Cloquet to Carlton bike trail extension gains ground

06/12/2008 12:00 AM
The way is nearly paved for the first phase of connecting Cloquet to the Willard Munger State Trail.

Minnesota Department of Agriculture launches 2008 gypsy moth trapping program

06/12/2008 12:00 AM
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is setting nearly 17,000 gypsy moth traps across the state this month as part of its annual program to monitor Minnesota’s forests and urban areas for new infestations by the destructive tree pest.

Ducks

Set to fly

Forum Communications Co.
GPS project to fit 25 mallard hens in North Dakota, Saskatchewan with tracking devices
A broad-based group of waterfowl researchers, including state and federal biologists from the Central and Mississippi flyways, are teaming up on a project to put GPS transmitters on 25 mallard hens this fall in North Dakota and Saskatchewan.

Photo of the week

Forum Communications Co.
Richard Johnson of Hillsboro, N.D., photographed these baby foxes earlier this month northeast of Hillsboro.

Minnesota mallard with GPS still alive

Forum Communications Co.
A mallard drake fitted with a GPS transmitter in April 2006 at Thief Lake Wildlife Management Area in northwestern Minnesota was still alive at last check, its tracking data showed.

AP Photo

Groups fight import of polar bear hides

Associated Press
Environmental and animal rights groups are lining up to oppose a lawsuit that seeks to let American sport hunters again import hides of polar bears shot legally in Canada.

Calendar

Forum Communications Co.

AP Photo

Turtle traffic

Associated Press
Summer means turtles on the move in North Dakota
As spring turns to summer, turtles are out and on the move. “They are laying eggs or looking for good places as we speak,” said Patrick Isakson, a non-game biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.

Too Many Muskies?

Associated Press
There are mixed feelings over muskie stocking on Minnesota lakes
Kirk Schnitker said he believes Minnesota is stocking too many lakes with muskies, to the detriment of other species, including walleyes, northerns and crappies.

Outdoors Notebook: Dry weather hurting N.D. duck population

Forum Communications Co.
BISMARCK, N.D. – The number of breeding ducks in North Dakota is unchanged from last year, but dried-out wetlands and a lack of moisture to fill them are hurting the duck population, state wildlife officials say.

Photo of the week
Paul Hagen of Moorhead photographed this loon during the opening weekend of the Minnesota fishing opener on Marshall Lake near Lake Park, Minn. “He was the only one catching fish that day,” Hagen wrote.

A rainbow trout comes skipping to the boat of Doug Ellis, who caught the fish while trolling on Miner’s Lake near Ely, Minn.

Out of the Pits ...and into the frying pan

Forum Communications Co.
Duluth, Minn. - Doug Ellis and I are trying to have a conversation, but we keep getting rudely interrupted by rainbow trout. “There’s one,” says Ellis.

Three baby peregrines healthy, alert

Forum Communications Co.
Three baby peregrine falcons, estimated to be about 10 days old, are feeding in the nest structure located outside the 12th floor of the Bank of the West building in downtown Fargo.

$Lesser prairie chickens have been reduced to just a fraction of their once booming population in parts of the southwest. Associated Press$

Chicken decline

Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Lesser prairie chickens have been reduced to a fraction of their population across five states, says a conservation group that is ratcheting up the pressure on the federal government to provide more protection for the rare bird.

Briefs: Buffalo rifle club fares well

Forum Communications Co.
The Buffalo Sharpshooters, a junior rifle club based out of Buffalo, N.D., have lived up to their name the last few months.

Robert Spurlock of Duluth sips coffee as he fishes at sunrise on the St. Louis River at the Spirit Lake Marina near Duluth. Photos by Clint Austin / Duluth News Tribune

Confined to a wheelchair, Duluth angler fishes the river every day

Forum Communications Co.
The sun has yet to clear the horizon this morning, but Robert Spurlock already has driven his battery-powered wheelchair past the dry-docked boats at Spirit Lake Marina. Past Fan-Ta-Sea. Past Alluring Proposal. Past Hi-Life. Past Lady Liberty.

It’s called a life jacket for a reason

Forum Communications Co.
These and other excuses for not wearing a personal flotation device or life jacket are probably familiar to a lot of us. But during a time in which few argue the benefits of wearing a seatbelt, I struggle to make sense of why PFDs aren’t given lesser credence.

South Dakota’s hunting season for mountain lions will run Jan. 1 through March 31. The season would end when 35 total lions or 15 females are killed. Associated Press

S.D. approves cougar season

Associated Press
PIERRE, S.D. – The South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Commission has approved a hunting season on mountain lions that would start two months later than last year in an attempt to reduce the number of young lions orphaned when their mothers are killed.