Watershed district to encourage Lake Okabena carp removal during spring spawn

Julie Buntjer, The Daily Globe, Worthington, Minn.
·3 min read

Feb. 8—WORTHINGTON — The Okabena-Ocheda Watershed District will not contract with Minnesota-based Carp Solutions to trap and remove carp from Worthington's Lake Okabena. The decision, made during the board's meeting on Tuesday, was due to the high cost — $42,000 — to place box traps in the lake with no guarantee on how successful trapping the carp may be.

"It's way too expensive for an unknown benefit," said Administrator Dan Livdahl.

Board President Rolf Mahlberg agreed, citing other projects the watershed will be financing this year. He said he'd rather have southwest Minnesota's licensed commercial fisherman do more seining in the lake to remove the roughfish.

Livdahl also said results of past seining efforts, combined with tracking carp in the lake, have shown that perhaps there aren't as many carp in Lake Okabena as once thought.

Manager Jay Milbrandt suggested that if they want to proceed with carp removal efforts in the future, he'd like to see it be a collaborative effort.

The board's decision led to further discussion Tuesday about having some type of contest that would encourage people to shoot or spear carp during spawning season. The carp run is fairly quick, from a couple of days to a couple of weeks, at most.

While they decided against a contest, Livdahl was asked to inquire about the possibility of paying for a dumpster to be parked along Whiskey Ditch in Worthington during the spawning period and encouraging people who shoot carp for the sport to dispose of the roughfish in the provided dumpster. Livdahl said he'd check with the city's parks department on the feasibility and report back.

In other business, the board:

* Learned of a Lake Ocheda Management Plan Advisory Committee meeting set for 1 p.m. Feb. 21, at the Nobles County Public Works facility meeting room. The committee will discuss the next steps to improve the health of the three-basin lake. Past drawdowns were unsuccessful both in getting a complete fish kill and in spurring growth of lake vegetation. Livdahl said the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has questions for the committee before a decision is made to bring in pumps to pump the basins dry.

* Received an update on the water quality improvement project planned on ISD 518 property along Crailsheim Road. Livdahl said he has yet to receive the permit from the Corps of Engineers for the project, and reported that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency now has to submit a water quality certification report before the watershed district can proceed with the project.

Livdahl said the draft design for the project is not yet complete, and it appears as though construction won't start until August or September, at the earliest.

He also said Adam Blume had asked watershed board manager Jeff Rogers if he could farm the land, but the board determined it would have to be small grains or at Blume's risk if some crop acres had to be destroyed due to construction.

* Received a copy of the watershed district's 2024 annual plan. Managers will look through the report and vote on its acceptance at the March meeting.

* Approved a permit application from the city of Worthington to reconstruct the boat ramp in Sunset Park.

* Set the next meeting time and date for 4 p.m. March 12, in the Nobles County Public Works meeting room.