A letter between MOHA and the DNR- your lake

This letter was recently sent to lake residents.

Christmas Lake resident:

Below is an update about the Christmas Lake efforts to prevent Zebra mussels.

The attached email was sent to Governor Dayton and Commissioner Landwehr today (July 14, 2011). It was also copied to most major media outlets in the Twin Cities, as well as to our local papers. Thanks to Tom Kelly and Judy Budreau (a neighbor who writes for a living) for their editing prowess. I’m sure we will get some press inquiries; I am just not sure how many to expect.

Last night, Steve Gunther of Lake Minnewashta and I spoke to the Carver County Park Commission to ask for them to recommend FOR our request to expand the inspection station at the Lake Minnewashta Regional Park to include up to 2 nearby lakes (Christmas and Lotus) for a 6 week period yet this summer… our pilot project period. They were upset with the DNR and were passionate in the need. Hopefully they will support our request as it goes to the Carver County Board on the 16th of July. You should know that the Carver County Manager who oversees the parks expressed his opinion in a letter saying he is not supportive of our request. This will come up in front of the Carver County Board in any event. The Board will see the staff and Park Board recommendations, but they are free to make their own decision. In the meantime we need to be lobbying the Carver County Board members.

We continue to get stonewalled in Chanhassen in our request to have them take a leadership action for Lotus Lake like Shorewood has taken for Christmas Lake. We were pushing to get the topic on their next City Council meeting agenda in 2 weeks, but that meeting has been cancelled due to a lack of topics.

On Monday, the City of Shorewood approved a motion to provide some interim protection for our lake until such time as they can get the DNR to modify our 1986 agreement. That was on the advice of the City’s legal counsel. These interim steps authorizes the City to put up a gate to lock out access to the public access during non-operational hours, to allow our inspectors (we don’t have them yet) to inspect boats, and to use all reasonable means, up to turning away boats, to protect the lake from AIS. They invoked some sort of emergency powers language to take these actions as the DNR is shut down and is not protecting our natural resources. This is a huge step.

Rather than have the City put up a separate gate, I am working with them to let us install the gate from our desired solution. That looks like it may be possible. They are checking with the City Attorney. We would not be locking the gate during the day, only during the non-operating hours. But this positions us very well for the time when we can use the “car wash” technology to enter an access code after boats have been inspected… our pilot project.

Late update:

Our pilot project request to the Carver County Board has been formally put on the agenda for the July 26 meeting. We will need some visible support at that meeting! See if it can work in your calendars. More details to follow.

Our request to them is simple… allow the DNR inspection process at the Lake Minnewashta Regional Park to be expanded for up to 2 nearby lakes (Christmas and potentially Lotus).

Finally, there was a good article published by the Chanhassen Villager today about the efforts of the Lake Action Alliance pursuing the prevention of Zebra mussels in Christmas and Lotus Lakes and Lake Minnewashta. You can read the article here, The-muscle-behind-zebra-mussel-prevention.

Joe Shneider, President

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From: Pat and Don McMillan [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2011 3:43 PM

To: Landwehr, Tom (DNR)

Subject: Christmas Lake

Hi Tom:

Can you give me some insight on this situation on Christmas Lake? It looks like the Lake Association and local authorities are taking matters into their own hands. I don’t have a copy of their e-mail to you dated July 14th.

Many thanks,

Don

Don McMillan, President

Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance

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From: Landwehr, Tom (DNR) [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2011 4:49 PM

To: Pat and Don McMillan

Subject: RE: Christmas Lake

On this letter, a little background first. There has been a lot of anxiety by many lakeshore owners about the possibility of getting zebra mussels into “their” lakes. At several locations across the state (Detroit Lakes, Minnetonka area and others, especially), very active groups have popped up that want a very active and aggressive program implemented right now in their area. We have worked with many of these groups in my time here to let them know we are attempting to implement a statewide program that can meet all the needs of keeping public waters open to the public while slowing the spread of zebra mussels. As I’ve always advised them, we are limited in dollars and authority to do all the things they’d like, but we will do everything within our power and the resources provided to stem the spread.

This has not been enough for some folks, and the group on this letter is one of them that wants more done. Of course, the shutdown – which occurred in the prime of boat use – created more anxiety for many of these folks and they started to get even more aggressive. We have told the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (another involved entity in the area) that we would be very willing to work with them and the Christmas Lake folks to look at some options for control, but it would have to be satisfactory to our constituents. They have initiated some of these ideas without our involvement and clearly without our blessings.

