March 20, 2009 - TOP STORIES
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Biologists tracking wolves in Minnesota
Outdoor panel splits over statewide balance
Students wing their way to participate in state archery tournament in Becker
Minnesota state park camping and lodging sites filling fast for summer
Stearns County Pheasants Forever banquet is a success
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Biologists tracking wolves in Minnesota
Minn. biologists track wolves from many landscapes
By SAM COOK
Duluth News Tribune
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) – Angela Aarhus-Ward must be one of the few people in North America who receives e-mails from wolves.
She gets them twice a week from three wolves roaming the woods just north of Duluth. Short e-mails. Nothing chatty.
They tell Aarhus-Ward, a wildlife research biologist with the 1854 Treaty Authority, where the wolves have been for the previous three days. Aarhus-Ward plots those GPS coordinates on her maps.
Minnesota has 40 years of data about wolves that live in the wilderness of Superior National Forest. Aarhus-Ward is doing a three-year study focusing on wolves that live near urban areas – specifically Duluth. She wants to know how their pack sizes and pack territories might be different than those farther north.
“This can only help us as we manage the wolf,’’ she said. “We’re managing both people and wolves. We have to look at these areas for potentially different management strategies than what would be used in a wilderness area.’’
“I think that’s going to be a new trend in wildlife biology – looking at this urban/rural interface. We’re seeing that out West with cougars,’’ said Seth Moore, tribal fish and wildlife biologist at the Grand Portage band of Lake Superior Chippewa at Grand Portage.
Right now, the gray wolf remains on the Endangered Species List, managed by the federal government. But it’s likely Minnesota’s wolves will someday be managed by the state and by tribal agencies such as the 1854 Treaty Authority. The agency is a natural resources management arm for the Grand Portage and Bois Forte bands of Lake Superior Chippewa.
Moore, at Grand Portage, also has two wolves collared under the same research study. He wants to learn how wolf densities fluctuate with deer and moose populations on the 47,000-acre reservation.
John Erb, wolf and furbearer biologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, welcomes more data about Minnesota wolves.
“There’s lots of data from Northeastern Minnesota, from Dave Mech, but it pertains more to the undeveloped portions of wolf range. That’s true of a lot of wolf research historically. Getting data on wolves from a variety of landscapes is good,’’ Erb said.
Aarhus-Ward has just finished the second year of the three-year study. So far, she has trapped and put GPS transmitting collars on eight wolves. Three of them still are sending her e-mails through an Argos satellite. The wolves’ positions are recorded twice daily and those locations are e-mailed to Aarhus-Ward every three days.
The collars aren’t cheap. They cost about $4,000 each, plus another $1,000 for the satellite service. They can be recovered if an animal dies, and they’re programmed to drop off after two years. Aarhus-Ward can then reuse them.
Money for the $250,000 study comes from a tribal wildlife grant through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The grant is to the Grand Portage band, and the 1854 Treaty Authority is a project partner.
It’s too early to draw final conclusions from the study, but Aarhus-Ward already has learned a lot about packs that roam just north of Duluth. She has identified five wolf packs with territories near Independence, Whiteface Reservoir, Pequaywan Lake, Hulligan Lake (north of Duluth off St. Louis County Highway 4) and Stewart Lake southwest of Brimson. A pack consists of two or more wolves, and the average for Minnesota is five. A pack’s territory is about 40 square miles.
“Some territories are pretty small – less than 25 square miles – and my hypothesis is that wolves would have smaller territories closer to Duluth where high densities of deer occur,’’ Aarhus-Ward said.
She would like to trap a wolf closer to Duluth to see if packs are traveling into the city. So far she’s been unsuccessful in trapping closer to town.
While most wolves remain in their regular territories, one wolf that Aarhus-Ward collared had wanderlust. He traveled about 175 miles in one month, moving from a pack near Whiteface to an area near Cass Lake.
“He has established himself in that area,’’ she said. “It’ll be interesting to see if he finds a mate and establishes his own pack.’’
A regular beeping comes over the headsets in Al Buchert’s Cessna 185 on a recent February morning. Aarhus-Ward has gone up with Buchert, a Minnesota DNR conservation officer and pilot, to see if she can spot a couple of her collared wolves from the air.
