Conservation Officer Report:

[Lee Borgersen]

Conservation officer Bret Grundmeier (Hinckley) had a busy week during the Memorial Day Holiday.

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A lot of patrol time was spent dealing with a high volume of all-terrain vehicle activity and numerous ATV complaints. One ATVer was dealt with after speeding around a blind corner, in the middle of the road, and almost colliding with Grundmeier's squad. The operator commented that he chose a poor time to see what his new ATV could do.

Officer Karl Hadrits (Crosby) reports activity this week of responding to issues of nuisance bear and beaver, stolen beaver traps, miscellaneous baby wildlife calls, and wolf depredation on cattle.

Students in the firearms safety program at Cuyuna Range Elementary were spoken to on laws and ethics. The holiday weekend was busy with high recreational activity. Area lakes, the Mississippi River, the Crow Wing State Forest, and the Cuyuna Country State Recreational Area were patrolled with numerous enforcement contacts made for violations including illegal camping, alcohol, fires, cutting trees, and after hours occupancy in the CCSRA, no trout stamps, watercraft safety equipment, and all-terrain vehicle violations including registration, illegal youth operation, operating on public access, and operation along roadways.

Officer Duke Broughten (Longville) spent the week monitoring angling, boating, aquatic invasive species, and ATV activity. Anglers reported poor success this week. Broughten observed a high amount of recreational activity. Several ATV accidents were reported in the area which included persons being airlifted to hospitals. ATV operators are reminded an area or trail that is open to snowmobiles may not be open to ATVs. Broughten continues to get reports of bears in the area. Bears are native to the area. Seeing a bear doesn't mean the bear intends to cause you harm. Broughten also received request for information for a rehab center to rehab an injured hummingbird.

Officer Tim Collette (Crosslake) checked many anglers and ATVs during the week and weekend. Fishing was good and the trails were full. Calls of nuisance beavers, newborn fawns thought abandoned, two road kill bears, a found wolf pup were handled, and TIP calls of fishing in a closed area and possible illegal excavation in a lake were investigated. The officer also assisted a neighboring officer with the laws presentation portion of an ATV safety class and responded to a call from an aquatic invasive inspector at a boat landing where a boater refused to talk to the inspector and proceeded to launch the boat after requests to stop.

Officer Jim Guida (Brainerd No. 2) worked sport fishing and all-terrain vehicle enforcement over the week. Numerous on the water checks resulted in enforcement action taken for no angling license, insufficient number of personal floatation devices, and fail to display navigational lights as required. A dredging complaint is being investigated. Officer Guida also received information on black bear contacts.

Officer Bob Mlynar (Aitkin) worked angling, watercraft, ATV, and AIS enforcement. Numerous wildlife calls were also handled including beaver, loons, fawns, and bear.

Officer Eric Sullivan (Pequot Lakes) patrolled Foothills State Forest for ATV activity and sport fishing activity. Sullivan contacted ATV riders enjoying trails and camping opportunities. Sullivan also patrolled the Gull Lake chain. Sullivan made contact with a group of individuals operating their motorboat recklessly. All subjects aboard the motorboat were under the age of 21 and consuming alcohol. Enforcement action was taken for minor consumption.

Officer Mark Mathy (Cass Lake) reports a busy holiday weekend. Several anglers, boaters, and ATVs were out enjoying the area. A fishing TIP was investigated on Cass Lake. Three separate wetland complaints were investigated. Enforcement action was taken for angling, boating, ATV, and invasive species violations.

Officer Jeff Halverson (Staples) worked holiday weekend boaters and fishermen. Bear and beaver complaints keep coming in. Contacts were made for no PFDs, expired watercraft registration, and fishing without a license in possession.

CO Dustie Speldrich (Willow River) worked boat and water activity, AIS enforcement, and anglers. Violations encountered were no throwable life saving devices, no PFDs, no fire extinguishers, fail to display boat registration, several boats with plugs in traveling down the roadways, and no angling licenses, as well as no licenses in possession. Officer Speldrich also worked ATVs and OHMs finding several equipment violations, no registration, operating OHMs on a public road, under 18 without helmets, more passengers on an ATV than allowed, and no safety certificates. Several wildlife calls were taken. One included a fawn brought into the yard by a family dog unharmed. The dog owner was advised to put the fawn back in the area where it likely came from and tie the dog up. Another call was from a young man who thought he was doing the right thing when he located a fledgling great horned owl while kayaking on a local river. He brought the owl back to town in the kayak and turned it over to CO Speldrich. Needless to say, the young kayaker took another trip up and down the river to return the owl to where it was found. Officer Speldrich also assisted the county with a search warrant where many marijuana plants were seized.


Later the same day while approaching two adult anglers who were fishing from shore and drinking beer, at a remote state forest area lake, the two anglers tossed their beer cans in the lake. The two said they panicked because they thought it was illegal to drink beer in the state forest. They were informed having a beer was OK but throwing garbage into the lake was a bit of a problem.