North Shore Weekend

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

In March, we get a new moon on the 11th, and you can catch Jupiter near the first quarter phase of the moon. Saturn is rising late in the evening and it's getting brighter, so it's a good time to see it with a telescope near Spica. You can also see comet PanSTARRS on Tuesday the 12th. Learn more in this edition of Northern Sky.

Read this month's Starwatch column.

Whew, a week of March has come and gone already. Our semi-winter continues in the upper Gunflint. With spring peeking just over the southern cliffs, Old Man Winter paid the area another visit over the past few days.
 
Although he was only half hearted, his frigid offering sent us a reminder that there might still be a bit of vigor remaining before the season is relinquished. This neighborhood has had no new snow since the Feb. 23, but the past weekend experienced a couple wintery minus 20-something mornings.
 
This lack of moisture is beginning to wear on a few of us regulars. Reading that the long-range forecast is for more intense drought in the coming warm season, wildfire danger continues to hang in the back of our minds, as the meager snow pack is not growing and will soon be diminishing.
 
It is hoped that the regulating authorities are paying attention to making the tough call when burning bans become a necessity. In the meantime, it would be nice if the moisture gods would shower down on us with more regularity.
 
We humans sit back smugly most of the time thinking that we have it over the lower beings of the animal world with regard to reasoning power. Living in the woods and watching the happenings in the wild neighborhood, I’m not so sure that our superiority should be taken for granted.
 
Obviously, those of the wild kingdom spend the better part of their lives in survival mode as we do, only in more subtle ways. I marvel at the alert attention every critter of the woods pays toward not becoming the next meal for an adversary up the food ladder rung. Whether one is a marten, deer or chipmunk, each is always looking over its shoulder.
 
My point is made with regard to the wisdom of a pine marten hanging out around our deck-side feed trough recently. On this particular day the little gal/guy was intent on nutritional sustenance from the various sunflower seed stations.
 
As I observed, it was keen how a few bites were taken with regular time outs to peek here and look there making sure that some predator wasn’t lurking in the shadows. In this particular instance, it was suddenly spooked by something and scurried into a small roof-covered feeder.
 
Once secure, it would stick its head out from under the eves and apprise the situation. After a few moments of checking to make sure all was clear, it made its way out into the open for more munching. Another repetition of being alarmed soon occurred and back it went into seclusion. In a few moments, it was out in the sunshine once more.
 
I became intrigued about what was causing the marten’s concern.  At that moment, I caught a glimpse of an in-flight shadow on the pine canopy back drop.
 
An avian flying overhead, a fairly large one at that, could have been a raven or perhaps a raptor. Simultaneously I saw Piney with its head to the sky. In the blink of an eye, it was back under cover.
 
Putting two and two together, I reasoned that “big bird” was the nemesis for my furry visitor. Now, whether “big bird” was on reconnaissance for its next meal or not, I will never know. However, with three on-your-guard scampers by the marten, one would have to wonder if this wasn’t the case. For sure, the reasoning power of my marten friend was leaving nothing to chance, and we think we’re so smart!  
 
The annual trout fishing derby was held under splendid blue skies on Gunflint Lake last Sunday. A fine turnout occurred as over 90 anglers registered. In addition to the fisher people there looked to be at least a couple hundred more observers in families and friends. The short-term city on ice was a buzz of activity with every type of angling and travel rig one could imagine.
 
When yours truly was down on the ice near the end of the contest, there were 12 trout mounted on the board. The largest was a 6-pound 9-ounce whopper pulled through the hole by John Konig. It turned out that John’s catch caught him the $500 first prize. Congratulations to John and everyone that dipped a line. Thanks go to all the organizers for making this another fun event.
 
It’s not quite spring, and not everything is coming up roses just yet. However, everything will be coming up pink this weekend. The Mush for a Cure is now front and center on the wilderness stage. Preliminary events to Saturday’s big dog sled race kick off this evening (Friday) at Windigo. Hope to see everyone out in support of this worthy event!
 
Keep on hangin’ on, and savor the hot pink weekend.

