Natural Resources Board takes up Rest Lake Dam

From the Lakeland Times
HERE

..."This year, the DNR has proposed making the minimum level [on the chain] 7 feet and 6 inches, at least one full foot lower [than in the past 70 years]," King told the board members.

DNR Opponent --

"We experienced that level in 2005 when insufficient snowmelt and non-existent rain left our chain so low that many people never got their boats into the water and wetlands adjacent to the water simply dried up," said King, who is president of the Manitowish Waters Lakes Association, which has joined with the town of Manitowish Waters, the town chamber of commerce and the Manitowish Waters Alliance to fight the DNR's proposal to increase flows over the Rest Lake Dam during the spring and early summer in hopes of establishing natural sturgeon spawning downstream and of enhancing wildlife habitat along the Manitowish River.

...The complaints issued by King on behalf of the coalition group included a strong indictment that the DNR has made no attempt to study the potential ecologic and economic impacts of dam operation changes on wildlife and people above the dam and that the agency cannot prove that sturgeon have ever successfully spawned on the river below the dam.

DNR Supporter --

...Holt went on to explain that several threatened species (the pugnose shiner and the greater redhorse) depend on a healthy river ecosystem and that wild rice beds downstream of the dam need an adequate water supply to flourish.

Summary --

..."There was a great deal of discussion about the cost of doing an environmental study," said Mike Fitzpatrick, a lawyer representing the coalition of opposition groups, who attended the meeting with King and also had a chance to address the board. "The board also seemed very interested in the impacts on navigability of the chain and the lack of scientific studies the DNR has done concerning impacts on ecosystems above the dam."