DETROIT LAKES, Minn. – Though zebra mussel infestation has been garnering the lion's share of media attention, there are other aquatic invasive species that can be equally destructive, if not more so.

"There are other invasives that, to me, would (negatively) affect the experience of being on Becker County's lakes and rivers more than zebra mussels," says Karl Koenig, water quality and AIS coordinator with the Becker Soil and Water Conservation District.

Eurasian watermilfoil, for instance, is an insidious invader that, once established, can form vast mats of unsightly brown vegetation which not only detract from a lake's aesthetics, but get tangled around boat and watercraft engines, and make swimming unpleasant, interfering with the lake's recreational value.

"Eurasian watermilfoil is in Alexandria and Union Lake in Polk County, and I would really like it to stay there," Koenig said.

These are just two examples of the dozens of aquatic invasives that can create problems once they take root in a water body. Even though there has been some success with eradicating certain types of invasives, like flowering rush, through the use of chemicals and other treatments, prevention remains the best way to keep these invaders out of area waters.

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Invasive species inspectors have become a much more visible presence on area lakes since the water district took over the task.

"The county approached us (about taking over the program) in March," said Peter Mead. administrator of the Becker Soil and Water Conservation District.

One of the reasons why the district agreed to the request, he added, was because the Legislature had appropriated some funding during its 2014 session for counties to step up their invasive species prevention efforts. (Local lake associations including Melissa-Sallie, Floyd Shores, Big Cormorant, Island, Long, Bad Medicine and others also contribute financially to the program, Mead said.)

"Minnesota is the first to dedicate state money to local (aquatic invasive species) prevention efforts," Mead said, noting that funding local prevention programs makes sense because much of the costs are borne locally as well.

A total of $10 million was designated for efforts statewide, with each county receiving an amount proportionate to the number of public boat accesses and boat access parking areas found within their borders.

"Becker County is in the top 10," Mead noted, which means it received a larger chunk of the funding.

This funding not only pays for half of Koenig's salary, but also enables the water district to hire 30 full- and part-time boat inspectors, as well as add two new boat decontamination units to the two units the county already owned.

"This would not be happening on this scale without that legislation," Mead said, noting that his office has strived to put as many of those state dollars back into the local economy as possible.

The inspectors work closely with Department of Natural Resources inspectors to make sure the accesses on high-traffic lakes like Melissa and Detroit are closely monitored, Koenig said.

The inspectors pay particular attention to Lake Melissa, Koenig noted, because of its status as a zebra mussel-infested lake. "There are inspectors out there daily," he said. "When we're not there, the DNR is."

Though Becker County water district's inspections are done primarily with education in mind, their counterparts at the Becker County Sheriff's Department have been a little less talk, more action when it comes to the enforcement of local and state invasive water species regulations this summer.

"This is the third year that we've had two part-time deputies assigned to aquatic invasive species (enforcement)," says Sheriff Todd Glander. "Initially, it started out that we were out there mainly for educational purposes, advising people, making sure they were pulling the plugs on their boats and not transferring water (or invasive plant vegetation) from one lake to another."

The deputies patrol area roads and lake accesses in their squad cars, which are clearly marked "AIS enforcement," Glander noted, looking at boats being transported between the lakes for obvious violations such as vegetation hanging from trailers and watercraft, plugs that haven't been pulled, live wells that haven't been drained, etc.

"I don't have a total number of boats inspected by our deputies, but we've issued 22 written warnings for people with plugs in boats, weeds hanging off the trailers and so forth, and we've written three citations for plugs in boats at the accesses," says Deputy Adam Douglas, who is assigned to cover invasive species enforcement for the county this summer.

Overall, Douglas said, the program has been going very well.

"We're not out to spoil people's fun, we just want them to be aware that there is an issue with aquatic invasive species, and we want to do what we can to alleviate that problem," Sheriff Glander added.