She has collared one wolf from each pack, and only by flying can she see how many other wolves might be in a pack.
The beeping is coming from Wolf No. 618548a southeast of Brimson. Aarhus-Ward trapped it in a rubber-cushioned foot-hold trap last November. It’s a black wolf, a male, weighing about 85 pounds.
Buchert tips the Cessna on one wing and begins flying tight circles over a young spruce plantation.
“There it is,’’ he says.
The wolf, jet black against the snowpack, is walking among the spruces. We circle for several minutes, watching him. For a time, he sits, casting a long shadow across the snow. Then he’s walking again.
Aarhus-Ward spies a second wolf, a rusty gray one, within about 100 feet of the collared wolf. But that’s all the wolves she sees at this location. She notes the observations in her records.
Earlier that morning, she and Buchert had seen another wolf from a pack near Whiteface Reservoir. It was traveling alone.
Flying to locate wolves is only a winter activity. Once the snow is gone, it’s just too difficult to spot wolves from the air.
Summer and fall are trapping seasons for Aarhus-Ward.
“It’s a challenge to trap wolves because you usually have just one shot when they’re passing by your trap, so everything has to be just right,’’ Aarhus-Ward said. “We’re getting better at making that happen.’’
In two years, she’s trapped 19 wolves, placing collars on eight of them. She doesn’t collar juvenile wolves, preferring to collar adults that are more apt to be leaders of a pack.
She’ll be trapping again this summer, hoping to find a few more wolves that will send her e-mails in coming years.
Outdoor panel splits over statewide balance
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Some members of a state committee charged with allocating voter-approved tax money for natural resources are worried that a proposed list of projects doesn’t have enough Twin Cities area projects to win passage in the Legislature.
The Star Tribune reported that the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council met for almost eight hours on Monday. By April 1 they must recommend how the Legislature should spend the $68 million expected to be raised by the sales tax increase.
The biggest projects on the list are $20 million to buy permanent conservation easements on 300 square miles in Itasca County, and $9 million to leverage federal dollars to protect thousands of acres of habitat mostly in western Minnesota.
By contrast, the most expensive project in the Twin Cities area is $1.9 million to purchase hunting and fishing lands along the Rum River and Cedar Creek in Anoka County.
Members received 80 proposals worth about $250 million, and on Monday whittled that down to 19 projects.
Several council members worried that the package wouldn’t get through the Legislature without more metro projects. “I think there will be difficulty passing this proposal as is,” said Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, a council member.
Sen. Ellen Anderson, DFL-St. Paul, a council member, shared the concern over the lack of balance between outstate and metro-area projects during eight hours of deliberations Monday.
“The Senate is not going to take kindly to a proposal that doesn’t have geographic balance,” she said. “If we don’t add significant attention to the metro areas, there’ll be amendments to this bill.”
The council decided to review the package and vote on it next Monday.
Council Chairman Mike Kilgore said he thought the package only needed some minor tweaking.
“It’s a great mix (of projects),” he said. “The council has put conservation first. We can defend this.”
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Students wing their way to participate in state archery tournament in Becker
DNR News
Student archers from throughout Minnesota will compete March 28 in the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) 5th Annual National Archery In The Schools Program (NASP) state tournament.
The DNR NASP program is the nation’s second-largest, with 285 schools and more than 96,000 students participating annually.
The tournament brings together more than 600 students and begins at 9 a.m. in the Becker High School Field House, 1200 Hancock St., Becker.
Archers participate in teams and as individuals in the elementary division (4-6 grades), middle school division (7-8 grades) and high school division (9-12 grades). Teams compete for first, second and third place. Individuals compete for first- to fifth-place finishes in each grade division and for top male and female archer honors.
The DNR’s Archery in the Schools grant program, which provides $1,500 in funding to qualifying schools to defray cost of equipment and program-related training, has spurred the growth of a school-based program that introduces students to the lifetime sport of archery.
Schools interested in participating in NASP and applying for a grant should contact NASP Program coordinator Kraig Kiger at 218-327-0583 or e-mail him at kraig.kiger@dnr.state.mn.us.
