A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
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Carlton County Public Health and Human Services is reminding residents to be on the lookout for ticks as warmer temperatures finally come to the region. A variety of diseases are spread by ticks in Minnesota. "You can decrease your chance of being exposed to tick-borne disease by knowing what to look for and taking a few preventative steps," said public health nurse Jenny Barta. The blacklegged tick, also known as the deer tick, is the main tick of public health concern as it causes the most...
We don't know. Despite snow still covering the ground and crazy winter storms swirling about, local photographer Will Stenberg has been capturing signs that spring is making its presence known at Jay Cooke State Park. Stenberg shared this photo of some "middle of the road tom turkeys" crossing Minnesota Highway 210 in the park in late March. If you have any photos showing that spring is, indeed, springing, send them along to news@PineKnot News.com....
Prospective bear hunters have until Friday, May 5, to apply for a bear hunting license from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Applications for the 2023 season can be submitted online, at any license agent or by telephone at 888-665-4236. A total of 4,035 licenses are available in 14 permit areas for the season, which opens Friday, Sept. 1, and closes Sunday, Oct. 15. The number of permits available each year in the quota zone is based on Minnesota’s bear population, which has stabilized and started to increase during the past 10 y...
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is waiving vehicle permit fees at all 75 state parks and recreation areas on four dates in 2023: April 22, June 10, Sept. 9 and Nov. 24. With the support of the state legislature, the DNR offers Free Park Days to encourage Minnesotans to get outdoors and enjoy the health and wellness benefits of spending time in nature....
In spite of all the snow still covering the ground, local photographer Will Stenberg has been capturing signs that spring is making her presence known. Stenberg shared this photo of a "rockin' robin" perched in a tree along the St. Louis River below the Grand Portage trail parking at Jay Cooke State Park on Monday morning. Please email your "signs of spring" photos to [email protected]...
From the right vantage point, the ski jumps at Pine Valley rise over tall pine trees and - along with the water tower and pulp mill - serve as an anchor in Cloquet's irregular skyline. On Sunday those jumps were crowded with kids wearing ski suits and helmets, swooshing down the inruns on extra-long skis only to fling themselves into the air and fly off the end. The best ones seemed to hang there, soundlessly suspended for seconds at a time before thumping back to the snow-covered ground at a...
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources conservation officer Jake Willis, who is stationed in Brookston and has been a conservation officer since 2016, was honored with the DNR’s Enforcement Education Achievement Award last month. Willis has prioritized safety education and training since becoming a law enforcement officer more than 15 years ago. He works hard to provide outdoor safety education to youth and adults, and is active in training his law enforcement peers to ensure they have the knowledge they need to stay safe while doing t...
People who haven’t yet done so should make plans to meet upcoming deadlines, and all anglers — whether they’re fishing from a shelter or not — should leave only an imprint in the snow or ice when they head for shore. The removal deadline for inland waters in the southern two-thirds of the state was Monday. In the northern one-third of the state, the deadline is 11:59 p.m. Monday, March 20. All litter also must be removed from the ice. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources conservation officers have been out recently checking shelter...
University of Minnesota Extension will present a five-part webinar series this spring on how to create wildlife habitat on your property in Minnesota. The workshop series will take place online 7-8:30 p.m. over five Monday consecutive nights starting March 20 and ending April 17. Each session will focus on a different aspect of wildlife habitat management, including different species groups and selecting a site, as well as the development, establishment and maintenance of habitat for those groups. This series is free for residents or...
It was easy to tell which group hadn't been to the Beargrease Derby before, as two sets of scouts made their way down the trail on three-person skis. It was the group that kept falling over that was obviously new to the exercise in teamwork. All six scouts were part of Troop 221 out of Superior, but at opposite ends of the age spectrum. Finn, Grady and Jonah were the youngsters. Teenagers Oliver, Daniel and Keith had been there before, and had mostly mastered the art of walking in unison on...
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is celebrating 10 years of the EagleCam (mndnr.gov/eaglecam), a popular annual livestream of a bald eagle nest in Minnesota. The livestream now has thousands of followers watching from homes, workplaces, classrooms, waiting rooms and care facilities in all 50 states and at least 150 countries. The EagleCam goes live in November each year to show the daily repairs and upgrades the eagles make to their nest. The pair remains active at the nest each day and normally by mid-February have laid two or...
The DNR establishes deer population goals — how much of a population increase or decrease is desired in a particular DPA — as part of managing the state’s wild deer. The DNR is asking for public input on deer population goals in 23 deer permit areas in eastern and south central Minnesota. It includes areas in Carlton county and to the west. Comments may be submitted via email or postal mail and must be received by Monday, Feb. 13. Email: [email protected] Postal mail: Barb Keller, Fish and Wildlife Division, Minnesota Depar...
In a forest several miles north of Grand Rapids, John Pastor places his hands on the trunk of a giant white pine, cranes back his neck and gazes up into its crown, a hundred feet above. “For me, I just get a feeling in my brain and my heart and my soul,” said Pastor, a retired University of Minnesota Duluth ecologist. “Good job, old boy. You survived all of this and you’re still here. Great job.” The tree is likely about 150 years old. That’s not even middle age for an Eastern White Pine. It wa... 
