from WATERWORKS, an Outdoors Column by Gordon Prickett, for the April 4th Aitkin Independent Age
MAKING HISTORY THIS SPRING
Every lake around Aitkin County has experienced its earliest Ice-Out in decades. Minnesota’s many lakes were slow to freeze over last fall. Skaters loved the open ice when snow came even later than usual this winter. The season for ice fishing and snowmobiling was awfully short. The same can be said for snow plowing, usually an added source of winter income up here.
When the ice cover on our lake disappeared on the second day of spring it became hard to imagine that this wasn’t something more than "unusual weather." Watchers of Nord Lake have kept score for 36 years, and this is a record!
LICENSE DOLLARS AT WORK
At the Annual Commerce Show in Aitkin last month, Conservation Officer Bob Mlynar handed me a document from the DNR that tells what happens to the hunting and fishing license fees collected each year - how the DNR puts the money to work.
The dollars are deposited in the state’s Game and Fish Fund, which can only be used for fish and wildlife-related work. License revenue pays for fish stocking, population surveys, and habitat projects, as well as a network of conservation officers who protect wild species, snare poachers, and oversee firearms safety training.
This Game and Fish Fund currently receives $90 million annually, and 55% ($49.5 million) is license fees. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service returns proceeds of the excise tax collected on firearms, hunting and fishing equipment to the state under the Federal Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Programs. This puts $22.5 million into the fund (25%). The State Lottery Sales Tax accounts for another 14% ($12.6 million).
The document has a message from DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr, and he thanks us for buying our licenses. He also makes the case for a fee increase that is currently being requested. The last increase was in 2001, and the balance of the Game and Fish Fund has declined to a critical level. Besides tightening belts and increasing efficiencies, game and fish field effort has been reduced. Landwehr says that an adjustment now can assure the quality of modern fish and wildlife management.
You’re welcome, Tom! Thanks for the information.
To get a copy of this document with examples of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Enforcement activities putting these dollars to work, you can stop in at the Aitkin DNR Office in "Southgate," 1200 Minnesota Avenue South, phone 927-3751.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 1, 2012
FIRE INSURANCE AT THE LAKE
from Outdoors column WATERWORKS by Gordon Prickett, for
the 3/7/2012 Aitkin Independent Age
Cabin owners and guests last summer on both sides of our lake home enjoyed late night bonfires. They collect dead wood on their property in woodpiles and burn it in large bonfires over the weekend. In between gatherings their fire-ring ashes are smoldering until the next load of wood is piled on and ignited. At the end of the weekend the embers sometimes are still glowing. No one is around. They could be out on the lake for one last boat ride or headed back to the Cities.
In late July 2011 national news broadcasts carried a story from the Southern California hills above Los Angeles. High desert wildfires were raging out of control. When fire fighters would encircle an area to limit the spreading fires, they didn’t declare it was secure until they had collected the embers. Strong winds in the area have been known to fan embers into flames that reignited the countryside.
As I pictured the embers being collected above L A, I recalled the recent strong southerly winds in our township that gusted to velocities over 40 miles per hour.
Fire prevention is not very complex, but one does have to be conscious of danger when playing with fire. A watering can full of lake water next to the fire ring is the first step.
Water the ashes. Douse the glowing embers when the party is over. This is the last step. So simple and inexpensive to do. This practice provides the "Fire Insurance" that every lakeshore resident and every responsible visitor needs - to prevent catastrophic losses.
EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT IT
From drought to violent snowstorms in just a few days, the headline writers keep us posted on the changing weather. Some of the heaviest wet snow I can remember has just closed our local schools and finally brought out happy snowmobilers. Snow plows, snow blowers, shovels, and roof rakes are out in force, just a few weeks before the vernal equinox. A meltdown will come soon enough, and early lake levels are expected to be near normal in these parts. I’m ready for ice-out about a month from now.
the 3/7/2012 Aitkin Independent Age
Cabin owners and guests last summer on both sides of our lake home enjoyed late night bonfires. They collect dead wood on their property in woodpiles and burn it in large bonfires over the weekend. In between gatherings their fire-ring ashes are smoldering until the next load of wood is piled on and ignited. At the end of the weekend the embers sometimes are still glowing. No one is around. They could be out on the lake for one last boat ride or headed back to the Cities.
In late July 2011 national news broadcasts carried a story from the Southern California hills above Los Angeles. High desert wildfires were raging out of control. When fire fighters would encircle an area to limit the spreading fires, they didn’t declare it was secure until they had collected the embers. Strong winds in the area have been known to fan embers into flames that reignited the countryside.
As I pictured the embers being collected above L A, I recalled the recent strong southerly winds in our township that gusted to velocities over 40 miles per hour.
Fire prevention is not very complex, but one does have to be conscious of danger when playing with fire. A watering can full of lake water next to the fire ring is the first step.
