The agreement would also blend nearly $5 million from the General Fund and the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund to create the Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center at the University of Minnesota.
“This is amongst the most important legislation that has been enacted to support agriculture and Minnesota’s farmers,” said Rep. Andrew Falk (DFL-Murdock). “Invasive species pose hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars of threats to our agricultural, forestry and tourism industries in addition to causing irreparable harm to our state’s ecosystems and our quality of life.”
There's only so much buckthorn Minnesota's goat herd can devour after all.
State Representative Andrew Falk (DFL-Murdock) chief-authored and spearheaded the effort to establish the Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center. “We know the immense threat invasive species and herbicide-resistant agriculture weeds pose to our state and our economy. Instead of playing catch-up and attempting to reactively deal with invasive species, we will be taking a proactive approach to contain and address the threats before they become a crisis.”
If you're wondering why it's a sound spending decision to create the Center, just watch the expert testimony from weed scientists in the post at the second link.
Photo: Herbicide resistant waterhemp smoking some soybeans in a field. Via Seeds Today.
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We often joke to friends that as part of outcrop restoration in the upper Minnesota River Valley, we'd like to see buffalo--as bison are called in the vernacular--returned to the ecosystem. where once they kept the cedars in check.
In the Mankato Free Press, Tim Krohn reports that bison may be making something of a come on a tiny slice of the prairie river. In Bison may soon roam on Minneopa prairie, Krohn writes:
Minneopa State Park's expansive prairie could become home to a bison herd if approved by the Department of Natural Resources following a public comment period.
"If we get bison, it would increase our prairie management efforts (at Minneopa)," said Molly Tranel Nelson, regional resource specialist for parks and trails. "And we want to increase opportunities for visitors. It would allow visitors to have that experience and interpretation, to see a little of what the area looked like prior to settlement." Most importantly, the effort would help expand and protect genetically pure bison.
The bison would come from Blue Mounds State Park in southwestern Minnesota, which has a unique herd that is among the most genetically pure in the nation. If the bison come to Minneopa, it would be a homecoming of sorts. Sibley Park in Mankato once had a zoo that was home to bison. When the zoo was destroyed in the 1965 flood, those bison were moved to Blue Mounds, meaning their genes are among those at Blue Mounds today.
Under the plan, the 350 acres of prairie would be fenced. The size of herd that could be supported won't be determined until grass clippings and other surveying can be done to see how many bison could be sustained from the grasslands.
. . .Nelson said bison also will have a major benefit in ongoing, but often stymied, efforts to restore the Minneopa prairie to its natural state. The prairie is filled with cedar and especially invasive sumac that the DNR has cut or burned in a largely losing battle. Nelson said they suspect the bison will help keep sumac in check as they rub on it and walk over it with their massive hooves.
Read the rest at the Mankato Free Press.
When the DNR posts the plan for public comment--most likely in early or mid April, Krohn reports--we'll let readers know so that they can comment.
Photo: Bison in Blue Mounds State Park. Via CNN. There's a bipartisan effort to make these bad boys our nation mammal, and they do belong more on the prairie than the back of a nickel.
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We hear a lot about farmers under siege by hostile forces and public opinion, but West Central Tribune reporter Tom Cherveny reports that there's a real adversary undermining the viability of agriculture.
The “snirt’’ covered fields of west central Minnesota this winter have served to call attention to the problem of wind erosion.
All that snirt certainly caught the eye of Jodi Dejong-Hughes, whose role with the University of Minnesota Extension is all about soil health. She is an agronomist with a master’s degree focused on soil fertility.
Instead of attempting to prick the conscience of those who allow what she calls the region’s most valuable, natural resource to blow away, Dejong-Hughes takes a different approach.
She points out that wind erosion is also picking the pocket books of those who allow excessive wind erosion to occur.
In one case, she found that the “snirt’’ coming from a tilled field in the middle of Chippewa County represented the loss of $96.20 worth of nutrients per acre.
The chief stumbling block for the legalization of any kind of hemp--be it industrial hemp (a.k.a. ditch weed), medical marijuana or recreational smoke--is the insistence by the Minnesota Law Enforcement Coalition that any move to legalize it will turn Minnesota into the gateway state shrouded in a haze of crime and addiction.
The coalition, which represents the Minnesota County Attorneys Association, Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association, the Minnesota State Associationof Narcotics Investigators,the Minnesota Sheriffs Association and the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, has posted its policy position and reason for it here.
Q: Why do you believe MN’s law enforcement agencies are so adamantly opposed to medicinal marijuana?
A: There are many individual members of law enforcement who are supportive of medical marijuana. In fact, one of them is a co-author of the bill, Rep. Dan Schoen, state representative and police office fromCottage Grove, MN. Law enforcement in northeast Minnesota have discussed some flexibility, which is a lot further than we got with the statewide leaders. It is the head honchos and lobbyists down in St. Paul who are the problem. Marijuana being illegal is big business for law enforcement. The forfeiture of property relating to marijuana crimes brings in big revenue to law enforcement agencies. They are worried that legalizing medical marijuana is a step toward the decriminalization of marijuana, which in turn would impact their budgets. [emphasis added] I hope that isn’t the basis of their opposition to medical marijuana because there are sick Minnesotans in need of this medicine, but in my experience carrying this legislation they primarily express concerns that this will lead to the recreational use of marijuana.
To be sure, the news feed in Minnesota and elsewhere is filling with heart-breaking stories of young children with Dravet Syndrome, a cruel form of epilepsy that strikes children. The most promising treatment is Charlotte's Web, a variety of medical medicine that's low in THC, the compound that creates a buzz, but rich with another compound, CBD, that addresses the seizures, while increasing cognitive ability in some cases.
But the focus on Dravet Syndrome sufferers creates as disingenuous a lacuna for legalization supporters as the stealth financial incentive does for those who oppose changes in hemp laws. Bluestem would be more comfortable with a consideration of medical marijuana that wasn't pinned on this thin slice of the industry that so helps such innocent children. Let's talk about the broad spectrum of people living with sickness and disease, shall we, and the range of medicial marijuana products that can aid their symptoms.
We support changing hemp laws, but we would like the discussion to go beyond the poster child level. Our gut reaction to the current PR blitz is to remember the early days of the AIDS/HIV debate, when children were positioned as innocent victims and the rest of people with HIV somehow less than human addicts and gay men (Bluestem's editor mourned them equally).
