North Shore Morning

Exploratory Days is a part of the middle school concept. These fun, all day events are created to allow students a chance to explore new activities. In this edition of Cook County Middle School News, teachers Sue Nelson and April Wahlstrom tell us more about the upcoming exploratory day event.

The Grand Marais Art Colony's annual Winter Arts Festival, January 25 - February 1, is comprised of two unique events, a Winter Plein Air  and Snow Carving Symposium.  

Six large snow carvings are currently on display throughout Cook County. 

(Click on the audio mp3 above to hear from two of the snow carvers in this year's symposium.) 

(Click here to see a video showing snow carver Rick Skoog at work on the harbor in downtown Grand Marais, from photographer Stephan Hoglund)

2013 Snow Carving Location & Carvers: 

• Bluefin Bay Resort in Tofte - Vic Germaniuk & The Eh? Team 
• Caribou Highlands in Lutsen - Twisted Sisters: Joi Electa, Mary Laberge, Shanna Strickland, Denise Myears 
• Lutsen Mountains in Lutsen - The O'Connor Clan 
• Joynes Ben Franklin in Harbor Park, Grand Marais - Rick Skoog 
• Grand Marais Art Colony - Elise Kyllo and Keith Morris
• Bearskin Lodge on the Gunflint Trail - David Seaton

 To learn more about the Grand Marais Art Colony, visit their website.

Dr. Seth Moore is Director of Biology and Environment with the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. 

The Grand Portage Reservation is located in the extreme northeast corner of Minnesota, on the North Shore of Lake Superior in Cook County. Bordered on the north by Canada, on the south and east by Lake Superior and on the west by Grand Portage State Forest, the reservation encompasses an historic fur trade site on beautiful Grand Portage Bay.

The band engages in fisheries and wildlife research projects throughout the year, working with moose, wolves, fish, deer, grouse, and environmental issues. Dr. Moore appears regularly on WTIP North Shore Community Radio, talking about the band's current and ongoing natural resource projects, as well as other environmental and health related issues of concern to the Grand Portage Band.

In this segment, Dr. Moore talks about the Grand Portage band's participation in an upcoming study by the Minnesota Department of Health that will involve 500 women of childbearing age in Cook County and measure blood mercury levels over the course of one year.  The study is in response to research showing elevated levels of mercury in North Shore newborns.  The “Mercury in Newborns in the Lake Superior Basin” study was conducted by the MDH Environmental Health Division from 2007 to 2011, in collaboration with state newborn screening programs in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.  Produced by Carah Thomas.

Adolph Ojard grew up in Knife River, Minnesota, on the North Shore of Lake Superior.  He's the grandson of two Norwegian fishing families, the Ojards and the Torgersons.  

In this edition of Moments in Time, Ojard, who is now the Executive Director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, remembers his boyhood in Knife River, fishing on Lake Superior with his father and grandfather.  Produced by Carah Thomas.

Sawtooth 2^nd graders have been learning about the past. In this edition of School News, second grade teacher K.B. O’Neil tells us more about it.

Each week a group of parents and their kids head to the Grand Marais Art Colony to participate in the Music Together class offered by local teacher, singer and musician Amanda Hand.  In this edition of the Local Music Project WTIP producer Cathy Quinn listens in on one of the classes and visits with parents, kids and Amanda Hand herself.

Last week I visited with Art Wright at his home in Duluth. Art was born in Duluth in 1913, but lived in Grand Marais for a time when he was a young boy.  He’ll be turning 100 in a couple of weeks. Art’s father was the purser on the steamship America.  His mother was the teacher at the Maple Hill School just north of Grand Marais.  She received her teaching certification when she was 16 years old.  Art’s parents met on the America when his mother was traveling to her new job.
 
During the visit, my mom, Mary Alice Hansen, and my son, Carl Hansen, filmed an interview with Art about his boyhood memories in Grand Marais and his time growing up aboard the America.  They did the filming on behalf of the Cook County Historical Society.
 
I knew that Art was an avid wilderness canoeist for his whole life, so I asked him when he took his first canoe trip in the BWCA Wilderness.  He said his first trip was in 1928 when he and some friends went to Kekekabic Lake.  His first trip starting at Sawbill Lake was in 1930 or ‘31. 
 
Art recalled around that time that he and a friend were returning to Sawbill from a long canoe trip and encountered a large floatplane at the Sawbill boat landing.  As the young men approached the landing in their canoe, the pilot taxied away from the landing, right past their canoe.  Floatplanes make a huge wake when they taxi at slow speed and it caught Art and his friend off guard and they were dumped, with all their gear, just a few yards short of their take-out point.  Art commented mildly that they were “not too happy with the pilot.”
 
If you’ve driven through Tofte lately, you can’t help but notice the beautiful new building that has gone up at Sawtooth Outfitters. The owners, Jeff and Sarah Lynch, had the building designed by an architect to mimic the look of the Sawtooth Mountains. The beautiful custom windows pick up the motif of the trees on the hills.
 
The old Sawtooth Outfitters building was quite small, especially considering that the owners also live in the building. The new building still includes the Lynches’ home, but they will have more room for themselves as well as expanded space for their retail store, along with their existing ski, bike and canoe and kayak rental business.  For the first time, they will have a public bathroom for their customers.
 
The Lynches made a point of hiring local contractors for the big job.  The primary builders are Tyler Norman and Jared Boen.  As all buildings should be now days, the 3,200-square-foot building is highly energy efficient and utilizes off-peak electric heat, a wood stove backup and passive solar heat from the south-facing windows.
 
They are fully open for business now and will have a grand opening celebration in the spring.
 
