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Wonders of the Near North

Wonders of the near north.
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Reporter’s Notebook: Oral history project continues with Grant Merritt

By Stephanie Hemphill | November 18, 2016 |

Image © Jim Gindorff

Key players in passage and uses of early environmental legislation are interviewed as part of an oral history project.

Filed Under: History, Homepage Bottom Features, Homepage Top Feature, Issues, Reporter's Notebook Tagged With: conservation, environmental review, Lake Superior, mining, Northern Minnesota, policy

Reporter’s Notebook: Environmental oral history project begins with Chuck Dayton

By Stephanie Hemphill | September 19, 2016 |

Loons on Jasper Lake. Photo by Chuck Dayton.

In the early 1970s, Minnesota legislators put key environmental protections into law. An oral history project aims to recall how the bills were passed with wide margins, and how effective the laws have been.

Filed Under: History, Homepage Bottom Features, Homepage Top Feature, Issues, Series Tagged With: environmental review, minnesota, policy, profiles

Minnesota tweaks wild rice rule

By Stephanie Hemphill | August 7, 2016 |

Seeding wild rice in the St. Louis River. Photo by Cheryl Katz. Used with permission.

Minnesota adjusts a formula designed to protect wild rice waters from sulfate pollution.

Filed Under: Homepage Bottom Features, Homepage Top Feature, Issues, Research, Resource Management, Science, Water quality Tagged With: Northern Minnesota, resource management

Book review: What Should a Clever Moose Eat? by John Pastor

By Stephanie Hemphill | June 13, 2016 |

Author John Pastor illustrated his book on the complexities of North Woods ecosystems.

Ecologist John Pastor poses and answers fascinating questions about North Woods ecosystems.

Filed Under: Agate Book Review, Homepage Bottom Features, Homepage Top Feature, Research, Science Tagged With: conservation, Nature, Northern Minnesota

Duluth activists want more from community solar project

By Stephanie Hemphill | May 31, 2016 |

Community solar is growing fast in Minnesota, but not so fast in the rest of the region. Clean energy advocates say Duluth-based Minnesota Power’s proposal for a pilot community solar garden is too timid.

Filed Under: Climate Change, Homepage Bottom Features, Issues Tagged With: fossil fuels

Minnesota puts taconite mine permitting “on pause”

By Stephanie Hemphill | May 9, 2016 |

U.S. Steel's Minntac mine near Virginia, MN has a permit that expired in 1992. Photo: Creative Commons.

As the federal government investigates whether it should take away Minnesota’s authority to regulate industry, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says it has put most mining permit activities “on pause.”

Filed Under: Homepage Bottom Features, Homepage Top Feature, Issues, Regional Environmental News, Resource Management, Water quality Tagged With: Economy, environmental review, mining, Northern Minnesota, policy, resource management

Efforts to restore wild rice in the St. Louis River face challenges

By Stephanie Hemphill | April 25, 2016 |

A healthy stand of wild rice, Zizania palustris, at harvest time. Ojibwe people call this important activity “manoominike.” The standing partner uses the “gaandakii’igan” (push pole) to get around and the seated partner uses the “bawa’iganaakoog” (knocking sticks) to collect the rice. Photo by Cheryl Katz.

Efforts to restore wild rice in the St. Louis River estuary face potential challenges from carp, Canada geese, and sulfate pollution from upstream taconite mines.

Filed Under: Homepage Bottom Features, Homepage Top Feature, Issues, Resource Management, Uncategorized, Water quality Tagged With: Lake Superior, Northern Minnesota, resource management, St. Louis River, tribes

Researcher crusades for policies to protect water: profile of Dr. Deborah Swackhamer

By Stephanie Hemphill | March 24, 2016 |

Dr. Deborah Swackhamer

As a graduate student, Deborah Swackhamer made important discoveries about toxic chemicals polluting the Great Lakes; as a researcher she endured a grueling industry investigation; as a public scientist she showed how to make Minnesota’s lakes and rivers cleaner. In retirement she continues her lifelong quest to improve water quality.

Filed Under: Homepage Bottom Features, Homepage Top Feature, Research, Resource Management, Science, Water quality Tagged With: Lake Superior, minnesota, resource management

Book Review: Amethyst and Agate: Poems of Lake Superior

By Stephanie Hemphill | March 7, 2016 |

At the Shore, by Duluth print artist Cecilia Lieder.

Poets and visual artists contemplate Lake Superior.

Filed Under: Agate Book Review, Art, Homepage Bottom Features, Homepage Top Feature Tagged With: Lake Superior, poetry

Comparing PolyMet to Wisconsin’s Flambeau Mine

By Stephanie Hemphill | January 21, 2016 |

The Flambeau mine operated just 140 feet from the Flambeau River from 1993 to 1997.

A critic of the proposed PolyMet mine in Minnesota compares the project to the Flambeau mine, which operated in Wisconsin in the 1990s.

Filed Under: Homepage Bottom Features, Homepage Top Feature, Issues Tagged With: environmental review, mining, rivers

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