With invasive zebra mussels being found in Pelican and Rose lakes, just outside the Becker County line in Otter Tail County, the Becker County Board wants to do what it can to protect lakes in Becker County.
After a plea for help from Terry Kalil, the vice president of the Becker County Coalition of Lake Associations, County Board Chairman Barry Nelson said the county will set up a committee or task force to look at how best to protect county lakes.
"COLA can't do this alone anymore," Kalil told commissioners Tuesday. "We need help."
COLA would like to see a consortium including cities, watershed districts, lake associations, the county and others to aggressively pursue protection of county lakes.
"It's an economic development issue," she said. Mussel-infested lakes will hurt fishing, tourism and property values.
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"A zebra mussel filters the water, it takes out the plankton, which is what the smaller fish eat," she said. "In the short term you get cleaner water. In the long term -- there are no commercial fisheries left on the Great Lakes."
In the 15 years since zebra mussels infested Lake Superior, there has been a 95 percent decrease in the weight of the fish population there, she said.
The mussels wash up and rot on beaches, their shells break into pieces, turning sand beaches into beaches of broken mussel shells too sharp to walk on, and they clog water pipes and valves.
Other states have taken a much more aggressive stance to the threat of zebra mussels, closing public accesses and requiring mandatory decontamination after boats leave lakes.
Commissioner Gerry Schram said he has a solution "that people won't like -- one boat, one lake."
Kalil said the DNR has been repeatedly behind the curve in its response to the threat.
"If you would have told me a year a go that the DNR was this slow to react, I would not have believed it," she said.
The agency initially said it was going to wait to put Rose Lake on the list of mussel-infested lakes, but officials changed their minds after receiving a number of angry letters and calls, Kalil said.
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"The DNR needs to hear from more people," she said.
Even fishermen who are trying to do the right thing are often tripped up when it comes to zebra mussels.
Kalil talked about the angler she met at an access that had done everything right -- except make provisions for the nice catch of walleye in his boat's live well.
"The live well is supposed to be drained -- you can't transport water. Fish are supposed to be on ice in a cooler," Kalil said. "He was doing everything else right. It killed me to tell him -- and to see him drive off with the water still in his live well."
A number of area legislators have confirmed they will attend a summit on invasive aquatic species set for January at M State. The head of the DNR has also been invited, though he has not yet committed to attend, she said.
Nelson said the county may need to look at partnering with other entities to educate the public and to buy decontamination units and pay for the staff needed to operate them.
"There are a lot of things we can do," Kalil said. "The worst thing we can do is wait until it happens to us and then scramble."
