Minneapolis lakes will be chained off outside inspection hours

[CJH]

Dumb. The blind leading the blind.

How can a City regulate access to a State owned asset?

[Maximum12]

and just what do you think this ACTUALLY accomplishes? The city lakes already have invasive vegetation. This is locking the keys inside the stable after the horse has already been stolen

Thank you for making my point quite eloquently.

Does this stink? Yea, especially if you're someone who wants to use the lake outside those ordained hours. But as you've stated very clearly, the lakes in this state have plenty of invasives in them because the STATE, FEDS, & CITIES have done absolutely, dog-damm, zilch, zero, nothing. Nothing to prevent it. Ergo, we have lakes full of invasives, with no doubt more on the way.

But every time there's any attempt to restrict our rights to public waters, however minor - witness the outcry over the possibility of a sticker listing AIS information, or the possibility of being pulled over & inspected around infected waters - fishermen freak the hell out.

Well, guess what? Since the horse has already been stolen, to continue your lovely metaphor, there are a couple of invaders that are threatening to burn down the barn. I like our barns. I'd rather things didn't come to restrictions like this, & I think it sucks, but somebody has to act.

If the actions suck, we have, in part, brought this on ourselves by refusing to hold our elected officials accountable & crying, whining, & throwing a fit over relatively minor actions that have already been taken.

I'd like to think this is a sly play by Minneapolis to goad the state into action, but I don't think they're that bright.

[BassFisherman]

Woww, bunch of libs...

[jalberg]

If every boat has to be inspected, then so should every canoe and kayak. Oh wait, I forgot, zebra mussels only like fishing boats.

There was some kind of canoe race out on Calhoun Saturday with several hundred canoes involved. I'm sure each of them carefully made sure that thier canoe was free of invasive species before puting it in the water.

[Snag]

Imagine this on Lake Minnetonka or Mille Lacs.

[gritsnham]

It is truly sad that it has come to this but I really dont feel we have any solution. The watercraft inspectors can educate the public but all it takes is a couple of people being really careless or even an accident and invasive species are going to spread.

Honestly zebras are gonna spread to every lake at some point with sufficient habitat for them and since they are fairly adaptable and love vegetation (just go fish prior).

[half-dutch]

Access to the core MPLS City Park Lakes is already heavily restricted. This aint liberal or conservative, this is just plain dumb. To close off an already restricted access during open park hours speaks real strong to a Park Board with too little fisherman representation, not enough who care about our sport. There doesn't seem to be any restriction on the carry-ons, nor how close they race to where fishermen are active either. That looks to me to be as big an oversight as anything else.

Inspections are one thing, but not staffing them during all open park hours is just asking for folks to launch where ever they can sneak in and out (and there are places where that is possible), if you close the actual ramps when there is no inspector, and to ignore any kind of self inspection in the process to get in and out as quick as possible. There are launch points and if they can't afford to staff them they can't afford the patrol necessary to enforce a lot of the rest of the rules. When it comes to that Park Police don't measure up all that well anyway, and the City cops don't go out of their way all that much either.

Don't get me wrong, this aint gonna affect me. I fish shorelines and docks. Everything they do to restrict harvest on these lakes improves my fishing. But this split shift chaining of access - it just aint right. These core City Park Lakes are true trophy waters for those who can work them; there are already enough barriers to the fish in them, without being stupid about the whole thing.

[Pherris]

So what do you suppose they will do when zebra muscles are discovered in these lakes? As an earlier post stated they will eventually get there not a matter of "if" but rather "when" in my opinion.

Also if the gates are chained how does one get their boat off the lake?

I suspect these actions will be challanged. Maybe even a class action?

Any lawyers here that can speak to the feasibility of that?

Invasive species are a problem but I do not feel this is the correct course of action.

[goblueM]

Thank you for making my point quite eloquently.

Does this stink? Yea, especially if you're someone who wants to use the lake outside those ordained hours. But as you've stated very clearly, the lakes in this state have plenty of invasives in them because the STATE, FEDS, & CITIES have done absolutely, dog-damm, zilch, zero, nothing. Nothing to prevent it. Ergo, we have lakes full of invasives, with no doubt more on the way.

