Cutting bullrushes

[TheIceFishingKid]

Doufish2: if they can't do anything about it with out seeing it, just take some pictures or video tape it when he does this. I had some friends in the Brainerd area that had this same problem and were told the same thing, they just video taped it the next time the guy did it.

[Ely Lake Expert]

I am assuming my guess is pretty good, but what exactly is cuffs and collers and where do you read it?

[walleyemkr]

'Cuffs and Collars' is towards the back in the Outdoor News each week... It's a brief summary of the state's Conservation Officer's weekly activities. Quite intersting most of the time, frustrating as to the 'brilliance' of some of our fellow Minnesotans.

[Ely Lake Expert]

Where would I get ahold of the "Outdoor news"? I don't think I have seen it before.

[Walleye Guy]

You can subscribe by going to their HSOforum (publication name plus (Contact Us Please) com) It is agreat magazine. I look forward to getting it every Thursday.

[ozzie]

Holiday Gas stations usually carry them....also noticed them in a few different grocery stores.

[Dave]

Super America has them as well.

[HossFisher]

I believe that gander mountain normally has them. Last time i was at the EP store they had them at the checkout lanes.

[Ebiz]

Post deleted by Ebiz

[Surface Tension]

On a small scale its not a big deal and there are provisions that allow a lake shore owner to do some alterations.

On the thought of whats good for our lakes. I wonder what those using paddle power are thinking about your outboards?

I wonder if a little of both concerns are out of envy?

Back to a bit of a sand blanket and weed removal.

How many here prefer a public, weed free, sandy beach?

How about a boat landing with a lane free of weeds to get the boat through.

Shall we bring up power loading again?

Then theres air born pollutants from autos, washed from the sky an into lakes by rain?

I could go on.

When we start to think about it all, we're not all that squeaky clean.

[vitalshot5]

AMEN!!!

[chaffmj]

Frank,

If I think to much my head starts to hurt. Your post made me think and now I have a headache.

Seriously, good post. We all want a little slice of the pie whether it is for a small hockey rink, a little sandy beach, lakes that are left alone and teeming with fish, motor use in some of the BWCA or a lake shore lot up the Echo trail.

Everybody has something that they want and think is ok but what is the price and how does it affect others? Where does it start and when should it end and who gets to make that call?

I use to own lake shore near Emily and cleared some weeds for a small beach and took down some trees for a view from the top of the hill, all legal but did that make it right? Some may think so and others will say no it should have been left natural. I sold that property because of what some others did to their lots that I didn't like. One guy took down all of his trees and put up a huge pole barn to park his RV in. A cell phone tower was put on some farmer’s property a couple miles away and the view from my cabin looking out across the lake changed, I could now look at red blinking lights on the tower. I look back now and wonder if I didn't bring some of that on myself by what I did.

I now own lake shore on Big Lake up the Echo Trail. I cleared a minimum number of trees to put up a 16x20 screen house which is barely visible from the lake. I thought I had gotten away from the things that made me sell my other property. I was wrong. One of the small resorts on the lake sells off to a developer that wants to chop up the lake shore and double the capacity of the resort. A small lot that was deemed by the county unbuildable gets a new owner who finagles his way around the zoning laws to get a permit and is building away in spite of notice from the county to stop. A lake association is formed and a lawyer hired and law suits are filed.

Where does it end and who is right or wrong? I don't know!

[Hammer Handle]

I see people pulling/cutting weeds and raking the lake bottom and adding sand all the time.

I call it in, and nothing happens?

Many people know it is legal, but know their odds of getting caught are very unlikely...even if turned in.

I am in the process of putting rocks on my lakeshore to prevent ice-out damage on my shore (seem to be losing 1 foot of lakeshore a year). It is hard, for I want all the natural plants and reeds to stay also. I have seen all the regulations first-hand...so how do so many people get by with not following them?

[Jackpine Rob]

A guy cutting some rushes off in the fall to make a skating rink?

Things could be a lot worse fellas.

He's right - the rushes will grow back in the spring, but his method of disposal is a bit suspect.