Airdate: March 8, 2013

News reports from the Pheasant Fest show held in Minneapolis during February suggest the best days of pheasant and duck hunting in the upper Midwest are behind us. Record high prices for corn are transforming the agricultural landscape, as farmers drain wetlands and plow up grasslands in a rush to devote every available acre to producing corn. Farm policies, including taxpayer-subsidized crop insurance, encourage producers to farm even marginal ground with minimal risk of failure.
                                                                                       
Particularly telling were Pheasant Fest interviews by Dave Orrick of the St. Paul Pioneer Press with Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture, and Dan Ashe, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Transcripts of the interviews are available on the newspaper’s website. When Orrick asked, "Is our farm policy really square with conservation?" Ashe replied, "No, it is not." Orrick posed the same question to Vilsack, who responded, "I don't know what you mean."
 
To be fair, Vilsack probably doesn't often get asked questions about farmland conservation. In his world, high prices and strong demand for commodities mean times are good. As U.S. Agriculture Secretary, he must contend with a toxic political climate that has stalled the Farm Bill in Congress and led to endless budgetary strife. In the interview, he pointed out that the USDA's conservation efforts are limited by Washington's fiscal realities. Still, Vilsack never acknowledged in the interview that conservation is important not only for bird hunting, but also for the overall health of our nation’s land and water.
 
Ducks and pheasants may eat corn and other grains, but cultivated ground doesn't grow birds or much of anything other than the intended crop. Game birds need habitat--grasslands and wetlands--to thrive. Without habitat, an agricultural landscape is a desert not only for game birds, but for all but the most tenacious flora and fauna. Even commonplace species may disappear.
 
Consider the plight of the American bumblebee. The Christian Science Monitor reports researchers have found this wild bee, once the most common species in the Upper Midwest, has nearly vanished from the northern portion of its range. In Illinois, a researcher recently found only half of the wild bee types—54 of 109—that had been collected and cataloged by a naturalist in 1909. Just one American bumblebee, a queen, was discovered. The drastic decline in bees is particularly troubling because they are the primary pollinators on the landscape.
 
Researchers speculate disease and parasites contributed to the bee decline, but doing so comfortably ignores the elephants in the room. A century ago, the farmland of Illinois was a patchwork of varied crops, pastures, wetlands and woodlots, all of which provided habitat for bees. Now nearly every acre is devoted to corn and soybean production and subjected to continued applications of fertilizers and pesticides. In other words, it’s become a place that takes the buzz right out of a bee.
 
Habitat loss becomes permanent when it is accompanied by drainage, as has occurred across much of the Corn Belt. Until recently, less drainage had occurred in the Dakotas, which is why those states contained a remarkable abundance of pheasants, ducks and other prairie wildlife. Now wetland drainage and drain tiling of crop land is rapidly occurring in eastern South Dakota, where conservationists say game birds—and likely other wildlife—are in sharp decline.
 
Accelerating drainage on the landscape not only eliminates habitat, but it alters the land’s ability to use and retain precipitation. This week, the Minnesota DNR announced that despite an average or above average snowpack, the spring melt will do little to alleviate existing severe drought conditions, because the melt water will run off the still-frozen ground. Instead, the DNR warns we should brace for spring flooding in the Red River Valley. It will take rainfall after the ground thaws to ease drought conditions.
 
It seems, well, unnatural that we can experience severe drought and devastating floods simultaneously. But wetland drainage and ditching removes the landscape’s mechanism to retain water and allow it to more slowly enter our waterways and replenish underground aquifers. Instead, the spring melt, once an integral part of the prairie’s ecological cycle, rushes downstream to become someone else’s problem. Catastrophic spring floods have become routine occurrences.
 
Oddly, we are finding, even in this Land of 10,000 Lakes, that we are depleting our groundwater supplies. In short, we are drawing more water out of the ground for irrigation, municipal water, ethanol production and other uses than Nature can replenish. A recent report in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune notes that water shortages are already a reality in portions of southwestern Minnesota. While this region of the state is naturally dry, agricultural drainage is exacerbating the situation. Problems with metro area water supplies are anticipated within the next 20 years. The DNR reports that conflicts over groundwater use are becoming more common across the state. Ironically, Minnesota receives enough precipitation to meet its water needs and replenish groundwater supplies. The problem is too much of that precipitation is drained off the land and whisked downstream before we an opportunity to use it.
 
