Walt Kane reported to the Board on September 16 a Ten Mile water level reading of 1379.4 feet, which was about 2-5/8 inches lower than it was on August 19, and 1.8 inches lower than on May 1. Overall this summer, the water level has been about 5.6 inches lower than it was last summer.

Ten Mile Lake Water Level (May 1999 - October 2000)

Lower water is due largely to this year's dryer weather but also to a concerted and repeated effort to keep the Boy River clear of beaver dams. Keeping the river open is important to Ten Mile because an open river drains water more rapidly from the lake, and important to Birch because it helps replenish that lake and keep its level from dropping too low.

Beavers really are busy, especially where dam building is concerned. No sooner do the 'Dam Raiders' pull out a dam than the Beavers build it again. Early in the spring, and then again in July, August and September, crews from Ten Mile and Birch Lake descended on the river under the bridge on the Lower Ten Mile Lake Road. At least four times they dismantled the dam, and on their third and fourth visits also carted away some seven trailer loads of sticks, limbs and other debris to the county landfill.

The task is not difficult, but it does require waders and a couple of hours of intensive labor each time. Hats off to the 'Dam Raiders' who volunteered their time and energy this summer: Ten Milers John Alden, Don Brown, Bob Crom, Tom Cox, Dan Eikenberry, Jim Myers, Bob Nelson, Don Patterson, Ray Raetz and Otto Schneider; and from Birch Lake Gordon Friday and Terry Gardner. 

A contract now in place for Beaver trapping this fall may help reduce the dam-building activity under the bridge next summer.

At their meeting on September 6, the County Commissioners approved a recommendation from the County Engineer, David Enblom, to establish a citizen board to manage the Birch Lake Outlet Structure. As originally proposed by Gordon Friday, President of the Birch Lake Association, the Board will consist of a primary and a secondary representative from each of the lake communities most affected by the fluctuating water levels that are, in part, controlled by the outlet structure stop log. Board Members are:

Commissioners, Board Members and the Engineer all agreed that residents who call the Commissioners or the Engineer regarding operation of the outlet structure will be referred to their appropriate lake representative on the Outlet Structure Management Board (OSMB). OSMB will consider citizens' concerns in timely fashion in the light of the terms of the governing DNR permit and make recommendations to the Engineer for removal or insertion of the stop log.

The Board's responsibility has been made easier by the Engineer, who visited the dam in late August and used a laser transit to demonstrate the correct method of measuring the water level at the outlet structure. The level at which the stop log must be installed or removed is now permanently established at the top of a piece of rebar which has been driven vertically into the riverbed at the east edge of the entrance to the spillway. When water flows over the top of the rebar, the log must be removed; when water is beneath the top of the rebar, the log must be inserted. Both the Commissioners and the Engineer welcomed this development, saying that local citizen management of the dam under the terms of the DNR permit will result in a significant saving of time to County staff.

If you have questions or concerns regarding the operation of the Birch Lake outlet structure, please call your lake representative on the newly established OSMB.