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The DNR is reminding Minnesotans that deer feeding and attractant bans are in place across the state to prevent concentrations of wild deer in areas with a higher risk for disease, including all of Carlton County. These bans are precautionary steps the DNR took after deer that tested positive for chronic wasting disease were found both in the wild and on deer farms. Feeding bans encompass wider areas because food sources can concentrate deer and allow for close contact — one of the mechanisms for CWD spread....
Jay Cooke State Park is Dan Malkovich's favorite spot for outdoor landscape photography. "We are lucky to live near such a beautiful location," he said. On Jan. 5, the moon was 99-percent full, "which is good enough for me," he said, "and the time of moonrise coincided with sunset, which produced excellent lighting for landscape photos." He got this shot of the swinging bridge near the visitors center. Going any farther into the park was a struggle, he said, due to trails blocked with broken...
A winter season with plenty of snow has made for excellent snowmobiling conditions throughout the state, and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources made efforts last week to remind eager riders to make safety a priority. The increase in snowmobile use has resulted in injury and fatal crashes. Already this season, too many rides have ended in tragedy, the DNR reported. While the DNR doesn’t yet have official reports for all fatalities, preliminary reports indicate six riders have died in crashes so far — that’s the same number as the e...
Photographer Will Stenberg was looking for boreal chickadees last Friday, Jan. 13, when he went into the Sax-Zim Bog north of Meadowlands. Instead, he was greeted by a relatively rare riot of evening grosbeaks, pictured, near the visitor center after a hike along Gray Jay Way. "There was much excitement among the birders at the sight of (by today's standard) a very large number of evening grosbeaks," Stenberg said. "I won't offer a numerical estimate, but they were waiting for space at the...
A bit of a January thaw that included rain earlier this week helped take the snow burden off area trees. The sloppy storm of late last year and subsequent snow squalls kept their mark on the Carlton County landscape. Pine Knot News photographer Amber Nichols went into the wilds to capture scenes of a snowy season. She found horses out in a pasture in Esko at River Ranch Farm, top. In Wrenshall the snow has piled up. For nearly a month, crews there have been clearing snow from streets and curbs....
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has finalized an updated wolf management plan that incorporates the diverse views of Minnesotans and will guide the state’s approach to wolf conservation for the next 10 years. “We’re proud we brought people together to update Minnesota’s wolf plan,” said DNR commissioner Sarah Strommen. “We had great engagement from tribes, state and federal agencies, academia, and groups and individuals interested in wolves.” The updated plan is available on the DNR’s wolf plan page (mndnr.gov/WolfPlan). This is t...
A new federal grant award will fund collaborative planning by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to further large-scale moose habitat restoration in northeast Minnesota. The award from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, through the new America the Beautiful Challenge, will provide $443,600 to the DNR for the planning effort, with a goal of an implementation plan for moose habitat restoration on three areas of 10,000 to 50,000 contiguous acres each. Tribal, federal, county and non-governmental partner organizations helped...
Quality ice was being observed throughout most lakes around Cloquet, said the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in its weekly conservation officer’s report. Conservation officer Tony Elwell reported “clear, quality ice was observed on most area lakes, with 8 to 12 inches being the average thickness....
The Cloquet Nordic Ski Club will conduct a ski-jumping clinic and competition Dec. 29-30 at Pine Valley recreation area. The clinic will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 29 across two sessions. Coaching will be available on the 10-, 20- and 40-meter jumps. Lunch will be provided. Cost is $50 to attend. There will also be Nordic ski lessons available. The next day’s competition will feature training from 9-11 a.m., and a competition at noon on the 5-, 10-, 20- and 40-meter jumps. A nordic combined race will follow the jumping c...
We were doing a little research on historical markers in Carlton County, and plan to offer some background on them, when we came upon a mystery in our beloved Jay Cooke State Park. Near the picnic area on Oldenburg Point, off the Ogantz Trail loop, is a plaque honoring the first superintendent of the park: Frederick Rodney Paine, who was generally known as F. Rodney Paine. As you can see in this photo of the plaque, installed around 1980, that first initial was cast as a "J." "It's on our radar,...
For many families across the state, deer hunting is a tradition that goes back generations. Whether it is the same stretch of land they hunt each year, a shack that has been around for decades, or just jumping into a truck and going to a parcel of public property to hunt, the idea of getting back in the woods is a bit like a kid waking up on Christmas morning. My first hunting experience was out of an old farmhouse leased by my dad, a couple of my uncles and my grandfather. They hunted from the...
A pre-Thanksgiving cold snap means some lakes and ponds across Minnesota are beginning to freeze. However, the ice isn’t yet safe to walk on and the water underneath is dangerously cold. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reminded everyone this week to “be extremely cautious around the water,” and with children home for Thanksgiving break, to talk with them about the risks of cold water and ice. While ice is never 100% safe, ice in the early stages of formation is particularly dangerous. Falls through the ice or into open water...