A public debate that implicitly clings to an analogous frame (or remains silent) about the range of potency of medical pot products and those served by them does a disservice in the long range, especially when three-fourths of the population supports legalization, already convinced of the efficacy of medical marijuana.
Photo: Rep. Carly Melin, DFL-Hibbing.
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No one was more passionate about developing local food systems in this region, and few have done more to create the tools for local growers and Minnesota farm families to sustainably produce vegetables in deep winter.
With a two-year, $76,000 grant from the Bush Foundation, the Southwest Regional Sustainable Development Partnership (SW RSDP) will create a winter greenhouse growers association. The project is in memory of winter greenhouse pioneer Chuck Waibel, who had received a Bush Fellowship for his work several months before he passed away from cancer on August 16, 2013. Under the grant, Carol Ford, Waibel’s widow and partner in winter greenhouse work, will help establish the growers network beginning this month.
The grant’s purpose is to develop a mutual assistance network of small-scale, sustainable-food entrepreneurs using high-efficiency winter greenhouses in west central Minnesota, and potentially across the state. Some of the benefits envisioned for such a network include more producers bridging the cold climate season by growing fresh food during winter months, building a model distribution system for greenhouse users that will allow for increased sales to institutions, and price discounts for bulk supplies bought across the network.
“Through the generosity of the Bush Foundation, we are able to continue Chuck’s work and spread his enthusiasm for local foods and winter greenhouses in Western Minnesota,” said Kathryn Draeger, statewide director of RSDP and a principal investigator on the grant. “The Partnerships helped him and Carol to publish ‘The Northlands Winter Greenhouse Manual’ in 2009 and he served on an advisory panel for a recent grant we received from the US Department of Agriculture. We are pleased to continue Chuck’s legacy.”
“With this grant we seek to promote and develop the Deep Winter Producers Association (DWPA) and to hold a conference later on to share the association’s progress,” according to David Fluegel, Executive Director of SW RSDP and the other principle investigator on the grant. “While the project is based in west central Minnesota, we believe it will create knowledge that is applicable statewide and region-wide.”
Ford said she envisioned the conference highlighting three components of a successful local food model: the efficient, resilient passive solar greenhouse structure; the association’s ability to encourage new farmers; and the economic advantages of a local food hub distribution system.
Carol Ford will have an office at the West Central Research and Outreach Center/Extension Regional Office in Morris. In addition to co-authoring the "Northlands Winter Greenhouse Manual", she has presented at numerous conferences in the upper Midwest about winter produce production and has provided workshops for beginning producers. She has hosted many tours and talks in her greenhouse in Milan, MN and continues to consult with and support winter growers. She will also continue to work part-time as an Executive Office and Administrative Specialist for the Division of Science and Math at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
A community group in St. Cloud has applied for a low-power FM radio license from the FCC that would allow them to broadcast news and music for Somali-Americans in and around St. Cloud.
Organizers said they expect to receive approval from the FCC as soon as this week, and that they hope to start broadcasting on the air by spring.
For more than a year, KVSC-FM at St. Cloud State University and the nonprofit St. Cloud Area Somali Salvation Organization worked together to create St. Cloud Somali Radio. In a project funded partially by a state Legacy grant, community members launched a 24-hour webstream of Somali music and news in March.
Mohamoud Mohamed, executive director of SASSO, said expanding to the airwaves was the next logical step. He said the radio station will serve the estimated 13,000 Somali-American immigrants who live in the area, many of whom speak primarily Somali.
Collins reports that the project will educate its listeners about their own history, civic engagement, the United States Constitution and other topics. The project initially faced distrust by some within the Somali community, but won over skeptics who had feared mischief; now it anticipates some resistance from those who fear or resent Somalis living in the area.
Greater Minnesota Worker Center established in St. Cloud
Protesters gathered Tuesday outside a St. Cloud temporary employment agency to decry what they call its shoddy treatment of workers.
At least 60 protesters lined 25th Avenue South outside the St. Cloud office of The Work Connection, a St. Paul-based agency. They criticized the agency’s use of a pay-card method to disburse workers’ wages, said the agency has fired workers unfairly and treats many workers, particularly Somali workers, with disrespect.
Protesters also called on St. Cloud-based GNP Company, which contracts with The Work Connection to fill jobs at its Cold Spring processing facility, to hire workers directly.
The event was organized by the Greater Minnesota Worker Center, a new St. Cloud-based group that aims to help low-wage workers get better pay and working conditions.
One of the workers Sommerhauser interviewed told the Times that The Work Connection singles out Somali workers for exploitation:
[Mustafe] Abdulahi said some of what he describes as poor treatment of workers by The Work Connection seems to be directed at Somalis and other immigrants.
He said people who don’t speak flawless English face curt treatment from its staff and sometimes are unfairly eliminated from consideration for job placement.
“We are expecting that they will treat us equally and also that they will treat our community as other agencies do,” Abdulahi said.
The Labor Education Service at the U documents the action in this video:
. . .Last night—Worker Center Watch, a new website dedicated to attacking labor-affiliated activist groups like OUR Walmart, Restaurant Opportunities Center, and Fast Food Forward—began sponsoring advertisements on Twitter to promote smears against the protests planned for Black Friday. In one video sponsored by the group, activists demanding a living wage and better working conditions for workers are portrayed as lazy “professional protesters” who “haven’t bothered to get jobs themselves.” . . .
TheNation.com has discovered that Worker Center Watch was registered by the former head lobbyist for Walmart. Parquet Public Affairs, a Florida-based government relations and crisis management firm for retailers and fast food companies, registered the Worker Center Watch website. ..
Check it out.
Estar in el Prairie in Stevens County
Over in Stevens County, the organizers of the Estar in el Prairie have launched a Facebook page to get the word out for an innovative project in the West Central county that's home to the University of Minnesota- Morris campus.
Portraits of Western Minnesota’s Emerging Latino Community Retratos de nuestra nueva comunidad latina
Description
From 2000 to 2010, the Latino population in Steven’s County increased by 234%. In order to put faces and stories to this number, we are pairing photographers in the Morris area with Latino members of the community. There are two goals associated with this project.
1. Document this migration. We ask participants to share positive experiences in the community and write about them in both English and Spanish. Photographers then take photos of the participants holding a white board with each phrase.