Water the ashes. Douse the glowing embers when the party is over. This is the last step. So simple and inexpensive to do. This practice provides the "Fire Insurance" that every lakeshore resident and every responsible visitor needs - to prevent catastrophic losses.
EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT IT
From drought to violent snowstorms in just a few days, the headline writers keep us posted on the changing weather. Some of the heaviest wet snow I can remember has just closed our local schools and finally brought out happy snowmobilers. Snow plows, snow blowers, shovels, and roof rakes are out in force, just a few weeks before the vernal equinox. A meltdown will come soon enough, and early lake levels are expected to be near normal in these parts. I’m ready for ice-out about a month from now.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Peace Garden Writer: Writer Spotlight: Author Candace Simar
Peace Garden Writer: Writer Spotlight: Author Candace Simar MUST READ for Minnesotans to learn of the Dakota Uprising - what drove the Dakota to violent acts, and how settlers were driven back east. -Gord, a fellow Heartland Poet
WILD RICE LAKES
From WATERWORKS, an outdoors column by Gordon Prickett for the February 1st Aitkin Independent Age
News from the state’s Outdoor Heritage Fund, also referred to as "Lessard-Sams," has included a project for the protection of more than a hundred shallow wild rice lakes across eight north-central Minnesota counties, including Aitkin. We know that there is a lot of pretty good wild rice in the county, and that quite a few folks harvest and process it locally. But until this project got developed and approved in St. Paul, I wasn’t aware of which lakes were important to our rice gatherers.
Shoreline protection will be acquired by means of voluntary land preservation agreements. Ownership will be retained by private land owners, but the development rights will be restricted, in exchange for payments of 60 percent of the estimated market value of each parcel around the wild rice lakes.
We have 17 lakes eligible for this project, according to DNR-Wildlife. The list includes these lakes:
Flowage, Mallard, Moose, Moose River Pool, Mud (01-0194), Newstrom,
Rat House, Rice (01-0005), Rock, Sandy River, Section Ten, Shovel, Sjodin,
Spruce (01-0151), Twenty, Waukenabo, and White Elk.
Watch for a news release about how to participate in this 2012 conservation project.
MORE ABOUT INVASIVE SPECIES
If you traveled the lake country in Minnesota last year you were sure to see billboards and public messages about "Stopping Aquatic Hitchhikers!" with red octagons. A new law was passed and went into effect July 1st (just as the government was shutting down for three weeks). A vigorous lobbying campaign had helped to write the law, intended to prevent the transport of aquatic invasive species - by trailered boats, bait buckets, moving boat lifts and docks.
Now in 2012, all "lake service providers" who repair boats, install and move docks and boat lifts commercially, will need certification and training in identifying aquatic invasive species and in all the required actions for their prevention.
Plan now to attend the Aitkin Area Rivers and Lakes Fair at Rippleside School in Aitkin, on Saturday, June 16th, for an up-to-date briefing on the threats and new rules concerning Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) in all forms.
News from the state’s Outdoor Heritage Fund, also referred to as "Lessard-Sams," has included a project for the protection of more than a hundred shallow wild rice lakes across eight north-central Minnesota counties, including Aitkin. We know that there is a lot of pretty good wild rice in the county, and that quite a few folks harvest and process it locally. But until this project got developed and approved in St. Paul, I wasn’t aware of which lakes were important to our rice gatherers.
Shoreline protection will be acquired by means of voluntary land preservation agreements. Ownership will be retained by private land owners, but the development rights will be restricted, in exchange for payments of 60 percent of the estimated market value of each parcel around the wild rice lakes.
We have 17 lakes eligible for this project, according to DNR-Wildlife. The list includes these lakes:
Flowage, Mallard, Moose, Moose River Pool, Mud (01-0194), Newstrom,
Rat House, Rice (01-0005), Rock, Sandy River, Section Ten, Shovel, Sjodin,
Spruce (01-0151), Twenty, Waukenabo, and White Elk.
Watch for a news release about how to participate in this 2012 conservation project.
MORE ABOUT INVASIVE SPECIES
If you traveled the lake country in Minnesota last year you were sure to see billboards and public messages about "Stopping Aquatic Hitchhikers!" with red octagons. A new law was passed and went into effect July 1st (just as the government was shutting down for three weeks). A vigorous lobbying campaign had helped to write the law, intended to prevent the transport of aquatic invasive species - by trailered boats, bait buckets, moving boat lifts and docks.
Now in 2012, all "lake service providers" who repair boats, install and move docks and boat lifts commercially, will need certification and training in identifying aquatic invasive species and in all the required actions for their prevention.
