Crow Wing County outlines 2025 plan to combat AIS – Brainerd Dispatch

BRAINERD — The new year will mark the 11th year the state has distributed $10 million to counties to help develop plans to stop the spread of aquatic invasive species.

In 2025, Crow Wing County will oversee $472,193 of those funds, a slight decrease from 2024. Since 2014, the county has reported receiving about $450,000 annually in local aid from the state.

The county is required to update its AIS prevention plan annually. One of the ideas was to reduce the hours at the end of the day for staff inspectors when unloading boats. The county offered a 30-day public comment period on the plan from Nov. 8 to Dec. 8, generating three responses.

Crow Wing County Lakes and Rivers Alliance

noted star discovery

in two lakes in the county — Lake Rush and Middle Cullen. The DNR describes starry stonewort as a form of grass-like algae that is not native to North America.

On Dec. 17, the Crow Wing County Council approved the Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention Plan for 2025. The county plans to use its share of $472,193 in state funds plus the 2024 rollover of $61,257 in funds. So $478,875 would go to boat inspections for 13,632 inspection hours on 43 public access landings in the county. The county worked with the DNR to create an optimized model to maximize inspections of boats moving from infested waters to non-infested waters. An online model dashboard was developed for local governments using data and over 1.6 million boater movement surveys. The four priority aquatic invasive species are zebra mussels, Eurasian milfoil, starry splash and spiny water fleas.

The county took comments on the plan and modified the original inspection times to reduce the shift start time. For returning inspectors with two or more years of experience, the county reported wage will be $24/hour, a new inspector, the wage will be $21/hour.

The high-risk landings, 22 of them, will be staffed from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday through Sunday, from the opening of the fishery through Labor Day weekend.

Medium-risk landings, five, will be staffed from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday from when the fishery opens through Labor Day weekend.

Low-risk landings, 11, will be staffed from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend.

The five very low-risk landings will be staffed from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on three holiday weekends, Memorial Day, July 4, and Labor Day.

“The county plans to continue providing funds to local government units (LGUs) that have an active delegation agreement signed with the Minnesota DNR to facilitate boat inspections on county-assigned landings in 2025,” the county reported. “The funding includes Ruth Lake and Fifty Lakes to provide hours for their MN DNR approved boat inspection and decontamination program.

“…Crow Wing County plans to hire a part-time seasonal lead inspector to assist operations specialists with the county’s AIS boat inspection program, including spot checks, training, addressing inspectors’ needs, assisting with fishing tournaments , data verification and mobile device operation. decontamination unit.”

The county plans to spend $31,610 on decontamination stations.

“An AIS decontamination hotline will be available for the public to call, 24 hours a day,” the county said. “A text message service will be provided for additional information on AIS decontamination to the public. The hotline and text message service will help provide customers with the locations of the closest open decontamination stations near them.

“This funding also includes DNR training, county training and general supplies/maintenance. Two mobile decontamination units will be located at several landings in the county, including Edward, Lower Hay, North Long – Merrifield, Pelican – Halverson Bay, Upper South Long and Lower Cullen. They will be staffed approximately 816 hours (+/-) beginning with the opening weekend of the fishery through Labor Day weekend.”

Funds of $11,165 will go toward educational and outreach materials for public schools, youth groups and civic organizations in the county.

The county reported that $61,800 of the AIS money will be available for grants for the prevention, treatment and early detection of aquatic invasive species in the county’s lakes. Funding could cover treatments for milfoil and steamed stonewort, sampling for stonewort, zebra mussels and spiny water fleas, with the option for other opportunities to be vetted.

Comments focused on proposed changes to reduce inspector hours at public lake access points and problems for inspectors or attracting them to work.

Commenting on the plan, Anthony Coffey, president of the Lakes and Rivers Alliance, said 5-6pm saw more inspections than 9am.

The alliance, which represents 30 lake associations in the county, said the presence of “highly invasive and harmful algae” in starryspouts demonstrates the need for the county to have an aggressive and effective AIS prevention plan. The Alliance’s recommendations noted the Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center’s advocacy for a strong education and awareness aspect of the plan to help spread invasive species.

“We commend the increase in the education and awareness component of the 2025 Plan to $11,000,” the Alliance wrote in comments to the county, adding that lake associations are well suited to share information with resort owners that can be passed on to their guests. The alliance suggested the county could work with lake associations to implement a resort ambassador inspector program that is used in other counties. The Alliance stated that its members are willing to assist in this endeavor and serve as needed to help form and contribute to an advisory committee.

Other recommendations included the potential for staggered inspection hours as a tool, inspecting boaters early and late in the day, developing a coordinated plan for bi-monthly road inspections working with the county’s AIS team and the sheriff’s department.

The alliance included DNR road inspection data that included: 27 boats inspected on Highway 16, Crosslake on May 26, 2023, with a 26 percent violation rate related to drain plugs, which should be removed during transit; 15 boats were inspected on June 3, 2023, at Malmo Public Water Access in Aitkin County, which found an aquatic plant and a zebra mussel inside a propeller that was discovered by a K-9; a Sept. 8, 2024 inspection at Cedar Creek Public Water Access in Mille Lacs County inspected 23 watercraft and found three aquatic plants, a drain plug problem and a zebra mussel; other four-hour roadside inspection data across the state found aquatic plants and problems with drain plugs.

Alan Albrecht, North Long Lake, suggested cutting an hour in the morning made more sense than the busy 5-6 pm slot. Albrecht also suggested options for part-time workers to share or split a shift. With concerns about the lack of toilets, Albrect said maybe the lake association could help get a portable facility at the landing or see if there’s a place they could go, like a lake association member’s home.

Susan Koering, president of the Pelican Lakes Association of Crow Wing County, said Pelican Lake is high risk and should have a portable decontamination facility if possible. The Alliance agreed with the Pelican Lake Association regarding fishing tournaments and a portable decontamination facility.

“This is an actionable solution, now before it’s too late,” Koering wrote in the email.

She also encouraged some educational efforts, with some verbiage for boats coming and going for fishing tournaments on area lakes.

Renee Richardson, managing editor, can be reached at 218-855-5852 or [email protected]. Follow on Twitter @DispatchBizBuzz.