The access at Christmas Lake is apparently owned by the City of Shorewood, so we are limited in our authority over it. Similarly, the Minnewashta access is owned by the Park District. Hence, the lake group may have some ability to influence use of the accesses that they wouldn’t have if it was strictly a state-owned access. We have never endorsed the idea of a gate and/or permit process, and are attempting to work with them to revisit this idea.

We are very serious about ramping up our work on slowing spread of AIS, but I also know that even with the new resources we have, that we won’t please everyone. I expect we will see more of these local efforts, and we will attempt to work with them as much as possible. I know how important access to public waters is to anglers, and we often need to remind the lake associations of that, and we can use your help in highlighting that expectation. We fully intend to keep anglers involved in our planning and acceleration of AIS control efforts in the next few months and for the long term.

I hope that helps, Don. Let me know if you need any more info, and I’ll get you what I can. Thanks for the note!

Tom Landwehr

Commissioner

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Take a Child Outdoors Today!

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Dear Tom:

Thanks for the quick reply to our concerns. I did not know that this was an access point owned and controlled by the local municipality. We appreciate the fact that the DNR is working with these local associations to keep access open for lakes like Christmas Lake. Having lived on a lake (Lake Minnetonka) for many years as a youngster, I remember the “attitude” that we had toward those who launched their boats into “our” lake. I guess that the possessive attitude that we all had, at the time, has not changed. This will always be an issue that can only be resolved with all parties being engaged in dialog to come to an understanding. If there is anything that MOHA or our constituent groups can do to help resolve this issue, please let me know. Now that Minnesota is back to work again, we should see people relax a bit, I hope.

Again, thanks for your help and that of the DNR in attempting to resolve these problems.

Best regards,

Don

Don McMillan, President

Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance

Office: 763-559-5435

Email: [email protected]

My opinion of this is simple. The city or municipality may own the access. The STATE owns the water. If any access is restricted in any way to disallow any and all of Minnesota’s licensed anglers FREE UNENCUMBERED access at ANY time, the state should close the water to any and all persons, includeing the use of the water for swimming and resident use, until such time those parties wishing to mess with the anglers get their heads out of their . The DNR should NOT do any thing to support stocking nor do anything to control invasives as long as the public at large is being controlled in how and when the water gets used by them….if the lakeshore owners want to control the lake, let them control [and pay for out of their own pockets] the problems that come with it. Then the dnr should go in and take inventory of all those who are using the lake’s water for more personal use like watering lawns….maybe make them pull docks until so accord has been reached.

Me thinks this has less to do with invasive species and more to do with “you people” using MY lake.

I have property on Lake Pepin. I will ask nicely once, but after that, I want all you clowns to stay off my lake.

To stop the invasive species, yeah, that’s it, invasives

I took my valuable personal time Tuesday morning and attended the Carver County Board Meeting, where the Groups proposing this were on the Agenda for a Work Session following the regular Board meeting. Yes, they presented this at a “Work Session” where no immediate action is taken.

I introduced myself to ALL of the people with the groups proposing this and had a long discussion with them about the concerns I have seen in this forum & others.

Every one of these guys assured me that they are not trying to limit access for Fishing to these Lakes.

What they are proposing is that any boat entering any of these lakes be inspected prior to launching. To control costs, the “Inspection Station” is proposed to be located at Lake Minnewashta Regional Park, a mere 5-minutes of less from any of these lake access ramps. You would get your boat & trailer inspected and then receive a code good for one-day to enter the proposed lake access gates.

Personally I have no problem with this as the Inspection station would be open 5am to 10pm every day. Once on the Water at Christmas Lake, you leave stay late into the night. Lotus is un in the air until the City Council makes a decision. Lake Minnewashta however, closes the gates at 10pm, however, if the caretaker observes a vehicle and trailer at the ramp, they will leave the Exit gate along Hwy 41 open for them to leave the park when they come in, although the Signs state the Park Close at Dusk or 10pm.

I brought up my concerns about people leaving vehicles there and he dislikes that as it makes the Lakeshore Owner out to be the bad guys. The Christmas Lake Association President told me this would help that in that there would be 2-gates, an Entry & an Exit which would prevent people from leaving cars there, thus providing better/more spaces for fishermen & other boaters to use the lake.

