The Lake Where You Live

When I snorkel on Birch and a few other lakes I am struck by the amount of litter — as in there is none. I can’t remember the last time I saw a stray bottle or can or other bit of trash on the bottom of a lake.

Things are quite different when I take my walks or bike rides along the town roads. Just lately on a walk of a little more than three miles I picked up five aluminum beverage cans. Those were just the ones lying on the asphalt already crushed by cars. I could only wonder how many more lay buried beneath the snow.

So do we treat land with less respect than we treat water? I ask this because I recently learned about a law in Minnesota, passed last May, that forbids depositing garbage or human waste on or under lake ice. A violation can bring fines of $100 plus administrative costs. 

The problem addressed by the law came to light with the boom in ice fishing, and especially the introduction of deluxe fishing shelters (wheelhouses) in which anglers can camp in relative comfort for days at a time. 

These houses are very nice, but there are no waste dumping facilities out on the ice, as there would be at, say, a public campground. And apparently some anglers (likely a small minority, as is typical) have less respect for water when it is frozen and so are prone to littering.

The waste problem emerged on some of Minnesota’s high-profile waters such as Lake of the Woods, Mille Lacs Lake and Upper Red Lake that each year attract thousands of ice anglers seeking walleyes and yellow perch.

Some leave assorted, random litter behind. Sometimes a full trash bag falls out the back of a pickup truck, a bag that an angler intended to take home for proper disposal. In any case, the problem became serious enough so that Minnesota Lakes and Rivers Advocates (the state lake association) and individual lake groups worked together to get the law passed.

Now a campaign called Keep It Clean (slogan “Be Nice to the Ice”) encourages anglers to do what is normally expected of those of us visit places like state parks: Take home everything we brought along, including garbage.

Designed to augment the impact of the law, it’s an education campaign sponsored by multiple lake associations. Keep It Clean (www.keepitclean.org) has produced a variety of materials — posters, table tents, coasters, stickers, banners and more — that help deliver its message. The group lists five actions anglers should take:

• Make a plan to deal with trash and waste before going on the ice.

• Use colored garbage bags — so they are visible and less likely to be left behind.

• Don’t place garbage on or under the ice.

• Secure trash when leaving so it won’t accidentally fall from a vehicle.

• Remove all materials when removing a fish house — leave nothing behind.

Minnesota’s experience makes me wonder: Is trash on the ice a problem in Wisconsin as well? Is it a problem on your lake? Please consider sending me a note with any observations.

Ted Rulseh is a writer, author and lake advocate who lives on Birch Lake in Oneida County. His new book, “Ripple Effects,” has been released by UW Press. You can learn about it by visiting https://thelakeguy.net.