Prairie Lakes to bring back boat restrictions

The Rural Municipality of Prairie Lakes is planning to bring back its “one boat, one lake” program to Pelican Lake this year with continued regulatory access and boat inspections.

The municipality hosted a town hall in February detailing that the boat decal sales are expected to start in April, and the fees for the program are expected to stay the same as last year. In a recent interview with the Sun, Reeve Darren Seymour said that the general public has been supportive of the program that launched last year.

“A lot of the feedback we have got from the locals is that they don’t think that it’s unfair,” Seymour said. “We feel that it’s in our best interest, and the municipalities best interest to do things the same this year.”

The town hall also provided results from the first year of the one boat, one lake inspired program, detailing how many boats were inspected, how much money was spent, and how much revenue was generated.

While Seymour said that the public generally supports the program, a local Westman fisherman told the Sun he thinks the program will fail in the long term.

The Pelican Lake policy was introduced in 2025 to prevent invasive species like zebra mussels from entering the lake. Boat launches around the lake were gated and made unavailable to visitors, who were directed to launch at Ninette, where boat inspections took place.

Locals, such as taxpayers, cottage owners and seasonal renters, were eligible to buy a $100 decal that gave them access to all locked launches around the lake and forgoing the need for inspections. Inspections were $40, and guests could pay $5 upon exit to lock their boat to their trailer and forgo the need for another inspection when returning to Pelican Lake.

The program was designed to be user-supported, so that lake users pay into the program and raise enough revenue for the program to pay for itself.

According to the RM’s public information bulletin, a $120,278 grant from the Province of Manitoba received last year was a key source of revenue, bringing the program into the black. Before the grant was applied, the boat program operated at a loss, with a revenue of $87,640 and expenses of $154,888.74, for a total loss of $67,248.

The expenses were listed as items like gates and a building, wages, supplies, maintenance and utilities. The leading expense was wages, representing roughly 67 per cent of the total.

The decals sold to local boaters committing them to the one boat, one lake policy made up the main source of revenue for the municipality in 2025. The decals made up $70,937 out of $87,640 of the program revenues.

Seymour said that the municipality expects an added cost in the 2026 season, as volunteering will no longer be expected to support the program. Volunteers contributed 575 hours of time to the project and donated 189 hours of vehicle, tools and equipment use during the first year, and some work in the future is expected to be paid for. Seymour estimated that volunteering value at around $35,000.

“We certainly don’t expect them to do that every year, so we do expect some of that cost going forward.”

The surplus of $53,029 this year will be used to pay for the program going forward, Seymour said. Still, the municipality does not want to lower the program prices before the team has a better understanding of how much money will be received in grant support and how much is needed to stay afloat in the future.

“We don’t know that we are going to get government granting, or how much, this year. And we certainly dont want to end up on a deficit side,” he said. “If we get through this year and, all the sudden, we end with a surplus, at that point we might have to look at lowering it going forward.”

Staffing levels are expected to stay roughly the same, however the RM of Prairie Lakes is considering transitioning a staff member into a new role of roving around the park to communicate information about the program and ensure gates are properly locked in between uses. The municipality is confident it will have some staff return for the 2026 season after being trained last year.

Seymour added that the municipality will not have to pay for infrastructure like gates and a building again this year.

Evan Wolski, an avid Westman fisherman who has visited Pelican Lake nearly every year for 25 years, told the Sun the municipality needs to cut costs. Due to his own experience, and what he has heard from other fishers, he said the $40 fee for inspection is going to continue to dissuade fishers into the future.

“I don’t think people are going to be content with it. If you push me away with fees, I’m going to keep going to other lakes no matter what. I’ll go to Oak Lake, I’ll go to Rivers. I’ll go to anywhere but,” Wolski said. “You’re probably going to get the same numbers (of visitors), or less (going forward).”

The way to make it more bearable is to lower fees, but also reduce staffing levels at the inspection gate, he said. Wolski also said many people are reporting that the inspections are not thorough enough to prevent zebra mussels from entering the lake.

Wolski described that the program’s cost breakdown shows an unsustainable model. He pointed out that, when dividing the total expenses against the total number of boats inspected, it cost $370 per boat inspection at Pelican Lake.

“When you look at that number, is it worth it? It’s a huge number to swallow.”

According to the municipality’s data, a total of 418 boat inspections took place in the 2025 year; 33 of those inspections led boats to be denied access to the lake.

As a fisher in the area, Wolski also said he is worried that this program at Pelican Lake is paving the way for more programs to pop up, restricting fishing in the province.

“I don’t want to set the precedent for all lakes to use this now,” he said.

The RM of Prairie Lakes is currently considering whether to host a second town hall sometime before the 2026 boating season starts. Seymour said he invites residents to reach out and communicate whether they would be interested in the event. Roughly 100 people showed up to the town hall on Feb. 15, he said.

Seymour said that more municipalities are applying for funding from the province this year, and that the RM of Prairie Lakes expects support for its program may be affected by the increased number of applicants. The municipality applied for roughly $75,000 in support for the 2026 season.

» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com