The average hunter may not make the link between April floods and a lack of October pheasants and ducks, but the link exists. Decades of federal farm policies designed to accommodate large scale agricultural production have altered the landscape and modified or destroyed natural functions. While these alterations have improved farm productivity and, some argue, provided low-cost food, we paid a price that can be measured by poor water quality, more soil erosion, increased flooding and a loss of wildlife.
 
Most conservationists believe farmland habitat losses are permanent. While I’m dismayed at the present rate of habitat loss and worried we’ll soon see sharp declines in the abundance of ducks, pheasants and other wildlife, I’m not sure we’ve reached the end of the line. In the future, federal farm policies and priorities may change to encourage the restoration of wetlands and grasslands. Small restorations already occur when former farmlands are acquired by wildlife agencies and converted to habitat. However, if large-scale restoration ever happens, the impetus to do so will likely be related to water management rather than wildlife habitat. After all, we can get by without pheasants, but we can’t get by without water.

Airdate: March 8, 2013

The upper Trail is “marching” into month three as February bids adieu in lamb-like character. Following a rather harsh first three weeks, the month of hearts and chocolates faded away with Old Man Winter delivering our snow to many places south and starting an early spring meltdown.
 
The conditions have been terrific, with several days of sunshine glistening off mounds of snow piled here and there in kaleidoscope sparkles. This has made for wonderful outdoor activities in the woods.
 
A day or so prior to the calming of our atmospheric conditions, I was down on the shore of Gunflint watching as two fishermen were attempting to retrieve a dead four-wheeler. It was one of those days when the wind was a-howling out of the north and a light snow was being whipped into white oblivion.
 
The stalled unit could not have been much farther from land in any direction, and the visibility made it nearly impossible to see them in the struggle to bring it to shore. Two days later, and after several unsuccessful towing modes were attempted, the ATV was brought to land with big sleds under each of four wheels.  
 
Their demise made me think about just how unforgiving this territory can be sometimes, tough as old leather, but with a beauty of adventure to behold. This trip to the Gunflint will surely be one to remember for those poor souls.
 
This coming Sunday, March 3, marks the first of two big weekends along the Trail. The annual trout fishing derby, which dates back to 1957, will see ice anglers from all over gathering on the Gunflint Lake ice to try their hand at catching the biggest fish. By the way, the largest finnie registered between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. will bring the catcher a nice $500 award!
 
This happening is a real treat as a mini-community springs up on the ice in a matter of minutes and then disappears in much the same fashion after a few short hours. While the catching may not be great for everyone, there is a guarantee that fun will be had by all!
 
Next weekend, the seventh annual Mush for a Cure sled dog race will be held along the Trail. This event has as its mission to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research. It will kick off two days of everything coming up pink, Friday and Saturday, March 8 and 9.
 
With the main event being the dogsled race (starting @ noon Saturday) running from lake shores at Gunflint Pines Resort to Trail Center, the congregation of entries and the sourdough start are some kind of magical, hot-pink excitement! Hope everyone able can get out and support at least some of the many scheduled activities.
 
By the way, if you wish to contribute to the mission by helping with pledges to a particular musher, just go to the Mush for a Cure website or look for their collection canisters at many places throughout the county. You can also support the event by contributing to “The Bald, Brave and Beautiful” head shaving contest. Several contemporary legends of the territory have their locks on the block. Let’s not let them off the hook!
 
Living in the wilderness is such a privilege! Each day can provide an adventure or observation that may be a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. Such has been the case since we last met on the radio.
 
