Minnesota DNR Expands Fishing Opportunities with 20 Legacy-funded Fishing Piers
OutdoorHub 05.03.12
Anglers can wet their lines at 20 new and improved fishing piers across the state during this year’s fishing opener and throughout many fishing seasons to follow, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
With $592,000 in funding from the Parks and Trails Fund of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, the DNR replaced 15 fishing piers and installed five new ones in 2011.
The DNR installed the new fishing piers at:
- Grant Lake in Beltrami County.
- Big Lake in Carlton County.
- Sylvan Bay on the Mississippi River in Itasca County.
- Lake Shetek at Lake Shetek State Park in Murray County.
- Albert Lea Lake at Myre-Big Island State Park in Freeborn County.
The DNR also replaced fishing piers at:Long Lake in Otter Tail County, Fish Hook River in Hubbard County, Straight Lake in Becker County, and Spirit Lake in Wadena County in northwestern Minnesota.
- Hill Lake in Aitkin County and Tilson Bay on Rainy Lake in Koochiching County; the DNR will also soon complete the replacement of the fishing pier at Boy Scout Landing on the St. Louis River in St. Louis County in northeastern Minnesota.
- Lake Bennett and Silver Lake in Ramsey County, Buffalo Lake in Wright County, Middle Spunk Lake in Stearns County and Lake Charlotte in Todd County in central and southeastern Minnesota.
- Lake Andrew in Sibley State Park in Kandiyohi County, Madison Lake in Blue Earth County and Swan Lake in McLeod County in southwestern Minnesota.
“Fishing piers provide a safe and convenient place to fish, instead of from bridges or steep embankments or fragile shoreland areas,” said Nancy Stewart, fishing pier coordinator for the DNR’s Parks and Trails Division. “They can be the heart of a community or a main component of a state, county or city park, and are often used to facilitate fishing clinics that help introduce new participants to fishing.”
Since the fishing pier grant program was created in 1984, the DNR has provided more than 350 fishing piers, platforms or shore-fishing sites statewide, with one-third of them in the Twin Cities metro area. The overall goal of the program is to improve fishing opportunities, especially to meet the needs of children, older adults, people with disabilities, and those without a boat. The new Legacy-funded fishing piers, which range from 34 to 84 feet long, are all wheelchair accessible.
In many cases, fishing pier installations involve cooperative agreements that allow the state to buy and install the pier on land owned by a county or city, while the local unit of government handles the accessible parking and pathway, daily operation and yearly maintenance.
To find a nearby fishing pier, visit mndnr.gov (dnr.state.mn.us/fishing_piers/index.html) or call the DNR Information Center at 651-296-6157 or toll-free 888-646-6367 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. For information about which fish species can be found at particular lakes or to download the new LakeFinder Mobile App, visit mndnr.gov (http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/index.html).
Funding for this grant program is from the Parks and Trails Fund created after voters approved the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment in November 2008. The Parks and Trails Fund receives 14.25 percent of the sales tax revenue and may only be spent to support parks and trails of regional or statewide significance. For more information, visit http://www.legacy.leg.mn/funds/parks-trails-fund.
