Stories tagged minnesota
Is it the changing climate, nasty bugs, a virus or some other mysterious cause? That's what researchers are asking right now in northern Minnesota as they investigate the dramatic decline in moose numbers. The Star-Tribune has excellent coverage of the situation and what's being done to figure out this problem.
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Big Feet: They come in all shapes and sizes. (Photo courtesy of Rakka on flickr.com)This spring I read “The Beast of Bray Road,” a book detailing Wisconsin’s history of werewolf encounters (which have become particularly dense recently).
Ever since, I have been more than a little jealous towards the Wisconsinites. This is a new and uncomfortable feeling for me. Why should they get werewolves and dogmen while, just next door, we have to make due with albino squirrels and Paul Bunyan? They shouldn’t. And we won’t.
Last week, the Duluth News Tribune printed a story on Minnesota’s homegrown Bigfoot. A few local Bigfoot enthusiasts/trackers are interviewed in the article (which is also here, in case you don’t feel like registering at the other site). They offer the following information:
-There are 300, 400, or maybe 500 Bigfoot living in Minnesota.
-Bigfoot are very fast.
-In their haste, they sometimes leave footprints (which are big), and are sometimes seen (there have been 20 documented sightings in the last 2 years).
-They communicate by leaving “piles of branches and stick figures,” and by “knocking on trees.” I do the same.
-Bigfoot have cone-shaped heads, and backwards-facing palms
The article also links Minnesota Bigfoot to Native American tradition, referring to a being called “bugwayjinini,” meaning “wild man.” The bugwayjinini was thought to be a benevolent creature, meant to guide and care for humans. Also, its sightings were often interpreted as a warning of a coming disaster or sickness. So, you know, keep that in mind. If you ever spot one.
Gone fishing?: Where have the walleye's gone on Minnesota's Lake Mille Lacs? Fall surveys this year show about half the number of fish in the state's "walleye factory" than typically are found. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)The walleye is Minnesota’s state fish. And the No. 1 lake to catch walleyes in the state is generally considered to be Lake Mille Lacs. But fish population censuses conducted this summer on Minnesota’s walleye factory have fisheries managers scratching their heads.
You may have read or heard some of the headlines about this in recent days. Some of those reports sensationalized the situation. While the walleye numbers are down on the lake, they’re by no means at critical conditions, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reports.
Routine testing done on the lake this summer corralled only about half the usual number of walleyes as the average number collected between 193 and 2006, the DNR says. The tests, conducted near shorelines are done annually to monitor fish populations and size.
“We expected some decline in walleye numbers based on a number of factors, including a weak 2004-year class of walleye,” said DNR Fisheries Chief Ron Payer. But the magnitude of this year’s decline was unanticipated.”
This year’s net catches averaged 7.2 walleyes per net compared to the 15.4 average from the previous 14-year average of 15.4 walleyes per net. Similar sampling done last year collected 20.4 walleyes per net.
So why the big drop?
Payer said that warm lake water, particularly in June, may have played a significant role in the drop. Warmer water temps stress fish and hooking mortality rate goes up as water temperatures go up, as well.
Is the situation critical?
Not yet, Payer said. But the reason the DNR does the annual walleye population survey is to gather data on setting limits for the coming fishing season. And there’s no doubt, he said, that those regulations will likely be tightened in 2008.
But he added that Mille Lacs still has a strong number of spawning-sized fish.
Payer said anglers should know Mille Lacs continues to hold good numbers of spawning-sized fish. Still, the new data means the DNR will need to revisit regulations to ensure the lake’s walleye harvest stays within the safe harvest level and the state’s allocation. No walleye harvest overage will be allowed in 2008 due to the lower than anticipated number of walleye in recent population assessments.
Because of several factors, Mille Lacs’ walleye population is regulated differently than other Minnesota lakes. Through a treaty with the Chippewa Indian bands negotiated in 1837, those bands have significant fishing rights on the lake. Those rights are taken into account with sport fishing limits each year in managing Mille Lacs’ walleye population.
This past year, sport anglers could only take four walleyes a day. They had to be between 14 and 16 inches in length, with the exception made for one walleye longer than 28 inches long. Earlier in the season, the limits were actually less restrictive, but heavy fishing success in the early part of the summer required tightening the Mille Lacs limits.
Regulations for the 2008 open water season will be established in February 2008 and go into effect with the walleye opener on May 12.