A friend tells me of an experience paralleling that of the fabled “Tortoise and the Hare,” only this account is north-woods style. Seems he was out dipping a line through the ice when he noticed a snowshoe hare coming lickety-split across the Gunflint from Canada. He soon discovered that this unusual sprint across the frozen crust was being prompted by a hungry fisher. The race for survival soon turned to be no contest as the dashing “wabbit” was about a mile down the lake when the pursuer called it a day for this particular quest.
 
Recalling the terrapin/rabbit story, slow and steady usually wins the race. However, this border country episode confirms that speed is always a determining factor in life for another day. Hare one, fisher nothing!
 
Another spectacle of the wild happened on one of the most recent sub-zero mornings at Wildersmith. This one is so captivating and tranquil.
 
The white tail population has been waning for the past three or four years, and we have only a few that browse around the yard anymore. So it is a rare diversion when any come by and hang out for a length of time.
 
On this particular frosty morning, a doe and her yearling fawn graced us by finding a place for a little R & R amongst our lakeside balsam stand. The two curled up with noses to their chests in a snowy nest and caught a little shut-eye. They napped for some time, which must have been quite long considering their typical transient tribulations for survival.
 
For both the observers and, I would guess, those wild neighborhood critters, the scene was a remarkably hushed and calming moment in this part of the northern forest.
 
On a final note, Gunflint Trail wishes for a happy 95^th birthday go out to another of our iconic pioneers, Lawrence “Gus” Wooding in Sarasota, Florida!
 
Keep on hangin’ on, and savor the peace of our great north woods!

Airdate: March 1, 2013

Working a booth or exhibit at a sport show is not everyone's cup of tea. Days are long as you talk to folks in an endless parade of passersby, promoting the product or organization you represent. What makes shows fun are the short, yet interesting, conversations you have with people who check out your booth.
 
Last weekend, I spent a couple of days at the Central Canada Outdoor Show in Thunder Bay. I've worked the show for a number of years and always enjoy seeing many Canadian friends and acquaintances. I even recognize some of the folks who attend the show every year. The reporter in me regards the many brief encounters with folks from a wide array of backgrounds as a way to check the pulse north of the border.
 
Minnesota's closure of the 2013 moose hunt was a frequent conversation starter. Several people said moose numbers are declining in parts of northwestern Ontario, too. Most Canadians blamed moose woes on mild winters, more deer, and bear predation. Ontario's bear population increased after the spring bear hunt was closed about a decade ago. Many people believe bears prey heavily on newly born moose calves. Ironically, since the spring hunt closed, deer numbers increased as well. Moose are susceptible to deer-borne parasites and disease.
 
I fielded several questions about snowmobiling and ATV riding in Minnesota. Due to the high costs of maintaining trail systems and relatively few trail users, snowmobile trails in the Thunder Bay area are no longer being groomed. Avid sledders are heading to Minnesota to tour trails. Ontario trail passes are expensive, so the cessation of grooming isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because passes aren’t required on ungroomed trails. As for ATVs, Canadian riders are curious about our designated trail system. One man told me he’d ridden the ATV trails near Silver Bay last summer. He was impressed at the quality of trails and the whole experience.
 
Canadians are crossing the border in droves to enjoy outdoor activities such as downhill and cross-country skiing, hiking and bicycling. I talked to folks who were vacationing not only on the North Shore, but also in places like Grand Rapids and the Brainerd lakes region. Grand Marais, about a 1 ½-hour drive from Thunder Bay, is a tremendously popular day trip. Nearly everyone I talked to at the show made regular, recreational visits to Minnesota. Their presence hasn’t gone unnoticed. One group of Duluth motels was at the show promoting a special discount package for rewarding Canadians for frequent stays.
 
All of this southbound traffic is a relatively new phenomenon. Not so many years ago, far fewer Canadians were crossing the border. What changed? The economy. Canada emerged from the Great Recession relatively unscathed. Since then, the northwestern Ontario economy has been going strong, so the folks within driving distance of Minnesota have money to spend.
 
Canadians also take advantage of a favorable exchange rate. For some time, the value of the U.S. and Canadian dollars has been at par or nearly so. Nearly all goods and services are cheaper in the U.S., so a Minnesota excursion is a bargain. Last year, the Canadian government raised the dollar value of purchased goods Canadians can bring back from the U.S. without paying a duty—creating even further incentive to head south.
 
