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Author Topic: WA banned ALL fishing  (Read 1587 times)

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Offline Lee Borgersen

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Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife

March 25 at 6:40 PM

WA banned ALL  :fishing: for 2 weeks.

 :doofus: ..
Pretty cool that some states are waiving license requirements to encourage people to "social distance" in the outdoors. Then you have Washington who's, well...basically doing the opposite (lol). They didn't just close public accesses...they banned all recreational fishing statewide!  :tut:
 
·
Starting midnight tonight, March 25, we're temporarily closing recreational fishing and shellfishing statewide in response to Governor Jay Inslee's order directing Washingtonians to stay home and stay healthy to limit the spread of coronavirus.  :sad:

More details: https://wdfw.wa.gov/…/wdfw-closes-recreational-fishing-stat…

> WA Dept of Fish & Wildlife: "...we're temporarily closing recreational fishing and shellfishing statewide in response to Gov Jay Inslee's order directing Washingtonians to stay home and stay healthy to limit the spread of coronavirus."


> "To go fishing you generally have to load up your car and boat and travel somewhere, often stopping to get gas, snacks, bait and more. This puts you in contact with others, which is what we are trying to prevent." :pouty:


 "With public accesses closed, it could also concentrate people in areas of private launches and fishing areas, which defeats the purpose."


Ouch!

 
Way it reads where I'm at in MN, we can still sneak out fishing so long as it's not in a community hole (lol):

                               :Photography:

                  click photo
« Last Edit: March 03/28/20, 01:19:32 AM by Lee Borgersen »
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Offline dakids

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Wait until the OPENER
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Online Gunner55

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MN DNR has put out a response to Walz latest annoucement. There's a link to it on their homepage.
« Last Edit: March 03/29/20, 08:53:28 AM by Gunner55 »
Life............. what happens while your making other plans. John Lennon

Offline Rebel SS

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All park gatherings down here INCLUDING fishing (area park streams) was just banned by the city. No date on how long.......



MN DNR stay at home guidelines




(ABC 6 News) -- The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says it is postponing, adjusting, and canceling a variety of public events and services in response to Governor Walz’s Stay At Home Executive Order 20-20.

The executive order allows people to be outdoors, engaging in activities such as walking, running, and fishing and hunting. MN DNR says Minnesotans can still continue to enjoy parks and other public recreation lands but be mindful of these guidelines:

Stay close to home.
Not congregate when outdoors.
Follow social distancing guidelines from the Minnesota Department of Health .
MN DNR officials says the following outdoor spots are still open:

Minnesota’s waters. You can fish if you have a license. Normal seasons and regulations apply.
Hunting seasons. There are no changes to upcoming hunting seasons. Normal regulations apply.
State parks. Bathrooms, vault toilets and shower buildings currently open will remain open. Other facilities are closed (see below).
Public land. Wildlife management areas, state forests, and Scientific and Natural Areas are open for recreation. Campgrounds are closed.
Public water accesses. State-managed public accesses are open, though the availability of amenities, such as docks, are contingent upon seasonal maintenance.
What is closed?

The following DNR-managed facilities:

Campgrounds, group camps, and remote campsites at all state parks, state forests, and state recreation areas.
Camper cabins
Yurts
Overnight lodging facilities
Group centers, trail centers and other ancillary buildings
Visitor centers
State park contact stations
Facilities and lands not administered by the DNR may have restrictions. Please check with local authorities.

How can I do business with the DNR during the Stay At Home order?

We urge the public to use the following to do business with the DNR:

Buy or renew licenses online
Make or change camping and lodging reservations online  or by phone at 866-857-2757
Call your local DNR office
Use email  or phone (888-646-6367) to request information from the DNR Information Center
State parks information

Minnesota’s state parks remain open and still require a vehicle permit. With contact stations closed, visitors can purchase permits through self-pay and information kiosks located at each facility. Visitors are encouraged to purchase daily and annual passes online before leaving home.

