Minnesota's lakes should be enjoyed

June 29, 2010 at 9:34PM

Minnesota's lakes should be enjoyed The alarmist front-page article, "Losing Our Lakes" (June 20 Star Tribune), makes several points in an apparent crusade against lakefront property owners. Lakes are being "turned to green ooze," the article suggests, because of approved zoning variances, large surface docks and leaking septic systems.

I will be a lake cabin owner on North Long Lake when Mom lets me (my parents purchased in 1963, when I was 5). Like other lake dwellers, our drinking water comes from a well. The last thing in the world I would permit is my septic system leaking into the ground from which I draw my drinking water.

My dock on North Long Lake is 120 feet long. The last two summers the water depth at the end varied from just under to just over two feet, enough to float my boat, but not enough to use the motor. I still have to jump out and walk the boat another 50 or 60 feet out from the dock. Docks don't pollute -- they're a sign the lake is being used, not lost.

The state, via the DNR, owns the surface of the lake, right up to the shore. North Long Lake has two public access points (like most lakes of any size), so anyone with a boat can enjoy the lake. I can take my boat and put it in Cross Lake if I want to -- I can anchor it one inch from shore in front of Denny Hecker's mansion and play "I Want Money" over and over on a boombox if I choose. Is this lake "lost" to the public? I don't think so.

Multiple docks do limit the ability of floating parties and speeding vessels to get right next to the shore. On North Long, as on Edward, the lake pictured on the front page, the extremely shallow shore area -- three or four inches of water many feet out in the lake -- is a bigger hindrance to boaters than the docks.

Overuse can become a problem (and runoff is a problem in farm country). Someday we may have to limit access to some lakes. But even with our growing population, even with the shoreline of many lakes fully developed, even with the sprawling metro area, the majority of the state is still largely natural. We protect lakes and wetlands, but we need to balance that protection with use and enjoyment.

KARL W. JORGENSON FRIDLEY

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