A decades-long feud between residents of neighboring lakes in Otter Tail County has been settled — for now.
Last week, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that the waters of Hoffman Lake and West McDonald Lake will remain separate. The court refused to allow the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to cut a channel allowing excess water from Hoffman Lake to flow into its neighbor, also known as West Mac.
In its decision, the court faulted the DNR for not researching the issue more thoroughly, saying its decision to create an overflow channel "is unsupported by substantial evidence in the record and is arbitrary and capricious."
The DNR has 30 days to appeal the case to the state Supreme Court. Sherry Enzler, the agency's general counsel, said the department hasn't decided whether to appeal.
"We're mulling it over, weighing our options," she said. "We haven't really had a discussion."
The two lakes are separated by a slender bar, only 2 feet wide at its narrowest point. Neighbors have battled over the bar for at least 40 years, with some trying to create a channel between the two lakes, while others work to keep them separate.
In the early 1970s, someone — nobody is quite sure who — used dynamite to blow open a channel through the bar. West Mac residents later closed it up and have been vigilant about keeping the lake waters from mixing ever since.
Still, a low-level guerrilla war has continued over the years, with mysterious nighttime visits from "rock fairies" who remove riprap from the bar while others quietly put it back.