Treatments Helping To Improve New Hope’s Meadow Lake

People living near Meadow Lake in New Hope have battled invasive species impacting the lake’s water quality for decades. Now, city staff say they are seeing results.

Nick Macklem, stormwater specialist with the city of New Hope, said that 20 years ago a thick layer of algae covered Meadow Lake.

Invasive fathead minnows also overran the lake for years.

“They tend to feed by roughing up the bottom of the lake,” Macklem said. “That just causes the phosphorous from the lake bottom sediments to get stirred up and brought into the water.”

Curly-leaf pondweed, an invasive aquatic plant, also made the shallow lake undesirable for neighbors.

“When there’s been algae blooms in the past, you won’t find the residents out on the lake,” Macklem said. “It can be quite smelly, and just is not very pleasing for anybody.”

Macklem said for years, the neighbors tried to fight the issues.

“The residents really got motivated here,” Macklem said.

The residents formed their own organization: The Meadow Lake Watershed Association. They raised awareness of the lake concerns.

Cleaning the lake

The efforts started locally. Now, scientists are working to get the lake out of the weeds, literally.

“We partnered with the Shingle Creek Watershed to address some of those issues in the Meadow Creek Management Plan,” Macklem said.

The plan, with help from scientists, started in 2021 to eliminate invasive species.

“It began with a winter drawdown of Meadow Lake,” Macklem said. “The depth was minimal, and it would freeze through so it would kill any invasive species.”

The lake refilled naturally that spring. Today, Macklem said the results look clear.

“Fathead minnows, it appears, are no longer in the lake,” Macklem said.

Recent efforts show something is sticking.

“It is definitely an improvement from years’ past, at least from a visual determination,” Macklem said.

The small, shallow lake in New Hope is the clearest its been in years after restoration efforts. For years, thick algae covered Meadow Lake.

The city put a chemical treatment on the curly-leaf pondweed in May.

The commission is monitoring the lake now to see how it works before any further action.

New Hope