Economics answers another question I was asked at the show: Why are so few Americans now vacationing in Canada? As recently as a decade ago, many anglers from Minnesota and other Midwest states made at least one annual fishing trip to Canada. Now, far fewer fishermen are heading north of the border. Living near the border, I’ve also noticed my friends and neighbors are less likely to go north for day trips or getaways.
 
Some folks say the slowdown in American tourism is related to additional security measures at customs in the aftermath of 9/11, specifically the need for a passport to enter the United States as well as the Canadian denial of entry of Americans who have DUI convictions. While negative experiences with customs agents are a travel deterrent for some folks, a bigger reason is likely the high cost of everything Canadian. Currently, a gallon of gasoline in Thunder Bay costs just over $5. Prices in restaurants, grocery stores and other places tourists are likely to shop are noticeably higher, too. In the past, Americans benefited from a favorable exchange rate that extended their purchasing power. Now, when considering a Canadian trip, they may think first about the additional expense and secondly about the possibility of a hassle at the border. It seems likely some anglers have decided they were better off staying home.
 
Another factor affecting fishing travel is an aging demographic. A fly-in camp outfitter told me his client base has stayed more or less the same, with past customers returning annually. However, those loyal customers are growing older. A new generation of younger anglers isn’t showing up to take their place.
 
What hasn’t changed is the quality of Canadian fishing. Restrictive bag limits enacted during the past decade or so to protect fisheries are making a difference. Generally speaking, the lower bag limits allow you to come off the water with enough fish for dinner, but prevent you from heading home with a cooler packed with filets.
 
I spoke with fisheries scientist Jon George, who recently retired from a 38-year career with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. Jon is well-known among Minnesota and Ontario steelhead anglers for a long-term study he initiated to learn more about this popular Lake Superior sport fish. He discovered generous bag limits greatly reduce steelhead abundance. Unlike salmon, which die after spawning, steelhead may spawn more than once. Releasing one after you catch it is a way to make an investment in your fishing future, because your personal fish conservation pays a dividend when the steelhead spawns again.
 
From his study and the work of other researchers, Jon is convinced the adoption of catch-and-release fishing regulations led to significant population gains for steelhead and Lake Superior’s native coaster brook trout. Restrictive bag limits for muskies and walleyes have had similar positive effects on inland waters. The upshot is that Ontario still offers the terrific fishing for which it is justly famed. In fact, the fishing across northwestern Ontario is likely better now than it was 10 or 20 years ago. For this fisherman, the exceptional quality of Canadian fishing is worth the extra hassle and expense needed to enjoy it.

Airdate: March 1, 2013

The 4^th Annual Cook County Chili Cook Off was held Saturday, February 23, 2013.  Over twenty different types of chili were entered into the competition.  WTIP volunteer Sherrie Lindskog got a chance to sample a few types of chili and visited with many of the participants while doing so.

• 1st -  The Fenwick family and their Hawaiian chili 
• 2nd - The Viet's with their grass-fed beef chili 
• 3rd - Joynes' Ben Franklin

• 1st - The Fenwick family and their Hawaiian chili 
• 2nd - Joynes' Ben Franklin 
• 3rd - Round-up Chili with (venison and bear meat) 

Thanks go out to Rosey, that news-scoopin’ K-9 from over on Hungry Jack Lake, for covering my absence last week. After a run to Iowa for another family and friends visit, it’s sure nice to be back in the Gunflint territory. “Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home” in the woods!
 
What’s even better about returning to the wilderness is that the Smiths came back to a nice dose of fresh snow. The neighbors I left in charge of weather did a swell job as about 10 to 12 inches of the stuff helped me re-up my snow removal skills. It seems to be more than a quirk of coincidence that every time I head south, we get snow. Sure makes me wonder if Old Man Winter hasn’t placed a curse on me.
 
Now that the area is groomed in a new white base, winter activities are just what the doctor ordered. It’s paradise found for anyone who wants to make tracks in the wilderness.
 
