North Shore Morning

By now you might have heard of a thing called “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” But if you haven’t, it’s basically a large vortex in the center of the Pacific Ocean where scientists have discovered that, over time, a bunch of trash—mostly plastic—has accumulated. This phenomenon has drawn a lot of attention around the world as scientists and environmentalists work to study the impacts this "garbage patch," and others like it, have on our oceans. But, the oceans aren’t the only places where this is happening. There’s also evidence that microplastic is accumulating in the Great Lakes. In this edition of the Lake Superior Project, Lorena Rios Mendoza, assistant professor of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, talks about what's happening on the Great Lakes, and what she's discovered so far after her study on microplastic on Lakes Superior, Huron and Erie last summer.

Every year, here at Sawbill Outfitters, we outfit a group of college freshmen from Nebraska Wesleyan University.  It’s a summer seminar on wilderness and we’ve really enjoyed working with such nice kids and their competent instructors.
 
Last year, the group brought along psychology professor Frank Ferraro.  On the canoe trip, he conducted an interesting psychological demonstration, with the help of nine of the students, that confirms what many of us feel about how spending time in wilderness affects us.
 
It’s no secret that college age kids live pretty hectic lives.  It’s also obvious that young people’s attention has been more divided since the widespread adoption of smart phones and tablets.  Texting, videos, Facebook, Instagram and many other distractions make significant demands on attention spans.

Just before the students got on the bus in Nebraska, Ferraro gave the students a simple word game that tests focused attention and creativity.  At the end of the canoe trip he gave the test again, with a different set of words.  The students improved their ability to focus their attention and think creatively by 40 percent.  The students also reported that their thinking had been changed by their week in the wilderness.  They noticed how their attention spans and focus had increased.
 
Even though the test was more of a demonstration and not actual research, the results would not surprise anyone who spends time in wilderness.  Everyone feels the slowing down, sense of renewal and return of focus when they travel in wilderness. 
 
It seems obvious to me that we are all able to adapt to the fast pace of modern life, but it causes a constant and significant strain on our brains.  When we go somewhere where our actions are dictated by sunlight, wind, weather and other purely natural forces, our brains relax back into the mode that millions of years of evolutionary biology designed them for.  Or, in simpler language, our brains go “Ahhhhh…”
 
Whatever your feelings are about same-sex marriage, anyone who is interested in Minnesota politics must stand amazed at the remarkable political turnaround on this issue in less than a year.
 
At this time last year, not only was gay marriage illegal in Minnesota, but it seemed almost certain that a permanent ban would be voted into the state constitution.  Polls on the pending referendum for the constitutional ban showed pretty solid support.  Thirty other states had placed a gay marriage ban in their constitutions and not a single state had rejected an attempt to do so.  The political groups supporting the ban seemed well-funded, well-organized and confident.
 
As we know, the constitutional amendment did not pass in Minnesota.  The “Vote No” campaign was successful by being very personal. They asked the question over and over, “Don’t you have a gay couple among your family, friends or co-workers and don’t you want them to have the right to marry?”  The combination of the personal message, traditional campaign shoe-leather, and shifting age demographics carried the day – and may have contributed to the election of Democratic majorities in the legislature.
 
Almost incredibly, last week Minnesota became the 12th state to legalize same-sex marriage.  It will be interesting to see if there is a political backlash, causing the pendulum to swing back to the right in the next election.  My political instincts, such as they are, say that the new law will quickly be accepted by the majority of Minnesotans when they see that it causes no problems.  I must say, everybody I know who is under the age of 35 seems puzzled that gay marriage is an issue at all.  They have grown up in classrooms where friends have two moms or two dads, many of their classmates are openly gay and they see gay role models in the media almost every day.  Their attitude is “What’s the big deal?”
 
The biggest impact on my family will be the uptick in the number of wedding invitations that we’ll be receiving this year.
 
 Photo licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Charlet and Tristan  share the latest from the Bear Cubs, Fawns, Woves, Lynx, and Otters.

The Sawtooth Mountain Elementary School Project Fair will be held May 16^th. In this edition of School News, Melissa Dressely, the volunteer project coordinator, explains more about the event.

Have you ever wanted to play with bugs?  Perhaps you should go back to 7^th grade science.  In this edition of Cook County Middle School News, instructor Sarah Malkovich explains what's going on in middle schoool science.

I’m back in the woods once more, great to be back at home sweet home.  Thanks are extended to Rosey, that nosey pup, and her dad from over on Hungry Jack Lake for keeping you in tune with the Gunflint scoop during my absence.

The departure on my annual southern trek for a stint as a referee at the Drake Relays in Des Moines was a struggle at best following the big April 19 snow. What a turnaround, though, upon our return. The one-lane drive to get up and out of the Mile O Pine tunnel of white on April 20 was found to be back to brown earthy mud just eight days later. Finally, Old Man Winter seems to have lost his grip on this part of the world.

Since that time, a few days of pleasurable sunshine has the wilderness back on track toward real spring. There is plenty of snow yet to be melted, but the forest has taken on the look of a zillion Dalmatians, spots of winter and spring throughout, so there is growing optimism! 

Nighttime temps are still dropping below the freezing mark as of this writing, so progress is slow with regard to our lake ice making its usual solid to liquid transition. It’s better than likely that the fishing opener this weekend will be a non-issue on most border country lakes. The time will come eventually, but it is anyone’s guess as to just when dipping a line from your boat in these parts might happen.

Meanwhile, the rites of our vernal season are starting to explode around us. Pussy willows have popped their husks, deciduous buds are swelling with pregnant expectations and the coniferous forest has perked up from its drab army green to sparkling emerald. 

