-St. Croix Watershed District, who was hosting a tour of the troubled lake.
Dark clouds formed a sharp straight line stretching across the sky directly overhead. To the south, it was blue skies and white clouds. To the north, ominous gray thunderheads were collecting themselves into a maelstrom.
Even when not on a storm line, Big Carnelian is a lake on the edge, with its health showing an alarming decline over the past two decades. State officials consider Big Carnelian a lake almost impaired, meaning one more bad survey and it could be listed as degraded. Simply put, the number of fish is shrinking as the overall aquatic ecosystem has been hit by habitat loss.