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.
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Minnesota DNR plans to sell 80,000 school trust acres in the Boundary Waters to U.S. Forest Service
The Minnesota DNR announced last week a plan in which the agency would sell more than 80,000 acres of state-owned school trust lands within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness to the U.S. Forest Service, which currently manages the vast majority of the lands within the 1.1-million acre wilderness area in northeastern Minnesota.
Concurrently, the Forest Service announced it would cancel the environmental impact statement process that began as part of a land-exchange process with the DNR 10 years ago.
Socialization is key to having your hunting puppy prepared to face the world
Just a few days after bringing into my home my black Labrador puppy five years ago, I decided it was time to take her out on the town to meet some friends.
Our first stop was my local bank, usually not a busy place and with a lineup of bank tellers I knew well. Truth is, I just wanted to show off the 8-week-old pup I’d named Liza.
I didn’t bother to see if there was a “no pets” sign on the door; it was loyal customer me, and a cute-as-heck puppy, after all. Upon entry, we were greeted with smiles and “oohs” from the gallery. Except for Melissa, who pointed to the sign, explained the “no pets” rule, and stared me right back out the door.
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Streams of Thought: A level-headed discussion about wolves
It was likely in 1999 that I first wrote about gray wolves in Minnesota. Numerical goals regarding wolf populations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan had been reached, and talk was of removing wolves from the federal endangered species list. They were, most wildlife officials proclaimed, “recovered” where they roamed.
It was from my entry into the long-running wolf saga some two and a half decades ago that I became all too familiar with terms such as “distinct population segment” and “delisting,” and became intimately aware of documents such as state management and wolf-recovery plans.
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Northern Minnesota flooding causes Boundary Waters chaos, steelhead losses
When Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness campers Nole Oltesvig and Rylan Kollberg left their tent to survey the aftermath of a rainstorm June 19, at first they encountered heavy sediment buildup where they’d intended to launch their canoe at the Big Lake public access. Then they noticed a boulder or two at the landing which, Oltesvig said, seemed peculiar.
Then they saw what was left of the road after likely more than 7 inches of rain had drenched the area, washed out the access road while leaving a boulder path in its wake, and, at least temporarily, stranding the 36-year-olds from Wisconsin.
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Nearly 12,000 acres within Minnesota’s Chippewa National Forest transferred to Leech Lake Band
Officials with the U.S. Forest Service and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe last week signed a document that transfers parcels totaling nearly 12,000 acres within the Chippewa National Forest from the federal government to the band.
Streams of Thought: Vacation across Minnesota features some fishing, plenty of reconnecting
Some people vacation in Europe. Others, in exotic locations in Mexico. Some of my friends spend a week fishing in Ontario – a place to which I’ve accompanied them more than 25 times – each year in June.
I didn’t join them this year, when, by Dave’s count, he and boatmates Ryan and Daron boated 800-plus walleyes in seven days of fishing. Sounds exhausting to me. I seldom tally my catch and I prefer lengthy naps after shore lunch. This year, I went to Appleton. Not directly, but rather by way of a more circuitous route.
Streams of Thought: Missouri lauded for how it manages CWD, and Minnesota operates much in the same way
During the Minnesota DNR’s “targeted culling” of whitetails – conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services – late this past winter, in three areas of the state, a total of 411 whitetails were killed.
Seventeen of those animals tested positive for chronic wasting disease. Further, all “positive” samples were taken in what the DNR refers to as the “south block,” which includes an area in the south metro, along with the south-eastern region.
Streams of Thought: Some final thoughts on land-transfer bills that failed to pass during Minnesota’s 2024 legislative session
Funding for an Asian carp barrier on the Mississippi River produced plenty of ink here and elsewhere, and deer hunters across at least a portion of the state were paying close attention to whether or not the shotgunners/sluggers in the southern portion might be allowed to instead grab a rifle come the firearms season in November.
