Javier Serna

St. Paul — Minnesota’s first deer-management plan is nearing completion, with the general public scheduled to get a look and be able to comment on it in April, DNR officials said last week. On March 14, the latest draft of the plan was presented to the Deer Management Plan Advisory Committee, which then offered comments […]

St. Paul — A DNR bill being carried by Rep. Dan Fabian would make permanent a temporary rule that gave mainly sturgeon and catfish anglers the ability to use casting nets to catch gizzard shad for bait on portions of the Mississippi, St. Croix, and Minnesota rivers. The temporary rule, which expired in Dec. 1,

Rice, Minn. — It’s not a done deal, according to state fisheries managers, but responses to an upcoming survey regarding a proposal to drop the statewide walleye bag from six fish to four will be keenly watched. That was the latest news regarding the proposal, which has been discussed and debated heavily at the past

Baudette, Minn. — The walleye fishing has been good on Lake of the Woods for a while now. Has it been too good? Walleyes are one of several topics of discussion as the Minnesota DNR leads an update of its Lake of the Woods Fisheries Management Plan, which began with monthly meetings in December. It

Isle, Minn. — With the Mille Lacs Fisheries Advisory Committee set to hear about an external review of Mille Lacs fisheries management, those concerned with the lake’s walleyes also were anticipating what the coming open-water season might look like. State and tribal officials are set to hash things out for the coming season on Feb.

Bloomington, Minn. — Just what clearer waters on Lake Mille Lacs might mean for the lake’s walleyes is the subject of new research by the Minnesota DNR’s fisheries systems ecologist, Gretchen Hansen. Hansen had the floor during the fisheries portion of the Minnesota DNR Roundtable at the DoubleTree hotel in Bloomington, where invited stakeholders spend

Sauk Rapids, Minn. — How many deer Minnesota hunters can sustainably harvest was one of several topics debated at the 12th and final scheduled meeting of the appointed Deer Management Plan Advisory Committee. The meeting was Dec. 13. The DMPAC, which began meeting as a 19-member group exactly a year ago, did not come up

Isle, Minn. — For the past several years, most Lake Mille Lacs walleye discussion and debate at some point veers toward the vaunted 2013 year-class of walleyes, which will, finally, reach full reproductive maturity this spring. The 2013 fish have been viewed as important to the lake’s walleye reproduction ever since fisheries managers determined the

St. Paul — The state has received 100 applications totaling about 3,600 acres at the six-month mark since Minnesota’s third round of the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program began, according to Bill Penning, conservation easement section manager for the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources. Those applications will require about $27 million. This third installment