Plan now to attend the Aitkin Area Rivers and Lakes Fair at Rippleside School in Aitkin, on Saturday, June 16th, for an up-to-date briefing on the threats and new rules concerning Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) in all forms.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
THICK ENOUGH FOR YOU?
For weeks there have been warnings and news accounts of lake accidents. ATVs and snowmobiles, fish houses and fishermen falling into freezing water through the ice. No doubt the gene pool will continue to be improved.
I will say no more in my Waterworks column on this subject. Just a final verse:
NEW HAIKU
thin ice on the lakes
but fishermen still go out
and make polar plunge
Gord January 2012
I will say no more in my Waterworks column on this subject. Just a final verse:
NEW HAIKU
thin ice on the lakes
but fishermen still go out
and make polar plunge
Gord January 2012
Thursday, December 29, 2011
FIRST ICE, THEN MAYBE SNOW
From WATERWORKS, an Outdoors Column by Gordon Prickett for 1/4/2012, Aitkin Independent Age
Who could have known that there would be five weeks of ice - so far - with hardly any snow covering our lakes? Or that the sub-zero temps would hold off so that the ice wouldn’t get thick? But this has given us a unique opportunity to watch ice ridges and cracks form, and to listen to the groaning and booming of the ice, circling the shore. In seventeen winters I’ve never heard such a percussion performance from our lake. But now let it snow! Let it snow!
LOOK FOR ZEBRA MUSSELS
One of the toughest of the aquatic invasive species (AIS) to detect or prevent in our lakes and rivers is Zebra Mussels. They look like small clams with a yellowish or brownish “D”-shaped shell, from 1/4 to 1 ½ inches long. They have dark- and light-colored stripes like a zebra. Zebra Mussels grow in clusters and firmly attach themselves to solid objects - docks, boat lifts, boat hulls, water intake pipes, and rocks. They grow in shallow algae-rich water, less than 30 feet in depth.
This is an excellent time to go down to the shoreline and crawl around and under your dock and boat lift, while they are pulled up on shore. Without having any snow to interfere with a careful examination, look over the surfaces that were underwater all summer. Young Zebra Mussels on a smooth surface feel like fine sandpaper. If you find something suspicious, call the DNR at 218-927-3751.
STOPPING INVASIVES IN 2012
With new state regulations against transporting lake water in bait buckets and live wells, there will be stepped-up enforcement when the ice goes out. The service providers who handle docks, boat lifts, and who store watercraft will be trained and certified in the future, in order to identify and prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species. The Aitkin County Lakes and Rivers Association (ACLARA) has arranged training sessions by the DNR for AIS awareness in 2011, and will continue to do this in the new year.
It is not only the points of public access that need to be checked, however. At every dock, and with every lake visitor who tows his boat from another lake, there is a potential for harmful invasives to enter our county lakes.
FORMING NEW LAKE ASSOCIATIONS
One of the roles of ACLARA is to assist folks around a lake who have an interest in organizing a lake association where one does not exist. It is not too early to start planning for the 2012 season. You can call me at 218-927-2267, and we will be happy to get together with you.
Who could have known that there would be five weeks of ice - so far - with hardly any snow covering our lakes? Or that the sub-zero temps would hold off so that the ice wouldn’t get thick? But this has given us a unique opportunity to watch ice ridges and cracks form, and to listen to the groaning and booming of the ice, circling the shore. In seventeen winters I’ve never heard such a percussion performance from our lake. But now let it snow! Let it snow!
LOOK FOR ZEBRA MUSSELS
One of the toughest of the aquatic invasive species (AIS) to detect or prevent in our lakes and rivers is Zebra Mussels. They look like small clams with a yellowish or brownish “D”-shaped shell, from 1/4 to 1 ½ inches long. They have dark- and light-colored stripes like a zebra. Zebra Mussels grow in clusters and firmly attach themselves to solid objects - docks, boat lifts, boat hulls, water intake pipes, and rocks. They grow in shallow algae-rich water, less than 30 feet in depth.
This is an excellent time to go down to the shoreline and crawl around and under your dock and boat lift, while they are pulled up on shore. Without having any snow to interfere with a careful examination, look over the surfaces that were underwater all summer. Young Zebra Mussels on a smooth surface feel like fine sandpaper. If you find something suspicious, call the DNR at 218-927-3751.
STOPPING INVASIVES IN 2012
With new state regulations against transporting lake water in bait buckets and live wells, there will be stepped-up enforcement when the ice goes out. The service providers who handle docks, boat lifts, and who store watercraft will be trained and certified in the future, in order to identify and prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species. The Aitkin County Lakes and Rivers Association (ACLARA) has arranged training sessions by the DNR for AIS awareness in 2011, and will continue to do this in the new year.
It is not only the points of public access that need to be checked, however. At every dock, and with every lake visitor who tows his boat from another lake, there is a potential for harmful invasives to enter our county lakes.