So do you have a theory on what's happened to the walleyes? Share your thoughts here with other Science Buzz readers.
We're #5! Minneapolis-St.Paul is ranked as the fifth cleanest city in the world: Photo by kevinthoule at flickr.com
Forbes magazine has an article on the world’s 25 cleanest cities. Minneapolis comes it at #5.
The list comes from studies conducted by the Mercer Human Resources Consulting which rate quality of living in various cities. They looked at things like producing sufficient energy cleanly, handling waste responsibly, encouraging recycling, and efficient transportation.
According to the article:
It is interesting to note that size does not appear to be a factor either in terms of size of population or physical size of the city. The most common trait in common to each is a focus on high tech, education and headquartering of national and international companies along with an extensive public transit system.
The ecotality blog notices something interesting – all of the top 25 are in industrialized democracies. Normally, we think of industry as being very dirty. But writer Bill Hobbs suggests that
“…industrialization created wealth which, in turn, buys the things (mass transit, especially) and pays for the policies that create a cleaner environment.”
I would add that, in democracies, citizens can pressure government and business to pass laws protecting the environment. The actions necessary to make a clean city require money and political will. Clearly, capitalism is good for the environment!
Minnesota Pollution Control scientists were surprised recently to find elevated levels of 3M perfluorinated chemicals in Lake Calhoun. The MPCA officials are trying to warn people who might regularly fish in the lake, specifically targeting the Hmong, Laotian, Vietnamese, and Cambodian communities.
This artifact was the first of the about 50 found near Walker, Minnesota.: Photo courtesy Leech Lake Heritage Sites Program.During a routine survey of a road construction site near Walker, Minnesota in 2005, archeologists discovered a flake of stone that appeared to have been intentionally chipped from a larger rock. Over the next couple of months digging continued at the site, and some 50 artifacts, thought to possibly be crude stone tools used for chopping, cutting, or scraping, were found.
Initial studies on the stones indicate they are between 13,000 and 15,000 years old. This is potentially significant, as humans are not thought to have populated the Americas until 9,000 years ago.
(Listen to an MPR story on the discovery from January.)
Could humans have lived in Minnesota 13,000 years ago?
If the artifacts are 13,000 year old stone tools, it would be the first indication that humans lived in North America during the Pleistocene – from 1.8 million years ago to 11,500 years ago. Some researchers have suggested that the part of Minnesota where these artifacts were found may have been an "oasis" at the time—an area free of ice cover, with an access route to the southeast making human habitation possible.
Features of this stone might suggest that it could have been a crude knife.: Photo courtesy Leech Lake Heritage Sites Program.Not everyone agrees
Not everyone who has had a chance to study the artifacts agrees that they are ancient stone tools. Several Minnesota state archeologists argue the stones are the result of natural causes such as glacial movement and flowing water. They argue that Minnesota 13,000 years would have been extremely cold and covered by glaciers and therefore too inhospitable a location for humans to live, and that insufficient time has been spent accurately dating the artifacts.
This has not changed the minds of the archaeologists who originally made the finds. They argue that the analysis of the artifacts is still in too early of a stage to make a definitive decision on their authenticity. They plan further excavation at the site this summer and hope to uncover more artifacts to further solidify their claim.
(Listen to an MPR story from February on whether the artifacts are in fact stone tools.)
Minnesota's Renewable Energy Standard (RES) set high.
High standard set by Minnesota: MN State GovernmentMinnesota passed legislation (S.F. 4) that requires Minnesota's largest utility, Xcel Energy, to secure 30 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, while other utilities’ target is 20 percent by 2025. The state average of 25 percent renewable energy by 2020 is the most aggressive in the nation.
"I just think this is a landmark moment for our state," Pawlenty told about 150 lawmakers, environmentalists, utility representatives and academics at the St. Paul campus of the University of Minnesota.
The legislation is expected to produce thousands of new jobs and billions of dollars in new investments over the next couple of decades. (Feb 22/07) Pioneer Press
Renewable Energy Standard wins by a landslide
Minnesota's Senate voted 61-4 and the House of Representatives voted 123-10 which shows the overwhelming support for mandating renewable energy production.
"Right now, Minnesota imports more electricity than any other state. We need to keep more of our money at home," said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Aaron Peterson, DFL-Appleton.
