I’m at a boat launch near home this weekend, and here comes the\u00a0 DNR’s\u00a0Milfoil Boy.\u00a0 Nothing against this guy, he was polite and just doing his job, and I answered all his questions like I have many times before.\u00a0 When we were done with the mandatory back-and-forth, he told how this year there would even be boat wash down stations at some popular boat launches on the Croix and Mississippi.\u00a0 “Good”, I thought, “another reason for me to be late getting home”.\u00a0 I can already hear the phone conversation…..”Really, Hon’, I pulled the boat out over an hour ago, but I’m still waiting for my turn to do the mandatory BOAT WASH!”\u00a0 \u00a0I can’t stop wondering how many tax dollars are going to this endeavor?<\/p>\n

What is an invasive specie?\u00a0 A better question is “What isn’t an invasive specie?”\u00a0 Every critter, fish, plant, and person in the world could be considered “Invasive” if it is in the wrong place.\u00a0 Milfoil, Zebra Mussels, and Asian Carp get most of the press now.\u00a0 You\u00a0aren’t\u00a0likely to hear many complain about Brown Trout or Ring Neck Pheasants, but\u00a0some\u00a0might\u00a0put them into the invasive category–after all both come from lands far away.\u00a0 If Whitetail Deer, Ruffed Grouse,\u00a0Black Capped Chickadees, or\u00a0Walleyes were introduced and later became overly abundant somewhere in Argentina, someone there would probably put laws into affect that would involve a firing squad for helping with the spread of these invasives which are beloved by all Minnesotans.\u00a0 Go back just a few hundred years, and the Minnesotans of the time would have some strong opinions about invasives from other lands.<\/p>\n

There is no way to stop species moving in to new locales.\u00a0For instance, there are many ponds along freeways that have never had a boat in them, yet they are full of milfoil.\u00a0Same goes for\u00a0Cenaiko Lake in\u00a0Coon Rapids, a small stocked trout lake in Coon Rapids that does not allow boats of any kind. \u00a0Coincidentally, these\u00a0bodies of water\u00a0are also full of waterfowl, which freely fly from one lake to another, undoubtedly carrying pieces of the dreaded weeds with them.<\/p>\n

You know what else flies freely from lake to lake?\u00a0 Floatplanes!\u00a0 I love floatplanes, and was lucky enough to spend some time in Alaska where I flew in them often.\u00a0 I am jealous of the float planes I see around here, and I would not want to see them go away.\u00a0 Nor do I think that the threat of them adding to the spread of invasives is worth consideration.\u00a0 But, I have to put up with the threat of a fine if I\u00a0miss a piece of weed on my boat trailer when traveling from one lake to another, do float plane pilots have to worry about similar fines?\u00a0 All float planes do is fly from lake to lake, and I’m pretty sure there are no check points for them.\u00a0 There is a float plane base on Rice Lake in Anoka County, I find it curious that this lake is not listed as “infested” with milfoil on the DNR website, even though Marshan Lake, which is listed as “infested”\u00a0is only about 200 yards UPSTREAM of\u00a0Rice Lake\u00a0via Rice Creek.\u00a0 Hmmmm sometimes I wish I weren’t so conspiracy minded.<\/p>\n

I asked Milfoil Boy about how float Planes are regulated, or are they “Above the Law”, he had no answer, and went back to looking at the bottom\u00a0of my trailer.\u00a0 So I launched without incident, but when I came back, things were a little backed up at the access and I had to “nicely” yell at someone to tie his boat down AWAY from the ramp.\u00a0 He was taking so much time at the top of the ramp I had assumed he was preparing to launch, but no, he was figuring out where the straps go.\u00a0 Meanwhile, Milfoil Boy watched on while he quizzed the next boat owner about the perils of Invasive Species.\u00a0 So now, the final part of my rant.. Why not have the Milfoil Police do double duty, and train them how to keep things moving at the boat ramp.\u00a0 In between explanations of how Zebra Mussels are going to take over the earth, why not have them give some pointers to keep things flowing smoothly at the ramp, maybe do a little light duty traffic directing, \u00a0heck they could even offer to hold someone’s boat while the owner parked their rig.\u00a0 Then, they could even check the interior of the boat for sprigs of Milfoil and swab for Zebra Mussel DNA at the same time–EVERYONE WINS!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Everything is invasive, if conditions are conducive to a particular specie, it is almost impossible to destroy it.\u00a0 Look at dandelions.\u00a0This time of year you can’t help but look at dandelions.\u00a0 I wonder how much money is spent each year trying to destroy them?\u00a0 Let’s stop the nonsense of spending incredible amounts of money, time, and effort to stop the spread of things that do negligible damage, and may even be beneficial in some cirmcumstances.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m at a boat launch near home this weekend, and here comes the\u00a0 DNR’s\u00a0Milfoil Boy.\u00a0 Nothing against this guy, he was polite and just doing his job, and I answered all his questions like I have many times before.\u00a0 When we were done with the mandatory back-and-forth, he told how this year there would even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":165,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions\/165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}