$216 Million of your tax dollars being spent

Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge Executive Summary.
here is the link:
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/planning/uppermiss/

Everyone who uses the river better read this, it is not just for fisherman and duck hunters. It has an impact on everyone boaters, jet skis, and turtles….
make this a must read and get to a meeting and start writing your congress people.. lets get those e-mails flying.

Or you can do a bunch of belly aching next Spring for about 15 years.

Thanks for checking this out.

Greg,

Could you summarize what impact you feel this will have on us as fisherman? Thanks!!

John

1.) It will limit overnight camping to main channel shorelines and islands only. Anyone with a B.A.C. of .08 or higher would be banned from camping and district managers will have the option of declaring beaches alcohol-free.
2.) Possible beach user fees.
3.) Set 16 areas, nearly 14,500 backwater areas where boaters can only use electric motors and must obey a 5 mph speed limit.
4.) Increase the # of no-hunting zones from 7 to 13, encompassing 5,322 acres. The number of zones where waterfowl hunting is banned would go from 15 to 21 in 2006. Hunters would be limited to 25 shells and no more on the water with them.

This are there talking about doing this to is from the Wabasha area south to nothern Ill. And its true, they 216 million dollars to take away OUR water and places we like to hunt, fish and camp, etc. We MUST all go to one of the local meetings and voice our opinions. What I listed above is some of whats proposed and WILL take place unless we get out and have our say. It said they will tweak this plan based on public opinion, so we can make a difference.

Yep, YOUR tax dollars being used AGAINST YOU.

First the big river then watch PETA try to take your rights away on lakes after the steam/power/voice has been taken out of the fishermen by their own elected officials/tax dollars at work. We ALL have something very big to lose here.

Greg, do you or anyone know of an e-mail address or a sign up sheet of names etc on line where people can e-mail or protest this by signing their name?

Thanks, Bill

I have been studing this for the last 4 evenings and have not been to a meeting yet.
From what I gather there is four Propsals on the order.
They have them listed A,B,C,D. on the web page.
They all have different alternatives.

ERonningen is correct with his post, but there is more much more.
I plan on attending the two meetings in Wabasha June 1st and June 14th.
Once I get all my info in a row then I will be sending e-mails to my congress people and the web page has a contact address in Winona.
I just want to have my say on this issue before it becomes Law. At least that way no matter how it turns out I can say I gave it my vote.

Hey Kooty,
If you like to use your trolling motor it will not effect you much. How ever the writing is on the wall and refrences are made about Guiding and tournaments in the Refuge..So I am just guessing here but I think it will be banned from this area in the future.

Well I have to get back to reading more governmental jargon..we spend our money so wisel y

I’ll bet you a dollar they won’t stop the barges, but our little motors will be banned. Now that’s sounds like government at it’s finest!!!

This is just what I need. More rules to keep in mind while trying to enjoy a day on the water. Thanks for posting on this.

I just found out about these proposals yesterday when I was handed a flyer for the the meeting that will be in town. The local paper has a article which is titled {Call to Arms} for Mississippi river refuge usage. From what I read It very important that people who love and enjoy this river attend meetings in their areas.
This is a list of meetings in this area.

May 23rd Lansing, Iowa Kerndt Brothers Community Center
May 24th Stoddard,Wis. American Legion
May 25th LaCrescent,MN American Legion
June 16th Prairie du Chien,Wis. High School
June 22nd Stoddard,Wis. American Legion

Hope everyone can attend meetings in their areas.

I plan on attending the one in Stoddard in June. Gonna bring my Dad and as many others as I can also. This proposal also talks about limiting the number of shells you can possess while duck hunting. They think it will stop skybusters. I do however like the idea of limiting jet ski’s to main channel. A few rules might make things a little better. This proposal is a disaster as its unenforcable without a couple hundered CO’s on the river daily.

I will be at both meetings in Wabasha. Hey ReefRunner, you making heads or tails out of the plans???? I am having a tough time, sooooo much information that I forget what goes with what by the time I get a quarter way through it. Doesn’t look good for duck hunting from what I am reading. Why do they spend so much time making things so complicated, then have meetings to explain it to the kids (us!)
Brings up a lot of questions while reading. If you close the area during the duck season, why not close it during nesting season? Lots of boats now running the backwaters/swamps at these times too. If your gonna do it, then do it right in my mind. I guess I could go on and on with questions, in fact I am thinking while I type, but I know this wasn’t the intention of the post, so I will stop.