FORMING NEW LAKE ASSOCIATIONS
One of the roles of ACLARA is to assist folks around a lake who have an interest in organizing a lake association where one does not exist. It is not too early to start planning for the 2012 season. You can call me at 218-927-2267, and we will be happy to get together with you.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
MAKING ICE YET?
From my Outdoors Column WATERWORKS for December 7th, Aitkin Independent Age
All across the county we are watching and waiting. On Monday, November 21st, we looked out to see total lake coverage, as a thin sheet of ice had covered all 414 acres of Nord Lake. But for the next week and a half there was thawing, freezing, then blowing and drifting ice. Each day had a different view of a lake changing its mind.
No doubt about it, the cold is on its way. Snowmobiles are ready. Grooming machines have paraded downtown. Skates, skis, and augers are ready to go.
The DNR wants to tell us about “safe ice.” There isn’t any. But go out and chop a hole and measure it. If it’s more than four inches thick, you probably were safe getting out there. When there’s 15 inches or more, you probably can drive your pickup onto the lake without losing it. But be careful out there! Already little kids have made the Twin City news by running out on a shallow pond and falling in.
WHAT KIND OF A SUMMER WAS IT?
For the loons on many county lakes it was a pretty good summer. Our three nesting pairs on Nord Lake hatched at least three chicks that were observed. One of them survived early predation to become a juvenile. If the baby chicks can make it beyond two weeks, when they learn to dive, their chances of living greatly improve.
Lake representatives at the county lake association (ACLARA) have reported a good hatch of loon chicks on their lakes this summer. In 2010 there were 24 county lakes with loon watchers who counted 85 adults, 25 chicks, with 9 constructed nesting platforms in use. To learn about a particular loon count or how to become a loon watcher, ask the leaders of your lake association. Or you can find the information from me, in care of the water planning task force at 927-6565.
One of the measures of water quality in our lakes is the clarity or transparency. The readings this summer on Nord Lake were just a little below the long-term season average. With unusually heavy rainfall in the spring, lasting through July, there was extra shoreline runoff, and lake levels stayed up at snow-melt elevations. With the dry spell in August and September, the level receded to normal. At Nord Lake the Secchi Disk average reading is between eight and ten feet. The white disk disappears below that depth.
ONE MORE THING
How we manage our shoreland plays a large part in keeping a lake healthy - for fish and wildlife, and for future generations. One of the simplest and easiest measures to clean the water from the watershed, before it flows into the lake, is to leave a natural area unmowed at the water’s edge. This buffer, 10 to 20 feet wide, filters out what we should not put into the lake.
All across the county we are watching and waiting. On Monday, November 21st, we looked out to see total lake coverage, as a thin sheet of ice had covered all 414 acres of Nord Lake. But for the next week and a half there was thawing, freezing, then blowing and drifting ice. Each day had a different view of a lake changing its mind.
No doubt about it, the cold is on its way. Snowmobiles are ready. Grooming machines have paraded downtown. Skates, skis, and augers are ready to go.
The DNR wants to tell us about “safe ice.” There isn’t any. But go out and chop a hole and measure it. If it’s more than four inches thick, you probably were safe getting out there. When there’s 15 inches or more, you probably can drive your pickup onto the lake without losing it. But be careful out there! Already little kids have made the Twin City news by running out on a shallow pond and falling in.
WHAT KIND OF A SUMMER WAS IT?
For the loons on many county lakes it was a pretty good summer. Our three nesting pairs on Nord Lake hatched at least three chicks that were observed. One of them survived early predation to become a juvenile. If the baby chicks can make it beyond two weeks, when they learn to dive, their chances of living greatly improve.
Lake representatives at the county lake association (ACLARA) have reported a good hatch of loon chicks on their lakes this summer. In 2010 there were 24 county lakes with loon watchers who counted 85 adults, 25 chicks, with 9 constructed nesting platforms in use. To learn about a particular loon count or how to become a loon watcher, ask the leaders of your lake association. Or you can find the information from me, in care of the water planning task force at 927-6565.
One of the measures of water quality in our lakes is the clarity or transparency. The readings this summer on Nord Lake were just a little below the long-term season average. With unusually heavy rainfall in the spring, lasting through July, there was extra shoreline runoff, and lake levels stayed up at snow-melt elevations. With the dry spell in August and September, the level receded to normal. At Nord Lake the Secchi Disk average reading is between eight and ten feet. The white disk disappears below that depth.
ONE MORE THING
How we manage our shoreland plays a large part in keeping a lake healthy - for fish and wildlife, and for future generations. One of the simplest and easiest measures to clean the water from the watershed, before it flows into the lake, is to leave a natural area unmowed at the water’s edge. This buffer, 10 to 20 feet wide, filters out what we should not put into the lake.
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