District 6 - Two Harbors
COSeanWilliams(Ely1)reports:he focused on bear baiting and monitored wild rice activity over the weekend. Nuisance bear activity continued to be reported through the week and visitors and residents are encouraged to be mindful with their food and garbage. Violations included: litter, harvesting green wild rice, and incomplete information on a bear bait sign.
CO Brent Ihnen (Ely 2) focused on fishing and boating activity this week. Officer Ihnen also monitored AIS compliance near area lakes and public accesses. Additional time was spent checking ATV operators.
CO Thomas Wahlstrom (Grand Marais) checked anglers, ATV riders and bear baiters. The officer assisted areaofficersinstructingfirearmsafety in Two Harbors. The officer assisted Cook County SAR with rescuing 5 people stranded in acanyon in the Kadunce River. All 5 people were safely lifted out of the canyon. The officer also assisted CCSO with a domestic. Enforcement action was taken for ATV violations.
CO Hudson Ledeen (Hovland) spent timepatrollingintheBWCAW.Fishing has slowed down on inland lakes and folks fishing on Superior are showing varying success. Bear baiting has begun and many hunters were out tending to their baits. Ledeen assisted with a FirearmsSafetyClassinTwoHarbors.
CO Anthony Bermel (Babbitt) started field training a newly hired Conservation Officer candidate. One day was spent assisting with a district firearmsafetyfieldday. Afewexamples of station activity include angling, ATV, and bear baiting enforcement. Time was also spent working within the BWCA for a few days.
CO Megan Franzen (Silver Bay) spent the week primarily checking anglers and monitoring ATV activity around the area. CO Franzen attended a firearm safety class in Two Harbors along with COs in the surrounding area to assist with an annual field day led by conservation officers. Time was also spent responding to awater-related rescue emergency.
CO Trent Anderson (Tofte) focused on angling, boating, and ATV enforcement for the week. Time was spent answering questions and working bear baiting activity. Local agencies were assisted with recovery efforts on Lake Superior. Enforcement action was taken on various registration and angling related violations.
District 5 - Eveleth area
CO Curtis Simonson (Int’l Falls #2) reports checking anglers and bear baiting activity this past week. ATV enforcement was worked as well. Enforcement action was taken for allowing youth to operate without helmet and registration violations.
COJohnSlatinskiIV(Ray)Followed up on a wolf depredation complaint and coordinated with outside agencies. Several calls were fielded about ATV questions, including registration of the new larger UTVs that are being produced.
CO Troy Fondie (Orr) reports continued monitoring of area lakes and waterways. Area Forest roads were checked and ATV activity monitored. Spare time was spent visiting public access sites.Numerousphone callsand questions were responded to on the up coming seasons over the week.
CO Sean Cannon (Cook) spent time this week checking anglers and monitoring boating activity. The bite continues to be hit and miss, however a few anglers were able to get it figured out andgetdecentfish.Timewasalsospent monitoring bear baiting activity, ATV activity, and check area forest roads. CO Cannon also checked local wild rice areas, which are looking great, a night and day difference from last year.
CO Aaron Larson (Tower) worked primarily angling enforcement and ATV activity. He also spent time checking wild rice in the area. Wild rice remains fairly green and one violation was found regarding harvesting green rice. He also spent time checking on bear baiting activity and working a dumping case.
CO Shane Zavodnik (Virginia) and his trainee, COC Jacob Peterson, worked abear baiting case and handled nuisance bear calls during the first weekoffieldtraining.Theyalsoworked boating and angling enforcement on Lake Minnetonka over the weekend. Additional time was spent assisting local police departments and working a case with aneighboring Conservation
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Officers in the area.
CO Duke Broughten (Aurora) spent the week monitoring fishing, boating, and ATV activity. Fishermen reported moderate success. ATV activity was higher than past weeks. CO Broughten fielded calls regarding injured animals, trespass, a nd b ear b ait r egulations. CO Broughten also assisted local law enforcement on scene with a fatal ATV crash.
District 7 - Grand Rapids area
CO Vinny Brown (Northome) talked to several bear hunters out in the woods as they set up on bear baiting opener. Time was also spent patrolling lakes, forests, and wild rice harvesting areas. Enforcement action was taken for unmarked bait stations and drums as well as ATV registration and operation issues.
COJaysonHansen(Bigfork)Worked ATV’s, boating, and fishing activities. He patrolled area trails and campgrounds. Numerous game and fish questions were answered. He also responded towildlife-relatedcomplaints.
CO Mike Fairbanks (Deer River) checked anglers, worked boat and water, handled nuisance animal complaints worked bear baiting and monitored wild rice harvesting this week. CO Fairbanks and his K9 partner fennec also assisted in the search for a burglary suspects who fled into the woods and provided a K9 demo at the Itasca County Fair. Enforcement action was taken for license violations and OHV registration issues.
CO Thomas Sutherland (Grand Rapids) worked angling activity over the past week with some panfish and walleyes biting. Enforcement action wastakenforanglingwithoutalicense, angling without a license in possession and not having enough lifejackets on a watercraft. CO Sutherland also took in many complaints of nuisance bears in the area eating crops and taking trash cans. CO Sutherland also spent some time at the Itasca County Fair with the Wall of Shame.
CO Jimmy Van Asch (Pengilly) – worked sport fishing, boating, ATV, AIS, and big-game enforcement. Bear baiting activates were also monitored throughout the surrounding areas, as well.
CO Taylor Hochstein (Hill City) noticed that people are starting to think about the fall hunting season. While temperatures are still warm, boating and lake activities are very low compared to a few weeks ago. People are already starting to prep for the upcoming bear season as well as small game and archery hunting. Several hunting related questions were fielded, and enforcement action was taken for boating and fishing violations.
CO Brian Holt (Grand Rapids) checked angling activity and AIS compliance during the previous week. Time was also spent monitoring recreational vehicle activity and taking miscellaneous wildlife complaints. Enforcement action taken for angling in aclosedareabelowthePokegamaDam.
Aviation Section
CO Pilot Jason Jensen (Brainerd) reports flying a waterfowl telemetry flight and a rotary training flight. A request to search for burglary suspects was flown in Itasca County.
CO Pilot Charles Scott (Brainerd) completed a sketch mapping flight. Assisted Pine County with aerial search formissingindividualandassistedCO’s with requested flights.
CO Pilot Tim Gray (Bemidji) flew forestry flights and took care of aircraft maintenance.
