This story appeared on City Pages First. They worried the muskies would eat the walleye and crappies. They also worried that humans brave enough to venture into the water would get bitten.
Otter Tail County residents rustled up a campaign against the DNR and tried to pass anti-muskie stocking legislation in the spring of 2016. They failed, but succeeded in getting the DNR to halt the stocking of three lakes: Lizzie, Loon, and Franklin.
This year, the anti-muskie crowd martialed the help of Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, an Alexandria Republican, to get a broad bill introduced in the Senate that would have banned muskie stocking. It also called for yanking $100,000 from the game and fish fund to study Minnesotans’ attitudes about stocking.
The measure was eventually wittled down to just Otter Tail County, then rolled it into a spending bill like so many wads of Play-Doh fused into a single gargantuan ball. But it would fail to get traction. So they’ll be back again next year.
Consider it the latest attempt at a citizen takeover of the DNR, one fueled in complete defiance of science.