The rage of the woods, however, are torrents of water tumbling from mountains on high. The spirit of crystal clear liquid oozing from shrinking drifts and building into tumbling tunes, while rushing toward our inland seas, is harmony to the ears. We forest dwellers know full well that this means the beginning of replenishment for our drought depleted lake levels. Now all wishes are for the gods of precipitation not to forsake this territory in 2013.

Members of the wild neighborhood are experiencing their rituals of the season as well. In spite of the extended cold, I’ve observed several critters shedding winter garb. I saw a motley moose recently with only part of its shaggy coat remaining, and the same has been happening to the red rodents that frequent our feeding trough. Speaking further of furry folks, the snowshoe hares in our neighborhood have a bit of that Dalmatian look too, while one of those poultry-poaching pine martens came by with a molting masked-bandit look on its face.

A couple of seasonal sleepers have awakened too. Chipmunks have been skittering about the yard. Also observed is evidence that our black brunos have returned, ravenous as ever, with several overturned garbage cans down around the Gunflint Pines Resort. So I’ve judged myself to be smarter than the average bear and put my many winter critter feeding facilities into storage.
If all these routines aren’t enough, above the roar of gushing creeks and rivers, I hear the cheer of robins returned; happy tweeting from dozens of their avian cousins and the drumming of a hopeful grouse boy looking for a mate is but a prelude to our warm season concert series.

The buzzing season is also but a few warm days away. The first of our north woods airborne biting squadron found a landing place on my hand just a couple days ago. However, this skeeter’s reconnaissance flight fell short of any extended mission with my first swat of the New Year.  Wildersmith one, biting savages nothing!

In spite of my fondness for winter, the best is yet to come knowing that with a better late than never sprouting of spring, rebirth of bounty in our natural world is unfolding before our eyes. Hip, hip hurrah!

On a closing note, hats off to organizers and dozens of Gunflint community volunteers who pulled off another splendid Ham Run Half Marathon/5K last Sunday morning. The sixth edition of the event went smooth as silk on a cold, mostly cloudy morning. Thanks go out to all the dedicated runners, too, for blessing the event with their presence.

Keep on hangin’ on, and savor the bloomin’ season ahead!  

This photo is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.

This is an interesting place where we live, here in the West End of Cook County.  Last Saturday, I was driving to Grand Marais on the back roads, on my way to hear the keynote speaker for the North House Northern Sustainability Symposium.  As I rounded a corner, I was surprised to see two lynx on the road.  I stopped as quickly as I could, ending up about 150 feet from the lynx. 
 
In the last 10 years or so, it has become fairly routine to see lynx on the road, but usually you just get a glimpse before they bound into the woods.  These two lynx were sitting on the side of the road facing each other and did not run away.  To my great surprise, they looked straight at each other and started to make an unearthly noise.
 
I rolled down the window and was kicking myself for not having a camera, when I remembered my iPhone, which was in my pocket.  I had never used the video camera on the phone before, but I managed to fumble it into action and started filming the big cats. 
 
I expected them to run away at any moment, but instead they sat and continued caterwauling.  After about 15 minutes, I decided to continue on to town, figuring that they would bolt as soon as I started the truck.  As I pulled forward, one did dart off into the woods, but the other just sat serenely as I pulled up within about 20 feet. 
 
As I stopped the truck and turned off the engine, the second lynx came back out of the woods, sat down and they started yowling again.  This time, I was able to get a much closer video and really capture the unearthly sounds. 
 
Finally, not wanting to be late for the speech at North House, I just pulled past them.  They did walk slowly into the woods as I went by, but I was able to see them from a distance of less than 10 feet.
 
On the way home that night, I stopped at the same spot and rolled down the windows, in case they were still at it, but didn’t hear a thing.  Incredibly, about five miles farther down the road, I saw another lynx. This one was bigger than the two I’d seen earlier and leapt off the road in the usual lynx fashion.
 
The next morning, I posted the video on YouTube and linked to it from the Sawbill Newsletter.  A few minutes later, Sam Cook, the great outdoor writer at the Duluth News Tribune, called and asked if he could post it on the paper’s website.  In the next couple of days, it appeared on numerous Minnesota news sites, including WTIP, Minnesota Public Radio and WCCO TV.
 
As I write this, my shaky, amateurish, iPhone video is the top trending YouTube video in Minnesota, with more than 50,000 views.  It’s been seen in dozens of countries around the world. 
 
So, this is an interesting place that we live in, here in the West End of Cook County, where experiences can come out of nowhere and engage the world.

Mark your calendar for the Waste Electronics Collection day at the Cook County Recycling Center in Tofte.  The Recycling Center is just a half-mile up the Sawbill Trail from Highway 61 and discarded electronics will be collected from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. Saturday, May 18.  Computers, servers and laptops are free and there is a small disposal charge for other items.  
 
 Of course, one of the big contributors to our richly interesting way of life in the West End is Birch Grove School.  The Gala for the Grove, a key annual fundraiser, is scheduled for May 18 in Tofte.  A gourmet dinner, live auction, raffle, music, and dancing are on the agenda.  Call Diane Blanchette at 663-0170 for tickets, or if you’d like to donate an auction item.  The auctioneer will once again be yours truly, and I’ve been instructed to wear my vintage tuxedo.  I don’t have very good auctioneer skills, but it’s all in good fun and the only chance you’ll ever get to see me in a tuxedo.  

 Photo licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

In this edition of School News, Mason and Gavin report on the latest learning at Birch Grove Community School in Tofte.

Shae and Livi  share the latest from the Bear Cubs, Fawns, Woves, Lynx, and Otters.

The Violence Prevention Center  may offer  advocate training this summer, and they are looking for more board members.  Director Jodi Yuhassey and colleague Lucy Perpich  spoke with WTIP volunteer Sherrie Lindskog about volunteer opportunities at the Center.