DNR NEWS HEADLINES - OCTOBER 30
Deer drive safety must be top priority
Facts about Minnesota firearms deer hunting season
Another strong harvest during Camp Ripley bow hunts
Minnesota deer firearms season opens Nov. 3; hunters urged to follow
tree stand safety guidelines
DNR to utilize aircraft in deer feeding ban enforcement
Deer hunters reminded to review the rules for ATV/OHV operation on
public lands
Hunters should ask for permission to hunt on private property
Special deer hunts to be held in 34 Minnesota state parks
DNR QUESTION OF THE WEEK - OCTOBER 30
Q: It's been about two months since the devastating floods in
southeastern Minnesota. Now that DNR fisheries experts have regrouped
and evaluated conditions, what's needed to return the Whitewater River
and it's tributaries to quality trout fishing conditions?
A: I have been asked this question many times since the flood and I
think the answer is very simple, "water quality." Floods and the
resulting changes in stream appearance don't make or break the stream.
If the watershed was in good shape before the flood then the streams
will recover quickly.
Although rocks and pools got moved around, the fish will be back. In a
sense, the streams merely threw back at us the silt we have smothered
them in, and in places now resemble mountain streams. How long will it
take before the silt smothers them again? That is the real question
here. With the changes and trends in cropping practices in the southeast
the future doesn't look good. We have passed the peak of water quality
and are now looking at the result of a region that has changed from
dairy farming and the associated rotation of oats, alfalfa, pasture and
corn, to corn/soybean row cropping. The flood has little to do with it
but it will make a good excuse for those that don't want to acknowledge
the slower less dramatic destruction that is happening on the landscape
day to day.
- John Huber, hatchery supervisor, DNR Crystal Springs Hatchery
