In The News

MLR Pursues Long Term Strategy to Address Wake Surfing Impacts

The Problem Minnesota Lakes and Rivers Advocates (MLR) received the first email from a member regarding the impacts of wake surfing in 2019. By the summer of 2020 more members were telling us the large, powerful wakes generated by wake surfing boats were eroding shorelines, knocking people from pontoon or fishing boats, swamping canoes, kayaks… Read more »

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Significant Shift in DNR Roundtable With More Lake Advocate Voices in the Rooms

Lake Steward and Natural Shoreline Break Out Session Highlights On Friday, January 19th, more than 400 people, 75 of them DNR personnel,  gathered at the DNR Roundtable to have conversations with other leaders in conservation, strengthen partnerships, and define challenges and opportunities in conservation efforts in fisheries, wildlife, and ecological and water resources in Minnesota.… Read more »

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MLR’s Stop Starry & AIS Efforts to expand in 2024 & 2025

In late August of 2015 the invasive algae, Starry Stonewort (Nitellopsis obtusa) was confirmed in Lake Koronis at the Highway 55 public boat access. It was the first time that this Aquatic Invasive Species was confirmed in Minnesota. Starry stonewort is a stringy algae that can grow from two to twenty-five feet deep, can overwhelm… Read more »

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2024 Legislative Preview – Finish the Work We Started in 2023

The 2024 Legislative Session will be short this year, starting February 12th and ending May 20th, a little over three months. Last year the Minnesota Legislature focused on our Biennial Budget. In 2024 legislators will be more focused on policy proposals. MLR and our partners had a very productive session last year. Passing policy is… Read more »

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How Grass Roots Advocates Built a Statewide Movement to Protect Lakes – A Case Study of the Keep It Clean Effort

by Robyn Dwight, Upper Red lake Association Up at Lake of the Woods, straddling the Minnesota-Canadian border, concerned local residents have spent over a decade looking for sustainable solutions to a human waste problem that occurs every winter because of leftovers of human activity. More recently, advocates from Upper Red Lake and Mille Lacs Lake… Read more »

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Big Pine Lake, goes “All In” – Pilots New Lake Association Membership Structure

by Tom Hubbnard, President, Big Pine Lake Property Owners Association After several years of working with Jeff Forester at MLR, and seeing the amazing work his group has undertaken, the Big Pine Lake Property Owners Association (BPLPOA) board decided to modestly increase their annual contribution level and buy a membership for 100 of our members.… Read more »

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Case Study: Square Lake Conservancy, May Township, MN – 2022-23

October 6, 2023 Jim Seidl This is the story of an all-volunteer team of committed conservationists who mobilized our community to rise-up and take action to protect & preserve a beloved lake and surrounding forest from commercialization, development, and environmental degradation. It’s an important, much-needed, example of successful conservation and community action – for other lake associations… Read more »

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Make a Difference on November 16th – Give to the Max Day

We see, both in the news and off the end of our docks,  threats to the lakes we love. Poor shoreline development allows nutrients to run into our lakes and destroys habitat for fish and nesting loons. Boaters continue to spread Aquatic Invasive Species, (AIS). Agricultural runoff degrades water and  drives larger and more frequent… Read more »

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