2.Create a space for communication. Given the cultural and language barriers many new immigrants face, connection between established communities and new groups is often difficult. We hope that this project can begin to create relationships between photographers and participants that extend into the greater community and future.
We have already paired six photographers with participants and received eight pairs of photos (examples attached). At this phase of our project, we are seeking funds to professionally print 20 photos (10 pairs.) We plan to showcase the prints in prominent locations around Morris such as the PRCA, Common Cup, and the library. We have also been approached by CURE in Montevideo concerning a travelling exhibit throughout Western Minnesota.
Check out and like the Facebook page. The photos are gorgeous.
Photos: Yusuf and Prchal talk in a studio at St. Cloud State University’s KVSC 88.1 FM in Stewart Hall 9middle, via Kismaayo Daily).Workers in St. Cloud (middle) via MN AFL-CIO ; a photo from the Estar in el Prairie (below) Paul Cortes and Keni Zenner as part of the portrait project. Copyright 2013, Nic McPhee. Please credit the photographer and better yet, like the page on Facebook.
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Polar explorer Will Steger and Fresh Energy's J. Drake Hamilton are hosting a public forum on clean energy, climate and health at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Granite Falls Lutheran Church in Granite Falls.
Steger is famous for leading the first confirmed expedition to the North Pole by dogsled without re-supply, and being the first to cross Antarctica by foot. His 1995 trip to the North Pole may be the last ever by dogsled for any explorer. The melting of the polar ice means it is now necessary to use some type of floatation -- either kayak, canoe or sled that floats -- to make the trip by foot.
Steger now serves as an eyewitness to climate change, and has joined with scientist J. Drake Hamilton to host public forums to describe what he has seen and what can be done. Steger and Drake Hamilton urge clean energy solutions to reduce our carbon emissions while also building our economy.
This should be a terrific event for people in the Upper Minnesota River Valley.
Disclosure: Bluestem's editor has done consulting work on food system reform and land use issues for event sponsors CURE, although she is not involved with Sunday's presentation.
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Guest column by John G. White Originally published in the Clara City Herald
The Rev. Chuck Waibel knows he’s dying. After weeks of stomach pain he went in for tests that came back pretty ugly. Stage Four colon cancer. “All that’s left now is handling the pain,” he said, “and going out in style.”
He was given a short calendar. Weeks, perhaps. Months on an outside chance.
“Going out in style” is classic Waibel. Count the eccentric reverend, author, teacher, muse and winter greenhouse instigator as one of the River Valley Liberals. He and his wife, Carol Ford, met via an internet singles site and a match couldn’t be more perfect. She’s a writer and musician. On our second year of the Prairie Fest Chili Cook-off, Carol played with one of her best buddies, Colleen Frye, the bluesy fiddler. Carol is of flowery garb and classic hair ware, Chuck of tropical shirts, suspenders, a full beard and short ponytail.
The two have caught a lot of growing curiosity and notoriety thanks to their passive solar winter greenhouse concept, a brainchild of Chuck’s, called Garden Goddess Greenhouse. Their courses at the home site in Milan, and their co-authored book, “The Northlands Winter Greenhouse Manual,” have been well received.
Chuck also wrote a most interesting novel called “Phoenix, Minnesota.” A sci-fi story, his book puts us into a future when corporate agriculture has run amok, confining the non-GMO and sustainable folks into forced ghettos. Very little imagination is needed to realize the ghetto is actually Milan, and that his characters are mostly based on people we River Valley Liberals know. Part of the fun is figuring out who is who.
“I know those on both sides,” Chuck said with a characteristic smile. “LOOZers are independent-minded folks,” he said of his protagonists. “They are hard working and self-confident. They are sophisticated, not decadent. They are well-read and thoughtful. They are the epitome of ‘Think Globally, Act Locally.’ Their culture is civic, not corporate, and I thank Ralph Nader for that phrase. They are aware of popular culture, but aren’t impressed by it. They are citizens of the world, but with their feet firmly on the Earth. Their spirituality tells them that we have abused Mother Earth too far.”
After knowing him for years and doing stories on their greenhouses, it was a joy this past winter when the Belle and I attended one of his “courses” at Elk’s Bluff Greenhouse outside of Montevideo. This was the latest of a growing number of passive solar winter greenhouses based on Chuck’s original “but ever-changing” concept.
We were there for a general love of fresh winter greens, although for me in particular, it was from a statement Carol had made shortly after a harrowing trip home from work at the University of Minnesota-Morris: “Afterwards, during the blizzard, I sat in our greenhouse in humid, 80 degree air while the winds and snow blasted the world outside the panels.” If you remember this past winter, and most of us do, you can imagine how this caught the attention of a man raised in the near south.
On this cold, wintry day, Elk’s Bluff was pleasantly warm. Parkas were ditched as we sat in the packaging room adjacent to the greenhouse as the heat drifted in. Joining us were people who had driven from as far north as Duluth, and from St. Cloud and South Dakota. It was typical Chuck — part mad scientist, part engineer and part community organizer while being wholly unorganized. An amazing accomplishment. Yet, he was in his subtle glory as the winds tore across the prairie. But, that was “yesterday.”
On Saturday afternoon he and Carol were at the Mayo Clinic trying to resurface after days of continuing tests. His oncologist, a Dr. Kasi, made a surprise visit after becoming worried about seeing Chuck slumped down in his wheelchair and the negative chart work ... and after doing a bit of online research. Apparently the doctor entered the room while a nurse was attending to Waibel and pronounced, “Do you who this man is? Go on, Chuck, tell her about yourself.”
Here, in Carol’s words, is what happened next: “And so Chuck did, because it doesn’t take much encouragement to get him talking about passive solar greenhouses and sustainable local foods systems. And as he did, I saw the energy build back up in him, telling the nurse about the ideas and hopes that will not let him fall back and let bad luck take him down.
“So the talk turned to his future chemo treatment, about the need for a port to be placed in his chest, about the healing time required before treatments start and about how soon we will return to Mayo (mid-November) to see how things are going and make adjustments to treatment. I think this was the first time we have heard talk about the future since all this began.”
The Rev. Charles Waibel is finding style, thanks to an oncologist who cares.
For more on Charles Waibel, check out:
Land Stewardship Project's Farm Beginning graduates profile of Carol and Charles, The Door into Summer by Brian DeVore
Take the July 9, 2013 post, Agenda 21 and the DNR. This post was originally an article by DNR Farmland Wildlife Specialist Greg Hoch in the July/August 2013 issue of Minnesota Conservation Volunteer magazine, Where Cattle Roam and Wild Grasses Grow.
