outdoors

What good is a lake if it's too low to float your boat? Not much, Matt Thompson says.

"Trying to get a boat into Chisago Lake is ugly, ugly," said Thompson, 37, of North Branch. "You have to back both tires of your vehicle into the water, and you still might not be able to get your boat off the trailer. Or on." 

Thompson is among thousands of Minnesota boaters affected by the ongoing drought, as lakes -- particularly in the east and northeast metro -- recede, exposing Department of Natural Resources boat ramps that end before deep water begins.

The agency says it is maintaining ramps on White Bear Lake, North and South Center lakes, Chisago and Green lakes, among others, as best it can. "But there's a limit to how far we can go before we start building runways into the water," said DNR parks and trails division area supervisor Martha Reger, who oversees 113 boat accesses in nine counties with a crew of eight.

Lake levels haven't been this low on many east metro lakes for decades. Lake Elmo hasn't ebbed this much since 1975. And Richard M. Nixon was president the last time Lake Jane in Washington County was this low.

Frankie Dusenka of Frankie's Bait and Marine in Chisago City said the DNR isn't doing enough to ensure that lakes -- particularly in Chisago and Washington counties, where many of his customers seek bass, walleyes and panfish -- remain accessible.

"If the DNR can't get the landings cleaned out so boats can come and go, I'll do it," Dusenka said. "It's not that hard. It would only take a couple of hours, and I wouldn't charge the DNR a nickel."

Changes in recent years in the sizes of boats purchased by anglers, and the types of trailers underneath those boats, are complicating factors. Whereas 14- and 16-foot aluminum boats with motors of about 25 horsepower were once the norm in Minnesota, boats 18 to 21 feet now are more common -- some with motors of up to 250 horsepower.

Many of these boats are made of fiberglass and are carried on "bunk" style trailers, rather than "roller," or wheel, trailers, which traditionally have been more typical. Marine dealers now often package bunk trailers with aluminum boats because, in part, bunks are cheaper than rollers, reducing prices.

Problems can arise at some landings when boaters use their motors to help push their boats onto trailers, a technique called "power loading."

"We've been trying to accommodate boaters at landings where power loading is common by putting concrete 'blast shields' in the water, underneath where the motors would be running," Reger said. But not every DNR launch site has a blast shield. In other lakes, the shields are now in water so shallow that they do little good, she said.

So when boaters power-load, their motors sometimes dig a hole in the lake bottom, pushing sand and sediment farther astern, where it creates an underwater ridge. These ridges are among challenges boaters on North and South Center lakes -- among some other state waters -- face when launching.

"We've pulled the ridge out twice on South Center," Reger said. "But because the lake levels are so low, we're not gaining boaters a lot."

Reger said the DNR has a backhoe it uses for ramp clean outs. "But it was purchased for laying ramps, not with the notion it would be dredging accesses," Reger said. "It is not a long-armed backhoe."

Not all east metro lakes have been affected equally by the drought. White Bear has a relatively small watershed, which is why it has dropped so substantially. Forest Lake, by contrast, has a larger watershed and hasn't suffered as much.

"Since June of last year, water levels in this area are down 12 to 14 inches," said Dan Collins, DNR central region parks and trails division manager. "We have crews at access sites doing normal maintenance, mowing grass and adjusting docks. But in terms of dealing with a drought of this type, there isn't a lot we can do."

Dusenka disagrees.

"They need to get the wheels of their backhoe wet a bit, and they'll get the accesses cleaned out," he said. "Either that, or let me do it."

Said Thompson, the North Branch boat owner, "Summer is too short in Minnesota not to be able to put your boat in a lake."

Dennis Anderson • 612-673-4424