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Current Waters

Here is our current issue:

October 2024

Contents

  • MN COLA identifies their highest priority issues
  • MN COLA meeting highlights vacation rentals and septic systems
  • Late-summer AIS Update
  • Notes from the 2024 MAISRC Showcase
  • Two wake boats collide, one sinks
  • Local wake ordinances soar in Wisconsin
  • This summer’s 6,700 square mile “dead zone” larger than average
  • Vital daphnia affected by road salt
  • Nanobubbles used to increase oxygen and improve water quality
  • Best We’ve Seen: Wisconsin group releases new video on prop thrust from wakesurfing
  • Commentary: “We have met the enemy and he is us”

Here are recent past issues of Current Waters:

July 2024

Contents

  • MN Boating fatalities on par with 2023
  • Dam’s partial failure sent more than a century’s worth of sediment downstream
  • 5.5-million-gallon coal ash wastewater leak near Grand Rapids
  • DNR cautions waterfront property owners about improper use of hydraulic jets
  • Mid-summer AIS update
  • Utah uses “dip tanks” for AIS decontamination
  • MAISRC releases 2023 Annual Report
  • THANK YOU for telling us!
  • Best We’ve Seen: Monster trucks of the water

May 2024

Contents

  • Early spring puts many of us behind
  • MN COLA announces speakers for Annual Meeting
  • Enhanced wakes lumber across the US
  • Inland waters need the forest!
  • Water clarity in lakes affecting loons’ success
  • Whose permission do you need for shoreline work?
  • It’s AIS season. Ready, Set, Go!
  • Test your private well every year
  • Harmful algal blooms: “When in doubt, stay out!”
  • Best We’ve Seen: Oops! Did you miss a webinar?

March 2024

Contents

  • Wanted: MN COLA Director candidates
  • What do you prefer for our Annual meeting?
  • Light snow cover could boost curly-leaf pondweed
  • Lake Superior has dramatically less ice this season
  • Climate Change is affecting walleye spawning
  • Enhanced wakes are stirring things up
  • Bill introduced to recycle boat shrink wrap in Minnesota
  • Add your Point-intercept data to MAISRC’s database
  • MN DNR designates 13 more AIS
  • MN DNR to upgrade many boat ramps
  • Best We’ve Seen: “A Cover Story” about boat shrink wrap
  • Commentary: “We have met the enemy and he is us”

January 2024

Contents

  • MN COLA sets 2024 meeting dates
  • Get your geek on: New mass emailing requirements may affect your organization
  • Vermont wakesports regulation moves a step closer
  • AIS remains a top priority
  • If you missed it… watch the webinar on “Unique pathways of AIS mussel spread”
  • MAISRC recruiting for “Lab To Lakes” Project Manager
  • Michigan releases new guides for shoreline improvement
  • What goes on the lake, stays on the lake!
  • MPCA releases draft of impaired waters for 2024
  • “Forever Chemicals” contaminate America’s freshwater fish
  • Commentary: Tail of AIS long and getting bigger

November 2023

Contents

  • DNR AIS Grant Applications due December 11 at 9 am CT
  • “Zebs, starry, and signal crayfish. Oh My”
  • Four little words make AIS inspections stronger
  • Wisconsin under threat by the wake boating industry
  • Get ready Detroit Lakes for Malibu’s coming to town!
  • Proposed Vermont wake regulations
  • U of MN provides a status update on Phase 2 of wake research
  • Best We’ve Heard: Wisconsin’s Last Wilderness Alliance video: Wake surfing – A Threat to our Lakes

September 2023

Contents

  • What’s new at MN COLA?
  • September Membership meeting recap
  • MN COLA receives 2023 Partnership award from MAISRC
  • AIS Infestations rising in 2023
  • Michigan Fisheries Division releases report on wake impacts
  • ACCL deploys new AIS cleaning tool stations
  • Metro legislators rocked by surfing
  • Vanishing natural shorelines hurt lake quality
  • Free to a good home – Specialized lake netting
  • Best We’ve Heard: Minnesota grapples with nickel mining impacts as EV manufacturing raises demand

