The Spring issue of Wilderness News is online and in the mail. Download a PDF here.
WHAT’S INSIDE:
North House Folk School
This month, students in Bill Lane’s saw-whet and boreal owling class at North House Folk School in Grand Marais won’t just be tromping through the wet Minnesota woods hoping to hear, see, and checklist owls like more typical birders. In the spirit of the hands-on ethic of the school, and in just the sort of synergistic relationship that North House seems to foster between the landscape where it is set and the traditional northern crafts it has taught to so many students in the school’s nearly 10 years of existence, Lane’s students will connect themselves to owls and owls’ landscape through their hands, as well as their eyes and ears. MORE >
Wilderness Reflections: Paths
Along the most northern border of Minnesota, stretching from the Pigeon River to Lake Superior, is a path. The Pigeon River is shallow and very muddy. It marks the beginning of the Grand Portage, a path used by French fur traders. Thick stretches of pines line the nine mile trail. For many people the Grand Portage is a rite of passage, something you do the summer after you’ve turned sixteen. Maybe it is hard to understand; maybe it is simply something that you have to experience for yourself, but the Grand Portage is something that has changed my life. July 10, 2005— I woke up very early, so early there were no traces of sunlight through the green vinyl of our tent. It was dusky outside as the sun slowly began to rise. When we started, it was before six o’clock. MORE >
Wilderness Portrait: Bill Hansen
Seeing first hand the long term wisdom contained in the Wilderness Act. Bill Hansen has had a unique relationship with the Quetico Superior region. Raised on Sawbill Lake, he saw a transition the region made after the passage of the Boundary Waters Act in 1978 and stayed to develop a successful canoe outfitting business. His interests in environment and community prompted a life-long commitment to community involvement. MORE >
Beyond Grassroots—The Nature Conservancy of Canada
“This area is not remote,” says Ilka Milne of the Nature Conservancy of Canada talking about the vast sweep of wild land that she is responsible for as the Program Manager of NCC’s Northwestern Ontario Program. MORE >
Along the Trail: In the Image of Man
Inukshuk (ee-nook-shook) is an Inuit word meaning “in the image of man”. For those who travelled across the vastness of the Arctic,inukshuks acted as directional markers to guide those who saw them. Each inukshuk had a specific meaning or purpose… MORE >