The moose capture and radio-collaring project was active along the Sawbill Trail last week. The researchers, their mobile laboratory and helicopter were set up at the Moose Fence ski trail parking lot for a couple of days. DNR wildlife manager, Dave Ingebrigtsen, reported 31 moose had been captured and collared so far, including five cows and four bulls along the Sawbill Trail.
 
Their goal is to collar 100 moose. When a collared moose dies, the researchers will attempt to get to it as soon as possible to conduct an autopsy and ultimately try to answer the question of why the moose population is declining.
 
The team had cleared a helicopter landing spot here at Sawbill, but finally decided not to collar moose that might wander into the wilderness before they die, which would complicate the access for autopsy.  I understand the thinking, but we were disappointed to miss out on the excitement.  We are easily entertained at this time of year here in the backwoods.
 
Jerry Gervais, the famous Snowmobile Doctor from Tofte, had a man walk into his yard the other day.  The man had quite a story to tell.  He was staying at Temperance Landing in Schroeder with his wife, son, daughter-in-law and 1-year-old grandchild.  The family decided to have dinner at the Trestle Inn, with the younger couple snowmobiling there and the older couple taking the baby and driving.  They looked at a map and decided to drive to the Trestle by going up the Sawbill Trail and then cutting across the 600 Road, not knowing that in the winter the 600 Road is actually a snowmobile trail. 
 
They managed to get their Honda Civic onto the 600 Road and drove for quite a ways before they realized their mistake. By that time, they were afraid they would get stuck if they tried to stop or turn around, so they decided to keep going. 
 
After driving five miles on the 600 Road, they came to the intersection with the Tofte snowmobile access trail. Seeing the sign that said, “This way to Tofte,” they decided to head down the actual snowmobile trail to Tofte. They made it another five miles before they reached the snowmobile bridge across the Temperance River and became hopelessly stuck. 
 
The grandfather left his wife and grandchild in the car and continued walking down the trail. He followed the signs for almost another five miles to the Snowmobile Doctor, figuring correctly that he would be a good person to help them. Jerry quickly rounded up some help, two snowmobiles and a sleigh and rescued the grandmother and grandchild.  The next morning, Paul James, from Tofte, pulled the car out using the Tucker Sno-cat that he uses to groom the local snowmobile trails.
 
It’s actually fairly common for people to attempt driving their cars on groomed snowmobile trails and getting stuck, but they usually don’t get very far.  The Sno-doc says that he’s no fan of Honda Civics, but he had to give some credit to the little car that became a fairly functional snowmobile for at least 10 miles.

Along with the rest of the universe, the upper Trail heads off into 2013 chapter two, February’s a calling! Wow, what an ending to January.
 
Although as of this keyboard exercise, the territory has warmed somewhat, we Gunflinters have endured serious cold conditions. Here at Wildersmith the thermometer did not ascend above the zero mark from Saturday afternoon the 19^th, through about the same time on Saturday the 26^th.
 
That calculates into nearly 170 consecutive hours, brrrrr! When the mercury did climb above the nothing point, it seemed like we should be getting out the Speedos. It is amazing how warm zero to 15 above can feel after such a stretch.
 
During the Arctic spell, the area has been a place of soul-soothing silence. With exception of the wind whirring through the pines, the only sounds of consequence were the creaking of the house, the deck contracting/expanding against the bitter onslaught and occasional popping of the frozen sap from one of our forest sentinels. I didn’t hear even one complaining groan from the lake ice to our north. 
 
Cuddling in the confines of homey warmth, about the only venture outside was for a sling of firewood twice a day and a frigid run to the mailbox. The ritual of feeding the neighborhood critters was even subdued. Visits from all the wild regulars seemed less frequent and their business at the trough was serious, with little chatter and bantering with each other.
 
The mystique of living through crispy segments like we’ve just experienced is captured in simple things that are often just overlooked. An example would be the frost around the eyes of the local jaybirds and, believe it or not, seeing the tiny puffs of expiration coming from the nostrils of our red squirrel varmints. Now that’s cold confirmation.
 
More nostalgia on life in the cold is watching the fleeting artistry of gray shadows being cast on the snow-covered ground from a puffing wood-burning stove. Ascending through midday sunshine, these remnants of warming combustion are but another sight that might never be paid attention if one wasn’t house bound.
 
Cold magic can also be captured if one is fortunate enough to be outside and catch a whiff of wood smoke during one of those wood shed runs. It kind of sends a spirit of border country warmth to the soul.
 
As the cold snap became more subdued, the neighborhood got a new delivery of snow. It was not a big dropping. The new four or so inches, coupled with the one from the week before, makes it look a lot like Christmas should have been. The quiet place where I do my snow measuring is now approaching about a foot and a half.
 
With the combination of new snow and more reasonable temps, winter activities are sure to pick back up…although I did see a few ice angling crazies that were not thwarted by the cold. Going by here at 25 to 50 miles per hour on a snowmobile en route to the old ice fishing shack is a scary/dangerous example of manmade wind chill!
 
Cross-country ski trails having been regroomed and tracked, and look to be in fantastic shape, and plein air artists and snow sculptors have been out capturing our winter outdoor world over this past week. By the way, Winter Tracks activities get underway around the county this weekend.
 
Meanwhile, the Gunflint woods will be howling with more than wolves, as power sleds will be roaring through the forest tomorrow (Saturday). The fourth annual snowmobile club “Fun/poker run” will scream off mid-morning.
 
The big slide will cover some one 100 miles from Devil Track Lake out to Gunflint Lake and back. As many as 150 sledders are expected to take part. Lots of fun activities are planned in concert with the happening. Hope for a safe and sane day!
 
Keep on hangin’ on and savor winter as we have it now! Come out and enjoy!

Airdate: February 1, 2013

It’s parent-teacher conference time again at Cook County Middle School. In this edition of School News, principal Gwen Carman tells us more about it.