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
Sorted by date Results 151 - 175 of 446
Mountain bikers took to the trails at Cloquet's Pine Valley last Saturday for a full day of riding in a new race event called the Log Jam. For some race participants, a full day was defined as 12 hours on the race course. Aiden Jurek of Minneapolis was the overall solo winner of the 12-hour race, riding 85 miles on the hilly course and setting the individual mark to beat in future Log Jam races. The winning team in the 12-hour race completed 29 laps for 145 total miles. Riders had the option of...
A couple of weeks ago I predicted the 2022 fishing opener could be fantastic. As the big day approaches and the weather forecast solidifies, I’m sticking to my guns. I believe the May 14th Minnesota opener will be one of the best opening days in recent memory. For walleyes, the most predictable opener locations will be in and around spawning grounds. In lakes, focus on any rivers or inlets that dump into the main lake. Walleyes will congregate in the shallow bays and points around these s...
Trumpeter swans celebrate earlier this spring after successfully chasing another pair of swans from their territory at Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge near McGregor....
The last couple of days of April I’m scheduled to be chasing cohos and browns on Chequamegon Bay out of Washburn, Wisconsin. If you have spent any time outside the last couple of weeks, you will recognize the potential problem — we may still be iced up. In fact, the marina dockmaster recently reported 48 inches of ice in the harbor! This spring is shaping up to be one of the coldest in recent memory. But it’s not all doom and gloom — the late spring could have a positive impact on area fishing...
Pine Knot photo contributor Dan Malkovich got up and close to a turbulent St. Louis River in Jay Cooke State Park on Monday. He’s a regular visitor and said the big melt, along with stormy, wet weather, has changed the river in the past two weeks. It was “mild-mannered and calm on March 31,” he said. “But by April 11, following several days of melting temperatures and constant rain, it had turned into a raging torrent....
This overreaching deer was recently found in Frankie and Norma De Dominces' yard in Cloquet. "We live on the outskirts of the city and frequently see many deer," Norma said. "This deer was raiding our bird feeder and I was surprised she could reach that high." Norma said it may be time to "raise the bird feeders higher."...
With bears emerging from hibernation in the coming weeks, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reminds homeowners to check their property for food sources that could attract bears. "Please take the time now to remove or secure anything that could attract a bear," said Eric Nelson, DNR wildlife damage program supervisor. "Prevention is key. Once a bear finds a food source, it will likely return again." As bears emerge, their metabolism gradually ramps up and they will begin looking for...
We slid Cap'n Ron's Skeeter into the warming water of late March. On each side of the landing, the docks towered above us, a harbinger of how dangerously low the water had receded. We slowly worked our way onto the main lake, straddling the slimy off-white navigation buoys bobbing in the morning wind. In all directions, the reservoir revealed its scarred, exposed underbelly. My son Josh and I had come to Texas for one thing: to chase the Florida strain largemouth bass lurking in the back bays...
Do you live or vacation near a lake or stream? Is your shoreline eroding more and more each year? Would you like to beautify your yard with showstopping flower blooms and grasses while protecting water quality and attracting turtles, frogs, songbirds and beneficial pollinators like bees and butterflies? Whether you've lived on a lake or stream for a year or 50 years, we encourage you to think about what we call your "buffer zone." This area between your backyard and the lake is very important....
Heavy snowfall across parts of Minnesota prompted many anglers to haul their fish houses off the ice in late February. People who haven’t yet removed their shelters should keep in mind that the removal clock is ticking. The fish house removal deadline for inland waters in the southern two-thirds of the state came Tuesday. In the northern one-third of the state—north of the east-west line formed by U.S. Highway 10, east along Highway 34 to Minnesota Highway 200, east along Highway 200 to U.S. Highway 2, and east along Highway 2 to the Min...
Osprey Wilds Environmental Learning Center in Sandstone will expand by 562 acres through the donation of Blacklock Nature Sanctuary and the purchase of property adjoining the sanctuary east of Moose Lake. In December, the Blacklock board of directors donated the sanctuary's 414 acres, as well as its financial assets (nearly $600,000) to Osprey Wilds. Osprey Wilds has recently closed on the discounted sale by Craig and Honey Blacklock of an additional 150 acres - located within the boundaries of...
The Carlton Soil and Water Conservation District has been busy helping community members plant pollinator habitat in their backyards and is eager to do it again this year by offering native plant kits and a rain garden workshop. Native grasses and wildflowers provide critical habitat for our bees, butterflies, songbirds and many other types of wildlife that use the vegetation for shelter and food. Low-cost and low-maintenance, native plantings do not require fertilizing, regular mowing, or...
The recent article by Steve Korby on his memories of sliding and skiing in the woods in Cloquet triggered my own memories from the early 1960s. I grew up on a dairy farm 3 miles northwest of Barnum. Even with few neighbor kids around, I don’t ever remember being bored for lack of fun or interesting things to do. I even felt a bit sorry for my classmates who lived in the big metropolis of Barnum — what would one do for fun in such a sterile, manmade environment? One problem we faced in the winter is that our farm and the area around it were lac...
