North Shore Morning

The boreal owl is a very small owl that used to be fairly common around here, but has mostly disappeared in recent years.  At the moment though, there is a well-documented irruption of boreal owls occurring in northern Minnesota. 
 
The word “irruption,” spelled i-r-r-u-p-t-i-o-n, is often confused with the word eruption, as in the eruption of a volcano.  Irruption with an “i” means the influx, in unusually large numbers, of a species into an area where they normally aren’t seen.  Biologists are guessing that a lack of prey farther north is driving the little owls south this year.
 
Most people probably haven’t noticed this latest irruption because the boreal owls are nocturnal and are silent when they aren’t breeding, so they are rarely observed unless you’re looking for them.  It’s only when they make a rare daytime appearance, or when they die in a place near humans, that they get noticed. 
 
Here are Sawbill, I found a dead boreal owl while plowing our canoe yard after the most recent snowfall.  It’s fun to see such a rare bird close up, but sad that it had to die for me to be able to inspect it.  It’s always a surprise to pick up an owl.  The one I found was about the size of a small grouse, but only weighed about four ounces.
 
Another phenomenon that may be occurring this year is bobcats appearing at bird feeders.  When the snow gets deep but hasn’t developed a crust, which is the case right now, the bobcats have a hard time catching prey.  When they get hungry enough, they start to show up at bird feeders, especially if there is a suet feeder that can be robbed.  I’ve heard a few reports of bold bobcats around the West End this week, but we haven’t seen one here at Sawbill yet.
 
Recently, I’ve noticed that there are a large number of job openings in the county.  I don’t know if this is a good sign, or a bad sign.  It could be the result of the improving economy - or it could reflect a migration out of the area by the people who formerly held the jobs - or it could just be a coincidence. West End visitors often ask me about job openings in the area.  It seems many people fantasize about moving to our wonderful community, and who can blame them?
 
The new water pipeline, erosion control projects and high-speed ski lift at Lutsen Mountains will surely mean many construction jobs in the near future.  The ski area is also looking into replacing its 50-year-old gondola soon.  Superior National golf course is planning a large upgrade too.  With the continuing fiber optic project and Highway 61 construction, things should be hopping around Lutsen for the next few years.
 
If you know somebody who has always wanted to move up here, now might be a good time.
 
The Bloodmobile is returning to Zoar Church in Tofte Monday, Mar. 4.  It’s important to maintain a good blood supply, but even more important is the chance to hang out with your neighbors and catch up on what everyone is doing, while drinking juice and eating cookies.  New donors are always needed, so if you’re interested call Carla Mennsen at 663-0179.

(Photo via Wikimedia Commons. This image is a work of the Forest Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.)

Steve shares famous quotes and his own ideas about closing and opening doors, in this edition of Gunflint Notebook.

There are a variety of things happening this week in Sawtooth Elementary school news.  In this edition, instructors Kerri Bilben and Mary MacDonald, plus the 4^th grade eye-glasses committee, tell us more.

The Thunder Bay Art Gallery is currently hosting a retrospective of the work of Anishinaabe artist Carl Beam. "Anishinaabe Way" producer Staci Drouillard visited the exhibit and spoke with Curatorial Resident Suzanne Morrissette (Cree-Metis) about Beam's work as a contemporary, First Nations artist and the Gallery's role in this traveling exhibit.  The show continues through February 24th, 2013.

Thunder Bay Art Gallery
1080 Keewatin Street
Thunder Bay, Ontario
http://www.theag.ca/

Nosey Rosey lives with Dave and Nancy Seaton and family at Hungry Jack Outfitters, half-way up the Gunflint Trail. Rosey adds her canine commentaries whenever Fred Smith leaves his Wildersmith home for a week or two. This week, Rosey talks snow, lynx, moose and much more!

Logging has increased along the Sawbill Trail over the last couple of years.  Almost every month a new logging site or road appears, along with the commuting loggers, heavy equipment and - of course - logging trucks.
 
The industry has come a long way since the horse logging days.  It is now almost entirely done with big harvesting and processing machines.  Like many modern industries, this has drastically increased productivity, but reduced the number of workers.
 
Back when I first came to the West End, there were temporary logging camps where the lumberjacks lived in shacks that were dragged from one site to another. The lumberjacks used chainsaws to fell, limb and cut the trees to length.  Rubber-tired skidders pulled the trees out to a landing where they were typically cut to the 100” length required by the pulp mills. The lumberjacks were a colorful group of mostly older men who worked incredibly hard, played hard and often drank hard. Now, lumberjacks are skilled machine operators who live in town and are respected members of the community.
 
This week a new logging road appeared along the Sawbill Trail, cleared out by two cats in just a day or two. The road is actually a section of the old Sawbill Trail that was abandoned back in the mid-1990s when the Sawbill Trail was reconstructed from the end of the blacktop on the Tofte end, to the Grade Road, six miles south of Sawbill Lake.  When that project was in the planning stages, an alert engineer noticed that the Sawbill Trail and the Grade Road were parallel to each other for a little over two miles.  The county was planning to rebuild the Sawbill and the Feds were planning to rebuild the Grade, so they combined the two roads along the route of the Grade and abandoned a couple of miles of the old Sawbill Trail.
 