Minnesota state park camping and lodging sites filling fast for summer
DNR reports Minnesota state parks already half full for Memorial Day weekend
DNR News
If people are thinking about packing up the kids, the dog, and the fishing gear for a weekend getaway at a Minnesota state park this spring or summer, they better not wait too much longer to make reservations, advised the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
“Camper cabins and electric campsites may be hard to come by in certain parks for Memorial weekend,” said Forrest Boe, deputy director of the Parks and Trails Division, “which may mean more Minnesotans are planning to vacation closer to home this year.”
Families who just want to pitch a tent will still find plenty of sites available, but reservations for Friday and Saturday nights at the most popular parks, won’t last long, according to Boe.
For those not planning to stay overnight, there will be plenty to do for day visitors.
Park naturalists have put together more than 300 programs in an effort to get families with young children outdoors this spring and summer. Programs include fishing clinics, wildflower walks, and voyageur canoe rides. For details on the place and time of these events, visit www.mnstateparks.info.
Last June, state parks began accepting reservations up to a year in advance (previously reservations could only be made up to 90 days in advance). Reservations for the upcoming vacation season are clearly coming in strong, so make your reservations early.
The numbers below indicate the approximate percentage of Minnesota state parks’ reservable inventory that are still available for holiday weekends in 2009:
Minnesota state parks still make about a third of campsites available on a first-come, first-serve basis for travelers who arrive without reservations. However, Minnesota state park campsites are very popular, so reservations are recommended when it’s possible to plan ahead.
For details on Minnesota’s state parks, including descriptions of each park’s scenery, wildlife and recreational opportunities, call 651-296-6157 or 888-646-6367 or visit www.mnstateparks.info.
To make camping or lodging reservations, call 866-85PARKS or 866-857-2757 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily, or visit www.stayatmnparks.com.
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Stearns County Pheasants Forever banquet is a success
See photos in this week's issue!
The Stearns County Pheasants Forever Chapter (SCPF) held its annual banquet on March 7th at Gorecki Event Center at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, MN. Over 370 people attended the event to help generate funds for Stearns County conservation and wildlife habitat projects.
This year’s keynote speaker was Bill Sherck the “Man About the Woods” who is know for several outdoor based television programs produced by Ron Schara Enterprises. Also, addressing the crowd was Pheasants Forever’s President and CEO, Howard Vincent, who congratulated the Stearns Chapter for being one of the top five chapters in the nation.
Since 1983, the SCPF Chapter has raised over $2.8 million which has been designated to Pheasants Forever’s mission of wildlife conservation through habitat improvements, public awareness, education and land management policies and programs. In 2008, Minnesota’s 77 Pheasants Forever Chapters completed a total of 748 projects across Minnesota, which will provide more than 7400 acres of wildlife habitat. During Minnesota’s Pheasants Forever 26-year history $36 million has been contributed to over 22,000 projects statewide.
“When it comes to conservation, there are a lot of people who want to make a positive difference in the restoration and preservation of wildlife but just don’t know how to go about doing it,” said Brad Cobb, SCPF Public Relations Director. Cobb added, “Attending a Pheasants Forever banquet is an excellent way to contribute to a good cause because our county chapter retains all of the money (exclusive of membership fees) raised and uses these funds for habitat projects with farmers and landowners in our immediate area.”
During the banquet the Stearns County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) recognized Mill Creek Dairy as the Outstanding Conservationists for 2008. The farming partnership, located near Kimball, is owned and operated by brothers Tom and Ed Gregory, along with Tom’s wife Donna and son Nick. Mill Creek Dairy has implemented a variety of conservation practices on their farm for the benefit of soil, water and wildlife conservation. SCPF presented the Gregory family with a framed print.
Also, the Stearns County Chapter of Pheasants Forever recognized Mark Caspers for his 20th year as an SCPF director and presented him with a Pheasants Forever jacket.
Stearns County Pheasants Forever extends a special than you to the Gorecki Event Center and their staff for their hospitality and hard work. In addition, SCPF thanks all the volunteers, private & business donors who helped make this year’s banquet a success.
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are non-profit conservation organizations dedicated to the protection and enhancement of pheasant, quail, and other wildlife populations in North America through habitat improvement, land management, public awareness, and education. PF/QF has more than 120,000 members in 750 local chapters across the continent.
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