Mille Lacs Pilot Research Project

Project Goals

Clean Up The Lake was contacted by a member of the Keep It Clean Initiative based in Mille Lacs, Minnesota to consider providing assistance in helping investigate submerged litter issues in their lake. Mille Lacs is well known for its ice-fishing activities and concerns were expressed on the amount of litter that may be falling through the ice following these fishing seasons and polluting the lake. With that concern in mind, and usual summer recreation it was enough to decide an investigation into these issues was worthwhile. In 2022 our non profit began working with them where funding was eventually secured through the Clean Water Land & Legacy Amendment with the support of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Pilot Research was then set for Fall of 2024 in order to spend two weeks on the lake diving various recreational and residential dive transects, ice fishing hot spots, river mouths, and more to investigate if submerged litter and aquatic invasive species present a real and significant threat to Mille Lacs’ water quality.