September 7, 2007 - TOP STORIES
Subscribe and get the full week of news delivered to your mailbox every week!
Special regulations proposed across state
Minnesota prairie chickens relocated to Wisconsin
30 muskies found dead in Hennepin County
Camp Sunrise offers city teens their 1st experience roughing it
DNR to manage eight fields for dove hunting
Special regulations proposed across state
Public invited to comment on special fishing regulations
DNR News
Special fishing regulations for walleye, bass, northern pike, crappie, sunfish, and muskellunge will be the subject of 18 public meetings being held across the state in the coming weeks by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
Input gathered at these meetings will help determine whether to extend, modify or drop 13 existing special regulations and move forward with 21 proposals for new special regulations.
In addition, regulations on the Minnesota-South Dakota border in Traverse County affecting the fishing season on the Bois de Sioux River and Mud Lake will be reviewed.
“Fisheries managers welcome the opportunity to hear opinions from anglers,” said Al Stevens, DNR fisheries program consultant. “Public participation is critical in determining whether proposed and existing regulations are meeting angler expectations.”
Special regulations are intended to produce a quality fish population that can sustain increasing angling pressure and improved angler efficiency. During the past 20 years, fisheries managers have monitored a variety of special regulations across Minnesota. Lakes with special regulations are regularly evaluated to determine the effectiveness of special regulations.
“Much has been learned from our efforts to improve fish populations with length and bag limits,” Stevens said. “If successful, special regulations can be replicated on similar waters where fisheries managers and anglers agree they would help improve or maintain quality fishing.”
Currently there are special regulations in effect on about 7 percent of Minnesota’s fishable lakes. There are special regulations for walleye on 58 lakes, bass in 52 lakes, northern pike in 121 lakes, crappie in 34 lakes, sunfish in 35 lakes and muskellunge in 59 lakes.
Lakes with proposed new special regulations or special regulations that will be evaluated this year were posted at public access points this spring. Public notices for each meeting will be published in local newspapers. For more information about a specific meeting, contact your local DNR Fisheries offices.
For those unable to attend a local meeting, there will be an open house at the St. Paul DNR Headquarters, 500 Lafayette Road, on Sept. 27 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Staff will be available to take comments on any proposal. Comments may also be submitted until Oct. 8 by e-mail to al.stevens@dnr.state.mn.us or by calling (651) 259-5239.
Written or verbal comments will also be accepted at local fisheries offices up to 10 days following a local meeting. Telephone numbers and addresses of local fisheries offices can be found on page 76 of the 2007 Fishing Regulations or online at www.dnr.state.mn.us/contact/locator.html
The open houses are scheduled for:
CASS COUNTY: Ponto, Pleasant, Lower and Upper Trelipe lakes (new regulation proposals for walleye), Sept 25; Ten Mile Lake (review existing regulation for northern pike), Woman, Little Woman, Child, Girl, Lind, Long (new regulation proposals for walleye, sunfish, or crappie) Sept. 27. Both meetings will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Longville Elementary School, Longville. Additionally, a meeting on new regulation proposals for walleye in Little Boy and Wabedo lakes will be held in October, place and date to be announced.
DOUGLAS COUNTY: Lakes Andrew, Burgen, Rachel (review existing northern pike regulation). Sept. 24, 6-8 p.m., Harry Bemo -Vikings Sportsmen’s Club Building, Douglas County Fairgrounds, Alexandria.
ISANTI COUNTY: Lake Seventeen (new regulation proposals for crappie, sunfish, bass yellow perch and northern pike). Place and date to be announced.
ITASCA COUNTY: Turtle Lake (review existing regulation for bass). Oct. 22, place and time to be announced.
OTTER TAIL COUNTY: East Battle Lake and Otter Tail River (review existing regulations for northern pike, smallmouth bass), Middle and Red River lakes (new regulation proposals for largemouth bass and sunfish). Sept. 5, 7-9 p.m., DNR office, 1509 First Ave., Fergus Falls.
Pine County: Sturgeon Lake (review existing northern pike regulation). Place and date to be announced.
RICE AND WASECA COUNTIES: Rice Lake (review existing northern pike regulation). Sept. 25, 7 p.m., New Richland Sportsmen’s Club, Hwy 13, New Richland. Reeds Lake (review existing northern pike regulation). Sept. 26, 7 p.m., DNR Area Fisheries Office, 50317 Fish Hatchery Rd., Waterville. Kelly-Dudley Lake (review existing northern pike regulation). Sept. 27, 7 p.m., St. Patrick’s Church hall, 7525 Dodd Rd., Shieldsville.
ST. LOUIS COUNTY: Pelican Lake (review existing bass regulation). Oct. 25, 7-9 p.m., Orr City Hall, Orr. St. Louis River Estuary (new regulation proposal for muskellunge). Sept. 25, 1-4 p.m., DNR Office Building at French River, 5351 North Shore Drive, Duluth.
TODD COUNTY: Big Swan Lake (review existing northern pike regulation). Sept 7, 7-9 p.m., Grey eagle Public School, Grey Eagle.
