Outdoors

Results of the 2018 moose survey indicate the moose population in northeastern Minnesota remains stable but relatively low for the seventh year in a row, according to the Department of Natural Resources.
“While the population appears stable, low numbers of moose are still a major concern for the DNR,” said DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr. “We continue to pursue the best science, research and management tools available to us to help Minnesota’s moose.”
The 2018 aerial moose survey estimated 3,030 moose in northeastern Minnesota, statistically unchanged from last year’s estimate of 3,710.
The survey is statistically sound, but there is inherent uncertainty associated with such surveys, because researchers will never see and count all of the animals across the 6,000 square mile survey area.
Statistically, the DNR is 90 percent certain that the population is between 4,140 and 2,320 moose.

Carl Skustad of Ely. Photo by Burgess Eberhardt

by Tom Coombe -

I kept my eye on the horizon throughout the afternoon, watching a purple cloud line close in from the northwest. I sensed that something bad was about to unfold. We reached camp at around 5:00 in the afternoon. The canoe party I was guiding was blissfully unaware of the approaching storm. I urged them to spread out their tents as far from trees as the campsite permitted. The day had been calm and balmy, far from what was about to occur.
We were camped on Pickerel Lake near the northeast edge of Quetico Park in mid-August 1978, twenty-one years before the Great Blowdown of July 4th, 1999. The people in my party had a hard time responding to my urgent advice to use heavy boulders and Bungees to secure the corners of their tents in the evening lull before the storm.

FULL HOUSE in the ballroom at Fortune Bay Resort and Casino for this year’s Fun Run event which drew 1,000 registrations for the first time ever.

by David Wigdahl -

Steve Foss of Ely took a day off from guiding to put a couple of lake trout from Burntside Lake on the table.

Fishing report
by Captain Russ from Babe’s Bait & Tackle -

Drilling holes in the ice and setting stakes for the snowmobile trails on Shagawa Lake were John Parish, Bill Hane, and Roger Skraba. Staking of the area lakes is performed by volunteer members of the Ely Igloo Snowmobile Club - the first snowmobile club in the USA. Photo by Ward Nelson

There will be a Tower area snowmobile safety class offered by the Minnesota DNR and the Penguins Snowmobile Club on March 3.
There will be a field day for the Minnesota snowmobile safety course on March 3 at 9 a.m. until approximately 1p.m.
A knowledge test and information session will be set up in the morning and a skills test on operating will be set up immediately after.
• Youth ages 11 and older can attend a snowmobile safety certification course and receive their certificate. The snowmobile safety certificate becomes valid at age 12.
• DNR snowmobile safety certification is required of anyone born after December 31, 1976 to operate a snowmobile on public land in Minnesota
Students will need to complete the online snowmobile safety course before the start of the class on March 3.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will host a public hearing and take comments about its preliminary determination to deny U.S. Steel’s request for a water quality permit variance for its Minntac facility in Mountain Iron. The proposed permit variance relates to state water quality standards at the facility’s tailings basin.

The meeting will be held January twenty-third from four to six p.m. at the Mountain Iron Community Center, Iroquois Room, 8586 Enterprise Drive South, in Mountain Iron, Minnesota. The meeting agenda includes an MPCA staff presentation about the permit variance request, the agency’s preliminary determination to deny the variance request, and an opportunity to ask clarifying questions and/or make verbal comments. More information is available on the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s website by searching for “Minntac variance.”

Public Comment Period Open Through March 6, DNR to hold 2 Public Meetings in February
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has opened a public comment and objection period on a draft permit to mine for the proposed Poly Met Mining, Inc. (PolyMet) NorthMet mining project. Following review of PolyMet’s permit to mine application, the DNR has prepared draft special conditions for the NorthMet project. Together, the application and the draft special conditions are considered the draft permit to mine. The draft permit to mine and several related fact sheets are posted on the DNR’s permit to mine webpage for the NorthMet project: www.dnr.state.mn.us/polymet/permitting/ptm.html.

Submitting Public Comments and Objections