$3.5 million sought for Mille Lacs walleye hatchery
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has drafted a plan for a research facility, hatchery and outreach center on Lake Mille Lacs that could cost the state $3.5 million in the next fiscal year.
The planning document, obtained by MPR News through a data practices request, is asking for $500,000 for land acquisition and project design, $3 million for construction, site infrastructure and contingency and $50,000 to pay a new research scientist. Most of the funding could be financed through public debt.
The document says research -- including fish surveys, lake monitoring, harvest monitoring and hatchery production -- would occur at the facility.
It would also allow for customer service and public engagement, “including more frequent direction communications, enhanced capacity to share data and observations on fishery and lake conditions, and improved accessibility and responsiveness to local needs.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
The document marks the first time the DNR has put a dollar amount on a facility officials say is needed to boost the dwindling walleye population in Mille Lacs. The DNR closed the walleye fishing season early this year after the state’s anglers
and Native American tribes
exceeded their annual harvest limit.
Gov. Mark Dayton has said he wants to hold a special session to help the business owners who will be harmed by the DNR’s action. Officials with the Dayton Administration have estimated that the plan could cost as much as $20 million. That could include funding for the new fisheries station on the lake.
Dayton has said he has concerns about how DNR staff has interacted in the past with the Mille Lacs community over the walleye issue. He said that he believes they need a lesson in “customer service.” DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr said part of the reorganization will include dedicating staff on the lake and building a new fisheries station.
The plan also shows DNR officials are serious about boosting the walleye population in the lake instead of relying on a natural recovery. That runs counter to internal documents that said stocking the lake with new fish won't have a dramatic impact. For example, scientists said the current egg, fry and fingerling cycle on Mille Lacs produces more fingerling sized fish than the entire state production system in any given year.
“Stocking more fish in to Mille Lacs today would analogous to adding more water to an already full bucket and could actually harm survival of your fish by increasing competition with naturally hatched fish,” wrote Edward Boggess, Director of the DNR’s Division of Fish and Wildlife.
DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr acknowledged that there has been little scientific basis to stock Mille Lacs but said officials want to be prepared to act if the walleye population drops significantly on the lake.
“This isn’t yesterday’s fishery anymore,” Landwehr said. “This is going in a direction that we don’t know where it’s going to end. The decline has been long-term.”
A legislative working group studying the walleye problem on Mille Lacs is scheduled to meet again on Thursday.