The new picnic shelter at Maplewood State Park will be dedicated Sat., Aug. 30, to the memory of fallen Minnesota National Guardsman, Joshua Hanson.

Hanson, the son of Maplewood State Park Manager, Bob Hanson and wife, Kathy, served with Alpha Company, 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 136th Infantry, out of Detroit Lakes, MN. He was killed in action in Iraq on Aug. 30, 2006, at the age of 27.

Creating more opportunities for anglers to hook lunker northern pike and muskellunge is the goal of a new long-range management plan adopted by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

“Anglers have a growing interest in catching larger fish,” said Ron Payer, DNR fisheries section chief. “This long range plan establishes reasonable goals and decision making processes to responsibly manage these high-profile fisheries through 2020.”

People who plan to conduct a Minnesota fishing tournament will be given preference if the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) receives their application by Sept. 26 or the tournament was established before 2001 on a particular body of water.

Smallmouth bass catch-and-release regulations on a 12-mile stretch of the Zumbro River from the Lake Zumbro dam to the Minnesota Highway 63 bridge in Zumbro Falls will be the subject of a public meeting from 6:30-9 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 23, at the Mazeppa Community Center.

A Lake Superior scene of a Chinook salmon caught on a fly will be featured on Minnesota’s 2009 Trout and Salmon Stamp. Timothy Turenne of Richfield painted the winning acrylic design. This is the first time Turenne has won the Trout and Salmon Stamp contest.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has three added three new fishing piers to Minnesota lakes this summer. They are located on Lake Isabel in Dakota County, Lake Preston in Renville County and Clear Lake in LeSueur County.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - Tune in Sunday, August 17, to "FLW Outdoors" on FSN for the conclusion of the $1 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour event on the Fort Loudoun-Tellico lakes in Knoxville, Tennessee. Watch as FSN takes viewers through the final weigh-in and awards the winning pro angler $125,000. The one-hour show is the second of a two-part series covering the fifth tournament of the $9.5 million FLW Tour season.

PIERRE, S.D. – The S.D. Game, Fish and Parks Department has announced the grant recipients for this year’s No Child Left Inside small grant program.

“We received nearly 60 applications for this year’s funding. That was a tremendous response, especially since this was the first year we’ve offered the program,” said Chad Tussing, education services coordinator for the GFP Division of Wildlife. Applications were scored by a team of reviewers. A total of $5,000 was allotted for the small grant program. Applicants requested amounts between $500 and $1,000 each.

Wildlife artists can submit entries for Minnesota’s first walleye stamp, which will be available to anglers when they purchase a 2009 fishing license.
Earlier this year, the Minnesota Legislature passed a law creating the voluntary walleye stamp, which will add $5 to the cost of a 2009 fishing license if an angler chooses to purchase the stamp. Revenue from stamp sales is dedicated to walleye stocking and directly related activities.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is seeking public comments on its forest classification and motor vehicle route designation proposal for six state forests in an eight-county planning area in east-central Minnesota. The east-central forests include Land O’ Lakes in Cass/Crow Wing counties; Hill River, Savanna, and Waukenabo in Aitkin County, Snake River in Kanabec County, and DAR in Pine County. The proposal also designates roads and trails on scattered DNR lands in Anoka, Aitkin, Chisago, Isanti, Kanabec, Pine, southern Cass, and Washington counties.