Three stories over the weekend caught my attention, because they are all shrouded in mystery.

Dennis Anderson reports for the Star Tribune about investigators conclusions regarding who started the Ham Lake fire.

The U.S. Forest Service has essentially completed its investigation into the fire’s origins, but has not yet made its findings public. The service has given its findings to the U.S. attorney’s office in the Twin Cities.

Chris Naskanen directly questions the reasoning of the Minnesota DNR to establish a six-bag limit for duck hunters this fall, when DNR ignored the suggestion of a 15-member internal waterfowl-committee, the state’s top waterfowl biologists, and duck hunters themselves to continue with the four-bag limit.

Hunters like myself are standing on the sidelines, shaking their heads in disbelief.

What are we to believe if the DNR’s best waterfowl experts recommend a four-duck limit, but the decision is later changed in St. Paul? Who do we believe when 85 percent of hunters say four ducks is enough, and our breeding population is staggering, but the DNR says, “Go ahead and shoot six”?

Finally, the mystery of why hydrologist Paul Wotzka was fired by the MPCA. Amber Dulek of the Winona Daily News delves into the issue.

In June, the former hydrologist at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Department of Agriculture filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the state after being fired because he wanted to testify at a legislative hearing on pesticides in southeastern Minnesota’s waters.

The MPCA disputes Wotzka’s claims and has asked the U.S. District Court to dismiss the suit.
An MPCA spokesperson said officials did not allow Wotzka to testify because it wasn’t related to his work, and the Department of Agriculture handles pesticides monitoring, data and results. Amy Rudolph, the agency’s communication director, said the Department of Employee Relations fired Wotzka, and MPCA had no role in the decision.

A termination letter from the department’s commissioner claimed Wotzka deleted critical files on his computer and took data analysis sheets and field log books when he transferred from the Department of Agriculture and wrongly had mail forwarded to him to his new office at the MPCA.

So many questions…