In but a few days we’re heading toward the full “sucker moon” (so named Namebini Giizis by our Ojibwe neighbors). With the updated white blanket, our north woods landscape should be another “cool” neon lunar spectacular.
 
Along with another cold snap, both accumulating snow and thickening lake ice are secured at just the right time for the annual Cook County Snowmobile Club’s trout fishing derby on Gunflint Lake next weekend. That angling extravaganza is followed by the Mush for a Cure sled dog race  March 9, which also starts on the Gunflint Gal. Both events offer great fun for participants and spectators with lots of things going on in conjunction. Look for more details next week or better yet, check websites if you want info sooner.
 
Along with the usual rituals of mid-winter championed by mankind, like those mentioned above, there are some natural rites taking shape in some parts of the area. The first is those bone-jarring frost heaves in the Trail asphalt. It seems that they are making their appearance in the usual places, only a bit earlier than normal. So a trip to Grand Marais is becoming a real rollercoaster ride.
 
Another of those yearly happenings comes somewhat as a surprise since the territory went into winter sleep under extreme drought conditions. Most streams and rivers were barely a trickle at autumn’s end. Yet somewhere in the bowels of this great earth there is still water running.
 
Thus, winter trickles have finally frozen to the point where they are clogging area road culverts. The ensuing liquid backup is now being dammed into those mini roadside glaciers. Several spots along the Mile O Pine show that tannin-colored water seeping through the snow and thickening with each passing day.
 
Since the Smiths return to Wildersmith, we have been enjoying an abundance of pine marten visits. The luxurious poultry-loving fur balls have been here at all hours of the day and night. One evening found an uncommon situation, where a pair of them were sitting in the same feeding station partaking. There is usually a big fight when they get this close to each other at mealtime.
 
The normally carnivorous critters have been munching on not only the coveted chicken parts but also beating the squirrels to their cache of sunflower seeds (must be the oil that catches their attention). The other day I even observed one out hustling the blue jays to a tray of bread cubes. Guess when you’re hungry, most anything will do.
 
Sadness hangs over the Trail as friends mourn the loss of another Gunflint icon. Ralph Griffis passed away February 9 in Harlingen, Texas, at the age of 87.
 
Along with wife Bea, Ralph operated the Chik Wauk Lodge from 1957 until it was sold to the USFS in 1980. Through a special use agreement with the Forest Service, he and Bea continued living at Chik Wauk in the summers until departing for permanent Texas residency just before the turn of the century.
 
He will be long remembered for his caring ways, fishing prowess and captivating smile. He was so proud that the Gunflint community came together to form the Gunflint Trail Historical Society. And, that they worked so hard to turn the Griffis’ beloved lodge into a wonderful museum, preserving the storied Gunflint history. Gunflint Trail condolences are extended to his wife Bea.
 
Keep on hangin’ on, and savor a good time on the Gunflint!

Airdate: February 22, 2013

Below-zero cold feels crisp and comfortable on a windless February night. Overhead, stars sparkle and wink. The surrounding forest is dark and silent. I stand outside the back door while the dogs go about their business and listen.
 
This is the time of year when I may hear a sound resembling the back-up beeper on a delivery truck--the mating call of a tiny, saw-whet owl. Sometimes it comes from the conifers across the road or maybe from out back in the direction of the fire hall. Despite the cold and snow, it's springtime in owl world.
 
We don't often see the owls, but we are aware of their presence. A couple of years ago, we began finding furry tails along the sidewalk and in the snow near the feeder. Finally, we deduced their origin. The tails were all that remained of hapless flying squirrels, which visited our bird feeder after dark. A hungry owl had eaten everything else.
 
One winter when the snow was especially deep, we saw a diminutive boreal owl perched in the crabapple tree beside the feeder. The owl seemed tame, perhaps because it was starving. Deep snow makes it hard for predatory owls to catch small rodents.  Waiting near the feeder, the boreal owl had a chance to catch mice and shrews that emerged from the snowdrifts to seek scattered seeds. Another time, I found a dead boreal owl that apparently had flown into a garage window.
 