July 2023

Contents

  • MN COLA builds consensus for passage of Watercraft Operator License bill
  • Vermont proposes rules for use of wake boats
  • Talon Metals nickel mining proposal submitted to the DNR
  • Update from our Annual Meeting
  • MN COLA helped support MAISRC’s Lab to Lakes workshop at Leech Lake
  • Mercury rising in zebra mussel infested lakes
  • AIS continues to spread in Minnesota
  • MN COLA and MN Lakes and Rivers Advocates provide insights on AIS & Prevention
  • MN COLA recognized in MAISRC Newsletter for their 2023 Legislative success
  • Joining MN COLA brings big benefits!
  • Best We’ve Seen: Can cultivated chicken help keep our water clean?
  • Commentary: Crow Wing LARA responds to County’s 2023 AIS Plan draft

May 2023

Contents

  • Join us at MN COLA’s Annual Meeting…. in person!
  • URGENT: MN COLA needs your help in 3 areas
  • Ripple Effects author to speak at MN COLA’s Annual Meeting
  • MN COLA participating in U of MN biocontrol agents for AIS technology readiness work group
  • Great Lakes water for sale
  • Video highlights extra challenges from multiple wake boats
  • Jeff Marr headlined the May Practical Water Wisdom event hosted by Itasca Waters
  • Best We’ve Seen: Wake research highlighted on KAXE’s Morning show

March 2023

Contents:

  • March meeting highlight: Michigan’s Glen Lake Association sets a high bar protecting water quality
  • MN COLA introduces new website!
  • Rare report of zebra mussel attached to lake chub
  • Midwest Glacial Lakes Partnership’s Conservation Planner provides insights on Lakes
  • Shoreline Living Booklet Volume 2 is now available
  • DNR unveils summer walleye rules for Mille Lacs
  • Best We’ve Seen: Vermont may establish aggressive wake surf regulations
  • Commentary: Four-Billion-Year-Old Clean Water

January 2023

Contents:

  • MN COLA’s Legislative Agenda needs YOU!
  • Governor Walz headlined the 2023 DNR Round Table
  • Whew! We accomplished a lot in 2022
  • Drones are on the way!
  • MN DNR unveils new lake health info site
  • LCCMR recommends funding 3rd phase of wake research
  • MAISRC request for research proposals
  • MAISRC announces six new projects
  • MGLP request for research proposals
  • Best We’ve Seen: Ripple Effects- New book about MN, WI, and MI Lakes

November 2022

Contents:

  • MN COLA December Member Meeting
  • AIS spreading in Minnesota
  • Wake study phase II update
  • DNR AIS control grants
  • MSU intro to lakes
  • MAISRC Newsletter: Fall 2022
  • Starry Stonewort prevented by inspector
  • Lake Resiliency | Overview
  • MN COLA receives 501(c)3 status
  • Best We’ve Seen: Mussel Mayhem in The Great Lakes
  • Best We’ve Seen: Plant covered ponds- source of greenhouse gasses

September 2022

Contents:

  • MI Report: wake boat concerns
  • Wake and prop thrust: impact on ecology
  • MGLP provides fish conservation grants
  • ZM control: Copper treatment
  • Fight climate change: talk about it
  • Knots every boat owner should know
  • MN COLA September meeting
  • Best We’ve Seen: Boat wakes on the Spokane River
  • Commentary: Bogs Elicit Different Perspectives

July 2022

Contents:

  • Otter Tail County COLA AIS research Update
  • Successful starry stonewort bus tour
  • Potential surfing restrictions for Lake Minnetonka
  • Funding needed for research on wake surfing impact to lake and river bottoms
  • Lake resiliency – MN COLA’s theme for 2022
  • EPA’s How’s My Waterway?