Weekly conservation report

[Lee Borgersen]

...DNR Conservation Officer reports

  Aug. 13 Today at 5:00 a.m.


District 4 - Walker area

CO Mark Mathy (Cass Lake) primarily checked anglers and boaters. Northern pike and pan fish were the fish most seen in the live wells this week. Calls were received about nuisance and injured animals. Enforcement action was taken for PWC after hours, PWC in emergent vegetation at a speed greater than slow-no-wake, illegal length walleye, angle with extra lines, and no license in possession.


CO Duke Broughten (Longville) spent the week monitoring angling, boating, AIS, and ATV activity. Anglers continue to report limited success. CO Broughten observed less boating and ATV activity. He also fielded calls regarding ATV's, bear season, and boating regulations, and gave a presentation to a firearms safety class.


CO Jeff Halverson (Staples) handled nuisance bear, coyote, and deer calls this week. Officer Halverson attended Law Night Out with local Police Officers in Staples and gave a career talk at Royal Rangers group in Pillager. Officer Halverson also checked fishermen and ATVs in the area.


Walker — vacant.

District 9 - Brainerd area

CO Jim Guida (Brainerd #2) worked sport fishing enforcement this week. Officer Guida prepared for an upcoming training. Time was spent handling calls regarding injured loons. Officer Guida also worked with the County Land Services on an illegal shoreline development.


CO Patrick McGowan (Pine River) worked Cass and Crow Wing County lakes for boating activity. Recreational and fishing activity was high on area lakes. Enforcement action was taken for numerous boating and fishing violations.


CO Karl Hadrits (Crosby) reports continuing enforcement efforts on area lakes to curtail the illegal removal of aquatic plants by use of hydro-blasters, non-permitted mechanical devices such as "weed rollers" and "beach rollers", and hand cutting of emergent vegetation. Numerous enforcement contacts were made on several area lakes for aquatic plant removal violations and some major impact situations were discovered for follow up. Other activity included ongoing bear depredation issues, and dealing with an issue where a guy dug stairs into the hillside of a mine lake in the Cuyuna Country State Recreational area so he could access the lake to fish with illegal set lines and leave all his miscellaneous stuff by the lakeshore for weeks, including his floaty toys which blew away into the lake.


CO Eric Sullivan (Pequot Lakes) attended the Pequot Lakes National Night Out event and worked a booth at the Crow Wing County fair. Two subjects were injured when an ATV struck a telephone pole in Crow Wing County. CO Sullivan also investigated wetland and public waters violations. Enforcement action during the week included extra angling lines and litter.


Cuyuna SRA — vacant.

District 10 - Mille Lacs area

CO Gregory Verkuilen (Garrison) worked lake activity including aquatic vegetation which is hitting its peak foliage. Complaints were addressed regarding cutting and transporting vegetation. He also followed up on a trespassing complaint, did some recognizance on a buoy issue, and assisted with an ATV injury crash.


CO Chris Tetrault (Isle) assisted with a work detail in the BWCA. The officer put on 60 to 70 miles checking those recreating the BWCA. The officers found several people angling without licenses in possession and one couple that was not aware that they need to purchase a license to angle in Minnesota.


CO Scott Fitzgerald (Malmo) reports working fishing and boating activity on area lakes and a few folks were out enjoying the nice weather. A break-in was reported on one of the DNR storage buildings and a car vs deer crash was responded to. The Officer also assisted a local agency with a landing of the Life Link helicopter for an accident victim. Patrol was done in the Solana State Forest for ATV, ORV, and OHM activity and many outdoor law related questions were fielded during the week and weekend. Calls to the Attorney General's Office were completed for an upcoming court hearing and questions on the deer feeding ban in the Aitkin County area were answered.


CO Dan Starr (Onamia) reports bear concerns continue to be heard, which ripening crops are not helping. Assistance was given to local wildlife staff on a wetland bog issue. CO Starr took enforcement action on AIS violations and started an investigation on a possible wetland violation. Assistance was also given to the Sheriff's office with a stolen boat motor case.


CO Luke Croatt (Wealthwood) patrolled area state forest, WMA's, and answered questions regarding bear hunting in those areas. Area rice crops are looking somewhat better than last year but still needs time to ripen. Assistance was given to local sheriff's office on an accident and a fishing violation was investigated.

District 11 - St. Cloud area

CO Rhonda Friese (Long Prairie) checked angling, watercraft, and OHV activities. Investigations continued on APM violations. Assistance was also given on a depredation shooting permit.