Minnesota is wasting millions of dollars on trout habitat projects in the Driftless Area by forcing contractors to use woody debris instead of rock to protect stream banks that are washing out in spectacular fashion, a pair of rehabbers say.
Their criticism, amplified on a website, is gaining traction in funding and management circles in St. Paul.
"We have streams tearing themselves apart,'' said Gary Sobotta of Rochester. "Millions of dollars are being washed away.''
Sobotta and Tom Dornack, business partners in a trout stream rehabilitation company, went public with their gripes earlier this year. "We are raising a stink because what is happening needs to be reviewed,'' they wrote on a trout forum discussion board.
In response, the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council — the biggest funder of southeastern Minnesota trout habitat projects — organized a field trip to view damage.
"It was really an eye-opener of a day,'' said Mark Johnson, the council's executive director.
The group, including a contingent from the Department of Natural Resources, followed Sobotta to a handful of fishing locations south of Interstate 90, where high water ravaged stream bends that had been stabilized with tree trunks and root wads.
To follow up on the tour, Johnson has scheduled a public meeting in June to hear from the DNR, Trout Unlimited and others. Sobotta said he's been impressed with the response.