They understand our (Sportsman’s) concerns as to limiting/privatizing the Lake and said No, their only concern is STOPPING the SPREAD of INVAISIVES.

The idea of locating the Inspection site at Minnewashta Regional Park is to save dollars for everyone. There is not space at Christmas Lake to have an Inspection Site and there are only 7-Parking Spaces, one being a Handicapped stall. These spaces are ALL designated for “One Vehicle Per Stall” per the City of Shorewood Ordinance. Lake Minnewashta Regional Park is 5-minutes away from Christmas Lake where there is a Part-time DNR Inspector. The other Inspectors are either Volunteers (mostly Lake Residents) or Paid Inspectors filling time slots from 5am to 10pm, 7-days a week. Yes, the Access is intended & proposed to be open 5am to 10pm, 7-days a week. These are the Park Hours at Lake Minnewashta Regional Park.

The Lake Minnewashta, Lotus and Christmas Lake Associations contributed the Funds to pay for covering all of the Inspection time not covered by the DNR Inspector. That says something about their concern as to just keeping Invasive Species out vs. Privatizing the Lakes. Minnewashta residents through their Lake Association paid $10,000 to this pilot program at a cost of over $100 per resident. They are not required to do this, but are doing it just to keep their Lakes free of Zebra Mussel’s.

They have proposed a Pilot Program of Gates which would you to go to Minnewashta and get your boat Inspected and a Code to open the gate. Yes, it is a minor inconvenience but something to try and achieve 100% Inspection and clean boats. Yes, this means Every Boat (all the Wake and Ski Boats too), not just fishing boats. The Minnehaha Creek Watershed would like to see some others also help with Cleaning & Inspections, possibly at service stations, car washes, etc.

Following their (Park Board) August 10th meeting, the County Board asked the Parks Manager and County Attorney to report back with a proposal and information regarding the Legal & Logistic Issues on if & how this will work, including information from the DNR, Met Council & City Councils. The County Board could then take up a Proposal at their Tuesday, August 16th meeting scheduled for 4:00pm. I will try to update everyone when I see it come up on their agenda.

If we eliminate the name calling and having a we against them attitude, we can make this work with the least amount of inconvenience to all along with slowing or stopping the spread of the Invasive Species with is better for everyone. We need to work together & make some compromises unlike what our State Legislature and Governor did this past Spring/Summer.

We will likely see more of these proposals throughout the State & Country unless we do work together with the Watershed Board, Lake Associations, etc. If we as Sportsmen do not get involved and/or fight these proposals, we will likely lose.

I intend to work with these groups and will bring the issues from this forum to them for discussion. If you have a personal idea or issue you want brought to these group, email me at [email protected] and I will forward them to these groups. Alternatively, you may look up and contact them yourselves, get involved. I plan on taking the Inspection Training the next time it is offered and volunteering some of my valuable time to help them out.

Incidentally they have found 25% of the Boats coming to Minnewashta & Lotus Lake did not know current laws and/or had their Plug in the boat, water in the Livewell, weeds hanging on the trailer, etc. This is from their informal polling during their Inspections this Spring/Summer.

Carroll

PS: Yes, this is long, but we all need to get serious about “Drain, Clean, Dry” and remind ALL other Boaters about the law when we observe violations.

Thanks for taking the time to type out the “other side” Carroll!

As I stated in my previous post:

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If we eliminate the name calling and having a we against them attitude, we can make this work with the least amount of inconvenience to all along with slowing or stopping the spread of the Invasive Species with is better for everyone. We need to work together & make some compromises unlike what our State Legislature and Governor did this past Spring/Summer.

We will likely see more of these proposals throughout the State & Country unless we do work together with the Watershed Board, Lake Associations, etc. If we as Sportsmen do not get involved and/or fight these proposals, we will likely lose.

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Do we want to Win or Lose?

The way I see this is we have a choice, work with the Lakeshore Owners and Local Governments or be ready to see many accesses controlled by Cities or Local Governments possibly close and Invasives spread to many more lakes and be ready to pay to costs of damaged equipment and more accesses close or stricter rules.

I doubt anyone here wants more restricttions and I doubt anyone here wants to be the one responsible for transporting invasives into another lake. I am sure we all clean and drain our boats properly, but there are many others outside of this forum whom are ignorant of the Law and do care. I.E. the BAD APPLES.

Let’s all do our part to help stop or at least slow the spread.

Carroll
[email protected]

PS: If you have something to say to me, please email me. I will pass your thoughts and comments along to these group if you ask me to do so.

