Robert Gorecki said he’s seen just about everything imaginable left behind on a frozen Minnesota lake after ice anglers head back to shore: cigarette butts, cans and bottles, bags of human waste.

Garbage and other debris left behind on the ice after someone moved their ice fishing shelter. A new Minnesota law passed in the 2023 session now allows conservation officers to issue citations to anyone who has left garbage or waste on the ice. (Courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources)

“Once we found an entire couch someone left out there. … And the white plastic bags from people’s porta-potties are pretty bad,” said Gorecki, a lieutenant colonel in the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ enforcement bureau. “Probably the worst of all is when someone with a wheelhouse (an ice fishing camper on wheels) pulls the plug on their sewage holding tanks and drains it on the ice as they drive away. … There seem to be a few guys out there who will spend $50,000 on an ice fishing house but don’t want to pay $20 to have it pumped out properly.”

Dog poop left on the ice also is an issue, as are broken or discarded parts of ice houses and everyday litter like candy wrappers and fast-food packaging.

Minnesota wardens like Gorecki have always had the ability to issue citations for littering and leaving other debris on the ice. But it wasn’t an easy ticket to write.

“If we found someone fishing with cigarette butts or cans or trash laying on the ice, they could just say they are going to pick it up before they left, and we really couldn’t do anything about it,” Gorecki said. “We would have to go back and find it after they left the scene. … And then have it marked and be able to find that person and make the case after the fact.”

When there can be 6,000 ice houses on Mille Lacs Lake on a given weekend, finding the violator again could be a tough job.

Now, the 2023 Minnesota Legislature has given Gorecki and other state conservation officers a new tool that allows them to issue citations when the person is still on the ice near the offending trash. Any garbage now must be in a bag or trash can at all times on the ice.

“The big change now is people can no longer toss cans, etc., onto the ice outside their fish houses and just say, ‘Yeah, we’ll clean it up before we leave,’” said Joe Albert, communications coordinator for the DNR’s enforcement bureau. “Too often, that stuff was blowing away, getting covered by snow, or simply left behind. Now, it has to be contained, even if you’re still sitting in your fish house.”

If it wasn’t obvious to everyone already, conservation officers want to remind you that everything left on the ice when it melts ends up in the lake.

The new 2023 statute reads:

An ATV box full of trash left behind by ice anglers and picked up by a Minnesota conservation officer on a frozen lake. A new Minnesota law passed in the 2023 session now allows conservation officers to issue citations to anyone who has left garbage or waste on the ice. (Courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources)

“A person using a shelter, a motor vehicle, or any other conveyance on the ice of state waters may not deposit garbage, rubbish, cigarette filters, debris from fireworks, offal, the body of a dead animal, litter, sewage, or any other waste outside the shelter, motor vehicle, or conveyance, unless the material is:
(1) placed in a container that is secured to the shelter, motor vehicle, or conveyance, and
(2) not placed directly on the ice or in state waters.”

The statute defines sewage as “excrementitious or other discharge from the bodies of human beings or animals, together with such other water as may be present.”

The penalty for a violation is a petty misdemeanor and carries a fine of $100. All previous statutes dealing with trash and waste on the ice also remain in effect.

Gorecki said officers have no intention of issuing citations to someone who leaves a few dead minnows on the ice or to the angler who is catching a bunch of sunnies and has a few sitting on the ice next to them. The goal is to encourage everyone to make sure they have a trash container with them when they head out onto the ice and that it’s full when they head back to shore.

“Bring out a bag or a can and use it. That’s the takeaway message here,” he said. “The vast majority of people pick up after themselves, and after other people who don’t. … We’re trying to encourage those few people who maybe don’t fish very often, and who maybe don’t have a passion for that lake, to keep it clean like everyone else does.”

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