Removing lilly pad roots...

[BoxMN]

So, I know this is bad for a lake, the roots should stay put. Saw a person doing it by dragging a rope towing some type of rigged apparatus behind his boat. I called him out on it, as he was also towing to middle of lake and letting it float there. I know that is against regs.

But in reading the regs, I could not quite tell if actually using the boat (mechanical?) and using a rope with apparatus on it (dragline?) technically is against the regs.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/shorelandmgmt/apg/regulations.html

Regs do actually allow pulling lilies (floating aquatic veg) "by hand" (and maintaining by mechanical means) to make a channel for boats to get to open water, and also for beach use...

Also, his spot is in muck area, he will never have a beach there, ever. This spot was outside the 15' wide area from his dock.

He told me his neighbor moved them there, to which I told him no, I have been fishing that same area for about 10 years...

So give me your thoughts? Was I a big mouth buttinsky or do you read the regs like I do, that he was out of line?

Thanks for your thoughts one way or the other.

[delcecchi]

I agree with you. He needs a permit to remove "floating leaf vegetation" of an extent more than a 15 foot channel to open water.

As for the "buttinsky" part, I guess it depends on how big a violation it was and whether you are willing to have the guy upset with you.

[not_nuf_time]

No way, I agree with you. I watched a guy start spraying for weeds around his dock in the water with a preasure sprayer. Started to go over there and the guy ran up to his cabin/house. Kick myself for not calling dnr. Not a nark but pesticides in the water directly, come on.

[smallie_hawgin]

There are provisions as you mentioned and cited in the aquatic plant management guidelines. However, any time someone starts digging roots up, it changes. course, cross section and/or profile of the basin we are talking about. That is a violation without an approved permit. IF you ever have any doubt you can call the TIPS line 1-800-652-9093 and you can remain anonymous. It's kind of sad actually, so may people feel like "Oh if I do this little bit. it won't hurt the lake/river" Well the bad part is there's enough mis-informed or under educated or just plain ignorant people that the cumulative impact IS far bigger than they even realize. You were't a buttinsky IMO... We need more people willing to step up and tell folks they are doing stuff wrong. We are so fortunate to have so many public waters in our state... We should all be treating them to pass on to the next generation.....

[LightningBG]

I would say he probably would have been ok if they weren't lilys and if he didn't put them in the middle of the lake. The lily's could be taken from the boat path but not from the swimming area (from what I can tell)

I don't think using a boat or dragging a tool would be illegal. It really isn't "earth moving equipment".

Also doesn't matter if it's muck or sandy for the swimming area.