January ice doesn’t protect Minneapolis lakes from invasive species, which occupy planning of environmental officials all winter long.

“These populations survive under the ice,” said Luke Skinner, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Invasive Species Program Supervisor. “That’s the problem—once they’re there, the population is here to stay.”

Even in these long winter months, state DNR staff and the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board spend a majority of their time figuring out ways to control and prevent future spread of invasive species, Skinner said.

“They’re difficult to eradicate,” said Skinner.

Who are the culprits?

The three most common aquatic invasive plant species in the Chain of the Lakes, said Deb Pilger, Director of Environment of Equipment and Volunteer Services at the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board, are curly-leaf pondweed, purple loosestrife and the worst offender, eurasian watermilfoil.

A new threat may be on the rise. Last summer, invasive zebra mussels, commonly found in the Mississippi River and bigger, more popular lakes, were spotted throughout Lake Minnetonka.

Pilger said the Park and Recreation Board has not found any evidence of the small, fingernail-sized animal in any other bodies of water in the metro. But they’re still taking precautions against a potential outbreak.

“They have not been found at Lake Hiawatha or Lake Nokomis, but with the connection of Lake Minnetonka via Minnehaha Creek, they are already declared as infested,” Pilger said. “They really disrupt the aquatic life in a body of water.”

That’s why officials have spent this “off-season” coming up with an action plan to prevent the spread to other waters, said Chip Welling, DNR Aquatic and Invasive Species Management Coordinator.

“Unlike ways to manage aquatic plants, there are no control methods for the zebra mussel,” he said.

To help prevent the spread, the Park and Recreation Board has purchased an additional boat for $20,000 to use specifically at the Chain of the Lakes, so as not to potentially contaminate the waters.

“We are using the old water quality sampling boat and canoe to do sampling in Hiawatha and Nokomis,” Pilger said. “We can’t use the same boat because that’s a contamination.”

 Pilger said more than $100,000 is spent every June through September to harvest the Chain of the Lakes by literally mowing the invasive plant species underneath the water.

“It’s in excess of $100,000 for the equipment, people that operate it and the time to haul the stuff away from the lake compost pile outside Ft. Snelling,” she said.

Still, Welling said our already snowy winter may actually help dwindle that figure this year.

“[Invasive species] can grow underneath the ice, but we’ve got so much snow cover this winter that I doubt they’re growing much because there’s not enough light penetrating the surface,” she said.

That means officials can spend more time worrying about the other hazards of what lies beneath, Welling said.

 “There’s always a threat that a new invasive plant could come here,” she said. “There are invasive plants in other parts of North America that have not yet reached Minnesota.”

Eric Evenson, administrator for the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, said he’s pushing for state legislation to strengthen fines for spreading invasive species and for revenues of those fines to go to city instead of state coffers. He’s also hoping for legislation that would giving the DNR research money for controlling aquatic invasive species.

 Meanwhile, Evenson is looking into programs MCWD could undertake for inspection or certification and public awareness of invasive species in lakes.

 “People are getting nervous about this,” he said. “There is some stuff coming up here much worse than zebra mussel.”

One of the invasive species he’s concerned about is the quagga mussel. A relative to the zebra mussel, the quagga is estimated to have cost the state of Idaho $100 million per year in damages, Evenson said.

For more information on invasive species, check out the Minnesota DNR website.

For more information on lake and water quality conditions, check out the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board’s website.