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Thanks for taking the time to type out the “other side” Carroll!

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Brian, you are very welcome.
Just wanting eveyone to be informed so we make informed decisions and statements.

PS: I am NOT a Lakeshore Owner. I am a Sportsman, been fishing since I was 3 or 4yo; Shooting since I was 7 or 8 and Hunting since I was 12yo.

’tis my experience that
the image/talking-points sanitized for presentment to the masses
and
the actual intentions/motivations (were the real truth and whole truth to be known)
are not always (or even usually) one in the same

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’tis my experience that
the image/talking-points sanitized for presentment to the masses
and
the actual intentions/motivations (were the real truth and whole truth to be known)
are not always (or even usually) one in the same

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Bingo.

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Personally I have no problem with this as the Inspection station

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Won’t be long and this thread should be locked I’m guessing, but for now it’s not.

So what you are saying is you all for growing government and bowing to special interest groups for the benefit of a small group. Next we’ll need to build a dome over the lake also to make sure geese and ducks are landing in the lake and spreading disease or other invasive species that we have yet to discover. We’ll surely need a truck and an ATV for the people to drive at some point also in order to do their job. If the fishing is great at any point we’ll need to have increased staff in order to handle the demand that these state workers can’t keep up with.

I think you get my point – I quit typing and listen.

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The way I see this is we have a choice, work with the Lakeshore Owners and Local Governments or be ready to see many accesses controlled by Cities or Local Governments possibly close and Invasives spread to many more lakes and be ready to pay to costs of damaged equipment and more accesses close or stricter rules.

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Are you saying you are willing to bow to the people who can afford lake shore property and whatever they want you are willing to give it to them? I say no, they own the land, that’s it, not the water. The next thing we’ll need is a stamp to fish every body of water stating that we understand the rules and regulations, fee’s will accompany, etc, etc.

Mike,

This forum is not for politics..however when politics concern the fisherman, it’s best not be ignored.

To keep this thread and others going, we just need to refrain from name calling and personal attacks.

End of Webstaff message
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It’s not helping the lake shore owners that when this ramp was opened up to the public the owners made headlines because they were very unhappy that their lake was not “private” any longer.

I’m not a supporter of the MN Boat Plug law, but since it is law, I’ll abide by it.

I would argue logistically having anyone who wants to boat/fish on Christmas run out to Minnewashta, get in the lines there, get inspected and then drive back to the access is FAR from 5 minutes. Unless they have added a light at that intersection 41(which they could have since I was last there), it will be 5 minutes just getting back on to 41 at times.

While I support the stopping of invasive species, my gut says this isn’t the case here.

Man….there are some serious holes in this idea. and what I feel is a seriously wrong precident to set.

Even out on little old Lake Zumbro we have people living that have boat landings on their own property….driveways right to the water’s edge. Nobody can tell me that the same doesn’t exist on Minnetonka and other lakes all throughout the state. Persons strappng up the jet ski or fishing boat to make a run to the cabin or another lake for a weekend can circumvent the entire jist of this whole idea and will probably be as big of a contributor to future problems dealing with invasives as the casual boater or angler….who, according to a special interest’s plan has to be at the beck and call of some yokel from a homeowner association operating a check station that is located in such a fashion as to be a total inconvenience.

people can be stewards of the environment without being dinks. Can be. This whole group of landowners come across as not intending to treat people with any fairness. I don’t have time for special interest groups attempting to influence any portion of our state government but I am death on any working at the dnr. I think its time for the dnr to take some testosterone pills and stand up to the plate on the team that supports them.

Agree!

This is just a ploy by the rich greedy pricks of the world to get their lake back to a private haven. Nothing bothers me more than people catering to rich snobby dinks.

I am glad I don’t live in the cities. This kind of thing would never go over down here where I live, up north it wouldn’t either as people just wouldn’t stand for the richy riches taking something from them they have no right to.

I would be curious to know how this will affect ice fishing access as well. If there is a gate will it be left open in the winter time since there won’t be anybody around to do inspections and give permission to access the lake? The gate could have far reaching effects other than just the open water issues.

While I’m all for doing what I can, not so sure it’s the invasive species they’re worried about, seems to me there was quite the battle to get Xmas lake open to the public many years ago, I’m sure they’d like the lake back..after all it is theirs..just ask..could be wrong though.

Al

There are options being considered.