TRAVERSE COUNTY: Review the spring closure on Mud Lake and Bois de Sioux River. Nov. 7, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Area Fisheries office, Ortonville.
WRIGHT COUNTY: Mink-Somers lake (review existing sunfish, crappie, yellow perch, largemouth bass, northern pike and walleye regulations). Sept. 12, 7-9 p.m., Corinna Township Hall, 9801 Ireland Ave. NW, Annandale.
Minnesota prairie chickens relocated to Wisconsin
GLACIAL RIDGE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, Minn. (AP) – Crews from the University of Minnesota-Crookston and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources have been working with a University of North Dakota graduate student on a prairie chicken roundup.
The wildlife management crews worked earlier last month to capture prairie chickens and move them from northwestern Minnesota to Wisconsin in an effort to genetic diversity of the species in Wisconsin.
Grad student Nate Emery coordinated the Minnesota end of the project. He and research assistant Pablo Oleiro trapped prairie chicken hens last spring and fitted the birds with radio collars. Emery then tracked the birds to learn more about the breeding ecology of the hens and how they use the habitat at Glacial Ridge.
“The bloodlines were starting to mix a little too close,” Emery said of the Wisconsin birds. “They had birds, but the populations were fragmented enough that they weren’t mixing enough, so the fertility was dropping.”
This year, they worked to capture another 25 prairie chickens for the trip to the Stevens Point area of central Wisconsin to join last year’s banded chickens.
Emery said hens are being used because they’re more apt to contribute to the breeding population than males.
30 muskies found dead in Hennepin County
Weather to blame
ROCKFORD, Minn. (AP) – Thirty muskies were found dead in Lake Rebecca, and officials say the summer’s warm weather is to blame.
The fish, which were up to 3 feet long, were 4 to 5 years old and were used for breeding as part of the Department of Natural Resources’ muskie stocking program.
Dirk Peterson, DNR regional fisheries manager, said the fish were victims of “summerkill” – caused by the depletion of oxygen in the water due to warm temperatures. The fish were found in a bay that was only about 1-1/2 feet deep.
“With the high water temperatures, the oxygen likely depleted overnight, and the fish didn’t know how to escape,” Peterson said. The DNR also found eight dead bluegills and six dead largemouth bass.
Oxygen depletion increases at night, sometimes causing fish to suffocate. Recent heavy rainfalls also might have depleted oxygen levels in the lake.
The 30 muskies equal about 25 to 30 percent of the “broodstock,” or fish used for breeding, in the lake. Peterson said the deaths shouldn’t affect the DNR’s muskie-stocking program.
The DNR captures broodstock in nets each spring and removes eggs and sperm from them to breed muskies in state hatcheries. About 30,000 muskies are stocked around the state each year.
Camp Sunrise offers city teens their 1st experience roughing it
By Mary Divine
St. Paul Pioneer Press
RUSH CITY, Minn. (AP) – Jeff Xiong slept in a tent, used an outhouse and paddled a canoe for the first time during his first trip to Camp Sunrise on the St. Croix River in 1996.
After a week in the wilderness, Xiong discovered he loved the great outdoors. He returned to the camp near Rush City, as a camper the next three summers and later worked as a camp counselor.
Earlier this year, Xiong, now 24, was named camp director. The camp is free for St. Paul and Minneapolis teens from low- and moderate-income families and diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
For many, Camp Sunrise is the first place they interact with people from cultures other than their own, Xiong said. An African-American boy who befriended two boys from eastern Burma at Camp Sunrise this summer said it “was the first time he had ever met anyone from outside the United States,” Xiong said.
The boys – who all live in Minneapolis – bonded over campfires during a three-day canoe trip. They plan to stay in touch after camp, Xiong said.
“They meet friends they wouldn’t normally meet in the cities,” Xiong said. “Somali, Latino, Hmong kids all become friends, and it’s wonderful to watch that bond grow.”
There is no electricity at the camp, and the teens must learn to live for a week without TV, iPods, Game Boys and cell phones. Xiong said it forces the teens to talk to and learn about each other.
“We’re introducing the youth of today to real space instead of cyberspace,” Xiong said. “Out here, they’re more social. People can just enjoy real conversations with each other. It’s very simplistic living up here, and it’s interesting what reaction you get from youth when you take them away from the cities.”
Kameisha Wilson, 16, of Minneapolis said learning to live without electricity took some getting used to during her first visit to Camp Sunrise last summer. But, she said, she learned that “electricity doesn’t mean everything. You can still survive without it.”
“You learn how to use your brain,” Kameisha said. “You have to use nature to survive.”
It took a little longer for her 13-year-old sister, Bakita Wade, to adjust to wilderness living. It was so dark at night, she said, that she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face. Then she thought she heard a bear sniffing around outside her tent.
“I kept hearing noises,” Bakita said. “I’ve never been in that much darkness. I had to wake my sister up to go with me to the (outhouse). It’s just so dark. It’s scary.”
Bakita said she was struck by the contrast with life at home.