He's not dumping chemicals in, or digging up the bottom, or causing any permanent damage of any kind whatsoever. Sounds like, all things considered, he took a pretty reasonable approach to the situation (again, excepting out the removal portion).

But back to his underlying scheme - a skating rink for kids. I would humbly submit that a guy who's willing to go to the time and trouble and work to make a skating rink for kids can't be all bad. In fact, if he's getting a couple of youngsters out from in front of the TV or computer to skate outdoors, he sounds like the kind of guy I'd like to buy a cold one for.

Are we so into our own pursuits and desires and wishes that we would rain on the parade of a guy causing no lasting damage but with an obviously good motive?

And would anyone really go and intentionally cut holes in a skating rink to wreck it for the kids???? With the entire rest of the lake out there to fish and enjoy, why would anyone even suggest this?

Gosh, I hope we are nicer people than that.

[Ebiz]

Jackpine - point taken, you are absolutely correct. I deleted my post, one of those things you type without really thinking it through from all angles. I never considered the whole kid's skating rink idea and would never recommend intentionally ruining something like that.

When I first read this post I just flashed back to a couple years ago ice fishing on a metro lake during first ice. We hadn't had any snow yet and the ice was like glass. I set-up in one of my favorite spots which happened to be 30-40 yards away from shore. Wasn't there a half an hour when the homeowner comes out yelling that I had to move and not to drill anymore holes in "his" skating rink and that I was going to ruin it for the rest of the year. Being a real A$$ about it as well. Keep in mind there weren't any cones or markers or anything that would indicate that he had or was using it for a rink. I did move just because I go out there to relax not get yelled at, but the thought did cross my mind to go back and drill that grid of holes.

I've run into an increasing amount of lakeshore owners who think they own the whole lake and can just run their mouth off and threaten anyone who comes within earshot of their dock/shore and it gets pretty old after a while.

But..... as you pointed out - there are always two sides to the coin and it's better to give people the benefit of the doubt. Hope he does get some kids out from in front of the TV and on the lake!

[Jackpine Rob]

Fair enough EBiz.

It just seemed to me like a whole bunch of guys were piling on and crying foul without thinking the thing through.

Good luck on first ice (can't be long now, eh?)

[livintofish]

Jackpine, I don't think this has anything to do with not being nice people, nor is anyone out to persecute peoples agendas. What this guy was doing in the first place showed that he is not very well educated in aquatic systems and knew it, by not even responding to another concerned citizen. "I like fish", what kind of response is that, one that proves with his actions that he doesn't understand fish at all. Bulrushes are in fact one of the more fragile types of aquatice vegitation and will not vegitativly regrow much of the time, furthermore how hard is it to clear a path to the edge of the rushes and skate there, the lake is afterall not his property anyway, frozen or liquid, that is a privelege. Water is public property as should be the adjoining shoreline/shoreland that many lakeshore owners seem to take possesion of and modify in a way that EFFECTS THE WHOLE LAKE ECOSYSTEM. If anyone has any questions about shorland restoration, the DNR has a program that does restorations on peoples lakeshore, we all have the internet as well, it may be a little effort but its pretty easy to go and research some info on natural shorlines. In this case if you have trouble with errosion (losing a foot off shore a year), or ice out issues natural means WILL solve them odds are if you have these problems that that lakeshore was at sometime artificially modified (maybe even with good intensions), but natural means were put there for a reason. Trees, natural rock, various types of shoreland brush, aquatic veg, all of these work together to maintain a healthy, species rich shorline. Da Chise I love your point about people taking the time to understand cell phones, HDTV, and how many career TDs Farve has thrown, but what about the environment we all live in. Just a basic knowledge of such would drasticly improve highly human influenced ecosystems all around us...... and now everyones ears will perk up...that means more big WALLEYES, Gills, Skis and whatever you are into chasing, they are all tied together in the system and effeced from the bottom up. I would just think people would want to protect the lake they live on, I don't even live on one and am concerned about them. I guess the point is nature put them there for a reason, all of these weeds, and brush, and trees are habitat, that means home for wildlife that we all enjoy and like to see, catch, eat, and so on....It's as easy as simple education before making modifications to the ecosystem. I don't believe most people would start tearing their house,plumbing, electrical apart without knowing what they were doing, or consulting a professional, lets start applying this logic to the world we live in.