Have you ever been lost? No, really lost. Lost where your heart and pulse start elevating, you’re perspiring, it’s getting dark, personal fear and anxiety are on the rise. You try to be calm. Most of the time when I went partridge (ruffed grouse) hunting in Minnesota’s fall season, I either personally knew the planned hunting terrain or had someone accompanying me who was familiar with the landscape. There are many perfect partridge ecosystems in Carlton and St. Louis counties with thick brush...
A quintessential northern Minnesota event took off Sunday when teams of mushers and their sled dogs started on the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon races. The continued relatively warm weather — it was 30-some degrees along Lake Superior Monday and Tuesday — caused nearly half of the 24-team field in the 300-mile marathon to drop out. Slushy, sticky snow is hard on the joints of dogs, and mushers didn’t want to overtax them. Winning the marathon Tuesday afternoon was Ryan Anderson of Wisco...
Our frigid winter can only be soothed by embracing it. That's what Dan Malkovich of Cloquet was doing last week as he ventured out to Jay Cooke State Park for some night photography of the waning wolf moon. "The full moon in January, called the wolf moon, was hidden by an overcast sky" on Jan. 17, he said. "Here is a picture taken the next night, when the sky was clear and the moon was 96-percent full. Compared to our eyes, the camera has superior ability to record even low amounts of light,...
Reader Mike Farmer recently captured this black wolf, a rarity in the wild. While technically simply a "black-colored" gray wolf, it is estimated the percentage of them found in wolf populations is in the single digits. Appropriately, the first full moon of the year rose Monday, and it is called the wolf moon. The Pine Knot News is always interested in photo captures from readers, whether it be in the wilds or just from everyday life. People and animals and the beauty of nature are welcome....
As I recently watched young, smiling kids riding down the snow-covered hill at Cloquet's Pinehurst Park, I thought back to the great times the "Scanlon Rottensnots" had sliding in "the pines" in the 1960s. Back then, 12 months out of the year, neighborhood kids played outdoors. "The pines" was land owned by Northwest Paper, and later Potlatch on 22nd Street. It had several different hills, and snow seven months out of the year. It is now the site of the Cloquet Middle School and the Rol...
Pine Knot News reader John Dahlman snapped this photo of a female pileated woodpecker at the suet feeder outside their Floodwood home on Dec. 30....
This saga sounds like the backdrop to a TV reality show: snowmobiles in the wilderness on the Minnesota/Canada isolated border with subzero record-breaking temperatures, whiteout blizzard conditions and little food, water, or shelter. Due to the weather stress, those snowmobiles eventually became unmovable, but all three riders survived the overnight ordeal. For Cloquet’s Tim Carle and Johnny and Sis Leon, it was an outdoor challenge they lived to tell about. It could have easily turned the othe...
Check ice thickness for yourself Weather, currents, snow cover and springs can cause ice conditions to change rapidly and vary widely, even on the same body of water and even in a short period of time. In many parts of Minnesota, it’s easy to see where other people have accessed the ice — whether it’s footprints, snowmobile tracks or a post on social media. But never assume you’re good to go just because someone headed out before you. For new, clear ice only UNDER 4" - STAY OFF 4" - Ice fishing or other activities on foot 5" - 7" - Snowmob...
With measurable snowfall coming to northern Minnesota the past week, cross country skiers are hitting the trails. And it’s a good bet that a majority of those skiers coat the bases of their skis in wax that contains per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances — a family of human-made chemicals known as PFAS — that have polluted water supplies around the world, including in Minnesota. The so-called “forever chemicals” are used in a huge variety of products, from nonstick cookware to fire-suppressing foam, carpet and clothing. For decades they’ve a... 
Website
Minnesota plans to require hundreds of industrial facilities and other sites to test for PFAS, the troublesome human-made substances sometimes known as "forever chemicals." State environmental regulators released the draft plan on Tuesday, calling it a critical step in better understanding how the chemicals are getting into the environment, and potentially reducing their levels. "Unfortunately, PFAS is not just a concern in surface water and fish," said Katrina Kessler, Minnesota Pollution... Website
Photographer Mike Farmer said this is the second eight-point buck he'd seen in his yard in as many days. "They seem to have a one-track mind this time of year," Farmer said. We think the buck is just happy Farmer was shooting with his camera, not a rifle. Reports from last weekend's deer hunting opener were sparse, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reported. It was just too hot for the deer or hunters to be moving much. That could change this weekend....
Nearly half a million firearms deer hunters are preparing for the firearms deer season, which opens Nov. 6. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wildlife managers report favorable weather so far this year, and good opportunities to harvest deer in most areas. Of note this year is the DNR warning that hunters know the boundaries of the deer permit areas and any chronic wasting disease regulations that apply where they hunt. Information can be found on the DNR website. Here is the expectation for hunters in the northeast part of the stat...
