Waskish turns out for big day

By Brad Swenson Pioneer Staff Writer

WASKISH - With the blacktop barely in place, the community here turned out Thursday evening to launch a harbinger of next year’s long-awaited walleye opener on Upper Red Lake.

A line of officials stood on a new boat ramp into the Tamarac River and cut the ribbon to Waskish’s newly established public water access site, which leads to Upper Red Lake.

After a 10-year moratorium, walleye will again be allowed in angler’s creels starting with the fishing opener next May. And Waskish area residents can’t wait for the renewed economic activity.

“This is truly amazing and remarkable,” said state Natural Resources Commissioner Gene Merriam, speaking to about 100 residents who came for the dedication and eat a shore-side barbecue. “I am excited about it.”

The effort, starting with the establishment of the Big Bog Recreation Area, came through a partnership of a host of community leaders, service groups and agencies, he said. The public access takes it one step further.

“It’s quite evident from what I’ve seen (Thursday) … the strong community partnership we have not just with governmental organizations but with real grass-roots community organizations that is so critical, Merriam said.

The public access greatly improves the former Homestead Park site which had limited use. The $262,770 project provides parking for 78 vehicles or trailers, with 40 spots paved. A two-spot cement boat ramp allows access to the river.

Between the new access, a township overflow site adjacent to the park, and at an access across the highway at a DNR fisheries hatchery, some 130 parking spaces will be available for anglers or other visitors. Waskish Township is working on an agreement to provide maintenance for the rehabilitated access facility.

When walleye fishing collapsed in the mid-1990s, Waskish faced economic disaster as resorts and businesses closed, said Waskish Township Chairman David Leonhardt. “It was very grim looking.”

He said residents were looking for a project to revitalize the area, and as a result established the Big Bog Recreation Area which allows visitors to take a bog walk tour of the area’s extensive peat bog environment and to camp.

“Next year, the lake will be re-opened for walleye fishing again,” Leonhardt said. “This (the public access) is the first development in support of expanding and improving the boat landing ramp and parking.”

Homestead Park is the original town site, he said, adding that his grandfather homesteaded about 6 miles away in 1917. An artifact survey of the river area showed pottery and implements dating back 2,500 years.

“I find it amazing, in Bible times, that at the same time Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple there were people living on the Tamarac River,” Leonhardt said.

Jerry Stensing of the Friends of Big Bog said the effort starting with the recreation area began as a visioning process led by the Headwaters Regional Development Commission and drawing the Northern Beltrami Development Corp., city of Kelliher and Upper Red Lake Association.

“The community looked at its strengths and weaknesses and developed a 15-project list,” he said. “At the top was a Big Bog State Park. … Because of the character of the people here and strength, we accomplished most of that list.”

The public access is funded through the DNR’s public water access budget, said Tim Browning, DNR regional trails and waterways supervisor. The Waskish access joins about 1,200 others that the DNR administers.

“”The crown jewel of them will be this access,” Browning said. “This is the cream of the crop in our program.”

Merriam spent the day in Waskish, going out on Upper Red Lake with DNR staff to pull test nets for walleye and later taking the bog walk at the Big Bog Recreation Area.

“It was exciting to go out this morning with our fisheries personnel and lift some test nets and see the results,” he told the gathering. “It’s going to be exciting when that walleye fishery opens, and I attest to you personally there’s a lot of nice walleyes out there.”

Most of Lower and Upper Red lakes is under the jurisdiction of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa. The DNR controls 48,000 acres of Upper Red Lake. But both the tribe and state are working on regulations, when a walleye harvest resumes, to ensure that the fishery won’t collapse again, he said.

“We are visiting the idea of special regulations,” Merriam said in an interview. “We don’t to get carried away. We know how fragile a lake ecosystem can be, and we want to start conservatively.”

Merriam said the DNR is planning a daily limit of two walleyes for Upper Red Lake, while the state norm is six walleye. There will also be slot size limits for northern pike.

“We want to encourage catch and release,” he said. “We want to see what the angling public’s reaction is and its success. We work in partnership with the community, and that includes the Red Lake tribal government, and we’re sharing this bountiful resource with them.”

The tribe and DNR will allocate what they believe is a sustainable harvest, with a set poundage of walleye allowed to be harvested on both lakes per year, he said. Similar limits are in place for Lake Mille Lacs, which is shared with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.

“We’re being very cautious on how we’re going to set up the regulations,” Merriam said. “We ask for patience and support, and we think we’re getting it.”

Education is also important, he said, as well as enforcement. “We have to educate the fishing public as to what are the special rules unique to Red Lake, why we have them, and then we need a beefed up enforcement presence, at least at the outset, to make sure we’re getting compliance.”

Local officials continued to bend Merriam’s ear about finishing the work for the Big Bog Recreation Area. A request for $1.6 million for a Big Bog Interpretive Center has failed in the last several bonding sessions of the Legislature.

While Rep. Brita Sailer, DFL-Park Rapids, will carry the bill again next year when lawmakers consider another bonding bill, Merriam said the DNR will not recommend it to Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

“For sure we’d like to see it done someday,” he said. “When we look at priorities … there’s no surprise that the demands and needs far outstrip the financial resources available.”

The DNR’s operating budget for state parks is primarily dependent upon general fund appropriations, Merriam said. While a Big Bog Interpretive Center could be constructed from bonding, he said the DNR doesn’t have the operating funds to add it to its state park functions.

“We have to be very careful that our capital budget that we request isn’t facing greater demands on our operating budget,” Merriam said. “We’re very cautious about opening new facilities.”

Merriam told the gathering, however, that it needs to build community support and partnerships, and the Big Bog Recreation Area has to show usage. The more visitors, more ammunition for a center.

“Now it will be interesting to see what the demand is,” he said. “With strong community support and demonstrating good visitor usage, that increases the likelihood of moving up in the priorities.”

Merriam said the Pawlenty administration supports increased operating funds through the dedication of a small portion of the state’s sales tax.

Sailer, however, will push for the center through bonding next year, she said in an interview.

“It’s an educational piece for the bog walk, so it becomes something that can work as a stand-alone if the staffing needs are not there,” the DFLer said. “People who come through and school groups from all over the country come to see this.”

Provisions could be made for self-guided tours, Sailer said. “They could really get more out of it.”

Establishing an interpretive center “is a very worthwhile cause,” she said. “If it can’t come out of the whole DNR budget, I still think it’s worthwhile. When you have the commitment of local people and DNR resources, a strong coalition that is already behind a project, to me that says it’s really worthwhile.”

More visitors is a given, she said, especially when walleye fishing resumes. “Not everyone wants to fish--there will be those who look for other things,” she said.

“Natural resource protection and education are really important pieces,” Sailer said. “We need to look at the political will of the state and what we value.”

Merriam remains in the area today and Saturday, as he will attend dedication ceremonies for the Mary Gibbs Interpretive Center at Itasca State Park.