[livintofish]

It has also struck me kind of funny the way habitat alterations are viewed and attitudes towards them...Not much different I guess then alot of regulated things in this country, like: I will drive as fast as you say I can, and sometimes go just a bit over the line, and thats ok as long as I don't get caught. This is the attitude I see a lot when it comes to environmental regs, how much can I get away with. Sometimes I don't know if people stop to think about WHY these regs are there, "maybe" they are an instrumental part of maintaining our natural resources and that is why they are there, set there by professionals that care deeply about the resource. Maybe rather then mearly being in compliance with them, we should learn why thats important, then it will have meaning to us. I thought that was what most city slickers liked anyway about going "up North" to their cabin is the natural beauty of the outdoors the way it was made. Living in amongst nature, and not removing it for a clear turfgrass treeless view.

[walleyemkr]

Although what the 'skating rink guy' did is minor in the grand scheme of things, the point remains that he still cut bulrush w/o a permit. Even cutting at the water's / ice surface is illegal because it still has the POTENTIAL to kill the plants given certain conditions.

There are some things lakeshore property owners can do w/ the aquatic veg AND sand blankets without a permit...that might be a reason why some of the above-mentioned complaints to the DNR didn't appear to be followed up on...MIGHT be.

I agree it's probably a drop in the bucket in the big picture, but if everybody does it...

[fishermusk]

I fish with an older gentelman who used to live on Forest lake. He told me that lake one used to have bullrushes all the way around it. I wish I could have seen that. I like the fact that he was doing something to get his kids outdoors, the problem is that when these kids grow up and get a piece of lakeshore they will do the same things. Its only going to get worse. Its hard to break the cycle. You have to start somewere, and say enough!

Water quality is directly related to lake shore pratices. Before you know it all of our lakes in Minnesota will a nice green pea soup. We'll sure enjoy fishing and swimming in them then.

Good Luck,

Dave

[smnduck]

If bullrushes are uprooted they will not grow back. They need at least a partial growing season out of the water to start. No exposed lakeshore and the rushes will not grow back. If they are cut just below the surface then the root system stays intact and it has a chance to grow back.

[walleyemkr]

They have a CHANCE to grow back w/ the root system in place. A chance. Bulrush is a) next to impossible to plant / restore, and does not spread well on its own naturally and w/o disturbance. That's why any activities that even have the potential of killing the vegetation (bulrush cutting at the water line in this case) is illegal. As was stated above, the aquatic vegetation (and ESPECIALLY bulrush) is what keeps MN lakes clear...if more people put that together, we may not have AS many problems!

[Hammer Handle]

I see so many lakeshores ruined for people want to make it clear of trees and brush and weeds so they can "see the lake" and have a "swimming hole". Big business also fills in swamplands to build more buildings.

All I can do is to make sure my lake lot stays natural for me AND mother nature to enjoy. I have a dock "in the weeds", but the kids love it for I have great fishing off my dock. Just last weekend, my nephew caught a 4 pound bass casting off the dock.

Neighbors don't understand when they ask "Can I fish off your dock" and I say "No". My attitude is that they ruined their fishing off their dock when they cleaned it out...why should I let them use mine??

[walleyemkr]

That is fantastic hammer handle...way to make your point w/ the neighbors! With the increased development on 'marginal' (but sensitive) lakeshore, the chaos will probably only continue as people w/ white sand beaches and a picturesque view in mind purchase and build on lakeshore fringed by 100' of cattails w/ a mucky bottom.

[MIKE IN lINO III]

I have lake property up north and the Water & Soil Conservation dept said that I can CLEAR a 15' wide path out to the main lake....no permit required, all legal.

Just a FYI, not looking to stur the pot.

By the time fall rolls around it has pretty much all grown back. I will be up there this weekend duck hunting off of my lakeshore.

Mike