But every time there's any attempt to restrict our rights to public waters, however minor - witness the outcry over the possibility of a sticker listing AIS information, or the possibility of being pulled over & inspected around infected waters - fishermen freak the hell out.

Well, guess what? Since the horse has already been stolen, to continue your lovely metaphor, there are a couple of invaders that are threatening to burn down the barn. I like our barns. I'd rather things didn't come to restrictions like this, & I think it sucks, but somebody has to act.

If the actions suck, we have, in part, brought this on ourselves by refusing to hold our elected officials accountable & crying, whining, & throwing a fit over relatively minor actions that have already been taken.

I'd like to think this is a sly play by Minneapolis to goad the state into action, but I don't think they're that bright.

The city lakes have had milfoil for years and years. Most of the damage has already been done through inaction. Draconian measures are too MUCH, too late. I'm all for curtailing invasives, but being pragmatic about it.

They don't have the best habitat for zebra mussels and I think its somewhat unlikely that they get them. Besides, a visual inspection does little to prevent zebra mussel spread (except by increasing awareness, perhaps), since veligers are microscopic and can be anywhere, the AIS regs don't do too much to prevent boats from having veligers in moist carpeted runners or in the damp insides of a trailer.

[mallardnwalleye]

It is a shame that the MPLS bureaucrats are chaining the ramps. I think it all comes down to simple math and common sense. What if zeebs were to get into the lakes? Would it "ruin" the lake? No. Most of the MPLS lakes have soft bottoms that zeebs won't live in.

Have they ruined the lakes by limiting hours so much that someone can't fish the sunrise or sunset bite and is limited to very specific hours? Yep.

As Roosevelt once said "we have nothing to fear but fear itself". Maybe some MPLS bureaucrats should go read their history books and think about what they are doing.

Side note: What lakes have actually been ruined by zeebs? I still haven't had anyone come up with one. Asian carp aren't really a threat as someone would almost have to intentionally plant them in a lake for them to propagate.

[th64]

Smallmouth bass and Pheasants are not native.

[Supercrew]

Chained..... pardon me...... Please sir may I fish?

Bite this Henn. Co. and not much longer the state of MN....

Restrict me?, lose my $$$$$$ for Lic, gas, bait , and lodging, and my happy face in the resturant......Sorry it p****sses me off, every year we have to adjust. What say we get a break this year, or the next 5 ?

[mallardnwalleye]

Chained..... pardon me...... Please sir may I fish?

Bite this Henn. Co. and not much longer the state of MN....

Restrict me?, lose my $$$$$$ for Lic, gas, bait , and lodging, and my happy face in the resturant......Sorry it p****sses me off, every year we have to adjust. What say we get a break this year, or the next 5 ?

Agreed, They (MPLS) are regulating and taxing their way out of being a great place to live.

In my business I get to talk to a lot of business people in Chicago and outstate Illinois. They are essentially moving to Indiana because of over regulation and taxes as well as a poor quality of living.

[mallardnwalleye]

You have to laugh at a state that spends money on recruiting kids to fishing yet makes actual access to fishing difficult.

It reminds me of when the White Bear Lake "fishing dock" was closed to fishing because it might have been too close to where rented boat slips were.

The hypocrisy of it all!!!

[cheddar 86]

That's funny I was just thinking the same thing about recruiting more young people to become involved in fishing. Lets make it more of a PITA to get on the water and that should help.

Elephant in the room regarding AIS.

Milfoil and Curly leaf are easily seen and even those are in all the lakes...so how is something that can be transferred in a small amount of water gonna be stopped - current legislation/activies of the DNR or the idiots writing the laws will never prevent Zeebs unless they ban watercraft from all the lakes. Learn from the past...if it didn't work for something as blatantly obvious as weeds on a boat/trailer trying to eliminate something way smaller is preposterous.

Why don't the lakeshore owners go ahead and admit that they are using the latest AIS scare as a convenient reason to keep people off their water...we can see right through everyone of you...Because if you don't live on a lake then you don't care about the ecosystem. And obviously if you look at forums online fishermen don't care about CPR, or how you hold a fish, or fishing in high water temps and delayed mortality. Or we don't mention anything about the effects of lawns needing to be highly fertilized and run all the way to the water. Nope we don't care about any of it and we ALL drive around with gobs of weeds attached to our boats.

