Update on Silver Creek Reservoir

I attended the Joint Powers Board meeting held Thursday. The board toured the Silver Creek Reservior prior to the meeting. They came up with a recommendation to build a public access road and parking area off County Road 11. This access would keep people away from private land. The money to be used for the road and parking area would come from the existing 1/2% Rochester sales tax.

I believe it was a good initial plan that could be expanded after a 2 year trial period. You can also read about this in Friday’s Post Bulletin newspaper.

The bad news is that one of the Havorhill Township board members was at the meeting. He said that the board has no intention of changing the current situation. The reason he gave was that there is no advantage for Havorhill Township in making the change. I asked him if he ever heard of “good will?” The DNR is in favor of opening it to the public as well.

The 3 Havorhill County board members refuse to make a common sense decision which would provide access to the reservior, even with a good plan which provides protection for existing property owners. It was an interesting meeting. I believe the Joint Powers Board is fully behind opening this reservior to the public, but has it’s hands tied by Havorhill Township who controls the zoning.

This is probably just another step in what will likely be an ongoing struggle to get the reservior open to the public, but a very good step.

Good Fishing,

Mike

Thanks for the update mike. It sounds like it was an interesting meeting. Troy Pike

Thanks for the update Mike. It is a good step forward.
Thanks, Bill

Mike, thanks for attending the meeting, speaking up, and for providing the information to us.

Do the people of Haverhill township who live around the reservoir fish it? Were they instrumental in the stocking, or was it stocked already? If the answer to either one of the questions is “yes”, then I would presume that the residents are trying to keep everyone off their own Private Idaho. That’s entirely too bad.

Aren’t there also a couple other reservoirs in the city limits of Rochester that the residents are very protective of? It seems to violate everything that Minnesota open water regulations have been about for years and years.

It doesn’t seem like it’s about littering, it seems like it’s about greed. Of course I could be way off here…if so then I feel a lot better about the situation.

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Mike, thanks for attending the meeting, speaking up, and for providing the information to us.

Do the people of Haverhill township who live around the reservoir fish it? Were they instrumental in the stocking, or was it stocked already? If the answer to either one of the questions is “yes”, then I would presume that the residents are trying to keep everyone off their own Private Idaho. That’s entirely too bad.

Aren’t there also a couple other reservoirs in the city limits of Rochester that the residents are very protective of? It seems to violate everything that Minnesota open water regulations have been about for years and years.

It doesn’t seem like it’s about littering, it seems like it’s about greed. Of course I could be way off here…if so then I feel a lot better about the situation.

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I really don’t know where the fish came from. Since the other reservoirs do not have northern pike, I assume someone must have stocked them. As for the perch, bluegills, crappie, and bass – they could be have come from existing watershed. My gut feel is that many of the fish were stocked, but I can’t prove that one way or the other. Since Silver Creek Reservoir is posted with no tresspassing signs, no one including the residents who live there are legally able to fish in it.
The other reservoirs in Rochester that are off limits, are owned privately. Since they are private, that is the landowners right to make them off limits.
I am still hopeful that at some point the Haverhill Township board will come to realize that the current proposal is an excellent compromise solution.

Good Fishing,
Mike