Project Description:
The District is conducting a lake study on Bush Lake in Bloomington. This study aims to learn more about the habitat and ecosystem of Bush Lake as Bush Lake’s water quality data has always been at healthy levels. A project that could result from this study will aim to preserve and protect the overall health of Bush Lake.
Project Updates:
Community input in combination with monitoring prompted two additional scopes of work for this project. These scopes will help us better understand the function on Bush Lake:
- Groundwater and Surface water modeling to better understand how groundwater interacts with lake level in Bush Lake (scheduled for completion April 2026)
- Historical and technical review of aquatic plant data to better understand impacts of different aquatic invasive species management strategies (scheduled for completion February 2026)
Past Studies:
There were three initial components to the study which are now complete:
- Lake vegetation survey (completed August 2025)
- Fisheries survey (completed June 2025)
- A targeted shoreline electrofishing survey was completed in the summer of 2025 primarily to assess the abundance of invasive Common Carp in the lake. No carp were sampled in the survey: Bush Lake Fisheries Survey Summary
- Gathering community input
- Lakeshore community meetings (completed March 2025)
- Lake user survey (Summer 2025): Bush Lake Boat Launch and Beach User Survey Results
Outreach:
Past Community Meetings
The district held community meetings on March 18th and March 25th, 2025 to hear concerns about lake health from lakeshore residents and Bush Lake Izaak Walton League members. During the meeting watershed district staff shared lake data and discussed past district projects on the lake. City of Bloomington staff shared about the recent cattail removal around Bush Lake. Following the presentation, attendees had the opportunity to bring up their concerns about the lake’s current condition and help brainstorm actions that the district could take to improve and protect lake health.
View the presentation: Bush Lake Community Meetings
Resources:
Questions?
Contact Lizzy Boor, Watershed Specialist, at 952-395-8207 or eboor@ninemilecreek.org