Birch Grove Community School held an open house October 23 for the new nature trail system behind the Birch Grove Community Center. The nature trail conveniently connects to the outdoor classroom also located behind the center. The trail system was finished in August, complete with 10 interpretive signs. B.J. Kohlstedt, representing the Jeffers Foundation, attended the event. The foundation helped […]
$400,000 Macalester College scholarship created for local students
Macalester College has announced the receipt of a gift to support a $400,000 scholarship endowment for students from Grand Marais or Cook County who attend the college. The children of Grand Marais residents Donald and Shirley Hewitt generously provided the funding for the scholarship fund which bears their name. The Donald and Shirley Hewitt scholarship fund was created in 2008 […]
DNR to offer state lands for metallic minerals exploration
TheMinnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will hold the state’s 31st sale of metallic minerals exploration and mining leases, tentatively scheduled for January 2010. The lease sale plans are being announced at this time in order to give mining companies, public interest groups and all other interested parties additional time to review the areas under consideration. The purpose of Minnesota’s […]
Conservation Partners Grants draw interest
A total of 129 applications were received by the Nov. 3 deadline for the first round of the Conservation Partners Legacy (CPL) grant program. An initiative of the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, $3.7 million was made available to nonprofit organizations and governmental units to help fund projects intended to restore, enhance or protect fish and wildlife habitat in Minnesota. First-round […]
Midseason deer report
s Deer rifle season closes Sunday, November 22, but at press time hunting was still going strong. Buck’s Hardware in Grand Marais had registered 279 deer. Paul Swearingen of Buffalo, MN, was still in the lead in the Buck’s Big Buck Contest—in two categories, with a buck weighing 233 pounds and with an antler spread of 21.5-inches. At Lockport General […]
Survival tips for lost hunters
Even experience hunters can get lost, so people should be prepared for that possibility before heading out for their hunt, according to Capt. Mike Hammer, DNR Enforcement Education Program coordinator. “Survival is an attitude, but you need to be able to think clearly for that to happen,” Hammer noted. Hammer offered tips for those heading outdoors. Tell People Were You […]
2010 Natural Resources Trust Fund projects selected
The Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) has completed its annual process for making recommendations to the Minnesota Legislature on funding for environment and natural resources projects around the state, and is recommending the 2010 Legislature provide a total of approximately $26 million from the state’s Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (“Trust Fund”) to 48 projects. Together the projects […]
Concerns over proposed septic ordinance heard by Planning Commission
About 50 property owners attended a public hearing of the Cook County Planning Commission Wednesday, November 18, 2009 to discuss a draft of a county septic ordinance created by committee over the last year. The State of Minnesota has required each county to enact a subsurface sewage treatment system ordinance by February 2010, although lenience will be granted counties still […]
Public hearing set to discuss fiber optic network ordinance
A public hearing will be held at the Cook County courthouse Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 10:30 a.m. regarding the county board’s intention to consider an ordinance creating a countywide fiber optic communications network. In a November 12 memo on behalf of the Cook County broadband/ fiber optic committee, county Information Technology Director Danna MacKenzie wrote, “Thecommittee asks for the […]