Now it’s up to the Minnesota Legislature. But there’s reason for great optimism regarding the Mississippi River Northwoods Habitat Complex project.
That’s because recently, the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council voted to recommend more than $14 million for the purchase of 1,988 acres just north of the Brainerd airport from the Potlatch Corporation so as to get the land into public ownership and protect it from development.
The property features more than two miles of pristine, undeveloped shoreline along the Mississippi River — and a bevy of natural resources and related opportunities.
Early on, the project graded high with the council and, following a Sept. 7 presentation by Becca Nash of the Trust for Public Land, which is spearheading the project along with several partners, council members made individual recommendation before ultimately recommending that the project be among those receiving approximately $90 million in funding available for such projects.
Now it’s on to the Legislature in 2012.
“This is a fantastic outcome and we are so pleased to have this incredibly strong support going into the upcoming Legislative session,” Nash said. “... The Crow Wing County Board unanimously passed a resolution of support for the project at their meeting (earlier last month). This support was significant for the LSOHC and it will be key as we work through the next phases of the effort.”
Brainerd duo third in high school
bass tournament
Will Stolski and Parker Sundquist of Brainerd High School recently teamed to finish third in the first Minnesota Federation of Bass Anglers’ Minnesota State High School Bass Championship on Gull Lake near Brainerd.
Stolski and Sundquist caught their limit of five fish weighing 11 pounds, 2 ounces. Nick Montilino from Edina and James Stein II from Northfield won, landing five fish weighing 16 pounds, 3 ounces. Annandale anglers James Chapman and Ryan Floistad were second at 12-8.
The state champions advance to an FLW Outdoors/TBF High School Fishing Regional Championship held in conjunction with a National Guard FLW College Fishing Regional Championship hosted on a college campus this fall. The winners from each regional will advance to the FLW Outdoors/TBF High School Fishing National Championship on a college campus in conjunction with the National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship in Spring 2012. The national champions will each receive a $5,000 scholarship to the college of their choice.
LF Chamber sporting clays results
Results from the Little Falls Area Chamber of Commerce’s sixth annual sporting clays event Sept. 20 at LeBlanc’s Rice Creek Hunting & Recreation (80 shooters participated):
• High score: 1. Pine Country Bank (Gary Groskruetz, Tony Osborn, Tom Bukowski, Ross Hamann), 194; 2. RA Randall Agency (Luke Faufau, Mark Gerbi, Steve LeMieur, Dwayne Marzloff), 188.
• Random draw team: West Side Bar (Gregg Dick, Ron Tschida, Jim Tschida, Kyle Bonstrom).
• Flurry Shoot: 1. (tie) Goldsmith Jewelers (Tar Smith, Bill Backowski, John LeMieur, Jonathon LeMieur), RA Randall Agency (Luke Faufau, Mark Gerbi, Steve LeMieur, Dwayne Marzloff), 34.
• Longest Shot: Goldsmith Jewelers (Bill Backowski, John LeMieur, Jonathon LeMieur, Tar Smith).
Northern pike regulation changes on 3 area lakes
Fifteen lakes in Minnesota, including three in area counties, will be posted with signs indicating that the current northern pike special regulation will end Nov. 1.
The change is the result of a new state law that limits the DNR to no more than 100 northern pike special or experimental regulation lakes and only allows for length-based regs.
“Currently, we are at 115 lakes with length-based regulations,” said Al Stevens, fishing regulations coordinator for the DNR. “To comply with the new law, we are dropping regulations on 15 lakes where fisheries biologists believe the regulation is least likely to achieve its management goal or is a smaller lake connected to a larger lake that also has a special northern pike regulation.”
The lakes include Louise near Backus in Cass County, Ogechie in Mille Lacs County and Little Sauk in Todd County. Also, Campbell in Beltrami County; Cotton and Big Floyd in Becker County; Latoka in Douglas County; Caribou in St. Louis County; Scrapper, Haskell, Rice and Schoolhouse in Itasca County; the North Branch Kawishiwi River, which is part of the Garden Lake chain in Lake County; and Long and Crooked in Stearns County.
