Weekly Co Report

[Lee Borgersen]

District 4 - Walker area

CO Chelsey Best (Remer) worked a very busy Memorial Day weekend in the Remer, Outing and Longville areas. Investigations were completed for AIS violations and ATV and PWC complaints. Assistance was provided to the county for a sink hole that caused traffic issues on the highway. And after several calls of dead deer, cows and dogs floating in the lake, Best retrieved what were actually two partially decayed deer carcasses that were causing boating hazards on Roosevelt Lake.


CO Mark Mathy (Cass Lake) checked anglers, OHVs, and boaters. Some time was spent at Camp Ripley training at the Academy. A complaint of a person shooting bears was investigated and a landowner was issued a citation after failing to report a nuisance bear that he shot. Other enforcement action for the week was taken on boating, angling, and OHV violations.

CO Colleen Adam (Park Rapids Station) assisted with training functions at Camp Ripley for the new Academy. She also worked on fishing, boating and OHV activities in the area with many locals and visitors enjoying the holiday weekend.

District 9 - Brainerd area

CO Tim Collette (Brainerd #1) continued handling bowfishing complaints with a batch of carp dumped at a public landing and shooting too close to cabins being the most recent issues. He also investigated calls of illegal-length fish and overlimits and investigated a possible wolf depredation on sheep.

CO Patrick McGowan (Pine River) patrolled busy Crow Wing County lakes over the holiday weekend. McGowan also worked on training materials for the current CO Academy. Enforcement action was taken for numerous boating violations and an overlimit of walleyes.

CO Jim Guida (Brainerd #2) patrolled waters of the station during the busy holiday weekend. Numerous anglers and boaters were checked. Some boaters were without required safety equipment and required angling licenses. Some violations addressed included no horn/sound producing device, no type IV PFD, no fire extinguisher, insufficient PFDs, operating watercraft after sunset without required navigation lights, PWC after hours, and watercraft registration violations. Guida also contacted a boater who was violating their driver’s license conditions as set by the court from their last impaired driving violation. The boater will have their driver’s license revoked again as a consequence of their consumption of alcohol on the water.


CO Bob Mlynar (Aitkin) worked the various summer activities. Assistance was given to Aitkin County invasive species workers who found water transported from zebra mussel infested waters and a fisherman who didn’t want to exchange his minnow water. A road kill yearling cow moose was removed from U.S. Highway 169 south of Hill City.

CO Scott Fitzgerald (CCSRA) reports working fishermen and boaters during the holiday weekend. He found lots of people out enjoying the outdoors with the warm weather. The SRA was patrolled for park violations and illegal camping in the park. Fitzgerald also assisted at Camp Ripley with license and registration week at the CO Academy. Calls regarding blocked public accesses and possible illegal methods of taking fish were investigated. A call of some drug paraphernalia found at a campground was taken and the item was seized. Lots of outdoor law-related questions were answered throughout the week and weekend. Enforcement action was taken for fishing violations.

CO Karl Hadrits (Crosby) reports activity this week including giving a talk on laws and ethics to firearms safety course students, handling nuisance and injured wildlife calls, and patrolling bass opener and holiday weekend recreational activity on area lakes, the Crow Wing State Forest, the Cuyuna Country State Recreational area, and grant-in-aid ATV trails. Bass and panfish anglers were found having success everywhere. Numerous enforcement contacts were made for violations including required boating equipment, underage drinking, miscellaneous state recreational area violations, and driving after revocation.

CO Eric Sullivan (Pequot Lakes) patrolled the Foot Hills State Forest over the weekend. A large number of riders and families came to the area to enjoy the trails. Violations observed included expired registration, illegal youth operation and youth without helmets. Sullivan also worked boating and angling activity. The area lakes were full with boating activity and enforcement action was taken for illegal-length largemouth bass and expired watercraft registration.

District 10 - Mille Lacs area

CO Gregory Verkuilen (Garrison) primarily worked holiday weekend activity on area lakes. With the recent ice-out a lot of boats were just hitting the water. Early season issues like misplaced registration, discharged fire extinguishers, and lack of PFDs were addressed.

