An on-going study of cormorants on Rainy Lake will include increased attention on birds dwelling on the Canadian side of the international water-body this summer. Cormorants have been a lightening-rod species among some anglers who fear the birds are impacting game-fish populations
Ted Gostomski, the co-author of Island Life: An Isle Royale Nature Guide and a Biologist/Science Writer at the Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Program of the National Park Service, will speak on Friday at Voyaguers National Park in International Falls.
Voyageurs National Park will use $230,000 in federal stimulus funding to rehabilitate campsites over the next two years. The money appropriated through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will support work on some 38 campsites in the park.
Rainy weather has confounded Voyageurs National Park’s efforts to conduct four prescribed burns this spring to further pine and oak regeneration in the International Falls-area park. While the window for spring burning may have passed, burning during the summer months is still a possibility.
A new bill will allow park visitors to carry loaded rifles, shotguns, and semi-automatic weapons in National Parks, including Voyageurs National Park in International Falls.
According to a Voyageurs National Park press release, a recent survey of the park’s moose population revealted that it is holding steady. The aerial survey sited 45 moose–a pleasant surprise for park officials given the decline of other moose populations acrosss northeastern Minnesota and southern Ontario.
Critical habitat for the endangered Canada Lynx has been expanded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, including parts of northern Minnesota.