They start doing this talk in Carver County or anywhere else and I might just find another hobby.

[Maximum12]

Cheddar, you embody the attitude we have to stamp out.

Gee, we're powerless, we can do nothing. Give up. It's inevitable.

With that viewpoint, it certainly f-ing well is. It seems to be a terrifyingly common attitude among fishermen, & it's sad & pathetic. Absolutely ridiculous, the defeatism.

[cheddar 86]

Hey you can believe and take whatever you want to hear out of my comments...that's fine.

I call it being realistic. Some people have the ability to think an issue through and come to their own conclusions rather than following the masses who shake their head yes to anything an "authoritative" group and/or the media says. Please give me some credible evidence that we know for sure the zeebs will decimate our lakes.

I never said we can do nothing...we can shut the lakes down until someone figures out how to completely stop and/or irradicate the zeebs. Otherwise really what you're saying is you want to slow the spread....at what cost? The funny thing is 5/10 years down the road when a good majority of the lakes have zeebs you still win because you can blame it on the attitudes of people like me.

[goblueM]

Cheddar, you embody the attitude we have to stamp out.

Gee, we're powerless, we can do nothing. Give up. It's inevitable.

With that viewpoint, it certainly f-ing well is. It seems to be a terrifyingly common attitude among fishermen, & it's sad & pathetic. Absolutely ridiculous, the defeatism.

Its realistic when it comes to zebra mussels. He's right on the money - the legislation isn't going to prevent the spread of zebra mussels even with excellent compliance, which we aren't seeing by the DNR's own admission.

There's a reason that stores factor in a set amount of shoplifting into their budget. You can't stamp it out no matter how much you try or how many resources you devote to it, and at some point it just doesn't make sense to have a million security cams, security officers, and the like.

[cheddar 86]

Unfortunately we don't have people in charge that think like you or I do. That or they feel placating certain groups of people takes precedence over the real issue.

[Maximum12]

I call it being realistic. Some people have the ability to think an issue through and come to their own conclusions rather than following the masses who shake their head yes to anything an "authoritative" group and/or the media says. Please give me some credible evidence that we know for sure the zeebs will decimate our lakes.

I never said we can do nothing...we can shut the lakes down until someone figures out how to completely stop and/or irradicate the zeebs. Otherwise really what you're saying is you want to slow the spread....at what cost? The funny thing is 5/10 years down the road when a good majority of the lakes have zeebs you still win because you can blame it on the attitudes of people like me.

Think for yourself? Follow the masses? Wow. Read the responses to this thread & others like it over the past couple of months. Hate to break it to you, but the masses are with you...so I'm not even sure what the point of your statement is.

There is no question that zebras will change our lakes. And they're not the only problem. Asian carp seem to be a much worse threat. Not to mention VHS. Go take a look at some of the numbers, at how Asian Carp have become a significant percentage of the biomass of lakes in Illinois & elsewhere. If you haven't read up on what zebra musssel can do, you should, they have a ton of negative effects. Here's just one:

"There were 881 million pounds of prey fish in Lake Michigan in 1989, the year zebra mussels were discovered in the lake. Last year, that figure dropped to 66 million pounds, a record low for the second straight year."

There are undoubtedly other factors at play, but if you read a few articles like this, it's clear we ought to be alarmed.

Again, my message is simple: I want the DNR, state, & Feds to do something, because up until this point they've done nothing. Even flawed policies that promise to slow the apread in the short term are better than nothing.

[mallardnwalleye]

Think for yourself? Follow the masses? Wow. Read the responses to this thread & others like it over the past couple of months. Hate to break it to you, but the masses are with you...so I'm not even sure what the point of your statement is.

There is no question that zebras will change our lakes. And they're not the only problem. Asian carp seem to be a much worse threat. Not to mention VHS. Go take a look at some of the numbers, at how Asian Carp have become a significant percentage of the biomass of lakes in Illinois & elsewhere. If you haven't read up on what zebra musssel can do, you should, they have a ton of negative effects. Here's just one:

"There were 881 million pounds of prey fish in Lake Michigan in 1989, the year zebra mussels were discovered in the lake. Last year, that figure dropped to 66 million pounds, a record low for the second straight year."

There are undoubtedly other factors at play, but if you read a few articles like this, it's clear we ought to be alarmed.

