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Deputy Tom Zagger to retire; Big Mosquo Lake board introduced replacement and heard lake-condition update
Summary
At its March 24 meeting the Big Mosquo Lake District board heard a report from outgoing deputy Tom Zagger on lake levels, shore ice heaving and a winter brush-removal project funded by the Holtz Foundation, and was introduced to incoming deputy Matt Smith, who described two decades of regional restoration work.
Tom Zagger, the lake district deputy who has overseen lake stewardship, told the Big Mosquo Lake District Board of Commissioners on March 24 that this is his last week in the role and introduced his replacement, Matt Smith.
Zagger reported that brush removal at Marshlin Camps Preserve—also transcribed as Marshand Camps—was completed over the winter as a city project funded by a Holtz Foundation grant. "This was funded by the Holtz Foundation grant," Zagger said, noting the preserve borders Big Mosquo Lake. He described the lake as having opened in early March, briefly refroze during a cold snap and then reopened; he added that ice heaving lifted shoreline material in places and that the lake level is about 6 inches higher than normal.
The report called out wildlife observations as the lake thawed: a wide variety of ducks, American pelicans, ospreys returning to the area and eagles that remain year-round. Zagger said the ice heaving produced "some areas of heaved up ground that are two, three, four feet high along the shoreline," a condition the district will monitor for erosion and shoreline impacts.
Zagger introduced Matt Smith as his replacement. Smith described his background in forestry and ecological restoration: "I've been doing ecological restoration throughout the Great Lakes region for the last 24 years," he said, and noted experience managing roughly 500 acres of similar habitats and leading bird-banding and conservation work. Smith said he looks forward to public engagement and collaborating with the recreation department on restoration and educational programs.
A commissioner asked about the status of banded ospreys that had migrated to Central America. Zagger said subadult birds may return later in spring or early summer and that the adults that nested last year are already back. He said staff will update the city website with last 18 months of tracking data when it is available and identified GIS staff Nick Angelman and incoming deputy Matt Smith as points of contact for mapping those data.
The board did not take any formal action on the report; Zagger will retire and Smith is the named replacement as described on the record. The board thanked Zagger for his service.
