Tom’s grandfather, who lived at that time in Wisconsin, began traveling to Canada in the 1950s with his friends from the Bristol Volunteer Fire Department. Now the third, fourth and fifth generations of Ohlfests continue lake fishing traditions.

The name Lac De Mille Lacs is French and translated means Lake of a Thousand Lakes. Hint: Getting lost on those huge interconnecting lakes is entirely likely. Thanks now to GPS mapping, finding one’s way about while boating allows a safe return to camp.

Getting to the location in the 1950s was a harrowing experience and not for the faint of heart. Access required a portage through what today is called Portage Bay.

This group of adventurous fishermen stayed in old surveyors’ shacks to sleep, cook food, clean fish, and avoid rain. One of the early sites these guys picked was another place called Open Bay Resort.

To get there required a 10 mile primitive path through the northern pine forest. The road was anything but nice. A broken leaf spring on a camper trailer was just one adventure that had to be overcome.

Over the decades, an improved road was built that now is 17 miles long and ends at Pine Point Resort. Good cabins have been built to afford more modern comforts.

Lac De Mille Lacs is known for its excellent walleye fishing and is regarded as one of the best Ontario waters to find walleyes. Of course, Ontario is, in many places, a series of lakes everywhere. From a floatplane point of view, all one can see are pine forests, bogs, and lake after lake after lake as far as the eye can see. Thanks to numerous past glacial events that have scoured the landscape, due to numerous huge thick ice flows that carved, sculpted and created an undulating surface with lots of exposed granitic bedrock. Every depression is filled with water, and now every lake is home to fish of many species.

In today’s images furnished by Tom Ohlfest, Tom enjoys every visit to the family cabin. His big 38″ northern was caught when he was using a single hook walleye spinner. Tom’s son Jason made good on a pair of smallmouth bass that grandson Everett admired.

Everett, age five, had his own success using a Mickey Mouse pole that was only three feet long as he landed his own walleyes. As for seven-year-old Elliott, his hook attracted a small walleye and when it was reeled in and was closer to the boat, a big northern “T-boned” the walleye and held on. Jason was able to successfully use his dip net to capture both fish.

A big celebration took place that evening back at camp. Both fish were released back to the water. The Ohlfest family tradition makes several trips each year to their property.

As soon as the opening fishing season begins in May, at least one week per month is spent lakeside. Then comes September and cabin closing time for the last vacation for the year. Tom has seen enough of these Canada excursions to know that May and September are nice from

a weather standpoint and a notable lack of mosquitoes and other insects.

During June, July and August, while people try to catch fish to eat, insects try their best to annoy people. But that can be managed with the right clothing and insect repellents.

Family fishing traditions are part of the glue that holds them together. Time spent outdoors is never wasted. Activities such as hiking, observing nature in all of its best or not so good times, or time spent fishing or hunting, and participating with family in discovery sessions reaps rewards that carry over into future generations.

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Our Iowa State Fair Time began this week, and just one of many familiar places to visit is the natural resource building and its adjoining outside courtyard. For 2024, the outside areas received a facelift and landscaping improvements beginning last year to help fair goers enjoy this famous northwest corner of the fairgrounds.

New for 2024 are upgrades and renovations. A covered stage will host a variety of outdoor related programs. And inside, the shooting range for airguns or archery will be open.

A rainscape garden helps collect and filter rainwater runoff. Special paving stones allow water to percolate into the underlying soil. A new curving walkway over the middle of the rainscape basin will make for interesting discoveries.

In the far corner of the outside shade tree lines space is a new covered stage. Here is where a multitude of special programs can be presented, within a setting using architectural designs replicating modern state park buildings.

Speakers will feature all kinds of topics during the run of the state fair, including crafts, wildlife demonstrations, camp cooking, Smokey the Bear 80th birthday celebrations, Bears, Bobcats and Mountain Lions, turtles, recycling, raptors, Monarch butterflies and other pollinators, and a host of other subjects. A full listing of day by day program titles can be found on the website www.iowadnr.gov/statefair.

Another new addition at the DNR complex is the Shooting Range Building. It is on the north side of the DNR’s large brick structure. Archery and airgun activities will take place there each day between noon and 6 p.m.

This building will also be utilized at other times of the year for hunter education classes and firearm safety for law enforcement officers and education instructors. Shooting sports are a known contributor to conservation and wildlife management across the country.

Inside the large brick faced DNR building is the ever popular series of aquariums holding just about every species of native Iowa fish. Fairgoers like to get face-to-face observation time with fish, to see what they look like in miniature habitats.

Every aspect of Iowa’s outdoors will be on display at the DNR’s state fair pavilion. Go see it. Have fun at the fair.

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Marshall County is just a small part of a statewide system of local level outdoor recreation and conservation related opportunities. County conservation matters.

The law enabling citizens to vote to create a local County Conservation Board began in 1955. Marshall County citizens approved it in 1958. Since that time, these summary statements will help you understand the important role outdoor activities play in our lives.

Quality of life and healthy lifestyles are a big factor. Just within county parks, wildlife areas, botanical preserves and education centers, there are 24 million visits annually. Data from 2022 indicates that 699,993 campers used 11,111 campsites.

Trail users totaled 2,987,817 people on 1,949 miles of trails. Hundreds of thousands of hunters conducted bird, deer, or other game hunts on 146,262 acres of public hunting land, and 755,000 people attended at least one or more of 27,000 program presentations.

If one adds up the expenditure of money by people using the above-mentioned areas and services, it comes to an estimated $609 million impact on the economy. Camping related expenditures total $41.7 million.

Trail users add another $26.9 million. Hunters add $58.5 million. Jobs created and supported by people using county parks comes to 5,800. $167.5 million of personal income is generated by this spending impact.

Within the county conservation system, 681 professional staff positions exist with 100 Directors, 131 Park Rangers, 121 Naturalists, 23 Field specialists, 74 Administrative Staff, 36 Operations Supervisors, and 197 Natural Resource and Field Technicians. Summer seasonal and part-time

positions come to about 400. Just the payroll statewide for county conservation permanent positions comes to $36,353,225.

No two county conservation operations are the same. Each county tailors their areas and services to fit local characteristics, public needs and available fiscal capabilities. If one added up the infrastructure statewide of county conservation programs you will find 75 visitor centers, 464 shops/service buildings, 675 pedestrian bridges, 415 dams, 349 playgrounds, 154 shower houses, 100 office buildings, 764 shelters, 496 fishing piers/docks, 250 camping cabins and 725 restrooms.

It is hard to imagine where Iowa would be without county conservation. Thousands of acres would be unprotected and unmanaged. Once in a lifetime opportunities would have been missed, and opportunities CCB ‘s have built for others to follow would be shorter and fewer. Progress in conservation efforts is a step-by-step process. We can be proud of what Marshall County has to offer. It is up to us to partake of and enjoy these natural resource areas and services.

To learn more about MCCB offerings, do stop by their office at the Grimes Farm and Conservation Center to see the nature center, and pick up any reading materials or maps of places you want to explore in more detail. Have fun outdoors.

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Garry Brandenburg is the retired director of the Marshall County Conservation Board. He is a graduate of Iowa State University with a BS degree in Fish & Wildlife Biology.

Contact him at:

P.O. Box 96

Albion, IA 50005