Forty years of service at Pickerel Lake

by Mimi Larsen, Staff Writer

Forty years ago, Pickerel Lake was not the family-friendly, popular camping destination it is today. Much of the credit for its transformation goes to two colleagues working for Game, Fish & Parks. One of those, Steve Kurkowski, Pickerel Lake’s Conservation Foreman, retired early this month.

Steve and the new park manager, Lori Skadsen, started working at Pickerel on the same day, April 1, 1986. He was a farmer who picked up a job with GF&P as a seasonal worker when farming got tough. Lori was first park manager for Pickerel Lake.

“I had contracted to blow snow that winter,” said Steve. “Farming was not good in that time-frame, so I talked to Lori and she hired me as a seasonal worker. We worked so well together.” For more on this story and many more please purchase a copy of the Sisseton Courier on news stands now or purchase a copy of the E-edtion on this website.