Today I sat down for an hour meeting with the Watershed Board Exec. Director to listen and ask questions about some of the proposals.

The most promising may be RFID Tags mounted on every licensed boat in the state. This will include gates placed at every lake access in the state and any boat entering the state being inspected at the borders. Now where this gets going is that it would allow 24/7 access to any lake in the state.

With this option, the only time you would need to get your boat inspected would be if you entered infested waters and then wanted to go to uninfested waters. Prior to the Inspection you would likely have to clean your livewells, boat and trailer. Once inspected and certified clean, the Inspector would signal your TAG as clean, or BLUE, thus Blue Tagging your boat again. Other than that, you could go from uninfested to uninfested or infested to infested with no inspection.

The Key to this would be the acesses of Infested Waters would signal the RFID tag on your boat as having been in Infested waters or RED TAGGING your boat, thus trying to jump right to a uninfested lake the gate would read your tag and would not open.

Does this make more sense and show more freedom?
Managing Lake access will provide freedom of movement. The biggest catch is how will we pay for managing access, placing gates, etc.

If you want an idea of what a great plan that is . . . try getting from the front door of the airport to a boarding gate in the concourse every time you want to go fishing

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There are options being considered.

Today I sat down for an hour meeting with the Watershed Board Exec. Director to listen and ask questions about some of the proposals.

The most promising may be RFID Tags mounted on every licensed boat in the state. This will include gates placed at every lake access in the state and any boat entering the state being inspected at the borders. Now where this gets going is that it would allow 24/7 access to any lake in the state.

With this option, the only time you would need to get your boat inspected would be if you entered infested waters and then wanted to go to uninfested waters. Prior to the Inspection you would likely have to clean your livewells, boat and trailer. Once inspected and certified clean, the Inspector would signal your TAG as clean, or BLUE, thus Blue Tagging your boat again. Other than that, you could go from uninfested to uninfested or infested to infested with no inspection.

The Key to this would be the acesses of Infested Waters would signal the RFID tag on your boat as having been in Infested waters or RED TAGGING your boat, thus trying to jump right to a uninfested lake the gate would read your tag and would not open.

Does this make more sense and show more freedom?
Managing Lake access will provide freedom of movement. The biggest catch is how will we pay for managing access, placing gates, etc.

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Now if this isn’t a prediction earlier in the day! Didn’t mean to sound personal earlier today, but it sure sounds like this is more growth for the DNR that they can’t afford. They can barely afford to do what the do now. I’d like to think common sense would come into play, but I think I better just have another beer instead.

Carroll, I was trying to find the email, but can’t right now.

I thought the DNR was against the whole tagging proposal?

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Does this make more sense and show more freedom?
Managing Lake access will provide freedom of movement. The biggest catch is how will we pay for managing access, placing gates, etc.

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It sounds like a solution looking for a problem.

The cost/benefit of this is simply not there. Take emotion out of the equation. Look at it as a business decision, it is not cost effective, it takes away freedoms, and I would bet it would eliminate 90% of the traffic on these lakes (I still believe this is the underlying reason for this)

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Carroll, I was trying to find the email, but can’t right now.

I thought the DNR was against the whole tagging proposal?

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Brian, They, the DNR may be against tagging, but these groups are looking for ways to keep Zebra’s out of the uninfested waters. There are Millions of our TAX Dollars in the Legacy Funds which (IMO) could & probably should be tapped for this if this proposal gets pushed through. (They are looking for the lowest overall manpower/long term cost of operating a successsful program allowing the most unattended access with the least disruption to all lake users.

My thought and reasoning & those of some others (A small group of sportsmen and Lakeshore Owners) as they brought this issue up. We came to the conclusion that most of the blame for the very rapid spread of Zebra’s on Minnetonka on Wake Boats, NOT Fishing Boats. Point made to me was, How do you move masses of Zebra ‘Villagers’ (babies) floating through the waters (Generally drifting West to East) from the East end of Tonka (where they were first discovered) to the West end (Best Ski, Wake Boating area’s)?

Scenario #1, Launch a Wake Boat at Grays Bay, fill the Water Ballast Tanks on your way west. Have your Fun out on the West end and then Empty the Water Ballast out West so you can fly back to load up and go home. Just a Scenario brought up when I met a few people for coffee to talk about this issue.

They see/assume fishing boats fill their livewells when they start catching fish and drain at the launch when they put their catch in a cooler.

