The Meadow Lake Management Plan (MLMP) is a long term water quality improvement project coordinated by the Shingle Creek Watershed Management Commission in partnership with the City of New Hope. The project began with a winter drawdown of Meadow Lake, beginning in November 2021. Drawdowns allows for mucky lake bottom sediment to be exposed to winter weather, which helps compact the sediment. In addition, a full drawdown typically impacts invasive fish populations, and possibly invasive plants as well. Following the drawdown, the lake naturally filled with snowmelt and precipitation in the spring of 2022.  

Water quality monitoring occurred throughout 2022 and revealed the drawdown was effective in eliminating the invasive fathead minnow population, and in consolidating the lake bottom sediment. However, the invasive plant curly-leaf pondweed population still was present, and phosphorus levels remained high in the lake. Based on the 2022 monitoring data the next steps in the MLMP were determined to be an alum treatment in spring 2023 to limit the release of phosphorus from the lake bottom sediments. Additionally an invasive curly-leaf pondweed herbicide treatment was applied in late spring 2023.

Management actions since the alum treatment in 2023 have been as follows:

• 2024: Routine water quality monitoring
• 2025: Routine water quality monitoring and whole lake curly leaf pondweed herbicide treatment
• 2026: Routine water quality monitoring and whole lake curly leaf pondweed herbicide treatment  

Project Contact

If you have any questions about this project, please contact Shingle Creek Watershed Management Commission at 763.553.1144 or New Hope's Project Coordinator, Nick Macklem at [email protected] or 763.592.6765.