Streams of Thought: Nominate outdoor leaders from your Minnesota communities

It’s nearly August (how can that be?), so it’s the time of year again when we at Outdoor News send out the call for nominations for our Outdoor Leaders Award.

Selecting winners of our annual awards – the other is our Person of the Year award, this year given to Glenwood conservationist Craig DeJong – is always a challenge, but a highlight for our staff.

For years now it’s been my privilege to get to know the members of groups who strive year-round to improve not only the conditions for the state’s fish and wildlife but also for members of their local community. They don’t seek out recognition, but they sure do deserve it.

Last year’s winner was the Nicollet Conservation Club, which formed in southern Minnesota more than 80 years ago. That’s an outstanding run and it speaks volumes about the quality of leadership of the group during the past several decades.

So, if you know of (or are part of) a group – a local club, a chapter of a larger organization, or similar – toss your hat in the 2024 ring. We’re planning to announce the winner at the upcoming Game Fair in August, and we’ve set Aug. 2 as this year’s deadline for nominations. The award recipient will receive a $500 grant, and we’ll do a nice write-up highlighting the group’s achievements, right here on these pages.

You can go to our website to submit a nomination or you can simply drop me a line at tim@outdoornews.com.

MORE COVERAGE FROM MINNESOTA OUTDOOR NEWS:

Minnesota DNR plans to sell 80,000 school trust acres in the Boundary Waters to U.S. Forest Service

Substantial changes in place for Minnesota’s Camp Ripley hunt this fall

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency seeks comments on plan to curb pollution in state waters

WELCOME, NATALIE

This week and in coming weeks you’ll notice a new byline in Outdoor News.

Natalie Ryder joined us a week ago as our new staff writer, following the departure of Brian Mozey, who chose another path down which to chase his dreams.

Natalie comes to us after a three-year stint with a weekly newspaper in Forest Lake, where she covered the city council and the school board, and delved into a variety of feature stories that ranged, in part, from drought-related issues (a year ago) to area carp mitigation projects.

She’s a native of Chicago but traveled north to the Twin Cities, where she earned a degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota. Among her favorite outdoor activities are fishing, camping, visiting national parks and monuments, and bird watching.

Please join us in welcoming Natalie to the fold.

BUGGING ME

The plan last weekend was relatively simple: Take a walk into the woods to investigate whether or not spring wind and rain had altered the landscape in any fashion (downed trees, etc.), check the structural integrity of some ladder stands (including strap inspection), and hang a trail camera or two.

No problem, he told me. Just a little hot, he told me. It won’t take long, he told me. “He” is a friend who bowhunts with me in the autumn, and he’d come for a summer visit and to perform some bowhunting prep work.

Yes, it was hot. And yes, it didn’t take long to make the rounds. But if it’s determined that mosquitoes are the least of your buggy irritations following a wet spring/summer, then you know the deer (biting) flies are bad. They were atrocious. Consider this fair warning.