Here is our current issue:
January 2025
Contents
- MN COLA hosts webinar on top 3 priorities
- It’s salting season… Let’s use just what we need and no more
- Mercury rises in fish from zebra mussel lakes
- New study addressed propwash from enhanced wake activities
- MN COLA’s December meeting focused on engaging kids
- 2025 DNR Roundtable trumpets passing of Legacy Amendment
- Michigan releases 2024 State of the Great Lakes report
- LCCMR opens grant system for projects starting July 1, 2026
- Minneapolis Foundation launches environmental grant program
- New book: Aquatic plants of the Great Lakes region
Here are recent past issues of Current Waters:
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”
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?