DNR programs, events, trainings, and meetings

Many DNR-sponsored events, trainings, and meetings are canceled or postponed. This includes:

Safety education training, including firearms safety training
Workshops and clinics, including Becoming an Outdoors Woman and Fishing in the Neighborhood
Fishery tours and public viewing of the walleye egg take
Deer open houses
Elk input meetings in northwest Minnesota
Educational trainings, including Project Learning Tree, WET, and WILD trainings
Naturalist programs
In-person volunteer activities
Burning permits

You may obtain a burning permit online or by calling your local forestry office.

Other questions

If you still have questions, please email the DNR’s Information Center  or call 888-646-6367.
« Last Edit: March 03/29/20, 11:08:21 AM by Rebel SS »

Online Gunner55

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I just seen where towns along the North Shore are telling the non-locals to stay home & not travel to their area for the Spring river runs. Might get nasty ~ 5/9 this year if they can't get this thing turned around. :pouty:
« Last Edit: March 03/29/20, 04:02:38 PM by Gunner55 »
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Offline Rebel SS

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Yup, DON'T head to the cabin................


Thinking of heading to a cabin to wait out the coronavirus? Here are a few things to consider



Cabins

While the desire to head up to the cabin this time of year is understood by many, state officials ask that you consider that decision carefully. John Enger | MPR News
For Minnesotans fortunate enough to own cabins or second homes in rural parts of the state, the idea of heading to those getaway places likely seems awfully tempting right now.

With the state under a two-week stay-at-home order starting at midnight Friday, people who are working from home, feeling cooped up or just looking for a peaceful refuge to wait out the COVID-19 outbreak might be thinking of packing up and heading out of town for the next few weeks.

Not so fast, say state officials.

During her daily call with reporters Thursday, state health commissioner Jan Malcolm had a message for cabin owners: Stay home.

“We’ve heard some reports that lots of us are getting into the car and heading to our favorite retreat spots up north or wherever, and we certainly know what an important part of Minnesota culture that is,” she said.

But Malcolm said health care resources in more remote parts of the state don’t have the capacity to absorb large numbers of new cases if many people get sick.

“Just be mindful of the fact that we don’t want to overload those smaller, rural communities at this time,” she said.

Fears that cabin owners would flee the Twin Cities metro area, where dozens of people have tested positive for COVID-19, for northern Minnesota, where until recently, no cases had been confirmed, has been a hot topic of conversation on social media.

“I live in northern MN where the snowbirds, cabin owners and tourists will soon be arriving in droves, and we’re damn concerned about it,” Tim Murphy, a retired steelworker who lives north of Virginia, Minn., tweeted on Wednesday.

Murphy said by phone on Friday that in the spring, cabin owners and tourists start clogging the highways, heading north to fish and enjoy the lakes. He’s worried that those visitors could bring the coronavirus with them.

“I’m sure that the majority of people will take the precautions they should be taking that come up here, but all it takes is a few to bring the virus in,” he said. “And all of a sudden our restaurants will be full of people, and our stores, and our resorts and hotels, and everything. It’s jam-packed up here all summer.”

Stay home, stop the spread?
Minnesota has roughly 112,000 seasonal cabins, according to the state Department of Revenue. Many of those are located in northern or central Minnesota, where the coronavirus is not yet widespread.

As of Friday, the Minnesota Department of Health had reported one positive case of COVID-19 in Beltrami County, one in Cass County and five in St. Louis County.

"Anyone coming into our county from somewhere else risks bringing the virus with them,” St. Louis County board Chairman Mike Jugovich said in a news release Wednesday, after the county’s third positive case was announced.

“That includes people coming to spend time at their cabin or favorite rental getaway spot, and even snowbirds coming home,” Jugovich stated. “Please pause and ask if this is really the best time to travel. We all need to do our part to stop the spread of this virus."

Some local governments, including Cook County in northeastern Minnesota and Ashland and Bayfield counties in northwestern Wisconsin, have already passed travel advisories asking seasonal property owners to stay home during the outbreak.

