[mou] Additional Drawdowns

[Dennis/Barbara Martin]

Rice Lake-Steele and Dodge counties, according to a DNR press release this
will start going down this spring but we probably won't see any mud until
summer and fall, a one year drawdown as it will probably fill up next
winter, easy access through Rice Lake State Park, check the DNR website for
the press release

Swan Lake-Nicollet County, this is a drawdown that has been going on all
winter in an effort to freeze out Carp, the warmest winter in years kept the
oxygen from going down enough so the drawdown will continue throughout the
year, hopefully it will be dry enough to freeze out the Carp next winter,
stories have been in the sports section of the Minneapolis paper, access
will be tough, looking at lake depth maps it appears that the public access
areas are some of the deeper bays in the lake. so walkable mud will be tough
to access from those areas, but who knows, also questionable is what
vegetation growth we will see, we will be trying to get access and will let
you know what we find, anybody else who tries needs to keep the rest of us
informed, this is a very large shallow lake, roughly 4 by 6 square miles
with many islands, bays, vegetation outcrops, etc, a lake this large can
attract  untold thousands of shorebirds

If you know of any other drawdowns please let all of us know.  Good
shorebird sites always change from year to year.

Dennis and Barbara Martin
dbmartin@skypoint.com