The program requiring mandatory boat inspections in four Wright County lakes will be ending this year.

 

In mid-April, the DNR denied a plan by the county to expand its Regional Inspection Program -  a program designed to reduce the spread of aquatic invasive species (AIS) in certain Wright County Lakes.

 

Under the original pilot program, which was developed by the Wright County Soil and Water Conservation District, the Greater Lake Sylvia Association and other partners,  boaters were required to have their watercraft inspected, and if necessary, decontaminated at a regional inspection station in Annandale before launching  on East and West Sylvia, John and Pleasant lakes. 

 

In March, county officials  approved a plan to expand the program to include Bass, Cedar, Granite, Moose, Maple and Sugar lakes.

 

They also proposed an exemption from traveling to the inspection station for people who took a training class and received certification on inspecting their own boats for AIS.

 

Also included in the amendment was a provision to repeal the exiting program if the expansion was not approved by the DNR by April 15.

 

After a public hearing in late March, the Wright County Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 to pass the amendment. Then it was up to the DNR to determine whether to approved the expansion of the program.

 

But the DNR didn’t approve the expansion. 

 

An April 5 letter from DNR Commissioner Sarah Stroman to the county read: “Due to previously identified performance and data issues associated with the 2018 program, the DNR cannot justify an expansion of your pilot program in 2019. 

 

As a result, DNR will not approve expansion of the pilot program to six additional lakes (Moose, Sugar, Cedar, Bass, Granite, Maple) as outlined in the plan. Therefore, we suggest that you "eliminate the proposed expansion in your revised plan.”

 

The letter went on to say: “DNR will not approve the new self-inspection and storage certification programs The inclusion of these new variables to the pilot would change procedures over the multi-year course of the pilot program. This would make it extremely difficult to evaluate the success of the pilot.”

 

With that denial, the section of the ordinance establishing the mandatory inspection program was repealed.

 

At the April 16 board meeting, Board Chair Darek Vetsch reiterated that decision.

 

“The Wright Regional Inspection Program at this time will not be in operation in Wright County on any of the lakes,” he said.            

“Soil & Water is going to transition into what was done in 2016, basically random inspections at ramps throughout the county.”