“I’ve had to learn how to use my time instead of watching TV,” she said. “It’s more peaceful out here. I’m not used to hearing birds chirping. I’m used to hearing cars driving by and sirens blaring. But it’s beautiful at night. I’ve never seen stars like that. It’s really pretty.”
She said she missed her mother, flush toilets, hot showers and her “big, comfortable bed.”
“That outhouse is nasty. It’s just nasty,” she said. “Sleeping in the cot ... it’s really hard. It’s like lying on the floor.”
Xiong joked that the camp’s cots, platform tents and unheated showers would be a luxury for Bakita after she returned from a three-day canoe trip. The teens are driven 32 miles upstream and then canoe back to the camp. There are no showers, and campers sleep on the ground in sleeping bags.
“They think this is rustic and then they go out on the river and come back here and it’s heaven,” Xiong said. “You learn to love cold showers when you’re at Camp Sunrise.”
Xiong, who lives in White Bear Township, grew up in St. Paul and North St. Paul. Many of his 10 older brothers and sisters also went to and worked for Camp Sunrise. He graduated from the University of Minnesota-Morris in 2005 with a degree in organizational management.
Xiong is the first Hmong camp director and the second former camper to the hold the post. Craig Luedemann, the executive director of YouthCARE, the nonprofit organization that runs the camp, said Xiong is a great example of the camp’s mission.
“We bring kids together from different backgrounds and cultures and then provide opportunities for them to stay involved long-term,” Luedemann said. “He’s one of many young people who got involved and then stayed connected through the school year and found those opportunities to be a leader.”
About 250 youth go to Camp Sunrise each year. More than 12,000 teens have attended since the camp opened in 1974 on 300 acres owned by Xcel Energy.
Xcel and the Minneapolis and St. Paul Summer Youth Employment Programs established the camp. Xcel Energy partially funds Camp Sunrise through its foundation, and company employees who volunteer as camp counselors for a week can receive their regular wages. Xcel also participates in a mentoring program for kids from YouthCARE.
School counselors and youth-employment program workers refer campers to the program. More than 90 percent of the campers are youth of color, and Xiong and Luedemann recruit and employ adult and junior staff members who represent the campers’ ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
Every child should have the opportunity to go to summer camp, Luedemann said.
“Kids have a right to have that (wilderness) experience,” Luedemann said. “What they do with it will be their choice. We’re just opening the door. The reality is that we’re one of the few programs left still reaching urban kids who can’t afford to do this on their own.”
Campers can return to the camp in the winter, he said. “Youth we had to coax to come out in the summer are eager to come back in the school year and experience cross country skiing and snowshoeing.
“It works every year,” he said. They feel it’s their place, and we’ll keep trying to perform that magic.”
DNR to manage eight fields for dove hunting
One-third of state’s managed dove fields are located at the Lac qui Parle WMA
DNR News
To provide more opportunities for dove hunters this fall, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is managing eight public fields on wildlife management areas specifically to attract doves.
The three-to-five acre fields were planted this summer with small grains, sunflowers or other crops known to attract doves. To get ready for the Sept. 1 opener, area wildlife managers have been knocking down sections of the crops, causing seeds to fall and increasing their attractiveness to ground-feeding doves.
“We’re hoping to build a dove hunting tradition in Minnesota by providing opportunities for hunters to get started in the sport,” said Bill Penning, DNR farmland wildlife program leader. “These fields will be an excellent place for novice hunters, as well as youth, to get a feel for hunting this fun and challenging game bird.”
About one-third of the state’s managed dove fields are located at the Lac qui Parle Wildlife Management Area near the South Dakota border. The remaining fields will be scattered throughout southern Minnesota, Penning said. Hunters on these fields will be required to use non-toxic shot to avoid accumulating lead in areas that attract ground-feeding birds.
Because crops are being manipulated, the fields would be considered baited under federal waterfowl regulations and are off limits to duck and goose hunters. Signs reminding hunters of the non-toxic shot requirement as well as regulations that disallow waterfowl hunting, will be posted on the fields. The new fields, however, shouldn’t interfere with waterfowl hunting. “They are not located where waterfowl would typically go,” said Penning. “Our intent is to expand hunting opportunities without taking anything away from the waterfowl hunter.”
Because Minnesota’s dove hunt is regulated under federal guidelines as a migratory game bird, the season will open Sept. 1, along with other states in the Mississippi Flyway. However, doves tend to leave Minnesota when nighttime temperatures begin to drop near freezing.
“The majority of birds generally migrate through Minnesota by the middle of September,” Penning said. The daily bag limit for doves is 15. Hunters 16 and older are required to have a small game license and Harvest Information Program (HIP) certification.
The following wildlife management areas will have posted dove-hunting fields:
• Red Buffalo WMA
Lac Qui Parle County
• Lac Qui Parle WMA
Swift, Big Stone, Chippewa and Lac Qui Parle counties
• Whitewater WMA
Winona and Olmsted counties
• Carlos Avery WMA
Anoka and Chisago counties
© 2007 Outdoors Weekly Corporation