Birdshot and backlashes - Antarctica

All of us concerned with our environment, its natural assets, fish and wildlife, are pretty well aware of work being done in Minnesota involving natural resources. We weigh conservation proposals, study the effects of such things as acid rain, mercury contamination and invasion of our ecosystems by exotic plants and fish. And we are sometimes aware of studies being conducted in far-off areas, studies which could bear upon what is going on here. Such studies are being conducted in Antarctica and who should be working in that chill climate but someone from Ely. Paul Kyllonen.Paul’s folks, Gene and Ellen Kyllonen, are a retired couple who live quietly and are active in their church. And they keep in close touch with their son who is slated to come home on a visit in early August. August is midwinter in Antarctica and there is not near as much movement up there than in our winter months, which is summer there.Paul is a born mechanic. He attended trade school and is particularly versed in diesel engines. But, according to his mother, “he can fix anything that breaks.” In Antarctica, he services much of the equipment used in scientific experiments and if he can’t find the right replacement part, he simply makes one.His direct employer is the Raytheon Company, an international corporation with 80,000 employees. In Antarctica, the company is engaged in research both on the shore and in the ocean, covering global communications, medical studies and operation of a clinic, transportation, food services, maintenance of air transportation facilities, power generation, water supplies, waste management, housing, fire prevention and airfield maintenance.There are three stations in Antarctica: McMurdo and Palmer on the coast and Amundsen-Scott at the South Pole. It has been fashionable in recent years for expeditions to trek overland to the South Pole, no easy feat in that hospitable climate. But upon reaching the pole, it should be noted that quite often people are already living there and have been for years.Studies in Antarctica are conducted by scientists from a number of nations. The 5.4-million-square-mile continent is larger than the 3.6-million-square-mile United States. It is a unique piece of real estate in that no one owns it by international agreement. A total of 45 countries have signed the Antarctic Treaty which provides for a peaceful, cooperative study area.Studies important to the United States include testing for global warming, changes in climate, changes in the ozone, astronomy, radiation, oceanic circulation, meteorite studies and marine ecosystems. There is little wildlife living on the continents, but the coast line is home to a host of penguins and the surrounding seas are alive with marine life.No one knew Antarctica existed until it was sighted by Captain Cook in 1773. The first person ashore was in 1895 and the South Pole was reached overland by Roald Amundsen in 1911. Ely polar explorer Will Steger led a ski expedition across the entire Antarctic continent couple of years ago.One thing they don’t have in Antarctica - they don’t have blueberries and we’ve got a bumper crop this summer. Blueberries are ripe right now, fat and sweet. If I’ve got my druthers, I’ll take Ely over Antarctica any day.