Again, my message is simple: I want the DNR, state, & Feds to do something, because up until this point they've done nothing. Even flawed policies that promise to slow the apread in the short term are better than nothing.

Cherry picking one year and taking the giant leap that this was causation from zeebs is a little flawed to say the least. Fisheries Stocking, weather and predator prey relationships might be what you want to look at.

I am still waiting to hear about all the ruined fisheries from zeebs.

Asian Carp- Are for sure a problem but bait buckets would be more of an actual problem than launching a boat.

Over regulating launches is not going to prevent the spread of AIS. Pleasant Lake a totally private lake has zeebs. Various wetlands have them as well.

The idea that limiting or preventing us from fishing so that we can prevent something that might have an effect on our fishing is ludicrous.

[goblueM]

Another ridiculous aspect of this is that they are only running inspections July-September. That'll miss at least 50% of the boat pressure on Harriet and Calhoun, since Sept/Oct/Nov are hardest hit by the musky guys out there.

Combined with the fact that the inspectors can't see zebra mussel veligers in carpeted runners or in wet pockets of a trailer frame... really makes it a completely ineffective measure

[Zelmsdawg]

I don't know a whole lot about the invasive species and preventions, etc, but I was at a family picnic at harriet over the weekend and talked with the inspector there about this stuff and I was told that if you don't have water sitting in your boat (for days) and your boat hasn't been sitting in the water for days, then there is very little chance of zebra muscles. So I took from that that if you're just fishing a few hours you're going to be good. And they also said that you can't see them unless they are adults anyway and that their opinion was that this didn't make sense either. Just thought I'd share what I was told

[CrappieNight]

The county shuts down lakes due to "safety concerns" last winter, we said it wasn't going to stop there, I have a steaming plate of crow waiting for those who said we were overreacting.

[kell0916]

I fished harriett sunday morning. Had my first experience with a park & rec board person working the landing, WOW!!!! Rather than see the usual DNR inspector, there was a MPLS park rec board girl doing the inspection. While she was asking me the usual questions and looking over the boat and trailer, another MPLS park guy comes up out of nowhere and starts lecturing me about how I cant use my gas motor on the lake......it wasnt even hooked to the battery!!! I told him I never have used it on the lake, and he just continued to accuse me saying he saw me driving across the lake........I asked him to push the start button on my motor to see what happened, he refused and continued his lecture, even the poor girl was getting uncomfortable now. I finally asked her if she was finished and got in my car and and started to drive away, this guy continuing to accuse me comes up and bangs on my driver side window......if he thinks this type of behavior will keep me off the lake, he is wrong! and next time he goes this far, this encounter may not end the way it did on sunday!

I hope this is not a preview of things to come.........

[Fish_Stalker]

That's crazy Kell. Intimidation and bullying are sure to come with inspections and checkpoints. This situation is getting out of hand. Might have been tempted to give Mr. Knowitall a right hook myself.

[TheStudent]

Here are the new hours of the boat launch on Calhoun, Harriet and Nokomis.

Mon-Thurs 6am-10am and 5pm-9pm

Friday, Saturday and Sunday 6am to 9pm

I would encourage EVERYONE to contact Minneapolis Park and Rec at (612) 313-7782 and give your comments. Even if these hours wont restrict your use of the lakes, do those of us who have non-tradtional work schedules or are retired a favor and PLEASE express your dissatisfaction with these new rules.

We all want to protect our waters from invasive species, but denying access to the lakes is not the way to do it. Don't let Minneapolis get away with this.

If you're a Minneapolis resident i suggest you find your park and rec board member on the map on this link http://www.minneapolisparks.org/default.asp?PageID=36

Send them an email expressing your concern and let them know you vote!

[mrklean]

Don't forget to contact your reps also I actually got a couple responses other then the standard auto response or a canned were gonna look into it response

[LightningBG]

This is way to use the law to close off access to the average person.

[TheStudent]

I just received a response from Carol Kummer, my rep on the board of park and rec. She seems ambivalently content with the changes and said she has "a reasonable amount of faith that our staff, working with the DNR, came up with best option for maximum protection."

You can bet I wont be voting for her, and around election will spread the word on this to all my family members and friends. This is the first time I've wished I used Facebook.