My main point and the desire of the majority of Lake Shore Owners and Sportsmen I have spoke with favor a 100% cooperation and compliance with the Law and the best management practices to prevent the spread of A.I.S.!

Since we have a fair sized group (20%-25%) of uninformed and ignorant boat owners that fail to comply with current law and good clean boat practices and many others that just want NO Intrusion by the Government or anyone else along with arguing against any inspections or disruption of their schedule, then the Lake Shore Owners and Water Protection Agencies will fight harder to protect the clean uninfested lakes and place more restrictions to gain compliance.

I will offer now, that anyone that has a little time to sit down for coffee or make a couple hour fishing trip out someplace and discuss these issues, I have a pretty open schedule for the next week. I will drive over to meet you or you can come over this way (Southwest Metro) and meet.

Send me/Carroll an email to [email protected] to connect with me, place AIS in the subject and I’ll call and we can setup something up.

How did villagers get from one end of Lake Minnetonka to the other?

Welllll . . . they probably paddled birch-bark canoes.

after all … “Villagers” are people who live in thatch huts

“Veligers” on the other hand are the larval form of molluscs

I will be very disappointed if our tax dollars are wasted in such a ludicrous idea. However, given the goverment’s track record, this more then likely will take place.

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There are Millions of our TAX Dollars in the Legacy Funds which (IMO) could & probably should be tapped for this if this proposal gets pushed through.

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I can assure you that the MN Outdoor Heritage Alliance (MOHA) will not support any attempts to use legacy funds to limit access! We did not work hard for over 10 years to see those funds hijacked for such purposes.

You cannot stop the spread 100% but through education and workable laws (and not every law is a good one) we can greatly reduce the spread of AIS. Yes we must take this issue very seriously but at what expense? I too am a lake shore property owner (Otter Tail Co.) and will never support limiting access in the name of AIS.

MN has a history of access and this in no way should change! Adding gates will reduce access and could tarnish what we all believe is our fundamental right to hunt and fish.

If this is allowed to happen I can assure you’ll also see attempts to do the same on public lands. Perhaps someone hunts in an area with buckthorn and could possibly pick up some seeds which could in be transported to another tract of public land. Now property owners connected to that public land run the risk of it approaching their property.

OOOPPPS now there will be a need to gate all public lands too.

Public lands and waters are just that….PUBLIC! We all have an obligation to protect those waters by ensuring we are not spreading them, but not at the cost of taking away access for those who are not fortunate enough to own property next to public waters or lands.

The MNDNR is just getting their feet wet with the new laws and we need to let them get to work and help greatly reduce the spread before associations and property owners start attempts to take away rights.

Sincerely,

Brian Petschl

Director of Operations for MOHA

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then the Lake Shore Owners and Water Protection Agencies will fight harder to protect the clean uninfested lakes and place more restrictions to gain compliance.

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and exactly how do they do this on waters of the STATE OF MINNESOTA?

This is why I have no good feelings about Lakeshore associations. They think they own the lake. In my opinion you should have no more rights than the average joe. Just because you live on the lake makes you think you know whats best. It is STATE waters and they are charged with managing it how they see fit.

They want their lake back, proposing gates is a fools venture propagated by fools who thing they are worth spending other peoples money to make their life better…

State is already broke and they want to spend more…OR..are they proposing that they will pay for all this???

Not even mentioning the cost to maintain this foolishness and what happens when you drive 4 hours to go fishing and the gate say “closed, out of order”???

Are these people even from the same planet as the rest of us?….I doubt it.

Al

I am going to solve this problem. Under the cover of the dark I am going to dump a pail full of Zebra Mussels into the lake. Problem solved.

Did you guys miss me?

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You cannot stop the spread 100% but through education and workable laws (and not every law is a good one) we can greatly reduce the spread of AIS. Yes we must take this issue very seriously but at what expense? I too am a lake shore property owner (Otter Tail Co.) and will never support limiting access in the name of AIS.

MN has a history of access and this in no way should change! Adding gates will reduce access and could tarnish what we all believe is our fundamental right to hunt and fish.

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I nor any of the Lake Assoc. or Watershed people I have spoke with are advocating Limiting Access, we are talking about Managing Access.

If you go to Infested Waters, Clean & Decontaminate your boat/Trailer and have it inspected before going to uninfested waters.

No, this may not be the perfect plan, but at least it is doing something to slow down until some method of control or eradication can be found.