Not that the brain trust at the Central Minnesota Tea Party is sharing that attribution. The article is simply reprinted without note of its origin or comment. Apparently, there are enough scary terms from Glenn Beck's cloud of Agenda 21 keywords to convince any red-blooded American Tea Party Patriot that the DNR is in cahoots with the United Nations by promoting conservation grazing in western Minnesota.
For those of you who don't live in close proximity of livestock, "conservation grazing" is a best management practice for pastured cattle, sheep, goats or other farm animals that's based on the application of the relatively recent application of research that demonstrates that for many plots of degraded prairie land set aside for conservation, well-managed grazing helps the native flora and fauna recover.
In the early 1900s, naturalist John Muir described livestock in the
alpine meadows of the Sierra Mountains of California as "hoofed
locusts." Later in the century, wilderness advocate Edward Abbey called
cattle in the desert Southwest "a pest and a plague." Blaming cattle for
environmental ills has long been a popular point of view of
conservationists.
However, prairie plants evolved with and are well adapted to grazing
by bison, deer, elk, and uncountable numbers of grasshoppers. The
growing parts of many prairie grasses, the meristems, are at the soil
surface, protected from both teeth and flame. In this landscape, a new
and growing practice called conservation grazing returns hooved animals to their historic place in the prairie ecosystem.
Land managers with the Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, and The Nature Conservancy are learning that it
isn't always enough to protect and preserve acres of land. We also need
to return ecological processes to those acres. Fire, grazing, and
climate variability are three processes that control the diversity and
productivity of tallgrass prairie. We can't do much to control annual
climate variability, but we can use prescribed fire and conservation
grazing to limit trees and other invasive plants, increase native
species richness, and improve the overall structure of grasslands.
And how is that done? By introducing blue helmets to the prairie? Nope. It's by allowing farmers and ranchers to graze their private herds on public lands and private land held by non-profits like the Nature Conservancy.
Restricting property rights, like the Agenda21phobes fear? Not exactly. This is a "working lands" approach to managing land, and it's sound business practice for producers who are responding to market demand for grassfed meat. Hoch notes:
Since agencies don't necessarily want to get into the livestock
business themselves, they rely on local ranchers to provide the cattle.
This benefits ranchers who are looking for pasture to rent for grazing
cattle, at a time when more land is being put into crop production due
to high prices of corn and other commodities.
"Allowing conservation grazing of our wildlife grasslands gives our
livestock farmers an opportunity to maintain their herds," says Don
Baloun, state conservationist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Natural Resources Conservation Service. "We get the benefit of grazing
to enhance the cover, and they get quality grasslands to maintain their
herds."
Jim Wulf, a rancher in west-central Minnesota, points to additional
benefits: "By moving cattle across different pastures, ranchers are able
to break disease and parasite cycles."
The availability of quality grasslands isn't an abstract ideological issue for farmers and ranchers in a year like this when fodder and hay is in short supply because of weather extremes; Governor Dayton has appealed to the USDA to allow some land set aside as CRP to be grazed or mown for hay.
Heck of a conspiracy for us to create and not once let the prairie chicken (or Minnesota's most beloved alien species, the ring-necked pheasant) out of the bag.
In the past, Bluestem has chastized a conservative blogger for not knowing the boundaries of Minnesota's First Congressional District, so it's only fair that we point out that Eric Pusey's understanding of the geography of the Sixth Congressional District goes a bit far a field.
In Why we should fear Tom Emmer, Eric Pusey includes Big Stone County, part of the fabled "Bump" on the South Dakota border, in with Sixth CD precincts in Anoka, Hennepin, Sherburne, Washington and Wright County.
Missing? Benton County and Stearns County, both home to St. Cloud.
Someone had to keep passing those stale Big Stoned County jokes around.
Benton County, on the other hand, gave Emmer a clear majority of 50.92 percent to Dayton's 35.29 percent and Horner's 12.14 percent. The Grassroots Party candidates came in fourth, putting the bent in Benton County with 77 votes or 0.56 percent of the vote.
However, while Big Stone County voters--actually in the Minnesota's Seventh, with only the NRCC's traveling billboard of doom to fear--need not fret about voting for Emmer, whatever a metro progressive blogger tells them, replacing Benton's 2010 Emmer votes makes his bid all the more scary for the those dreading the notion of Tom Emmer in Congress.
Fewer than 3600 registered voters lived in Big Stone County in 2010, a lovely, rural prairie and riparian county on the state's western boundary waters, while 20,987 souls were registered in Benton County (part of St. Cloud is in Benton). Add in the Stearns County precincts in the Sixth, and the increased number--and percentage--of Emmer votes will change the percentage by which Emmer won the 2010 gubernatorial race in CD6.
Bluestem recommends that Minnesotans visit the Upper Minnesota River Valley, which not only is quite lovely, but unlike those folks downstream in Carver County, has little to fear from Tom Emmer. For now, Big Stone County can breathe easier.
Image: In an act of radical redistricting, Minnesota Progressive Project put Big Stone County in the middle of Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District. In fact, it's part of The Bump on the state's western border with South Dakota, in CD7. Bluestem hopes that MPP replaces BSC with Benton. Just saying.
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An informal list of 17 members the NRCC believes can be convinced to
step down, privately called the "Dem Retirement Assault List," makes
clear the party needs Dem incumbents to step aside if they have hopes of
taking back the majority. The NRCC has taken pains to attack those
lawmakers in recent weeks.
The list includes 14 members whose districts voted for Sen. John
McCain (R-AZ) in '08. McCain won districts held by Reps. Ike Skelton
(D-MO) and Bart Gordon (D-TN) with more than 60% of the vote, and
districts held by Reps. Rick Boucher (D-VA), Alan Mollohan (D-WV),
Marion Berry (D-AR), Nick Rahall (D-WV) and Mike Ross (D-AR) with more
than 55%.
McCain narrowly won seats held by Reps. John Spratt (D-SC), Allen
Boyd (D-FL), Vic Snyder (D-AR), Baron Hill (D-IN), Earl Pomeroy (D-ND),
Tim Holden (D-PA) and Collin Peterson (D-MN)....
