News

It’s AIS season. Ready, Set, Go!

Posted on

Check In - Check Out - images of cover pages of boat decontamination manual and AIS identification booklet

The open water boating season is here and many of your organizations are involved with AIS inspections, inspectors, and early detection activities. Here are a couple of things you may not know about which may help.

The Lake Tahoe watercraft decontamination manual is well-organized with 91 pages of photos and great content, including nearly 30 pages of manufacturer-specific decontamination considerations.

The MAISRC AIS identification guide contains tips for identifying a number of aquatic invasive species (AIS) that are considered high-risk to Minnesota waters, as well as some common native lookalike species. You can download it for free, buy the book, or become an AIS Detector and get the book — plus tons of hands-on training!

The free Check-In, Check-Out program was designed by our friends at CD3 to educate boaters on hand cleaning different types of watercraft and trailers. Simply place the Check-In, Check-Out QR code at a visible location at your boat launch. 

Test your private well every year

Posted on

test your well every year for coliform bacteria, nitrate, arsenic, lead, and manganese

Private wells produce 20% of Minnesota’s drinking water and serve a majority of waterfront property owners in the state. If you have a private well, you should know that the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) recommends you test for nitrates and coliform bacteria every year, especially if babies or young children are drinking your well water.

They have a webpage on private well testing that provides more details.

Regarding Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) – Even though MDH recently reported that 22 Minnesota water systems have PFAS levels above the new federal limits, they do not recommend that every private well is tested for PFAS. If you use a private well for drinking water that is included in an existing environmental investigation near a known source of contamination, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) will notify you if your well might be affected. If you still want to test your private well for PFAS and are not a part of an MPCA environmental investigation, see the Testing your private well for PFAS section.

Harmful algal blooms: “When in doubt, stay out!”

Posted on

Harmful Algal Blooms

Algal blooms occur when tiny, naturally occurring plants grow rapidly in an area of water and are visible without a microscope. Not all algal blooms are toxic, but some are. Algal blooms capable of producing toxins dangerous to humans or animals are considered Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs).

MN’s Pollution Control Agency has simple advice for algae blooms: “When in doubt, STAY OUT!”

Here is some great information:

2024 MN COLA Meetings Dates

Posted on

2024 meeting dates

  • March 19, 2024, from 9-11 CT on Zoom
  • June 18, 2024, in-person or Zoom to be determined (see the survey question above)
  • September 17, 2024, from 9-11 CT on Zoom
  • December 10, 2024, from 9-11 CT on Zoom

Wanted: MN COLA Director candidates!

Posted on

Wanted

Every year, MN COLA elects or re-elects Directors for terms up to 3 years at our Annual meeting in June. If you have been interested in MN COLA and would like to get more involved as a Board member, please send an email to contact@mncola.org.

Check our website for more information on how MN COLA operates and is organized.

MN DNR designates 12 more AIS

Posted on

Dense patch of lilies

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has classified 13 high-risk invasive aquatic plants, fish and invertebrates as prohibited invasive species. All but one (jumping worms) are AIS.

Here are the 13 new AIS: mitten crab, Nile perch, snakehead family, walking catfish family, yellow floating-heart, tench, golden mussel, marbled crayfish (marmorkrebs), golden clam, tubenose gobies (any fish belonging to the genus Proterorhinus), and eastern mosquitofish.

For more information on these new AIS, you can check out the DNR’s website.

Add your Point-Intercept data to MAISRC’s database

Posted on

UMN MAISRC logo

MAISRC is seeking your point-intercept (PI) aquatic plant survey data to add to their statewide database. If your lake or river association have done or are doing lake surveys and are using a point-intercept approach, please follow this link to get more information about the MAISRC database.

Bill introduced to recycle boat shrink wrap in Minnesota

Posted on

Shrink-wrapped boats
Photo: Michigan Recycling Coalition

Shrink wrap is used across the country to protect boats from the elements. Unfortunately, the opportunities to recycle that plastic are currently very limited. And we are talking about a lot of plastic. A 25-foot boat uses approximately 25 pounds of plastic and that’s roughly equivalent to over 2,000 plastic shopping bags. Think about the 800,000 registered watercraft in Minnesota and how many of them are shrink wrapped every year. The amount of boat shrink wrap Minnesota uses just one time is staggering.

Legislation has been introduced in the Minnesota House (HF 3320) and in the Senate (SF 3427) to begin to address the problem. The proposed legislation will:

  • Creates a product stewardship program to responsibly recycle and reuse boat shrink-wrap.
  • Requires producers, through membership in a stewardship organization, to implement and finance a statewide product stewardship program to reduce the volume
    of boat wrap disposed of in landfills by promoting and providing for the collection and recycling of boat wrap.
  • Sets goals and a mechanism for tracking progress towards recycling the majority of boat shrink-wrap plastic used in Minnesota.

Here is a great overview of the issue from the Chesapeake Quarterly. It’s focused on Maryland, but it is the same issue in Minnesota.

Here is a 1-page flyer on the proposed bill that includes some rough estimates on the amount of plastic that goes into our landfills or is incinerated.

Note: This initiative is not identified in our 2024 MN COLA Legislative Agenda, but it’s one that is worth supporting!

Enhanced wakes are stirring things up

Posted on

drawing showing woman on a wakesurf board

There is much happening around the country regarding enhanced wakes. The Phase 2 wake research from the St. Anthony Falls Lab at the University of Minnesota should be released sometime soon. Minnesota is readying the best practice education to accompany the new Watercraft Operators License. Michigan and Wisconsin have proposed legislation for regulating wakes. The State of Vermont has defined new rules addressing wake surf areas along with a new program to reduce the spread of AIS from ballast water. And on top of all that, new data from the National Marine Manufacturer’s Association showed that new “tow boat” sales dropped 20% from 2022 to 2023.

Follow the More information link for more details.