UpNorthica

There’s no shortage of exotic ways to tackle Northern Minnesota’s backcountry. There’s canoe camping, dogsledding, snowshoeing with pulk sleds in winter… you can even x-country ski from yurt to yurt. But here’s something we don’t yet have:
Pathfinder Lapland is a reindeer-trekking guide service in the northernmost reaches of Sweden. Lennart Pittja’s business not only keeps […]

John James Audubon may have never made it to Minnesota, but he knew the birds of our state better than most any of us ever will. His seminal work Birds of America contains 435 incredible full color life size plates. The University of Pittsburgh, which owns a rare full copy, has made each plate available […]

As today’s Duluth Tribune reports, Minnesota is among several states under consideration for more designated critical habitat lands for the Canada lynx. How much more? The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is wanting as many as 8,266 square miles. This, up from 317, as proposed in 2006.
Furthermore, these areas would cover much of the […]

A collaboration between artists, scientists and educators, “Paradise Lost: Climate Change in the North Woods” does more than spread awareness about climate change. On exhibit through April 11 at the Bell Museum of Natural History in Minneapolis, it’s inspiring as much as it is, sobering. And in a more digestible format than Al […]

The Star Tribune covers a renewed effort this year to determine why the state’s moose are dying off at an alarming rate. Parasites? Global warming? So far, there are no clear culprits nor pat answers. I’ve read about these concerns before, but the numbers in this article are rather disconcerting.

In her series, Domesticated, photographer Amy Stein creates commentaries on the tensions between mankind and wildlife, who increasingly share the same spaces. So why the “pseudo-wildlife’ label? Stein uses borrowed taxidermy as the subjects of her shots.
Within these scenes I explore our paradoxical relationship with the “wild” and how our conflicting impulses continue to evolve […]

Inspired by my earlier post on animal tracks in the snow? On March 8th, you can catch a presentation on Tracking Winter Wildlife with Molly Thompson. It’ll be hosted at the still fairly-new Sugarloaf Cove Interpretive Center in Tofte.
ASIDE: If you’ve not yet heard of Sugarloaf Cove, it’s worth a visit along your way up/down […]

I’m an artist by trade, but when I hear the words “wildlife art,” I usually cringe. All too often, the term brings to mind the same thing: Fantastically idealized paintings of perfect sunsets illuminating idyllic lakeside cabins with candles in the windows and families of deer just off the front step.
Illustrator Diane Sudyka creates beautiful, […]

Here’s something to heighten your enjoyment of a winter campout — tracking animals in the snow. In anticipation of last weekend’s snowfall, I picked up this pocket guide to identifying tracks. And as Providence would have it, my first walk was right after said snowfall and well after dark. These conditions must be the ideal, […]

As reported from the MN-DNR’s site:
CO Dustie Heaton (Willow River) reported an angler caught a northern on one of his tip-ups. As he laid the fish on the ice, his other tip-up went up. While he was tending to that fish, a bald eagle swooped down and grabbed the first northern off the ice and […]

Findings from fifty-year study (the longest such study ever done) on the predator/prey relationships of wolves and moose are being shared with the public. The anniversary will be commemorated in speaking engagements (sadly, none in Minnesota) and lesson plans for teachers. Like you, I’d wondered, Great, but what’s so unique about the study to […]

This is fascinating! A winter camper captures several minutes’ footage of a wolf and its prey on a frozen lake. And at the end, a couple seconds of a dude wearing infrared stalker gear, apparently?

The saga continues, not in a galaxy far, far away; but in Ely, MN. Solo, a mother bear (named for a missing ear) and her cubs have been making news for a few weeks now. Seemingly a bit too used to human presence, they’ve chosen to hibernate in a crawlspace underneath someone’s cabin. The […]