It has been estimated that, when implemented, the use of renewable energy under the bill will save consumers and businesses as much as $500 million a year. StarTribune
Renewable energy cost worries refuted
Passage of the RES was aided by the results of a recent study released by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. The study found that utilities could use wind power to generate up to 25 percent of their energy mix without a significant impact on energy costs. (gov. news release)
Endangered snake: One of Minnesota's new candidates for the endangered species list is the Eastern massasaugas rattlesnake.
Several species of animals and one plant in Minnesota are on the candidate list for being added to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s list of threatened and endangered species.
Making the list from Minnesota are the Eastern massasauga rattlesnake, Dakota skipper butterfly, sheepnose and spectaclecase mussels and slender moonwart plant.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resourses announced the candidates this month along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Candidates make the list when research shows that their numbers have dropped to a range where special management steps need to be taken to try to keep them from dipping to dangerously low levels.
More information about the list is available by visiting the Minnesota DNR website (www.dnr.state.mn.us).
As much as I like wildlife and the outdoors, I wasn’t too familiar with any of these species. Here's some vital information about the two animals you've maybe had a chance to come into contact with:
The Eastern massasaugas average about two feet long when fully grown and are grary or light brown with dark blotches on their back and small blotches on their side. They can be found in wet prairies, marshes and low areas along rivers and lake. They hibernate alone in the winter time. Massasaugas’ diets consist of small rodents along with frogs and other small snakes.
Also endangered: Up for endangered consideration is this butterfly, the Dakota skipper.
The Dakota skipper is a small butterfly with a one-inch wingspan. Like other skippers, it has a thick body and a faster and more powerful flight than most butterflies. The upper side of the male's wings range from tawny-orange to brown with a prominent mark on the forewing; the lower surface is dusty yellow-orange. The upper side of the female's wing is darker brown with tawny-orange spots and a few white spots on the margin of the forewing; the lower side is gray-brown with a faint white spot band across the middle of the wing. Dakota skippers occurs in two types of habitat. The first is relatively flat and moist native prairie in which three species of wildflowers are usually present and in flower when Dakota skippers are in their adult stage - wood lily, harebell and smooth camas. The second habitat type is upland prairie that is often on ridges and hillsides. If they attain maximum longevity of about three weeks and if adequate sources of nectar are available, females may lay up to about 250 eggs. Nectar provides Dakota skipper with both water and food and is crucial for the survival of both sexes during the flight period. Dakota skippers appear to prefer plants, such as purple coneflowers, whose nectar cannot be obtained by insect species that do not have a relatively long, slender feeding tube.
This afternoon I saw a bald eagle circling over Irvine Park, just to the west of the museum. We're lucky: we see eagles a lot here in Minnesota and along the museum's stretch of the Mississippi River. Have you seen any eagles this winter? When and where?
Prairie grasses: This experimental plot contains four species of prairie plants. The nearby plots, going clockwise, contain eight species, four species, and 16 species. (Photo courtesy David Tilman, University of Minnesota)
Scientists at our very own U of M have made some exciting new discoveries about the prospect of using biofuels for energy! They found that planting a diverse mix of native prairie species is more efficient than corn or soybeans, even on degraded soil. Amazingly, their most diverse plots, with 18 different species, produced 238% more bioenergy than the plots with only 1 species.
While there is still a lot of research needed to make this system useable on a wide scale, these findings are encouraging for a few reasons. Unlike all of our other forms of fuel, including corn ethanol or biodiesel from soy beans, the native plants actually absorb more carbon from the atmosphere than is released when used for fuel. Because of the vast root network associated with prairie plants (which allow them to withstand Minnesota’s hot and dry summers), much carbon is stored below ground and is not harvested for fuel. Also, these environmentally friendly crops can be grown on land that is unusable for traditional food crops. They do not need to be fertilized, a benefit to growing a native species, and thus can be grown in nutrient poor areas. Fertilizer runoff from traditional agriculture is a big contributor to water quality problems. Additionally, because native prairie species are perennial crops, they can help prevent erosion. For much of the year, particularly during the rainy months in the spring, corn or soybean fields are bare. This leaves the ground vulnerable to soil loss. Planting a native mix, particularly on steep slopes or along riverbanks, which are less suitable to traditional crops anyway, could mitigate many environmental issues. Plus, we could increase the amount of prairie habitat for native wildlife!
For more information on sustainable agriculture and the latest research check out Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education and the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture.
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