A few boreal owls nest in our northern forests, but more arrive as winter visitors. Snowy, great gray and northern hawk owls also winter here. The abundance of migrants varies annually and correlates with snow depths and small rodent numbers farther north. This winter, migrating great gray and boreal owls are relatively abundant.
 
This is good news for owl watchers. When northern owls arrive in Minnesota, they're hungry. This means they are actively hunting and thus likely to be seen by people. You don't have to be a hardcore birder to appreciate the strikingly fierce appearance of the great gray owl or to enjoy a happenstance encounter with any member of the owl clan.  But if you are a birder, northern Minnesota is owl Mecca.
 
While the owls have been coming here for eons, hardcore birders are more recent arrivals. An extraordinary invasion of great gray owls in 2005 drew national attention from the birding community. Now birders from all over the country trek to the Sax-Zim bog north of Duluth every winter to see great grays and other owls, as well as other uncommon birds such as northern shrikes and boreal chickadees.
 
Last weekend, birders flocked (pardon the pun) to Meadowlands, a tiny town on the edge of the Sax-Zim bog, for the annual winter birding festival. They climbed into a small fleet of yellow school buses and vans to cruise bog back roads on guided birding tours. For traveling birders, a trip to northern Minnesota is a snowy safari. While Meadowlands may never become as popular with wildlife watchers as, say, Kenya, the Sax-Zim bog was featured in the New York Times last month and in a 2012 movie about avid birders called “The Big Year.”
 
That birding is the subject of a movie attests to the activity’s growing popularity. Perusing the website Birding-Minnesota.com, I found a surprisingly busy calendar of birding events occurring in every corner of the state.  Avian events include a three-day Festival of Owls in Houston, Eagle Watch Weekends in Red Wing, a Boreal Birding Festival in Grand Marais, a Festival of Birds in Detroit Lakes and a Hummingbird Hurrah in Henderson. In addition, birders can sign up for small group tours to prairie potholes, national wildlife refuges and other wild areas.
 
While some outdoors enthusiasts may roll their eyes at the thought of a birding festival, national survey data shows wildlife watching is becoming as popular as hunting and fishing. According to the 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife Associated Recreation (the most recent state data available), Minnesota had 2.1 million wildlife watchers and 1.6 million hunters and anglers. The state had 1.4 million wild bird observers, including 506,000 who traveled away from home to see birds. Wild bird observers spent $699 million on their recreation, including trip-related expenditures of $271 million. In comparison, trip-related expenditures cost anglers $806 million and hunters $167 million.
 
Wildlife watching and other non-consumptive activities are growing segments of outdoor recreation, which may partially explain the Obama Administration’s recent selection of Sally Jewell to lead the Department of the Interior. Most recently the CEO of outdoor gear retailer REI, Jewell undoubtedly understands the societal and economic value of outdoor recreation. In fact, she has been at the forefront of the outdoor industry’s efforts to convince politicians that outdoor recreation is a big business—and thus protecting the wild places where people recreate is good for business.
 
Some pundits suggest she may have an uphill climb making this point to the White House, because the Obama Administration hasn’t placed a priority on conservation. In fact, the environmental website Grist reports President Obama has protected less land administratively than any of the four presidents who preceded him—including George W. Bush. Obama has also pursued an aggressive approach to energy development on public lands. Often, that development comes at the cost of reduced outdoor recreation. Jewell’s challenge is to strike a balance between many competing uses of land that belongs to everyone.
 
All of this may matter little to birders on safari in a remote northern Minnesota bog. The only energy development planned for our bogs is harvesting willow brush as biomass fuel, which actually is beneficial for owls and other open-country birds. However, a birder who makes a winter sojourn from Chicago or New York to northern Minnesota just to see an owl is placing a value on wildlife—a value that can be measured in dollars and cents. That’s important to Interior Secretary Jewell. In the grim reality of conservation politics, even an owl needs to add something to the bottom line in order to survive.

Airdate: February 22, 2013

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!