LINCOLN, Neb. – Officials have temporarily closed access to Blue Lake in Garden County because vehicle traffic has begun to make a mess of the 2.7-mile sandy trail that leads anglers to water.

“The trail has gotten hit pretty hard this year with ice fishermen. It is in pretty rough shape,” said Joe Rydell, a fisheries biologist for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s northwest district office at Alliance. “To prevent it from deteriorating any further, we’re shutting it down for the spring thaw.”

A lease agreement with a private landowner allows for public use of the two-track trail to Blue Lake, which is 22 miles north of Oshkosh near the Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge.

Rydell said the lake also is experiencing deteriorating ice conditions. He said the trail will be opened sometime this spring.