It was standing room only at Sunday’s Open House at the Ninette Community Hall to share and ask questions of the proposed AIS (Aquatic Invasive Species) Mitigation Model Info forum. The model aligns with the one lake-one boat initiative.
The panel of presenters included concerned citizens about the threat of zebra mussels who have been working with council members of the RM of Prairie Lakes. As well, Dr. Jeff Long biologist for the Province and authority on AIS in Manitoba was at the table to field questions of AIS, specifically zebra mussels. Council members and moderator, Scott Phillips, completed the panel.
"It certainly was great to see a large number of people out," shares Prairie Lakes Reeve, Darren Seymour. "That's always been the concern. I know in the first couple of meetings we only had 25 or 30 people out and it's always tough to get people engaged and get people involved. There was a good group close to 200 people there, I was told. I think the meeting went very well."
"A lot of information was put out, and some rumors dispelled," adds Seymour. "There were some questions that our interest group on the lake is going to take back and pursue some of those questions that were brought forward and see if they can tweak their model to fit kind of what people are looking for."
The Mitigation Model proposes boat users purchase an annual decal for powered and keeled watercraft for $100 each, ($25 for kayaks / canoes states the original proposal) and these boats must be launched at the north end boat dock. Thus, barriers would be installed at the 17 other launch sites around the lake. Staff would be trained to inspect watercrafts and to determine if the watercraft is clean / decontaminated and allowed into the water body.
Seymour says the biggest concerned that was voiced from the audience was the cost of the program. Why is there a cost to boat users? Who should pay for the implementation of the program? Why can't these funds come out of municipal taxes? Why isn't the provincial government helping to finance this program?
"Those are all good questions," explains Seymour. "We in our proposal from the RM when we talked to the lake group is to try to make this program self-sustaining, meaning we don't want to burden our taxpayers with all the costs. Obviously, there's a lot of outside traffic coming into the lake to use the lake, to boat and fish and we thought that those user groups should be a part of the paying for the fees to run the system."
A second concern was the hours of operation of the main gate at the launch site. The original proposal suggested 8am to 8pm. However, concerned residents and anglers shared the best fishing was early morning or evening sunset. Seymour says this will certainly be an issue of discussion as the 8-8 was the start to that conversation.
"Now one of the things that I want people to understand is that ... the local people who buy the one lake-one boat program, they will actually be able to access the lake at any time," notes Seymour. "It's just the transient boaters that are coming through the Ninette station that will have to be there during the specific hours."
The Pelican Lake group is putting together a summation of Sunday's meeting to present a revised mitigation model to their municipal council. For those who wish to be added to the email list for more information and future updates please contact the Pelican Lake Healthy Lake Committee.
To view the original Pelican Lake AIS Mitigation Model visit the RM of Prairie Lakes website HERE!