Increased fees on boater registration offer funding bump to aquatic invasive species management projects

Boaters across the state are likely already familiar with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR) Aquatic Invasive Species surcharge, a fee that has been attached to boat registrations for over two decades. This year, that surcharge is going up, and according to Invasive Species Unit Supervisor Kelly Pennington, the change means significantly more support going to managing aquatic invasive species across the state.

Pennington told WTIP that the fee has only changed a few times since it was first established in the 1990s. She said the recent increase aims to keep funding for projects that manage AIS populations stable. She said the surcharge is a “key funding source” for those efforts.

According to Pennington, while most boaters will see an increase of of less than $10 a year when the surcharge is spread out over the three years of the registration, that will amount to over $1 million collected for grants awarded to AIS management projects. She said that more than doubles the amount usually collected through the surcharge, which previously provided about $400,000 in grant funding.

Pennington said the additional money will impact how much support the MN DNR will be able to offer organizations across Minnesota. “Will really increase our ability to partner with local groups and support the work that they’re initiating,” she said. “It also allows us to better prioritize or focus on some of our priorities, like starry stonewort at accesses, and also offer some grants that might might support population level control of Eurasian watermilfoil, or a little larger projects than perhaps we’ve been able to support in the past.”

Education is a major part of preventing the spread of invasive species, and while historically the MN DNR has focussed a lot of attention on best practices for boaters, Pennington said the funding could help with expanding who is reached by the organization’s messages.

“We are also going to be able to use some of this money to increase our programs capacity to to really reach out to different pathways of introduction, people who are doing different activities that might introduce or spread aquatic invasive species in Minnesota,” she said.

The education for boaters has been effective. Pennington praised the high rate of compliance that the state’s boaters have, and the robust watercraft inspection program. She added, “We really see a great partnership with people who are using lakes and rivers in Minnesota. And I think we all have a shared interest in preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species in the state.”

WTIP’s Kirsten Wisniewski spoke with MN DNR Invasive Species Unit Supervisor Kelly Pennington. Audio of that interview is below.

Kirsten Wisniewski January 9, 2026