White Bear Lake, Minn. - Water levels in White Bear Lake have rebounded from last year's record lows, but there remain in some areas of the lake large expanses of exposed lakebed.

Some people are treating such areas as extensions of their lawns.

As a result, the DNR recently sent out 25 warnings to people it says are in violation of state rules relating to the management of aquatic plants.

Aquatic plant management permits are required for control of emergent plants in public water basins, including those growing on dry lakebeds, said Capt. Greg Salo, DNR regional Enforcement manager for the Central Region.

"The low water has exposed a lot of lake bottom and they had, in some cases, 200 yards of exposed lakebed," Salo said. "They're grooming it just like it's a private beach."

In some cases, people were pulling bulrushes and other vegetation from the ground, or even tilling the ground, he said.

When officers flew over the area, it was easy to see properties in front of which the lakebed had been disturbed, Salo said. Some looked like a "nice sand blanket" and others looked like an "old scrubby field."

"We like the old scrubby field," Salo said.

Most of the violations are on the north side of the lake, he said.

"It's pretty obvious that it's a clear violation," Salo said. "Some of what they've done to the shoreline has been pretty major. It's more or less like when you till up a garden - they bring it right down to the bare sand."

Now that they've received warnings, anyone who continues working in the lakebed could be ticketed. Those citations are misdemeanors, and anyone cited also could be given a restoration order.

Precipitation levels between 2003 and 2010 that were well below those of the 1990s are "part of the story of White Bear Lake," said Pete Boulay, assistant state climatologist.

Wet years like this one will help bring water levels in the lake back up.

"The key is to have more years like 2011," Boulay said.

The U.S. Geological Survey also is investigating the drop in water levels at White Bear Lake.