But that pressure seems weak
so far: press releases criticizing the incumbents, plus a little money
thrown to media buys in certain districts. But the emphasis goes on the
word little: in three districts ” not including Petersons 7th ” a total
of $6,300 was spent by the NRCC on ad buys.
In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, NRCC Executive Director
Guy Harrison listed 10 moderate Democrats who are in the committee’s
sights for 2012: West Virginia Rep. Nick Rahall, Arkansas Rep. Mike
Ross, Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson and Pennsylvania Rep. Jason
Altmire. All four were held under 60 percent Tuesday and represent
districts that voted for John McCain over Barack Obama in 2008.
Peterson increased his margin in 2012 against the hapless Lee Byberg.
In today's National Journal, Reid Wilson (remember him from the 2009 Hotline retirement piece?) reports in Parties Push For House Retirements:
In 1992, Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson won re-election by a single
point. Two years later, he defeated Republican Bernie Omann again, but
by just two points. He hasn't faced a serious re-election bid since.
But this year, more than 18 months before Election Day, House
Republicans are trying to convince Peterson he's in for a tough race.
The National Republican Congressional Committee has already spent a
small amount of money on advertisements in Peterson's district, and the
committee has a press staffer dedicated to pushing opposition research
to reporters in Democratic-held areas that, like Peterson's, voted for
Mitt Romney in 2012.
The amount of money and effort Republicans are putting into
Peterson's race, at the moment, is negligible. The committee spent just
$2,000 on the early advertisement, a drop in the bucket compared with
the millions spent every cycle on competitive races. But the goal isn't
to beat Peterson so far out -- it's to get in his head on a daily basis
and, eventually, to get Peterson to retire rather than run for a 13th
term.
So far, Peterson doesn't seem bothered by the Republican attention. "They don't have anybody else to go after," he told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune last month, when the ads ran. "It's kind of ridiculous, but whatever."
But when he goes home next week, Republicans will seek to remind
Peterson that he's not alone. The NRCC has a dedicated tracker set to
follow Peterson around his district . . .
Bluestem's world headquarters recently relocated to sunny Maynard in order to be closer to the upper Minnesota River, loveliest of prairie rivers.
The local watershed protectors, Clean Up the River Environment (CURE), will be hosting the Minnesota River History Weekend and Minnesota State Water Trails 50th Anniversary on Friday through Sunday. If you're a reader who wonders why the dirty hippies out here make such a fuss about threats to the upper valley's tranquility, consider checking this out:
Friday evening:
Grab some popcorn at Granite Falls' famous local Popcorn Stand and head over to watch a film and listen to great speakers!
with producers John Hickman and Jon Carlson (7 PM). This film tells
the story of people from all walks of life - academics, farmers,
natural resource professionals, anglers, homeowners, students, paddlers,
politicians, and citizen activists - who are working together to solve
the problems facing the Minnesota River. Read more about the film and speakers here.
with Erik Wrede, MN DNR Water Trails Coordinator and special guest Paul Ryberg (8 PM). Minnesota has the first and largest Water Trails system in the nation. Come
learn about the early years of the system, and the trip planning
resources and paddling opportunities that are now available. Plus, special guest Paul Ryberg will tell stories about growing up on the Minnesota River with his
family that will be honored for their efforts to "unleash the
recreational giant of canoeing." Read more about the presentation and
speakers here. Read more about the presentation and speakers here.
PRESENTATION. Reconnecting the Minnesota River by Luther Aadland, River Scientist, MN DNR (9:30 PM). His
work, research, and publications have included a wide variety of topics
that integrate physical and biological processes of rivers and the
design of river restoration, nature-like fish passage, dam removal,
erosion control, and flood damage reduction projects. Read more about Luther here.
Saturday's events include Paddling Theater, with options for riding on large fur-trading style canoes or on your own craft. Sunday is a self-organized paddling on the Chippewa River, Hawk Creek, Minnesota River and Yellow Medicine River meet at Memorial Park.
A new proposal to limit frac sand mining has surfaced in the state
Senate. The Senate Environment and Energy Committee on Tuesday night
passed a game and fish bill that would significantly restrict mining
activities in southeastern Minnesota . . .
he point person on frac sand bills in the Senate, Matt Schmit,
DFL-Red Wing, is carrying a game and fish bill that raises
water-related concerns about frac sand mining. The bill would prohibit
any industrial silica sand mining in an area that’s referred to as the
Department of Natural Resources Paleozoic Plateau Ecological Section if
its located “within one mile of any spring, groundwater seepage area,
fen, designated trout stream, class 2a water as designated in the rules
of the Pollution Control Agency, or any perennially flowing tributary of
a designated trout stream of class 2a water.”
The Paleozoic Plateau encompasses much of southeastern Minnesota.
Schmit said the porous type of geology in southeastern Minnesota
makes the region susceptible to water pollution that harm its unique
cold water fishery.
“There is no guarantee that we are going to have any other bill on
silica sand mining pass out of the Legislature this year, so this is I
think an appropriate place for some standards regarding our waters and
our trout fishing,” Schmit said.
Trout Unlimited has been particularly aggressive in testifying about the potential threat that unchecked industrial sand mining might posed to trout in southeastern Minnesota. Back in February, Star Tribune sand reporter Tony Kennedy reported in Trout group fears frac sand damage to streams:
. . .Besides holding vast reserves of the world's best frac sand,
southeastern Minnesota also is home to an extensive network of
ecologically fragile trout streams.
John Lenczewski, who heads the state chapter of Trout Unlimited,
told a joint Senate and House hearing Tuesday that Minnesota's streams
are spring-fed by the same drinking water that frac sand processing
facilities want to pump out of the ground in huge volumes. Mining
companies use the water to separate valuable silica sand from waste
material. There are fears that the reserves will be depleted to the
extent that stream flows are reduced, endangering fish habitat.
"The industry does not need to use our future drinking water to wash sand,'' Lenczewski said.
He also called on the Legislature to prohibit sand mines from digging
within 25 feet of the water table. Some new frac sand mines in
Wisconsin have been permitted to dig nearly all the way to ground water
-- giving pollutants a direct path to aquifers.
In addition, Minnesota's trout anglers want the state to keep frac
sand facilities far away from surface waters by writing new setback
guidelines, Lenczewski said.
"The state does not have adequate regulation for our groundwater,'' Lenczewski said. . . .
