Conservation officers turned garbage collectors

[Lee Borgersen]

  Conservation officers turned garbage collectors

Trash left on area lakes from ‘permanent’ ice-fishing houses a growing concernPosted: March 25, 2011 - 2:57pm
 By Brian S. Peterson
Outdoors Editor
 
The wooden blocks are left behind like not-so-live bait, discarded on the ice of area lakes.

But those expired red-tailed chubs and crappie minnows and the like are good eating now for birds, and later, when the ice once again gives way to open water, for the lake’s fish population.

Those wooden blocks used to keep “permanent” ice-fishing houses off the ice? They’ll likely wash up on lake property owners’ beaches. And most are treated with some sort of chemical, not at all good for lakes and their fish population.

DNR conservation officers are doing their best to keep that from happening. But picking up those wooden blocks and other trash left on the ice of Brainerd area lakes is becoming a monumental task for conservation officers. And, according to one area CO, the mess was overwhelming this winter.

“I’m going to say it’s worse (than ever),” Tim Collette, Brainerd area CO, said of the trash problem on area lakes.

While Collette’s primary territory is the Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area, like most area COs, he goes where he’s needed. Recently, that’s been Gull Lake, the Brainerd lakes area’s best-known fishery. A popular destination for ice anglers, “permanent” shanties dotted the large lake throughout the winter.

“I’m mainly talking Gull Lake,” Collette said of his trash duty. “We had my whole pickup heaped with garbage and filled half of his (fellow DNR CO Randy Posner out of Brainerd). And that was just one day.”

Posner noted that in a recent CO report.

“Garbage left behind by ice-shelter owners continues to be a big problem,” he wrote. “Two pickup truck loads of garbage were removed from area lakes.”

And the trashing of area lakes extends well beyond Gull. Brent Speldrich, a CO out of McGregor, recently reported that he spent a good deal of time “working debris pickup on area lakes.” There also were numerous reports of “permanent” houses left on the lake after the deadline — according to DNR regulations, they were to be removed from area lakes by March 7.

But Collette couldn’t get over the piles of trash left on the lakes after the houses were removed. He said it was mostly wooden blocks, but he also saw a lot of empty one-pound propane cylinders, plastic bottles, pop cans and even human waste.

“The bulk of the stuff was just blocks they would leave behind,” Collette said. “A lot of people might say that’s not a big thing. But they wash up on someone’s beach. And so many of the blocks are treated (with chemicals) that shouldn’t be in the lakes either. There’s so much other stuff left behind. You name it.”

Collette said he doesn’t know if there is a definite solution to curbing the problem, but said he did his part to let offenders know there are consequences.

“The ones I knew about, I got a hold of them and wrote them tickets,” he said. “I think it’s going to be an enforcement thing. Payable reminders.”

While the recent winter storm likely extended the ice-fishing season a bit, Collette doesn’t see nearly the same problem with anglers in portable houses.

“That’s where you see a lot of the propane cylinders,” he said. “And sunflower seeds and orange peels. Everyone thinks those things are biodegradable. But there’s no part of the littering statute that says that’s OK. It’s an eyesore.

“We see some trash, but not near what we see with permanent houses. That’s where the bulk (of the garbage) came from.”