District 6 - Two Harbors Area - From the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources- July 1, 2019

District 6 - Two Harbors area

Last updated: 2019-07-01

CO Sean Williams (Ely #1) spent the week patrolling the Ely area for ATV activity. Although the weather was warm and mostly dry, activity was down for this time of year. Violations included transporting a watercraft without removing the drain plug, unregistered watercraft, and obstructing a water access.

CO John Velsvaag (Ely #2) checked anglers and boaters this past week. He also worked ATV complaint areas, took several calls about nuisance animals and assisted on a work detail.

CO Mary Manning (Hovland) witnessed two Class 1 ATVs loaded with small kids and adult drivers cruising the forest road. She tracked them down and educated the drivers about safety and operation regulations. Manning also helped with the Great Lakes Landing Blitz, educating folks about aquatic invasive species. She also attended a county AIS task force meeting. Manning also assisted the county on a report of a young man who was thought to have fallen into the Pigeon River Gorge. It turned out he had ignored signage and climbed into a closed area around the falls and had difficulty getting back out.

CO Anthony Bermel (Babbitt) worked in the BWCA and found lakes and rivers to be very busy. An AIS check station was worked with other officers. Assistance was provided, along with CO Velsvaag, to Lake County on a call in the BWCA involving an unstable individual with a hatchet. Lots of enforcement action to report including extra lines, fishing without a license, no PFD, allowing a juvenile to fish in violation of the law, cans in the BWCA, and failure to remove a drain plug and aquatic vegetation during transport of watercrafts.

CO David Schottenbauer (Silver Bay) worked area remote lakes and trout-fishing activity this past week. Time was also spent checking on closed ATV trails.

CO Thomas Wahlstrom (Tofte) worked a commercial netting complaint and checked anglers on Lake Superior. Some nice lake trout were seen in the bag. He checked ATVs and anglers on inland lakes and followed up on wildlife-related complaints.

CO Don Murray (Two Harbors) worked angling and invasive species enforcement activity this past week. Anglers headed for Lake Superior to escape the hot and humid weather and catch a few trout over the weekend. Nuisance bear activity remained high and all food temptations must be removed for bears to leave an area.