A crowd of around 80 residents and concerned neighbors came to
the Rock Creek Town Hall on March 8 to hear an update on a proposed
Highway 70 reconstruction project, and to share concerns about plans to
use that road as a route for trucks bringing frac sand from Wisconsin to
Minnesota.
State Representative Tim Faust introduced MnDOT District Engineer Duane Hill.
“I don’t think I need to tell anyone in this room how dangerous this stretch of highway has become,” Faust said.
How dangerous?
“On Highway 70, the accident rate is one accident per million vehicle
miles,” Hill said. “That equals out to about one crash per month.”
He said the statewide average for roads like Highway
70 is half of a crash per month, or only half of the accident rate on
Highway 70.
Before MNDOT begins to make the road safer, frac sand trucks will be traveling the crumbling road. Faust's constituents aren't happy. The Pioneer continues:
In response to questions, Hill said he did not know exactly how many
of the 80,000 pound frac sand trucks would be traveling along Highway
70, but that he had heard it would be 12 trucks per hour. This would
double the amount of heavy truck traffic currently on the highway. He
asserted that the road is designed to handle those kinds of loads.
One resident at the meeting said that though the
trucks are tarped, that doesn’t mean they don’t spread the sand through
the air as they pass through.
“They come by with spillage all over them,” he said.
“This sand, they’ve done studies on it ... silca sand. If there’s
someone allergic to it, it can hurt them. Seal them up and wash these
trucks off.” . . .
. . .Some residents expressed frustration and anger about the condition of Highway 70.
“In the spring, the water will boil up out of it and the pavement will move,” one man said.
“That road hasn’t been touched ... since I’ve been
born,” another man said. “Nobody’s dug that swamp up. They don’t even
know what’s down there. It’s been this way for 60 years, nothing
changes. All of a sudden the fracking sand comes in.”
What could possibly go wrong?
Clarifying geology: Unimin mines in the Minnesota River Valley
The largest active mining operation is
located along the Minnesota River between Mankato and St Peter, not in a
bluff landscape, but on a flat landscape. In that kind of setting the operators dig excavations below the surrounding mostly flat landscape.
Listeners would be forgiven if they came away with the idea that the Unimin mines weren't in the Minnesota River Valley, but "along" the way.
In fact, both mines are located on flat terraces below the bluffs. While the exact site of the mine is on the flat "prairies," the terraces are part of a valley landscape.
Photo: A brown trout taken from Whitewater State Park.
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Yet another Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) document related to the denial of five petitions for annexation of land to the City of Ortonville in Big Stone County has been made available. Bluestem Prairie posts it below for the public interest.
After residents of the township brought concerns to the board, the township supervisors imposed a moratorium while they wrote zoning and planning ordinances. Big Stone County's commissioners voted to permit the quarry; to get around the moratorium, the landowner divided his property among relatives, then petitioned the City of Ortonville to annex the site.
While the denial and moratorium for the moment prevent the project from going forward, the long-term consequences of the OAH judge's decision are unknown to Bluestem at this time.
Headwaters of the Minnesota River, Big Stone County is on the Minnesota-South Dakota border, directly west of the Twin Cities.
The memorandum begins:
Two issues, scope of review and determination of property ownership, have arisen in the six matters comprising the City of Ortonville's (City) filings for annexation by ordinance under Minn. Stat. 414.033, Subd. 2(3). The factual background includes the ordinances passed by the City, the objection by Ortonville Township (Township), and the requested additional information received from the City and Petitioners.
It concludes:
CONCLUSION
The urban or suburban character of the Subject Area is outside the jurisdiction of the OAH in proceedings under annexation by ordinance. The OAH must determine that the jurisdictional requirements for an annexation by ordinance are met before an ordinance is approved. The OAH cannot conduct a hearing regarding disputes over the propriety of an annexation by ordinance. Where the presented facts show that there is a jurisdictional defect, the ordinance must be denied.
Docket No. A-7829 has been approved as there are no procedural defects present.
Dockets Nos. A-7830, A-7831, A-7832, A-7833, and A-7834 have been denied as the City did not receive petitions for annexation from all of the property owners as required by Minn. Stat. 414.033, subd. 2(3).
After being approached by township residents and landowners concerned
about property values, traffic, noise, water, dust and rare cacti, the
Ortonville Board of Supervisors enacted a moratorium while they wrote
land use ordinances. The moratorium was recently extend for a year.
In response the landowner, who had agreed to let his land be mined,
divided his property into smallers parcels that touched on the city
limits; the relatives then petitioned to have the parcels annexed into
the city.
Only one ruling--a denial--of one of the petitions was posted online last night. Today, Bluestem has received and posted a copy of Assistant Chief Administrative Law Judge Timothy O'Malley's memo about all of the petitions. While that of Gayle Hedge was approved , the rest were denied.
Not beinga lawyer, Bluestem can't say with certainty what this means, but it appears that Ortonville Township still has jurisdiction over the properties where all of the proposed Strata Corporation's rock processing, storage and shipping was to have taken place, while the property where the hole was to be dug is now part of the City of Ortonville.
Since the land that remains in Ortonville Township is subject to a moratorium, the quarry project can't--for the moment--go forward. We don't know what recourse the landowners, the City of Ortonville and Strata Corporation have at this point, but this is a positive development for the many people who sought to preserve the working landscape just outside of town.
Headwaters of the Minnesota River, Big Stone County is on the Minnesota-South Dakota border, directly west of the Twin Cities.
From the memorandum:
The urban or suburban character of the Subject Area is outside the jurisdiction of the OAH in
proceedings under annexation by ordinance. The OAH must determine that the jurisdictional
requirements for an annexation by ordinance are met before an ordinance is approved. The OAH
cannot conduct a hearing regarding disputes over the propriety of an annexation by ordinance.
Where the presented facts show that there is a jurisdictional defect, the ordinance must be denied.
Docket No. A-7829 has been approved as there are no procedural defects present.
Dockets Nos. A-7830, A-7831, A-7832, A-7833, and A-7834 have been denied as the City did
not receive petitions for annexation from all of the property owners as required by Minn. Stat. 5
414.033, subd. 2(3).
Here's a copy of Judge O'Malley's memorandum about his decision:
Minnesota River rats are cheering Tuesday night's vote by citizens in Renville County's Sacred Heart Township to adopt a resolution opposing a proposed Off Highway Vehicle county park. The river enthusiasts had feared the project would disturb environmentally sensitive areas and the enjoyment of a remote stretch of the middle corridor of the Minnesota River Valley
Sacred Heart Township residents attending the annual
meeting on Tuesday evening voted 14 to 6 to adopt a resolution opposing
the park.