Crow Wing County, which includes a portion of the popular Brainerd Lakes Area, hasn’t gone that far.

“I think we would like to discourage the behavior,” said Crow Wing County Administrator Tim Houle. “But I don't think that there's anything that we can really do to prevent it.”

For many snowbirds returning now from warmer climes, their Minnesota property might actually be their primary residence, Houle said. But for those who own cabins in the Brainerd area, Houle said, “we would like you to shelter-in-place where your home is.”

“It's not just a cause for concern for the local residents who live here,” he said. “It should also be a cause for concern for the people who travel here, thinking that they're going to be safer here than they would be in, say, the Twin Cities metropolitan area.”

Houle said there’s concern that hospitals in rural Minnesota wouldn’t be able to handle large numbers of COVID-19 cases if the virus continues to spread.

While Crow Wing County has three hospitals within easy access — in Brainerd, Staples and Crosby — others aren’t as lucky, and many have aging populations at higher risk from the coronavirus, he said. Nearby Aitkin County, where almost a quarter of the population is over age 70, has just four ICU beds, Houle said.

“That’s going to be a really difficult thing to handle,” he said.

The challenge for rural hospitals
Rural hospitals have different challenges than larger facilities in metro areas, said Pat DeLong, chief nursing officer of Duluth-based Essentia Health’s central region. The health care provider operates hospitals and clinics in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Idaho.

DeLong said Essentia and other health care providers are working to make sure they have enough staff, beds and medical supplies for when the COVID-19 outbreak reaches their regions. She said they are factoring in the possibility of an early seasonal population swell, which usually doesn’t happen until around the opening of fishing season in mid-May.

“It seems that that's happening earlier this year,” DeLong said. “Folks who have a cabin are saying, ‘Let's get up there early,’ which we certainly understand … We don't know the exact number, but we are taking it into account.”

DeLong said Essentia, like other Minnesota health care providers, is working to ramp the number of beds, ventilators and other equipment available to prepare for a surge of COVID-19 patients.

Many of the snowbirds who start returning to Minnesota from places like Arizona and Florida in April or May are elderly, and may have more chronic health conditions that would put them at higher risk for serious cases of COVID-19, DeLong said.

Cass County, which lies north and west of Brainerd, has one of the highest numbers of seasonal properties in Minnesota. More than half of its property tax statements are mailed to ZIP codes outside of the county, said Neal Gaalswyk, county board chairman.

Gaalswyk said it’s been relatively easy to shelter in place in his rural, isolated home, and he sees why that might appeal to many cabin owners.

“People who want to get out of a crowded city environment and come up and enjoy that same thing if they have property up here — I can see where they would want to do that,” he said. “Of course, the issue is that each time we move around, we are potentially bringing the virus to people who have not been exposed to it.”

Gaalswyk said area hospitals are equipped to handle the usual health care needs of the region into the summer months, when Cass County’s population doubles. But in the event of a widespread outbreak of COVID-19, they could quickly get overloaded, he said.

Still, Gaalswyk and other local officials are reluctant to tell seasonal residents to stay away altogether. Along with tourists staying at resorts and hotels, they help drive the area’s economy, keeping restaurants, grocery stores, bait shops and other businesses afloat. Many large resorts and other local businesses have had to lay off staff, as people have canceled reservations and restaurants, bars and spas have been forced to close.

“On the other hand, how are people going to buy groceries if folks don't come up here and enjoy this part of the state?” Gaalswyk said.

The Brainerd Lakes Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, is not encouraging people to travel up north, said Matt Kilian, the chamber’s president.

“But in the same breath, we’re not discouraging travel either,” he said. “Every family’s going to have to make that decision on their own.”

Kilian noted that seasonal property owners pay taxes and support local businesses and the community in a variety of ways, so it’s difficult to tell them to stay away.

“As long as they come up and practice all the social distancing and public safety recommendations, we’re certainly not going to send the message to our friends that they’re not welcome here,” Kilian said.

Offline Rebel SS

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