The National Park Service recently accepted public input on the final draft of the agency’s new Comprehensive River Management Plan. St. Croix 360 is now highlighting comments submitted by a variety of river users and stakeholders. This series will close with comments from St. Croix 360 readers. Please send your comments to greg@stcroix360.com if you want to be included.

Stu Neville is the owner of Hayward Fly Fishing, a shop and outfitter located in Hayward, along the Namekagon River. He frequently guides anglers on fishing trips on both the Namekagon and the upper St. Croix River, primarily pursuing smallmouth bass and muskellunge. He also lives on the Namekagon near Hayward, and previously served on the board of Wild Rivers Conservancy.

Neville graciously shared the comments he submitted to the National Park Service on the final draft of the Comprehensive River Management Plan. Thanks, Stu!

Beginning with praise for the National Park Service undertaking the development of the plan, Neville says it is needed as the numbers and types of users has increased in the past decades.

“I’ve seen many uses, abuses and threats to the river grow and change over the years that necessitate an active approach to resource management,” he wrote. “That being said, there are aspects of this draft plan that disappoint me.”

He says there is a mismatch between one of the plan’s stated priorities and the actions it emphasizes. While the first example is “resource protection,” Neville says the plan does not devote enough details to how natural resources will be protected.

“What I read in the current draft places far higher value and urgency on visitor use, experience, and facilities,” he wrote. “While I appreciate that those aspects are important and require management strategy, I want to point out that well maintained landings and campsites hold far less appeal on a river that has seen its resources degraded and abused.”

There are several specific steps that Neville urges the National Park Service to take, addressing invasive species, power boats, dam flows, and more.

“As Walter Mondale and Gaylord Nelson saw plainly over 50 years ago, these rivers are unique and outstanding in so many ways that are worthy of great protection,” Neville wrote. “It would be a shame if inaction led to their being compromised beyond repair.”

Lead-end

The first issue Neville brought up was lead fishing tackle. The metal is a known poison which regularly kills trumpeter swans, loons, bald eagles, and other birds. Often used for fishing sinkers and other gear, as well as in hunting ammunition, ingesting a single sinker can be fatal.

“It is irresponsible for the NPS to allow this easily managed threat to continue to exist by ignoring it,” Neville wrote. “A ban on lead fishing tackle would directly, simply and immediately support the [plan]’s stated goal of protecting river values and resources.”

In 2022, the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and several other groups filed a petition with the Department of the Interior asking the agency to begin phasing out lead tackle and ammunition at all National Parks. It has not been acted on. Yellowstone National Park prohibits the use of both lead fishing tackle and live bait.

Bad bait

While aquatic invasive species like zebra mussels are a threat to the St. Croix and Namekagon, and the National Park Service acknowledges the problem and suggests some solutions in the plan, Neville says the agency has overlooked one obvious step: banning live bait.

“A ban on fishing bait would significantly reduce the risk of spread of zebra mussels, as well as other destructive AIS,” he wrote.

He notes that this especially makes sense on the Namekagon because such a regulation already exists on part of the river. The state of Wisconsin requires artificial lures on the Namekagon above Washburn County Highway E, a stretch of more than 40 miles.

Dam degradation

One of the key attributes of a Wild and Scenic River is its “free-flowing” nature, referring to being free of dams. There are two hydropower dams on the Namekagon (and one on the St. Croix) that existed before the rivers were designated as Wild and Scenic in 1968.

Neville says the Namekagon dams regularly and rapidly manipulate the river flows, but the National Park Service seems unaware of the problem, and has nothing in the CRMP to address it.

“Having witnessed many abrupt, unannounced, significant streamflow draw downs and reported them to the NPS myself, I’ve always been met with surprise by NPS staff,” he reports. “For the sake of the resource, ecosystem, user experience, and commercial partner relationships, it is time for the NPS to take a more active role in monitoring and caring for the river’s flow.”

Neville adds that he has observed sudden water flow reductions from dams on the Namekagon during smallmouth bass spawning season. Fish are guarding their breeding sites in shallow waters during those times, and could be forced to abandon the nests by changes in flow, leaving their young vulnerable to predators.

Power boat problems

While the National Park Service plan calls for boats to operate at “low speeds” on most of the upper St. Croix and Namekagon Rivers, Neville says the waters there are simply not appropriate for any type of powered craft. Allowing their use also just opens the door to damaging behavior.

“Boat motors damage and scar the river bottom and its sensitive habitats, taint the natural wild and scenic qualities of the river with noise and smell, and risk the safety of the boat users themselves and other river users around them,” he wrote. “While motorized craft may be appropriate on larger or more developed sections downriver, they have no place on the Namekagon and St. Croix above Riverside Landing.”

Boat technology and usage has changed significantly in recent decades, especially in the spread of jet boats and other craft that can get through very shallow water. Jet boats use drive systems like jet skis, and can propel boats up rapids and through mere inches of water. Neville reported personally seeing such a boat going up the Namekagon River past his home near Hayward.

“I watched a 20-foot, center console jet boat cruise over 20 miles per hour up the small, shallow rapid behind my house and around the blind curve upstream,” he wrote. “A safety nightmare and an affront to the intimate character of that small, narrow section of river.”

Neville says this and other factors justify a ban on motorboats from upper river stretches where they are not appropriate or safe to use.

Closing comments

Other issues important to the upper river fishing guide and resident include outdated visitor use data guiding management on the Namekagon, and a commercial landscape that “can feel a bit like the wild west at times.”

Neville concludes by urging the National Park Service to strengthen the plan so it better protects the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway’s waters and wildlife.

“I hope the final draft of this CRMP is one that demonstrates unwavering commitment to protecting the natural resources that made this riverway so special in the first place,” he wrote. “Without them, visitors will have little reason to return and enjoy this magical place.”

Last call: St. Croix 360 readers are asked to send their personal comments on the plan to greg@stcroix360.com to be included in next week’s post.