The resolution rescinds a vote by the board of
supervisors made last year supporting the park. It is proposed to be
developed in the Minnesota River Valley in sections 22 and 23 of the
township.
The resolution states that a majority of residents
oppose the project, are concerned about how it would adversely affect
land values, and charges that neighboring landowners and residents were
not contacted or allowed to voice their concerns in advance of passage
of the resolution last year supporting the park.
Landowners adjacent to the proposed site oppose the project, and they brought the resolution for a vote.
Dave Zaske, one of the affected landowners, said the
resolution will be sent to the Renville County board of commissioners.
He said the county board has said the fate of the park was up to the
township. He is hopeful that this resolution will lead the board to
stop pursuing the project.
The resolution raises the hopes of paddlers and anglers worried about plans to turn their stretch of the river into an ATV destination, with connected trails linking playgrounds for the snarly vehicles--and the use of legacy funds intended for preserving natural areas and water quality to create the recreation area. (Read a draft of a suggested bill--not yet introduced--here).
They fear the recreational use will not only echo down the valley corridor, but the opportunity to "mud" the bluffs will destroy natural habitat and promote erosion. Reducing the sediment load in the Minnesota River is crucial for the quality of downriver areas like Lake Pepin.
Bluestem applauds the decision of the citizens of Sacred Heart Township. One of our fondest memories is stopping on the township road that winds toward the Joseph Brown house ruins to watch a flock of 200 migrating Arctic Swans that paused in the flooded river bottoms. Their calls echoed in the valley, while another flock sang from a flooded field a half mile upstream.
Not likely to happen again if the bluffs echo with the sound of ATVs.
Photo: The ruins of an old barn that would be in the park. Phot by Tom Cherveny/West Central Tribune.
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As the Minnesota legislature mulls over bills to regulate and tax industrial sand mining in the gopher state, the Rochester Post Bulletin reports (with an unintentionally misleading headline) that For townships, silica not a hot issue at their annual meetings coming up Tuesday.
Read the article, however, and you'll learn why that discussion has cooled:
Silica-sand mines could hit some townships hard with dust, noise
and road damage, but what to do about the mines might not be a major
issue at the township annual meetings planned across the area on
Tuesday.
Most townships are waiting for counties or the state to give them
more information and to act on moratoriums, or to decide how to collect
money to repair roads from heavy mining traffic, county township
officer association officials said. . . .
Instead, it's a hot issue at the state capitol. In an earlier issue of the Red Wing Republican Eagle, state representative Tim Kelly (R-Red Wing) took some heat when a reader perceived that he wasn't being pro-active on the issues. Kelly fights back with Be part of a silica sand mining legislative solution:
Make no mistake, one of the most important issues of this area, at
this time, is silica sand mining. Sen. Matt Schmit and I have been
working with many individuals and agencies to ensure that we have a say
in the standards that need to be met if mining occurs here.
In
any situation, there will be different opinions and strategies. I
commend Jim and Jody McIlrath on their approach and I look forward to
working with them in helping to resolve this issue.
Mr. Sonnek
is completely wrong in his statement that there is no legislation in the
House. In fact, we will all be working off of that legislation as we
move forward.
Kelly introduced HF1367 on March 7, a bill to provide ilica sand project regulation assistance to local governments; Schmit introduced the senate companion bill, SF1257.
A similar bill--HF0906, the companion bill to Schmit's SF1018- includes the Environmental Quality Board (EQB) in the mix was introduced by Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul), who also introduced a bill for an aggregate tax, HF1336, that would go toward protecting wellhead and scientific and natural areas. An earier piece of the puzzle, HF0425, defines how the areas for preservation would be defined, while authorizing bonding.
Although Hansen represents a suburb, he grew up in Southeastern Minnesota, where he still owns farm and hunting land in Fillmore and Freeborn Counties.
in an email alert, Land Stewardship Project urged support of HF906, but also wants it strengthened to become the companion bill for SF786. From an email:
MN House to hold first hearing on the issue. House File 906,
authored by Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-Mendota Heights), will be heard
Wednesday, March 13, in the House Environment Policy Committee. House
File 906 calls for the Environmental Quality Board to develop standards
for frac sand ordinances that can be used by local units of government
and to create a technical assistance team to help local units of
government. We must work to strengthen this bill by making sure it
contains the key elements of Senate File 786.
Two senate committees have heard Senator Schmit's SF0786, which creates Southeastern Minnesota sand board, authorizes a Generic Environmental Impact Statement to be completed in a year, and imposes a one-year moratorium.
The bill has been sent to the Finance committee. No hearing has yet been set for the bill.
Photo: A frac sand mine in Wisconsin.
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Wednesday at 3:00 p.m., the Minnesota senate State and Local Government committee will meet to consider the Family Child Care Providers Representation Act, and to take testimony on the parts of the frac sand mining bill, S.F. 786, related to state and local government.
The bill calls for a year-long Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS), a statewide moratorium on new projects during the GEIS, the creation of a Southeastern Minnesota silica sand mining board and other measures.
What have editorial boards across Southern Minnesota written about the bill (others on the industry are on the way, we're told, and there's already a house bill introduced to protect wellheads and scientific and natural areas in the region).
In the heart of the sand lands, the Winona Daily News favors the bill. Speaking for the editorial board in Only one chance, Jerome Christenson writes:
We’ll only have one chance to get it right.
In testimony before his colleagues, Sen. Matt Schmit likened the sudden interest in silica sand mining to a new gold rush, but cautioned that while there may be gold in “them thar hills” how we go about getting it will shape those hills and the entire region for decades to come.
Schmit’s bill -- SF 786 -- will give the people ofMinnesotaa chance to get it right. It gives state agencies and local governments up to a year to develop and put in place uniform, statewide guidelines and regulations for silica sand mining inMinnesota. The bill passed its first hurdle Tuesday when it was approved by the Senate Environment and Energy committee on an 8 - 4 vote that split along party lines and now continues through the legislative gauntlet.
We urge support for Schmit’s bill -- and congratulate the rookie legislator for his work. . . .
Read the whole thing at the WDN. On the western edge of Minnesota's silica sand zone, the New Ulm Journal's board writes in Time for study of frac sand mining:
People who live in the region, though, are concerned about this boom.
