During the first days of spring, many Northlanders find their green thumbs itching to plant the summer gardens. Not only can your backyard provide a seasonal burst of color and growth, but by using a few simple tips and techniques you can also transform your gardens into a wildlife haven.
Explore the Northern Wilds
Over 40 golf courses pepper the Northland, and while these courses vary in size, difficulty, price tag and cachet, they share a set of features that makes golfing in the northern wilds unlike golfing anywhere else in the world.
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Want to get out on Lake Superior and sail the big water? There are plenty of opportunities along the North Shore do to just that this summer.
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A few years back, paddler Brandee Wenzel took a day trip in June down a choppy Boundary Waters lake.
Wenzel stayed close to shore to avoid the wind gusts blowing down the lake and fanning out on the lake’s surface but, as she paddled across a bay, a gust of wind came down the water towards her. The wind blew a spinning waterspout about an arm span in width and raised about 4 to 5 inches from the water surface into Wenzel’s canoe, knocking her into the water without her lifejacket.
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In a world of video games, when my 8-year-old boy says he wants to go mountain biking, I drop everything and go. The great thing about the Piedmont Trail system in Duluth is that you get a full-blown biking adventure—and it’s in the middle of the city.
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When Matt Pensyl moved to Duluth from San Diego in 2008, he sold his surfboards. As he wrote in an email interview, “I thought my surfing days were behind me.”
Then his wife, “Bless her heart,” discovered that Minnesota harbored a budding chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting water quality, beach access, and threatened surf breaks. Pensyl got involved. (Fellow Surfrider member Graeme Thickins described him as “kind of a master at organizing events.”) Now he is helping the chapter stage a local celebration of International Surfing Day.
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Northern Sky
What can beat watching the stars on a lazy summer night? Our first treat comes early, when Mars makes a close pass over the bright star Regulus in Leo, the lion. Looking to the west around 10 p.m. on June 6-7, you’ll see the reddish planet less than half a degree above Regulus, anchor of the Sickle of stars forming Leo’s head.
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What can beat watching the stars on a lazy summer night? Our first treat comes early, when Mars makes a close pass over the bright star Regulus in Leo, the lion. Looking to the west around 10 p.m. on June 6-7, you’ll see the reddish planet less than half a degree above Regulus, anchor of the Sickle of stars forming Leo’s head.
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Lake Superior Day
Some Lake Superior communities hold activities or events to celebrate Lake Superior Day, which is Sunday, July 18. Lake Superior Day was started in the early 1990s and is promoted by the Lake Superior Binational Forum to highlight the special connections people have to this unique world treasure. Anyone can hold activities or events that celebrate life on the lake. This year the theme is “Let’s Go Fly a Kite!” to symbolize clean energy sources such as wind power.
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Some Lake Superior communities hold activities or events to celebrate Lake Superior Day, which is Sunday, July 18. Lake Superior Day was started in the early 1990s and is promoted by the Lake Superior Binational Forum to highlight the special connections people have to this unique world treasure. Anyone can hold activities or events that celebrate life on the lake. This year the theme is “Let’s Go Fly a Kite!” to symbolize clean energy sources such as wind power.
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Chik-Wauk and Nature Center to Open
After years of planning and work, the Gunflint Trail Historical Society will hold a grand opening for the Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center on July 4.
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After years of planning and work, the Gunflint Trail Historical Society will hold a grand opening for the Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center on July 4.
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It is a year for highway construction in Duluth and along the North Shore. The biggest project is the rebuilding of I-35 through Duluth. Called the Mega Project, the $66.8 million undertaking will rebuild the freeway (including bridges) from Boundary Avenue to Mesaba Avenue and do major repair work on the pavement through downtown Duluth from Mesaba Avenue to 26th Ave. East.
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The USDA Forest Service recognized three local pilots with a national aviation safety award May 18 at the Forest Service seaplane base located on Shagawa Lake in Ely. Wayne Erickson, Dean Lee, and Patrick Loe were honored for completing a combined total of more than 21,000 hours of accident-free flying in agency service.
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Coastal Program Awards $500,000
Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal Program has awarded $502,041 in grants for 13 projects that protect and preserve the coastal resources of Lake Superior.
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Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal Program has awarded $502,041 in grants for 13 projects that protect and preserve the coastal resources of Lake Superior.
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Volunteers Needed to Count Loons
The Minnesota Loon Monitoring Program is seeking volunteers to count loons on certain lakes. Volunteers must visit the lake between July 2-12 and count all the loons observed, both adults and chicks.
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The Minnesota Loon Monitoring Program is seeking volunteers to count loons on certain lakes. Volunteers must visit the lake between July 2-12 and count all the loons observed, both adults and chicks.
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By Jonathan Poppele
Adventure Publications, Softcover, $14.95
You might be able to spot a few of the well-known constellations in the sky—the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, Orion and his distinctive three-starred belt—but the heavens may just open up to you with Night Sky,
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The jury’s out—which critter is the cutest? Journey through the woods in this rhyming children’s picture book in the search for “the cutest critter in the land.”
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The chances are slim, but if you are boating on Lake Superior this summer and come across a six-foot-long, yellow, torpedo-shaped device floating in the water, don’t worry. It’s not a weapon; it’s an instrument of science.
The device, called a Webb Electric Glider in formal circles and Gitchigami by its friends, is helping scientists to better understand the lake by collecting data. It belongs to the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Large Lakes Observatory (LLO). The glider measures water temperatures and conductivity. The glider’s keeper, assistant professor Jay Austin, has his phone number imprinted on the glider, just in case anyone stumbles upon it and has questions.
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By Bill MacDonald
Borealis, $18.95
In his most recent release, Lamplight: A Silver Islet Saga, author Bill MacDonald takes on a trip down Memory Lane.
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The 70-foot High Falls of the Baptism River has the distinction of being the tallest waterfall in Minnesota. (High Falls of the Pigeon River is higher, but half of it is in Ontario.) The Baptism’s High Falls Trail rises sharply at first and soon intersects the Superior Hiking Trail.
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Recently, I visited the proposed PolyMet copper mine and processing facility at Hoyt Lakes. This news-making project may launch a new era of mining on Minnesota’s Iron Range—provided the project is approved through a rigorous environmental review and permitting process.
Hosting my visit were PolyMet’s LaTisha Gietzen, an engineer and fourth generation Iron Ranger, and Brad Moore, a senior advisor of public affairs for Barr Engineering. Moore is a former commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and assistant commissioner of the DNR. Full disclosure here, I know Moore personally and fished and hunted with him.
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These days selecting a paddle can be a complicated and sometimes overwhelming process. With materials and designs of paddles constantly evolving, consumers have more options than ever to choose from. To help you make sense of the plethora of paddles available, local paddling experts have weighed in on what’s what in the world of paddles.
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