January 25, 2008 - TOP STORIES
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Minnesota DNR to increase opportunities for pike, muskie
Frigid temperatures mean Brainerd ice fishing event is on
National Pheasant Fest soars to record attendance
More southern Minnesota lakes experiencing winterkill conditions
This Old Farm: More than a place to make money
Minnesota DNR to increase opportunities for pike, muskie
Public can comment on management of muskie and northern pike
DNR News
People interested in how the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) manages inland lakes for muskellunge and northern pike during the next 12 years have until Feb. 15 to review and comment on the agency’s draft long-range plan.
“Fisheries staff developed this plan with considerable input from anglers,” said Jason Moeckel, DNR Fisheries operations manager. “The DNR’s goal is to create more opportunities for people to catch large northern pike and trophy-sized muskellunge.”
Building on the foundation of management plans implemented in 1986 and 1994, this plan takes into consideration growing angler interest in landing large muskellunge and northern pike, Moeckel said.
A recent survey indicates that 14 percent of resident, licensed anglers target muskellunge when fishing and 60 percent of people who have not fished for muskellunge expressed interest in doing so.
“Interest in muskies and large pike is growing but the opportunities are limited,” Moeckel said. “The purpose of this plan is to guide fisheries management to increase those opportunities.”
Some of the recommendations in the draft plan include:
• adding eight new muskellunge lakes by 2020 to the existing 90 lakes that now offer the pure-strain species
• managing muskellunge populations for trophy angling opportunities through stocking, size regulations, season closures, existing spearing bans and promoting voluntary catch and release
• maintaining spearing opportunities for northern pike.
The public can review and comment on the draft plan by visiting http://mndnr.gov/fisheries/muskiepike_2020.html
Frigid temperatures mean Brainerd ice fishing event is on
BRAINERD, Minn. (AP) – Ice fishing enthusiasts here are celebrating the below-zero temperatures, which have helped guarantee an annual ice fishing extravaganza will go on.
Crow Wing County Sheriff Todd Dahl checked ice thickness Thursday morning (Jan. 17) on Hole-in-the-Day Bay on Gull Lake, and gave the 18th annual Brainerd Jaycees $150,000 Ice Fishing Extravaganza the green light for Jan. 26.
“We drilled four to five holes and the average was 17 inches, and a little more in some areas,” Dahl said. “There’s always a concern, but right now, as we left the ice, we came to a consensus that it’s a go.”
Just nine days earlier, Dahl and extravaganza organizers had measured average ice thickness at 12 inches. Sixteen inches of ice are required for Jaycees to get a permit for the event.
“I think we were all breathing a sigh of relief,” Dahl said of the new measurements.
Mary Devine, the event’s marketing director, said organizers are happy people will have more than a week to plan their trips to the Brainerd area. Some 10,000 people from around the country and the world attend the extravaganza each year.
“We’re excited that everything is moving ahead as planned,” she said.
National Pheasant Fest soars to record attendance
Saint Paul, Minn. – Pheasants Forever’s National Pheasant Fest 2008 and 25th Anniversary Convention presented by Cabela’s concluded Sunday, drawing 29,802 people to the Saint Paul RiverCentre for the three-day event. The attendance mark made the event the largest in Pheasants Forever (PF) history.
Despite frigid sub-zero temperatures in Saint Paul, 29,802 turned out to see the over 300 unique exhibitors, hundreds of bird dogs, and dozens of educational seminars. The attendance total included over 2,000 new PF members who joined over the three days of the event. Last year’s Fest in Des Moines, Iowa set the previous attendance high when 24,510 people passed through the turnstiles of the Iowa Events Center.
Pheasants Forever formally celebrated a quarter-century of wildlife habitat success with its 25th Anniversary Banquet on Saturday night. Arlen Lancaster, Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), read a letter from President George W. Bush recognizing PF’s 25 years, as well as delivered the banquet’s keynote address. NRCS, USFWS and the FSA recognized PF with awards marking 25 years of conservation success.
“We formed in Saint Paul 25 years ago, and have come back to where it all began to celebrate 25 years of Forever,” said Howard Vincent, President and CEO of PF. “We want to thank Cabela’s for presenting this milestone event, and especially want to recognize the 700-plus local chapters and 115,000 dedicated Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever volunteers across the country who live and breathe our mission every single day.”
For more information about Pheasants Forever, log onto www.PheasantsForever.org
More southern Minnesota lakes experiencing winterkill conditions
Snow and frigid temperatures are combining to make more of southern Minnesota’s shallow lakes susceptible to winterkill conditions, prompting the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to open them to liberalized fishing.
Winterkill conditions are created when sunlight is unable to penetrate the ice and oxygen levels in the water drop. Fish are often unable to survive in these low oxygen conditions.
