Pelican Lake Enhancement

Pelican Lake, located in eastern Wright County within ½ hour of the Twin Cities metro area is a shallow lake known statewide for its waterfowl production, migration, habitat, and hunting opportunities and is a state-designated wildlife lakes in Minnesota. This shallow lake basin has no natural watercourse inlets or outlets. Since the late 1950s and particularly, since the late 1970s, Pelican Lake has experienced a decline in water quality and a loss of the extent and quality of aquatic plant communities that once supported wetland wildlife habitat. This decline in water quality and loss of plant communities is associated with high lake levels and watershed land uses that increase water runoff. Agricultural land uses such as tiling and ditching within the Pelican Lake watershed have altered the natural hydrology and contributed to the decline in water quality. High water levels in Pelican Lake have contributed to persistent and increased rough and game fish populations, as well as a shift from rooted aquatic plants (macrophytes) to algae-dominated (plankton) communities. Increased turbidity due to re-suspension of bottom sediments and algae has resulted in the absence of rooted macrophytes from large areas of the lake.  These macrophytes, when present, moderate wave action, stabilize bottom sediments, uptake nutrients, and provide habitat for invertebrates. These factors have resulted in Pelican Lake changing over time from a “clear water state” to a “turbid state" and caused negative effects on lake productivity for waterfowl and shorebirds that historically used Pelican Lake as a migration stopover destination. The loss of important food sources associated with diverse macrophyte and invertebrate communities was the primary factor associated with declining use of the lake by waterfowl and shorebirds.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) cooperated with Ducks Unlimited to install the significant infrastructure needed to enhance Pelican Lake through managed drawdowns. In 2012, Ducks Unlimited completed bioengineering designs and preliminary construction plans for the Pelican Lake project and oversaw all subsequent construction.  The project focused on the construction of a variable crest outlet weir and pump lift station which would allow for the gradual dewatering of the basin through an outlet (also developed as part of this project). The outlet was completed in 2014 and was followed by construction of a stoplog weir structure.  A pump station was constructed at the existing edge of the eastern-most bay of Pelican Lake. A 24-inch intake pipe was installed from this point for 900 feet into the lake The intake pipe involved placement of a structure within the lakebed to support the intake pipe at the proper elevation. The pump allows lower drawdowns than are possible with the weir structure alone.  

The water level management that this project makes possible is guided by the Pelican Lake Management Plan (2012), which details habitat objectives for the lake and defines triggers that determine what and when management actions are taken.  Pelican Lake is currently in the middle of a multi-year drawdown.

The DNR plans to develop a parking lot and lake access point in 2019 to give hunters and visitors better access to Pelican Lake.