What effect will frac sand mining have on their land, on their air
quality, on their roads and rail lines?
It is certainly time for the state to conduct a study on the issue,
to determine what will be allowable mining practices, and what rules
need to be in place to protect those who will live through the mining
and its aftermath.
The state should undertake this study quickly and do a thorough, yet expeditious job of it.
Mining
is important to the state, and so are Minnesota's natural resources. We
can't afford risk the latter in a rush to feed the oil boom.
One of the strengths of Schmit's bill is that it outlines the "scoping" of the GEIS; earlier studies for the forest industry and livestock feedlots were not so well-defined and so lingered on.
Moving out of the sand belt to what Bluestem jokingly labels "the bad," we turn to the Journal's sister paper, the more conservative Fairmont Sentinel, home to Senator Julie "Rural Minnesota Should Smell Bad and Look Awful" Rosen.
It is horrifying to see the state of Minnesota ready to jump in to slow
down, or stop, the sand mining taking place in the southeastern part of
the state. A state Senate committee this week OK'd a one-year moratorium
on new silica sand mines. . . .
. . Minnesota needs to make sure sand mines are operated safely. It also needs to make sure they are free to operate.
We find it horrifying to imagine Southern Minnesota's river bluffs and rolling hills ending up looking like Wisconsin's pillaged hills, lined by corrupted local officials, with rivers and groundwater threatened, while little return comes back to local communities.
And finally: the fugly.
The Mankato Free Press editorial board produced a piece that about as fugly as it gets. Six days after the state's first hearing on issues related to industrial February 25, 2013 Our View: Review sand mining regulation
—
The mere term "frac sand" conjures danger in many people's minds. The
reason is the concerns that have been raised about fracking, in which
the sand and a mixture of chemicals are injected into oil wells to help
draw more oil from the ground.
That's misleading to put it charitably. The issues being brought up about "frac sand" in Minnesota have little to do with fracking, although industrial sand mining advocates would love to make folks imagine that's the problem.
As Bluestem has noted repeatedly, happy sparkleponies could shoot from oil and gas fracking rigs bearing world peace and kittens for everyone, but the environmental, health, safety and long-term economic development issues related to industrial-scale sand mining will remain.
There is no fracking done in Minnesota but the fine, hard silica sand
is abundant in many bluff regions of the state, including here in the
Minnesota River valley and around Red Wing and Winona.
That means mining companies are eager to extract the valuable sand,
which is in high demand. Locally, the Jordan Sands project is being
considered north of Mankato in a former limestone quarry. Some neighbors
in the area and some other residents oppose the project.
The mining of silica sand is hardly new to the area. Unimin in Ottawa
has been mining silica for use in glass making and more recently for
fracking for decades with little if any controversy.
Odd, given that it's the one just one river town away, unlike Ottawa.
But putting a moratorium on mining -- absent any credible evidence of
negative effects -- unnecessarily harms economic development. Local
governments are still best for deciding their local land-use rules and
putting reasonable restrictions on companies. If they choose to permit a
sand mining operation, any state standards that are developed can and
will be applied to those operations.
It's easy to dismiss "credible evidence." Just pretend there's no local corruption, corporate bullying, permit violations or the other concerns attending the process.
We urge the committee to vote for Schmit's bill tomorrow--and for the Minnesota House to get moving on its version of the bill. This is the time to get it right.
Photo:A frac sand mine in Wisconsin.
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In fact, Bluestem hopes you'll don your tinfoil hat and find somewhere as far away from the Minnesota River Basin as possible.
But if you're like the farmers, land owners, river rats and county commissioners up and down the river who've been working to make sure that Lake Pepin doesn't silt up--and dirt stays in your own pasture or field like any sane property owner would desire--the group's new Local Resource Management Scorecard is pretty nifty, packed with helpful information:
To view aggregate results from the counties in the Minnesota River Basin or to read about how the categories we chose relate to sediment, please visit our County Evaluation Overview Page. If you live in the Minnesota River Basin (in blue) you can click on your county . . .! The map also features the overlapping watersheds for every county in Minnesota; hover over your county to see.
...The mission of the Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance in developing this scorecard is to:
1) Recognize county successes in remediation of sedimentation and compliance with state and local regulations and best practices.
2) Recognize accountability in monitoring and enforcement of regulation.
3) Identify county specific obstacles to reducing soil erosion and keeping water on the land.
4) Identify specific opportunities and solutions to address these obstacles.
5) Encourage cooperation and collaboration among local units of government to plan and address the unifying water quality issues of the Minnesota River Basin, where appropriate.
6) Provide a means for counties to more easily share information on their processes, funding sources, success rates, and areas in need of attention.
Go check out the scorecard, which is chock-full of great information. Here's a video from the Alliance with more information about the project:
Some Greater Minnesota stories aren't political, but irresistable to Bluestem Prairie nonetheless. With the windchills predicted to drop to -38 degrees below zero tomorrow, we find ourselves coveting the fish house an angler has built out in Big Stone County.
For 10 years, Pat Minahan of Ortonville had dreamed of building his own drivable, portable fish house. Finally, last year Pat started work on it and was able to have it completed just in time for ice fishing this year.
Minahan loves to ice fish, but wanted to build something that he could drive out onto the lake without having to get out to fish.
You can't fault a guy for that, especially out there in chilly Ortonville, where the National Weather Service is saying it could feel like -41 degrees tomorrow.
Read more about how Minahan built his dream. The Independent reports the fish are biting on the lake at the headwaters of the Minnesota River Valley:
Many have said that ice fishing this winter has been the best they have seen in many years. There has been a good bite on the perch and walleye and the fishing pressure on Big Stone Lake has been outstanding with many fish houses on the lake.
If you want to find Minahan's favorite fishing hole, just head west on Highway 7 or 12 until you get to South Dakota. You can't miss it.
Photo: Bluestem is so coveting this guy's fish house in Big Stone County, along with the big stones out there. Photo via the Ortonville Independent.
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All of the statements, opinions, and views expressed on this site by Sally Jo Sorensen are solely her own, save when she attributes them to other sources.
The opinions, statements, and views of contributing writers are their own.
Sorensen, editor and proprietor of Bluestem Prairie, serves clients in the business and nonprofit sectors. While progressive in outlook, she does not caucus with any political party.
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