Not only did the scheme save everyone money, but it eliminated the most twisty and dangerous section of the Trail.  That stretch ran over a series of eskers, which are steep ridges of gravel that were deposited by the receding glaciers in the last ice age.  When the road was built, back in the ‘20s, the easiest thing was to put the road on top of the eskers, resulting in a narrow, twisting road with steep drop-offs on both sides.  You can still see this phenomenon in the West End along the Honeymoon Trail, among others.  On the Sawbill, the curvy section included one notorious bend that was widely known as “Dead Man’s Curve.”  I never heard if anyone actually died there, but many cars and trucks wound up in the woods at the bottom of the steep slope.
 
Right after the road was abandoned, it was a favorite for grouse hunters, but it only took a few short years before wind fallen trees and new growth made the old road impassable, even for hiking.  Sometime this week, I’m going to go in to see how far the logger has cleared the old road, and revisit that stretch of eskers. With a little luck, I may even get to visit my old friend, “Dead Man’s Curve.”
 
Back when the Sawbill Trail was rebuilt, the county planned to pave it. It was very controversial at the time. Eventually, a compromise was reached that resulted in a complete rebuild, but left the surface gravel and the road as narrow as possible.  Now, 20 years later, it seems that the paving is on its way, probably in 2014. 
 
Paving the Sawbill Trail somehow just feels wrong, but the engineers make very convincing arguments for the safety, maintenance, and environmental benefits of paving.  There is less gravel mining needed, no dust to kill roadside vegetation, less sediment washed into trout streams and far better braking distances and vehicle control. In addition to all those benefits, the traffic on the Sawbill Trail is busy enough in July, August and September, that the gravel forms terrible washboard that literally shakes vehicles apart.  Paving has become unavoidable, but the county plans to keep the road to its current width with no new construction.
 
There is good news and bad news considering the current amount of snow back here in the woods.  The good news is that right now there is 28” of snow on the ground.  The plowed-up snow banks here at Sawbill are over 6 feet high and impressively deep.  The trees are also loaded with snow, so it really is a good old-fashioned winter scene at the moment and ideal for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. The bad news is that if it snows again, I’ll have to shovel the roofs of several large buildings here on the property. Shoveling roofs used to be a routine chore, often needing to be done twice a winter and even three times in a snowy year.  In the last 10 years, I’ve only had to shovel twice.  Shoveling roofs is the kind of job that is only fun for about 15 minutes.  After that it is just hard, boring work.  The invention of the iPod has made it slightly more interesting, but does nothing to prevent aching arms and a sore back.
 
As I’ve said many times before, though, it’s the price we pay to live in paradise.

Airdate: February 14, 2013

It’s that time of year again – History Day! In this edition of Cook County Middle School News, instructor David Liechty explains more about the Middle School History Day project.

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Contaminants of Emerging Concern

Protecting Minnesota’s Water Resources
 
What is the CEC Program?
 
Through this program, MDH is investigating and communicating the health and exposure potential of contaminants of emerging concern in drinking water. The program supports the Clean Water Fund mission to protect drinking water sources and the MDH mission to protect, maintain, and improve the health of all Minnesotans. 
 
What are contaminants of emerging concern?
 
A contaminant is generally a substance that is in a place where it doesn’t belong. Contaminants of emerging concern are substances that have been released to, found in, or have the potential to enter Minnesota waters (groundwater or surface water) and: do not have Minnesota human health-based guidance (how much of a substance is safe to drink);pose a real or perceived health threat; or have new or changing health or exposure information. They can include pharmaceuticals, pesticides, industrial effluents, personal care products that are washed down drains and processed by municipal wastewater treatment plants, and others.

Why are we studying contaminants of emerging concern?
 
New contaminants are being found in Minnesota waters. This is due, in part, because:
there are better methods for finding substances at lower levels; additional substances are being looked for; new substances are being used; and old substances are being used in new ways. The work of this program helps MDH understand the potential health effects of these contaminants. 
 
How is this different from other MDH health-based guidance programs?
 
MDH currently develops human health-based guidance for contaminants that have already been found in groundwater in Minnesota. Under the CEC program, MDH takes a proactive approach to the protection of drinking water by considering contaminants that: have been found in groundwater, surface water, or soil; or have not been found (or looked for) in Minnesota at all. 
 
Additionally, this program provides information on how people are exposed to these contaminants. These differences separate the work of this program from MDH’s other guidance work and supplements existing work.
 
More background on the Contaminants of Emerging Concern program, which is funded by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, can be found on the MDH website at www.health.state.mn.us/cec.
 

Deane Morrison is a science writer at the University of Minnesota, where she authors the Minnesota Starwatch column.

In mid-February, you can catch Mercury (the "messenger") near a waxing moon. It's also a great time to catch Saturn and the Andromeda galaxy. Learn more in this edition of Northern Sky.

Read this month's Starwatch column.

The Cook County PTA finds creative ways for parents to interact with Sawtooth Elementary students. In this edition of Sawtooth Mountain Elementary School News, member Lynn Shiels tells us about one of those fun activities.