“Rather than just let those fish go to waste, so to speak, we try to give anglers an opportunity to instead harvest as many of them as they want,” explained Jack Lauer, acting fisheries manager for the DNR Southern Region at New Ulm.
There are currently 15 lakes open to liberalized fishing with more expected to fall into that category soon, Lauer said.
Lakes now open are: Dora and Pepin in Le Sueur County; Union in Rice County; First and Second Fulda in Murray County; Fremont in Sherburne County; Graham in Grant County; Arville, Hoff, Maple, Sellards, Spencer, Towers, and Turtle in Meeker County; Clear in McLeod County.
Under liberalized fishing regulations, a resident angling license is required and you cannot take fish through the use of seines, hoop nets, fyke nets or explosives. However, fish can be taken in any amount by spear, gillnet or angling. It is legal to sell any rough fish taken.
For the latest information on lakes that are open to liberalized fishing, and for detailed information about those lakes, go to the DNR web site at: www.dnr.state.mn.us. Click the ‘What’s New’ link at the top of the page and then scroll down to the liberalized fishing link under the ‘Now Available On-line’ heading.
This Old Farm: More than a place to make money
More farmers are reaching the age where a decision must be made about the future of the land they have toiled on for so many years. What will become of the farm?
By Tom Conroy
DNR Information Officer
Jim Schafer relaxed in an easy chair next to the fireplace in front of the patio door. Outside, juncos, chickadees and assorted other birds feasted on the spread of seeds scattered on the deck for them. A spotting scope on a tripod provided a close-up look at the birds that preferred to keep their distance – pheasants, primarily. As Jim chatted with his guests, his wife Marilyn was putting out a spread of her own in the form of pastries, juice, hot chocolate and coffee for the visitors to feast on.
The Schafer visitors were there on this recent December morning to see first-hand the wildlife habitat work Jim has done on his Renville County property over the years – and then to try to harvest a few of the plentiful pheasants that have taken a liking to the Schafer farm. By day’s end, the mission had been accomplished on both counts.
Renville County’s fertile soil is intensively farmed and wildlife habitat has long taken a backseat to corn and soybeans. That has begun to change some in recent years as more landowners have expressed interest in programs such as CREP (Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program) as one way to restore some of their land back to a natural state. Jim Schafer has been doing just that for many years, largely through the Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) Wetland Restoration Program (WRP).
For Jim, farming has been a gratifying way to put food on the table and a little money in the bank. But he always wanted his farm to be more than just a place where money is made. A wholly tamed farm, he contends, is more lifeless than alive. During his life on this farm, the untamed portions of it have provided the pleasures and memories he values most.
Restored wetlands, native grass plantings and shelterbelts dot the Schafer property, beginning just a stone’s throw from the back deck. Watching deer, pheasants, rabbits, waterfowl and birds at the feeders from the comfort of his easy chair “sure as heck beats watching TV,” Jim declared with a wide smile. While these rewards are not economic, he believes they have made his life more full than it would have otherwise been.
Watching eight drake woodducks, feathers gleaming in the early morning sun, waddle single file from a wetland to a nearby field to eat – priceless. A doe and her fawn, ever vigilant, munching on grass at dusk – the same. Ditto for the sound of rooster pheasants crowing mightily on an early spring morning, backed up by a spirited choir of songbirds. And walking side by side with a son or grandson, shotguns in tow, while dogs roust pheasants from the grass – how could you put a price tag on that?
More farmers are reaching the age where a decision must be made about the future of the land they have toiled on for so many years. Retirement is becoming more appealing and in many cases, the kids have moved away to seek a different kind of work. What will become of the farm? Increasingly, a choice is being made by these “baby boomers” to leave a legacy by returning at least some of it to a natural state.
More retiring landowners seem motivated by a desire to give something back, to the earth on which they profited, and to future generations. Often times land is donated to the DNR or an organization such as The Nature Conservancy in order to ensure that it will be preserved in a natural state.
The DNR, in fact, takes in an average of $1.5 million to $2 million a year in cash and land donations each year. Since 1986 when the Reinvest in Minnesota critical habitat match program began, the DNR has accepted nearly 30,000 acres of donated land valued at $33 million. In 2007 alone, the DNR received $746,000 in cash donations and 1,850 acres of land valued at approximately $2.9 million.
Jim Schafer is not surprised by the growing interest in habitat preservation. As one grows older, he supposes, ideas about what’s important in life change. With that, he escorted his guests outside for a walk on the wild side. Soon, pheasants were flushing in bunches. Sure beats watching TV.
© 2008 Outdoors Weekly (PK Outdoors, Inc.)