Bluestem Prairie

Representative Duane Quam wants MNSCU students to freeze in old buildings

Representative Duane Quam, Republican of Bryon, Minnesota, must be taking his cue about MNSCU buildings from Sheriff Stanek's treatment of Occupy Mpls members in the Hennepin County Government Plaza, aka the People's Plaza.

Who needs shelter anyway?

The Rochester Post Bulletin reports in The great Republican divide on bonding:

Byron Republican Rep. Duane Quam told county officials at the meeting that he is “sick and tired” of bonding tours focusing on the shiny, new projects instead of basics like roads, bridges and flood prevention. He said he voted against this year's $497 million bonding bill because less than 25 percent of the money went to bridges, roads and flood mitigation. He also questioned all the money going to renovate campuses in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.

"So why are we throwing money at infrastructure that 10 years down the line is going to be underutilized? We need to be smart what we're spending this on," Quam said.

Take that, freeloaders! Enough with repairing "assets," and providing for science and engineering centers, one fine arts building, or libraries. If just freaking googling it for term papers was good enough your grandparents, it should be good enough for you. It's not smart to invest in education.

Rochester's Dave Senjem retorted that there was too money for roads and bridges in the bonding bill that came out of the special session.

Bluestem looks forward to the coming session. Perhaps MNSCU engineering and science students can bring the chemistry sets they get for Christmas and occupy Quam's office.  The editor's memory is fading, but those experiments involving sulfur have much to recommend themselves.

Photo: Duane Quam wants buildings to fall down around college students.

Birds of passage: prairie rivers and sloughs, Deepwater, and winter habitat

I write in a studio with a south-facing window, four blocks north of the Gopher Campfire Wildlife Sanctuary on the Crow River in Hutchinson. This morning, the usual suspects took wing: a few bachelor mallards, Canada geese and herons. American White Pelicans soared, riding the thermals. The squeaky-pump calls of yellow-headed blackbirds flow from a nearby storm-water pond.

Their presence is a counterpoint to the images coming out of the Gulf of Mexico, where tarballs and oil  from the Deepwater Horizon disaster have reached the beaches and marshes of Louisiana.

This spells trouble for the migratory birds that now grace the skies in my neighborhood. The Christmas Bird Count range map from the USGS's Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter above illustrates the places where the pelicans winter. They're not the only birds who will be heading to Louisiana this winter.

News accounts now say that the leak itself may continue until August, and the cleanup many months after. How will that effect Minnesota's migratory birds?

It doesn't look good for them.

PRI's The World discussed the potential effects of the spill on migratory birds wintering or passing through the ruined habitat in the Impact of Gulf oil spill on migratory birds:

MARCO WERMAN:  Even if you live far from the Gulf coast, you may eventually see the effects of the oil spill in your own backyard.  That’s because millions of migratory birds pass through the spill area on their way to nesting grounds across North America.  Some of those birds could be sickened on their annual journey.  The World’s environment editor, Peter Thomson spoke to a conservationist about that concern and filed this report.

PETER THOMSON:  Imagine you’re a gray cheeked thrush, you weight about one ounce, you’ve flown 3,000 miles from your wintering grounds in Brazil on your way to Northern Canada.  You’re tired and hungry.  You settle into a patch of coastal Louisiana to rest and eat.  Say it’s the spring of 2011, a year after the Deep Water Horizon blow out and the gloppy brown oil from the wrecked off shore rig has been scooped off the beaches.  Everything here looks like it always did before the spill, but there’s still a problem.

MIKE PARR:  Oil, it has the capacity to soak into marshy areas and be held there and released slowly over a really long period of time.

THOMSON: That’s Mike Parr, Vice President of the American Bird Conservancy, which advocates for protection of birds and their habitats.  He says oil’s tenacity means that even long after the obvious effects of a spill are gone, oil can linger in coastal environments and work its way into the food chain.  Eating contaminated food might not kill the birds outright, like direct contact with the oil might, but it can have what are called “sub lethal” effects.

PARR: All those types of things can affect breeding success.  It starts to have effect on the liver, the GI tract, and on vision and obviously that’s going to make it difficult for birds to forage and probably difficult for them to feed their chicks effectively. . . .

How bad is it?

 At its annual meeting last week, the board of directors of Ducks Unlimited unanimously passed a resolution stressing the group's commitment to restoring wetlands along the Gulf Coast. In a video on the DU site, Dr. Tom Moorman, director of conservation planning for  the Southern Region calls the coastal Lousiana "the most important wintering area for waterfowl on the continent of North America."

