The Fourth of July is over, and we are in the heart of summer. Hot days, pop-up thunderstorms, and then that lovely drop in humidity and temperature after the rain. Inland lakes are warming up to where you can swim in them for longer than two minutes, and to where the walleye are driven into the cool dark depths in the center of the lake.
The days are long, and if you stay up late enough for night to fall, you’ll be treated to a show put on by lightning bugs or fireflies, flashing their romantic intentions to other lightning bugs. The different species of these beetles each have a distinct flash pattern attractive only to the females of the same species. Except, of course, for one firefly species which imitates the others, lures in the females, and then eats them – which kind of spoils the romantic aspect of watching fireflies on a summer’s evening with your partner.
You could be safer looking at the stars, which are always beautiful in our area. We are lucky to have very dark skies. The sky above the Superior National Forest is one of the least polluted by both particulates and light in the US. Right now, the skies will be darkest right after sunset, before the bright moon rises. The moon will be rising later and later each evening and getting smaller and smaller until the new moon on July 20th, which means our dark time after sunset is getting longer and longer each day.
Rising in the east, just before the moon does, you will see a very bright pair of ‘stars’, which are actually the planets Jupiter and Saturn. With a good pair of binoculars and sharp eye, you can observe what Galileo did with his x8 power telescope many years ago. Jupiter will become a bright planetary disc instead of a star-like point, and with a tripod, Saturn will become a blurry oval, due to the rings. Between two and four of the largest of Jupiter’s moons are visible with binoculars. If you watch those moons for several evenings, you’ll see they move, an observation, which in 1610 forever put to rest the idea that the universe was centered on the Earth.
While the universe isn’t centered on Earth, locally, we are rather centered on the Forest. One event happening on the Forest is an outbreak of spruce budworm, particularly in the Isabella area. Spruce budworm is a native pest, and outbreaks have occurred yearly in the state since record keeping started in 1954.
The ‘worms’ are the caterpillar larvae of a small, somewhat squared off, non-descript moth. The caterpillars eat the needle buds of spruce and balsam fir trees and the result is the loss of needles and the crown of the tree turning brown. Budworm outbreaks are cyclic and happen in any given area on about a 25 to 40 year cycle. Trees can survive outbreaks and loss of needles, but the mortality goes up each year the outbreak lasts. In a forest, outbreaks usually end before all the trees in a stand are killed.
Treatment is usually not possible on a large scale, so outbreaks are left to run their course. Individual infested trees in your yard can be treated with Bt, a bacterial based pesticide. Part of the natural control of budworms are warblers, particularly the Cape May, Bay Breasted, and Tennessee Warblers, all of whom probably regard an outbreak as a wonderful banquet. Natural control also relies on all the other insect eaters – animals such as bats, chimney swifts, spiders, and parasitic wasps. A population of non-pest insects in your yard and bushes can help support all those insect eaters, so think twice before applying insecticides to a healthy lawn.
An important side effect of budworm is the creation of stands of dead spruce and fir, which are unfortunately excellent fuels for wildfires. Salvage logging of dead trees in an outbreak area helps to reduce that risk, and some of that is being done this season near Isabella. Understory fuel reduction which can include burn piles is also being used in some budworm affected areas.
Starting on July 1, the Forest has reopened several more recreation sites and campgrounds. For a full list, visit our website. In particular, visit the new interactive recreation map available from the right sidebar on the website. It makes it easy to find the site you are interested in and see if it is open, and if closed, what other options are available in the same area. Be sure to zoom in close enough so that you look at the correct kind of site. When zoomed out, an open boat launch icon may cover up the icon for an adjacent closed campground with a similar name.
The dry weather impacted our roads in a few ways. The surface is very hard. It is so hard we can’t grade in this sort of weather, so things like washboards can’t be corrected. On smooth sections though, it is possible to drive far faster than is safe for the width and curves of the road. Take it easy, and drive at a speed where you have options if you meet a truck coming towards you on a curve or over a hill. Also, turn on your headlights. You may not need the headlights during the day, but your car is creating a large smokescreen of dust, and your taillights will help drivers behind you find your car in the dust.
There are trucks in several areas of the Forest. On the Gunflint side, logging traffic is using the Bally Creek Road, Cook County 48, Cook County 27, Cook County 8, Cook County 7, Murmur Creek Road, Pike Lake Road, the Greenwood Road, and the Sunfish Lake Road. In the Tofte area, 4 Mile Grade and The Grade.
There are gravel trucks out there as well. Resurfacing continues on The Grade between Crescent Lake Campground and Two Island Campground as well as sections of the Trappers Lake Road. Resurfacing areas are considered construction zones and should be treated with caution like any construction zone. Loose gravel after resurfacing can be dangerous and slippery until the gravel packs down.
Lastly, because of the dangerous nature of the road when trucks are hauling, the Bally Creek Road north of Cook County 57 (Devil Track Road) to The Grade will be closed to all but haul truck traffic during the work week and Saturdays. ROAD CLOSED signs will be turned to the side when no hauling is being done such as evenings and Sundays.
We are, as was said before, in the heart of the summer. All of us know that summer can be all too short in Minnesota, so go out there and enjoy a swim while the water is still liquid and we are in our three months of bad skiing!
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