CO Dustie Speldrich (Willow River) worked the Memorial Day weekend and found several boating and fishing violations including expired registration, PFD violations, no fire extinguishers and no angling licenses. Speldrich worked ATV complaints where several registration issues were seen along with children under 18 not wearing helmets. Speldrich responded to Pine County for assistance with a search for a missing person with dementia who also had an infant with him in a stroller. Both were found unharmed. She also responded to a call of an aggressive dog in a state forest campground running loose. The dog was caught and the owner was notified. Please remember to purchase your horse trail passes before riding in the state forests and parks.

CO Luke Croatt (Wealthwood) patrolled state forests and area lakes. Anglers were doing well for large walleyes and smallmouth bass on Mille Lacs Lake. A few reported catching some northern pike. Some of the smaller lakes were producing decent sunfish and crappies. Many people were out just cooling off and enjoying the lake. Time was also spent checking ATV activity and Croatt also assisted the State Patrol with a car vs. pedestrian accident.

District 11 - St. Cloud area

CO Caleb Silgjord (Sauk Centre) spent time during the week checking anglers and boaters in the area. The spring panfish spawn is ongoing on most area lakes and many anglers were out trying their luck. Many nice-sized fish were seen over the busy holiday weekend. Assistance was provided at the Conservation Officer Academy for weekly scenarios and a ride-along opportunity was also provided to an area college student who is interested in becoming a CO. An Aqua Thruster issue was addressed with a cease and desist order after it was found to have caused a large hole in the lake bottom. Enforcement action is pending. Other violations for the week included no license in possession, spearing after hours, no angling license, insufficient PFDs, failure to display watercraft registration and no navigation lights.

CO Todd VanderWeyst (Paynesville) worked with neighboring officers investigating public waters complaints and AIS activity. The officer also handled wildlife nuisance calls and turned them over to wildlife. Administrative task and vehicle maintenance were also done.

CO Keith Bertram (Long Prairie) reports a very busy weekend on the water. Some violations included no angling license, extra lines, over limit of crappies, and several boating safety issues. A report of a fish die-off on a local lake was investigated.

District 12 - Princeton area

CO Tony Musatov (Sauk Rapids) checked anglers and boaters. Violations were found for extra lines, no watercraft registration, and no angling license. Complaints were handled about an AIS violation and a wanton waste fish case. Several animal calls were received.

CO Mike Krauel (Mora) spent the busy and hot holiday weekend checking anglers and working boater safety. One individual he checked decided he would try to give Krauel a false name to escape a warrant and ticket for not having a fishing license. After Krauel discovered the plan, the individual tried running away. After a brief foot chase, a little swim, and some help from a citizen who was fishing at the same spot, the individual surrendered peacefully and swam to shore. Krauel also followed up on wetland complaints, trapping cases, and big-game cases. Enforcement action was taken for fleeing a peace officer, giving a false name to a peace officer, no fishing license, illegal-length northern pike, angling with extra lines, and several boat safety violations.

Aviation Section

NR Pilot John Heineman (Bemidji) flew wolf telemetry but weather canceled Forest Assessment photos missions.

NR Pilot Brad Maas (Brainerd) continued working on equipment for aerial cattail spraying. He and TFO Haberman took part in Forest Day at Remer High School with a helicopter. Third- through sixth-graders took part in learning about all the different uses of our newest helicopter. CO Best was also there her boat, equipment and fur display. Others there included Forestry, local fire departments, and county sheriff’s offices.

Water Resource Enforcement Officers

WREO Leah Weyandt (Central) spent a morning training Wright County deputies about aquatic invasive species. A technical evaluation meeting was attended for multiple wetland violations. Time was spent on Lake Minnetonka for the holiday weekend. Enforcement action was taken for failure to display current watercraft registration and fishing without an angling license.

WREO Mike Scott (NE) worked on an upcoming AIS check station for the weekend before July 4. He issued two Wetland Conservation Act restoration orders and continued monitoring a WCA issue with a local government unit and soil and water conservation district. Anglers were checked on area lakes and rivers; fishing is good with lots of folks out. Memorial Day weekend anglers, boaters and ATV riders were checked on area lakes. Great weather had many folks out enjoying the weekend.