Win-E-Mac River Watch Team features “Buzz about Bee Lake”

Bee Lake recreation opportunities were featured by the Win-E-Mac River Watch Team at the 21st Annual River Watch Forum held March 15th at the University of Minnesota. The Team’s poster noted year-round recreation options including canoeing, kayaking, paddle boarding, swimming, bow-fishing, hiking, birdwatching, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing.

The team noted improvements needed such as parking, improved access, signage, lack of sport fish in Bee Lake, and lack of nearby places to rent paddle sport equipment. The Win-E-Mac team poster along with other Team posters featuring river recreation can be viewed online at the IWI website, http://tinyurl.com/RWposters. Nearly 250 students, teachers, and natural resource managers from throughout the Red River Basin participated in the annual Forum. 

Students from around the Red River Basin have been kayaking their local rivers through the International Water Institute’s (IWI) River Explorers program. 

Since the kayak program began in 2013, nearly 1,000 participants have paddled over 3,000 miles on rivers in the Red River Basin. Students discover nearby river recreation opportunities, while also documenting watershed conditions to share with resource managers. 

Keynote speaker Mark Hennager, an experienced trail guide for Wilderness Inquiry, shared his passion for engaging youth in kayaking as a way to better understand how we are all linked to our valuable water resources—how we affect it and it affects us. A critical first step in caring for our crucial land and water resources is to recognize our connections to these resources. Wilderness Inquiry’s paddling programs engage students in observing and understanding these connections. 

Students also attended concurrent sessions presented by natural resource professionals on a wide range of topics, including river access issues, drone use in watershed management, Red River fishing, macroinvertebrates, river-related wildlife, and river recreation planning.

The River Watch Program and Forum is supported by the International Water Institute, Red River Watershed Management Board, Sand Hill River Watershed District, and the Minnesota Clean Water Legacy Fund.  

For more information on the River Watch Program, contact Danni Halvorson at danni@iwinst.org or 218-280-0515.