As many birders know,the habitat preservation efforts groups like Ducks Unlimited doesn't simply help game species, but other wildlife as well.

 The National Audubon Society has created a Gulf Oil Spill media page, Oil Spill Impact and Response Expanding. While its focus is on the immediate effects of the spill on species now nesting on the coast, the implications this winter for the birds I see now in Minnesota is sobering.

The environmental impact of what is now reckoned as the largest oil spill in U. S. history continues to unfold. Oil is now being seen from Louisiana to Mississippi, and there are fears that the loop current will carry it up the Atlantic Coast. Read more

 Audubon staff are seeing increasing numbers of oiled birds, and fears of long term effects on birds, marine life and Gulf coast communities are mounting. Audubon has urged speedy Congressional authorization of emergency funding to address the unfolding crisi.s Read statement

. . .Audubon has joined with other conservation leaders in calling for the Administration to exercise more direct oversight of public safety protection, environmental monitoring, and environmental testing in response to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Read letter

It's rare for me to look into a research subject and find that I can look no more into the truths that inquiry discloses.

I'm going to do some birding now.

Images: Christmas Bird County locations of American White Pelicans (above); Pelicans in flight (below).

OHS football coach Jeff Williams may seek SD26 DFL endorsement: Kath happy in the house

I was wrapping up an editing project with a friend last night when Representative Kory Kath called to let me know that he had decided not to seek the DFL endorsement in the SD26 special election--and that another Owatonna High School teacher, football coach Jeff Williams, was strongly considering jumping into the senate race,

While we finished the project, the Waseca County News published the scoop in Senate race takes shape, which was soon posted in the Owatonna People's Press (all three major papers in the district are published by the same company).

Staff writer Claire Kennedy reports:

. . .Rep. Kory Kath will stay in the state house. 

“I was thinking about it at one point in time, but I’m very happy to represent District 26A in the House,” said Kath, who also teaches at Owatonna Senior High. “I’m very passionate about the work I’ve started. I will not be seeking endorsement as a Senate candidate.”

In our phone interview, Kath told me he had told his students at Owatonna Senior High about his decision earlier in the week. "They knew about the special election, and asked 'Mr. Kath, you're not going to take off early and run [for the state senate], are you?' " I assured them I wasn't going to do that," Kath said

Kath thinks he's in the right place now for his interests, citing his position as the vice-chair of the K-12 Education Policy and Oversight Committee.

In the phone interview, Kath talked about Coach Williams' interest in running, observing that Williams had taught science at OHS for 20 years. The WCN/OPP story noted rumors of Williams' potential announcement:

There are rumors that another OHS teacher may seek the DFL endorsement — Jeff Williams, the high school football coach. Williams did not return a call seeking comment on Tuesday.

However, Steele County DFL Chair Vicki Jensen confirmed that Williams had expressed interest.

“I did speak with Jeff Williams,” Jensen said. “I don’t know if he will or not, but we talked about it.

Kath said that his understanding was that both Engbrecht and Williams would abide by the endorsement at the SD26 DFL's meeting in Owatonna on December. "I'm excited that we may have two strong candidates to pick from," Kath said, "and we stand a good chance to extend the gains Democrats have made in the district."

Kath noted that Williams was a colleague at OHS, but didn't indicate a favorite in the field of two.

Prior to 2004, both house disticts in SD26 were in Republican hands. Representative Patti Fritz captured the 26B seat in 2004, while Kath won the open seat in 26A in 2008.

One entertaining side note to this story: reader comments on the Owatonna People's Press version of the article provide a glimpse into the negative know-nothingism of many of the conservatives who post after OPP articles.

Energy secretary Chu in Rochester, part 1

IBEW Local 343 in Rochester played host to U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and a host of labor leaders, union members, renewable energy innovators and a handful of politicians yesterday.

In addition to host Congressman Tim Walz, State Rep. Randy Demmer (R-Hayfield) and State Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem (R-Rochester) got a firsthand look at three renewable energy projects. The Post Bulletin described them:

. . .three renewable energy projects championed by southern Minnesota residents: a mobile self-contained ethanol plant, cars created and adapted by students at Minnesota State University-Mankato that run on solar and electrical technology, and the IBEW Wind Turbine Training Facility, where electrical workers train to service the turbines delivering clean energy to southern Minnesota.

Impressive stuff indeed.  Bluestem have more later today or tomorrow; right now, I'm heading to Farmfest with BSP photographer Eric Adams.

In the meantime, enjoy this video clip from the Post Bulletin's coverage. The echoes in the inside of the training tower reminded me of those in an empty silo.