Not sure how I feel about an increase in no hunting zones. Seems to me there are enough refuges, as is.

Holy crap guys read all the plans! There is one very restrictive proposal but there is also one that opens up the river for darn near everything. Go to the meetings but don’t have a coronary just yet, there are 4 proposals for pete’s sake!

I hear you ripper. But, if we don’t show up in force and act now we may lose the river as we know it now. Depends on which of the 4 plans is put in place. If we don’t voice our opinion then we have no one to blame but ourselves. I know the bottoms need help, I grew up in Wabasha, and have seen a noticable decline since the flood of 93. That flood brought sediment into the swamps/backwaters like you wouldn’t believe, and nothing has been done about it. From 93 on the duck hunting has steadily gone downhill, and the bottoms are so full of sand that you have to put your motor up on tilt, have a telescoping extension handle and move to the front of your boat just to get to hunting spots that you can’t even pull your boat into because they are now dry ground. Before 93 you could run the swamp wide open, drive right into the grass and drive right out. Heck, when I was young my dad had a really good dog and we didn’t even wear waders. We would bring a pair along just in case. It was nice hunting in your “snow gear” in the cold of Nov./Dec. I would be willing to sacrafice to bring the very important backwater areas back to a thriving environment, but I also want to be able to enjoy what it has to offer. It’s a big stick in my side to know that from one side of this country to the other hunters/fishers pay for a large % of the programs that protect and provide habitat for all species, but they countinually have priveledges taken away from them.

Hey Guys I know the Report online is very long but you can also go to your public Library and get a shortend version that covers pretty much everything you need to know we had a buddy go down to the PDC Meeting last night haven’t heard how it went he just basically wanted to see how the meetings were going to be held and if they are open or how you have to go about voicing your opinion.
but for one thing anyone who uses the river should read this. and take part in the meetings.

I’m still reading….
Hey Nate I don’t want to rain on your parade, But our government does not do anything in a short version.
They never pass just one bill at a time, there are always hundreds of riders attached. Always
Plan A states to do nothing no changes… Yet they can still spend $126 million doing nothing???

Man a guy should be fishing not reading…

However I did get out on lower pool 4 today for a few hours. In the wind and rain… Caught 15 eyes 19 inches was the biggest. Really had to work for them.
I took some dragging jigs, trolling number 7’s, bait rigged a couple and pitched some bucktails for the bigger fish…
Man what a day the wind really howled..

When I was out there today I was doing alot of thinking about the Refuge and some of the proposals.
The devil in me says yea lets ban jet skis..
However today in the crappy conditions and a water temp of 56 degrees here come two jet skis like a bat out of hell and driving like idots. So then I think heck they must love this river as much as I do. They are out here enjoying it in these lousy conditions.

Another thing I was thinking we have so many laws in place already that are not being enforced.
One of which is my biggest pet peev:
TO OPERATE A WATERCRAFT SO THAT ITS WASH OR WAKE ENDANGERS,HARASSES,OR INTERFERES WITH ANY PERSON OR PROPERTY.

Now here is a safety tip from the Minnesota boating guide.
What accident causes the most deaths among boaters??????

Do you give up??

Well do you??

Falls overboard and capsizing.
The book suggests,In a small boat,resist the urge to stand up. If you must move around, keep your weight low and close to the center of the craft.
Now I hope I didn’t loose any body here…
But don’t you think we should just enforce the LAW already in place.

I had this happen twice today. But in reverse I was the bigger craft. I had two smaller 16 foot boats speed by me less than 10 feet away and I took the wake. I really don’t understand this mentality.
Now don’t think I’m perfect and have never waked another boat. However I think I am more aware and courteous on the water than anyone I know. I fished the sand at the bottom of the lake all day and never put my boat on plane. At one time there were over thirty boats in there.

Well the only reason I am venting is because there was a bass boat floating down the river later without a driver. That’s all I’m going to say on this whom ever it was can tell the story if they want to.
So lets all try and watch out for each other.
You are responsible for your wake. It does not matter that you are not in a no-wake zone. That is the law.

Another thing, this is not law..but at full throttle you really should have your kill switch clipped on.

Thanks for listening to me vent now I can go back to reading more Governmental jargon.

Hope to see some of you at the meetings..
until Happy Hookin

oh come on…Lets hear the story on the bass boat floating by. What did you see happen?

Hey Vandy
all I was getting at was I know alot of people will look at the site listed and will say heck I am not going to read all that and I didn’t want that to happend. so yes the librarys around do carry a 30 page booklet on all the issues coverd just a cliff notes version of whats going on so people can get an IDEA of whats going to be done and then if interested further they can read the longer report.