These lakes will revert to the standard statewide northern pike regulation — a three-fish limit with no more than one greater than 30 inches in possession. These changes are being done temporarily through an expedited rulemaking process to get them in effect by Nov. 1, as the law requires. Stevens said the DNR also will post the lakes this fall and hold local informational meetings in January 2012 before making the changes permanent. Meeting times and locations will be announced in early January.
Because the law enacted this summer also narrowed the definition of allowable special or experimental designated lakes for northern pike to those with length limits, regulations on an additional 17 lakes with catch-and-release or reduced bag limits will also be dropped from special or experimental regulations. The status of these lakes will be addressed through other DNR rule-making authorities in the months ahead.
Conservation officers report wolf activity
While the effort to get the gray wolf delisted continues to drag on, wolf-related issues remain a reality in the Brainerd lakes area. In the recent DNR conservation officers’ report, two local COs worked wolf-related calls recently:
• Tim Collette (Pequot Lakes): “Handled a wolf depredation call where the rancher has had 13 calves killed or injured this year.”
• Nikki Shoutz (Pine River): Followed up with a federal trapper after a calf was taken by a timber wolf.”
The most recent public comment period on a proposal to delist the wolves closed Monday. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it would consider all new information and other data and make a final decision on the proposal, possibly later this year.
According to the USFWS, gray wolves were originally listed as subspecies or as regional populations of subspecies in the lower 48 states and Mexico under the Endangered Species Act and its predecessor statutes. In 1978, the USFWS reclassified the gray wolf as an endangered species across all of the lower 48 states and Mexico, except in Minnesota, where the gray wolf was classified as threatened.
In the rule issued earlier this year, the USFWS proposed to remove, or delist, gray wolves in the Western Great Lakes area — which includes Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin, and portions of adjoining states — from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife because wolves have recovered in the region and no longer require the protection of the ESA.
Kaufmann completes Conservation Corps service
Ellyn Kaufmann of Brainerd recently completed a summer of service with Conservation Corps Minnesota, working on Superior National Forest trails.
From June through August, 48 Conservation Corps young adults worked on hiking, portage, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, ATV and interpretive trails in the forest. Kaufmann served on a crew of four other AmeriCorps members, completing projects along Superior Hiking Trail, Sugarbush Mountain Biking Trail, Angleworm Hiking Trail, Hoist Bay and other locations. Corps members cleared and maintained more than 122 miles of trails, completed 7,671 feet of tread work and installed 3,000 feet of boardwalk, 157 steps, 65 drainage features and seven bridges.
Conservation Corps programs provide hands-on environmental stewardship and service-learning opportunities for young adults, age 18 to 25, while doing conservation, natural resource management and emergency response work.
Public input wanted on trails plan
Crow Wing County is soliciting additional public comments on the draft Comprehensive Recreation Trails Plan, which has been developed over the last two years through an extensive public planning process. Written comments on the draft plan will be accepted by the Land Services Department during a 30-day period from September 26 to October 25.
The plan may be accessed through the county website at www.co.crow-wing.mn.us. The direct link to download the file is www.co.crow-wing.mn.us/crowwing_internet/home/docs/CWCCompRecTrailsPlan0.... Copies of the plan also are available from the Land Services Department in Brainerd during business hours or by calling the office at 824-1115.
Comments may be emailed to landservices@co.crow-wing.mn.us (include “Comp Trails Plan” in the subject line), mailed to Crow Wing County Land Services Department, Attn: Comp Trails Plan, Land Services Building, 322 Laurel Street, Suite 12, Brainerd, MN 56401 or faxed to 824-1070.
Following the public comment period, the plan will be revised in response to comments and prepared for review by the county board. The goal is to finalize the plan before the end of the year.
