On Tuesday, commissioners voted 3-2 to implement a boat inspection program at the county-owned public access at Lake Minnewashta Regional Park.
The county earmarked $15,500 that will be combined with a matching contribution from the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District to pay for inspectors at the park.
“This is a significant milestone and improvement to the current approach of relying on the Department of Natural Resources to provide spot checks,” said Steve Gunther, president of the Lake Minnewashta Preservation Association.
Lakeshore groups have been lobbying for more public support in the effort to control the spread of zebra mussels, an aquatic invasive species that can overtake lake ecosystems.
Zebra mussels have been identified in Lake Minnetonka, Prior Lake and the Minnesota River. No other infestations have been confirmed in Carver County lakes.
“This is a good first step to protect all lakes,” said County Commissioner Tom Workman, of Chanhassen, who along with com-missioners Gayle Degler, of Chanhassen, and Randy Maluchnik, of Chaska, voted for the program. Commissioners Jim Ische of Norwood Young America and Tim Lynch, of Watertown, voted against.
Ische expressed concerns about the county taking on work that he said should be a state Department of Natural Resources re-sponsibility. He also questioned what the county will do when other lake groups line up for support.
Eric Evenson, with the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, described the inspection program at Lake Minnewashta as a stop-gap pilot project. He said the watershed district is also working on longer-term plans to fight aquatic invasive species statewide.
The program will pay for inspectors who will monitor boats at the public access from May 15 to Sept. 19. The public access will be staffed from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. The DNR will provide training to inspectors and law enforcement officials at no cost, according to a staff report.
The program is both educational as well as an inspection program, according to Carver County Park Director Marty Walsh.
The DNR is also planning to have 20 boat decontamination stations around the state, according to Evenson. He said area lake groups are hoping a permanent decontamination station will be placed in the vicinity of Lake Minnetonka.
Randy Wolf, the county’s director of Public Health and Environment, said tests also are being planned this spring at lakes throughout the county to verify whether zebra mussels are in the lakes.
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It is not the local boaters and fisherman that spread the mussels. For the most part it is the waterfowl that rest on/in the shallow water where the mussels then attatch to the waterfowls body and then fly to other nearby lakes and deposit the hitch hikers.
Fools!!