Spring is nearly here. Lake of the Woods is fortunate that ice houses are able to stay on the lake until March 31 ….that is, if Mother Nature agrees. Thousands of Ice houses have taken up residence on the mammoth body of water and it has become a virtual village. With villages, come many housekeeping problems or opportunities. Keeping the landscape and the soon coming open water of the lake clean is an absolute necessity.

Lake of the Woods Tourism, in partnership with many other agencies, have established a program to Keep our waters and the landscape clean. We are so fortunate to be a popular destination through all the seasons of the year and tourists from all over frequent our land. Precautions have been taken and promotions put out to inform the public about conserving our resource.

Keep It Clean was created to protect, maintain and promote cleanliness for the beautiful landscape, water resources and shorelines of Lake of the Woods as a special place for everyone to visit and enjoy.

Some of the agencies involved are: The Friends of Zippel Bay State Park which is located right on the south shore of Lake of the Woods; The MN DNR, an important agency that oversees the lake seeing that regulations are kept and our natural resource is protected; Roseau County Soil and Water Conservation District, also with interest of the water and shore of the lake; and also Lake of the Woods Soil and Water Conservation District.

It is a good idea to check with the resort or outfitter whom you are fishing with what options they provide for garbage disposal. Whether your garbage is in the back of a pickup truck, in a trailer or hauled off the ice or down the road in a different manner, please take a few extra minutes to make sure it is secure. With wind and bumps on the ice, or increased speed when off the ice and on a road, much littering happens in many cases unknown to the angler. Let’s do our part to keep garbage, trash and pollutants out of Lake of the Woods!

Keep our land clean by also picking up other people’s trash if you happen to come across it while visiting. We have people in the area that care so much about our shores being clean that they take time out of their busy schedules to walk the shoreline in the spring and pick up all they can.

An unfortunate side-effect of the high angler use in the winter is the disturbing amount of trash left on the ice, which then washes up on local beaches in the spring. A wide variety of objects, from aluminum cans, to wooden blocks, to plastic bags of human waste, all wash up on private and public shorelines.

To address concerns about the trash levels on the lake, the group of area stakeholders who are involved in the Keep It Clean group work with area stakeholders, local resorts, and the public educating, promoting and enforcing the Keep It Clean mission. The charge to this group was to formulate workable solutions, and to educate resource users about the problem.

Here’s some tips for helping cure the trash problem on the lake to Keep It Clean.

• Make a plan for trash and waste removal before you arrive. Whether you access the lake from a public or private entrance, plan to take off of the lake what you take on to the lake. Many access points and resorts offer garbage collection services. If your site doesn’t, make a plan to transport it home for disposal.
• Use colored garbage bags. In snowy conditions, white trash bags can be difficult to see. Brightly colored bags are easier to spot making it less likely trash will inadvertently be left behind.
• Take a moment before you depart the ice to make sure that you have picked up any garbage in your area. And if you notice someone else has left something behind, take a moment to pick it up and bring it with you.
• Secure your garbage before traveling. High winds, bumpy ice roads and other conditions on or off the lake can cause unsecured bags of garbage to fall out of truck beds and off of trailers and sleds without you even realizing it.
• Make sure you have the tools you need to move or remove a fish house. Support blocks, insulation, landscaping fabric, wood and other materials need to be properly disposed of not left behind.

Keep It Clean also would like to make it known that there are two dump sites available in the area for wheelhouses that have heated tanks for human waste and/or grey water. Log Cabin Bait on 172 and also Howard’s in town have the appropriate facilities at their sites.

For more information on Lake of the Woods see our website at www.lakeofthewoodsmn.com.
For lodging: www.lakeofthewoodsmn.com/lodging.