FAW Public Input

Please take this opportunity to review and provide your input on the draft Mille Lacs WMA management plan, posted on the DNR's Mille Lacs WMA website. Following this public review period, the DNR will revise the plan to address input received and release a final version of the plan.

Mille Lacs WMA is the largest WMA in central Minnesota and comprises the headwaters of six small rivers. With a size of approximately 39,000 acres, the Mille Lacs WMA has the capacity to be managed as a large, intact ecosystem that significantly contributes to the wildlife habitat on both a landscape and regional scale. The last master plan for Mille Lacs WMA was written in 1977 and was intended to cover a 10-year period. This is the first formal updating of the master plan since 1977. Significant changes in this plan reflect: a greater emphasis on enhancing native plant communities, increased knowledge of the habitat needs of flora and fauna in the Mille Lacs WMA, changing wildlife and human use of the area, and new challenges like invasive species and climate change.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is considering several experimental and special fishing regulations for the 2024 fishing season.

Each year, the DNR proposes several experimental and special fishing regulations. Experimental regulations have a set evaluation period (typically 10 years), after which the DNR must determine whether the change should become permanent. Special regulations are selected from a suite of regulation toolbox options that have proven effective at achieving specific goals. Special regulations do not have an end date, although DNR reviews their performance as part of an individual lake’s management planning cycle.   

The DNR is considering regulation changes on the following waters:

• Northern Pike in Gull Lake Chain (Cass and Crow Wing Counties)
• Northern Pike in Pearl Lake (Stearns County)
• Crappie and sunfish in Clearwater Lake (Wright County)
• Crappie and sunfish in Maple Lake (Wright County)
• Sunfish in 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th Crow Wing Lakes (Hubbard County)
• Sunfish in Lake Winnibigoshish (Beltrami, Cass, and Itasca Counties)
• Northern Pike in Balsam, Haskell, and Scrapper Lakes (Itasca County)
• Walleye in Big Sand Lake (Hubbard County)

Please complete this survey to provide your input on these potential regulation changes -- if you are not interested in any of the lakes, feel free to skip that question. This survey should take approximately 15 minutes to complete and will be open through October 20th, 2023.