Nate you are right on that one.I was just giving you crap…which I should not do in writing it doesn’t come off real well. Sorry
Also if you don’t have DSL that sight just does not load for crap. I’m lucky enough to have access to DSL.

Man I tell you from alot of the stuff I have read it seems to me like alot of power struggle between departments.
The states all four MN,WI,IL,IA DNR’s, The Army Corp of Engineers, Coast Guard and the US Fish and Wildlife Services. I’m sure I left some out also.

I am a small buisness owner here in Wabasha. My buisness depends on the boaters and campers down here on the beaches.
The last couple of years that has slowed for what ever reason. I think it is a generation thing and people are finding other things to do. So when they come up with a plan to restrict camping on the river I AM NOT FOR IT.
And all the other trival rules with dogs, alcohol levels,and what ever. This is ridiculous they can not even enforce drinking and driving..
Now if they want to come up with a plan for enforcement on some of the laws that are already on the books I might be alot more willing to listen.
But so far everything I have been reading is just adding more piles of pages into our system for the lawyers to have a hay day with. Making it an enforcement nightmare.

A friend of mine told me that unless your a lawyer,Politician,or have mega wealth..you can’t effect anything in this country…
Well I hope he is wrong.
But the more I read the more I wonder.

The proposal of banning jet skis and the noise from boats was introduce by one peeved land owner with property adjacent to the Refuge.
Well if this is a problem. I propose that Highway 35 from Nelson South through the Refuge past Winona. Have Harley Davison Motor cycles be banned from the roadway. This noise is alot louder than most jet ski’s…….

I have been taking notes and reading not making alot of sense from it but bringing up lots of questions. They have been working on this since I believe 1997. Last fall was the first I heard of it.

I will hit the two meetings in Wabasha high school and send my e-mails to my congress people.

Good comments from all. I agree that this thing gets pretty confusing when you try to sort out all of the plans. I spent a fair amount of time trying to crawl through the summary and maps last week as our entire bass club will be heading to the meeting in Wabasha tomorrow…I wanted to be able to arm the guys with as much info as possible…

A few things struck me as I sorted through the summary:

1. None of the plans say too much about water quality / sedimentation that a few posters above commented on. It seems at least this issue that is important to many users of the refuge is not a high priority for them. They do mention it, but there is no significant change in approach in any of the plans.
2. They categorized the plans as A.”Do Nothing”, B. “Wildlife Focus”, C.”Public Use Focus”, and D. “Integrated Wildlife and Public Use Focus” They recommend plan D as the compromise, however, every element of the plan adds more restrictions to public use so I wonder how that is a compromise??? A compromise to “No use” maybe??? Where are they heading?
3. They are recommending adding a tournament permit requirement from the Feds.. Now we will have to deal with the local govt, and the state like we do today as well as get a permit from the Feds. I can almost guarantee that they wont back off the State or local permit, so now we will have tax dollars paying for three govt agencies to issue a permit for the same water. Doesn’t seem very efficient to me.
4. Like any good gov’t beauracracy, each of plans other than “Do Nothing” includes significant dollars for increased facilities and staffing for themselves. They are proposing new offices and maintenance shops in every region and hiring an additional 19.5 HC to administer this plan. No wonder they want to charge a fee to pull up on a sand bar and throw a stick in the water for your dog to fetch.

There are many other concerns, but these are just a few that stood out. Please encourage all users of the refuge to attend a meeting and voice their opinion!!

I second all that. Good summary.

Don’t forget, tommorow is the Wabasha meeting.

Where are the illinois meetings or information on the meetings? Why does the gov need more buildings when their work is out on the water? I’d like to see them with there trolling motors down in the backwaters yeah right. It will be ok for them to run gas even when not in pursuit. Most of their boats are to big for foot controll. And if they can’t manage the river and the money they have now then why give them more work to do. Looks like I need to attend the Illinois meetings.

jasonsfishing,
there was one there on May 17th. There will be another workshop there June 21. Savanna, Illinois….House of Events. 5:30pm-9:00pm

Just wanted to get this post back on top, because of the importance of it to get involved. Please attend your area workshops and voice your opinion and support your trappes and fisherman!!!! Fishnut

Plan A seems to be the best way to vote for now. Oh wait we don’t get to vote on how our money is spent rats. The rest of the plans involve too much fuzzy educated guesses at our expense. I believe a petition is in order. What do you think?