The Associated Press State & Local Wire
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The Associated Press State & Local Wire June 13, 2005, Monday, BC cycle Upper Peninsula Briefs HOUGHTON, Mich. Mining companies are searching for mineral deposits in several Upper Peninsula coun- ties. Kennecott Minerals Co. is seeking nickel and copper in Marquette County and the Yellow Dog Plains, as well as looking for mineral deposits in Baraga County and surrounding areas. Jon Cherry, the company's manager of environmental and government affairs told The Daily Mining Gazette that Kennecott hasn't found anything in Baraga, Houghton or Onto- nagon counties, an area he described as mineral-rich. Michigan Tech geological engineering professor Ted Bornhorst said other companies are looking as well. He said there hasn't been any drilling activity in Keweenaw County. Both Cherry and Bornhorst said that even if a discovery is made, it could take years for mining to start. MARQUETTE, Mich. (AP) - State wildlife officials say the Marquette moose has va- moosed. The yearling cow moose, first spotted in the area over Memorial Day weekend, hasn't been seen in more than a week. Following its entrance, the moose took up residence in the Park Cemetery and made daily appearances in the three lily ponds at the 119-acre cemetery. "Aquatic plants are real high in protein this time of year and she had a good deal going for her," moose expert Rolf Peterson told The Mining Journal. "Cows are pretty laid back and it sounds like she was exhibiting normal moose behavior, but it's a better situation for everyone involved for her out in the wild." The constant interest from curiosity seekers and a decline in lily pads likely led the moose to move on, officials said. On Wednesday, state and city officials went in search of the moose, but couldn't find it. CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE www.clipresearch.com Electronic Clipping The Bradenton Herald June 12, 2005 Sunday EST EDITION Florida: FEATURES; BRIEF; Pg. 9 Whichever face it shows, the Lake Superior wilderness is beguiling BETH GAUPER "Moose can't tolerate tempera- For many, moose are the mar- Knight Ridder Newspapers tures much above 55 degrees," quee attraction on Isle Royale, a ISLE ROYALE NATIONAL PARK Newman had said during an eve- 45-mile-long land mass sur- ning program. "They have no way rounded by tiny islands. When it rains on Isle Royale, you to sweat, so they need to cool just have to soak it up. their bodies off." Around 1900, moose migrated from Minnesota and were free of Moisture comes with the territory I looked up, and there was a cow predators for nearly 50 years, in Lake Superior's northern with her calf, browsing in bushes until Lake Superior froze and a reaches. No one comes here for just off the trail. I'd once held a pair of wolves scampered over. the weather, despite early adver- moose hoof - a lethal weapon Now, the populations of predator tising that called it a "Summer- that, when kicked, connects at and prey seesaw back and forth, time 'Bermuda' Paradise." head level - so I froze and studied and documented by re- counted to two minutes, suppos- searchers from Michigan Bermuda it's not. But paradise? It edly a moose's attention span. Technological University in depends on how you look at it. Houghton since 1958. "Stay still and hope she forgets On the trails, I noticed, the driz- you," Newman had said. "She This spring, there are 30 wolves zle made colors pop from their knows you're something, just not on the island, a 25-year high, and glistening green backdrop - the what. If you wait a few minutes, 540 moose, down from 750 last orange flesh of a toppled cedar, she'll think, 'Hmm, that plant year and the fewest since 1997, the red and white of baneberry, looks good.'" after a die-off that reduced the the blue of a bead lily. herd from 2,400 only two years I got the sense that Mama knew I before. The skies were gray out on was there and didn't care, but the Scoville Point, but the air felt as calf gave me the big hairy eye- Lately, everything has conspired soft as a shawl. Underfoot, the ball. When I moved a little closer against the moose: winter ticks, rock pulsated with life, like a and took a few photos, it bolted a which latch on by the tens of coral reef. The closer I looked, few yards, then settled down thousands, weakening the the more I saw - water bugs skit- when its mother just kept eating. moose through blood loss and by tering on tiny ponds, lichen distracting them from eating; lots clinging to fissures, harebells Behind me, Kathy LaFontain of of snow, which restricts their swinging in the breeze. Toledo, Ohio, crept up the trail ability to feed and protect them- and watched, too. But she hadn't selves; fewer balsam firs, their Each square foot was lovely, a brought her camera, and after a preferred food; and a warmer veritable riot of life. Still, the few minutes, she dashed away to climate, which stresses the smaller life forms are not what fetch it and her friend. shaggy 1,000-pound animals and most people come to see on Isle stops them from eating as much Royale National Park. But the moose didn't wait. Mother food as they need to survive the and calf were on a mission, winter. "'Where can I see a moose?' - steadily eating their way from one that's what they all want to side of the trail to the other, put- Even so, Isle Royale is one of the know," said ranger Valerie New- ting on fat for winter. LaFontain best places in the world to see man. returned only to see their back- one. sides disappearing into thick I'd made peace with the rain by woods. As I hiked along, I was joined by the third day of my August visit. Elliot Stephens and Sarah Kidnie Heading along Rock Harbor Trail "They're so big and clumsy and of Clinton Township, Mich., who in the cool drizzle, I thought lummoxy, and then they move said they'd seen moose four about who would like this kind of away without making a sound," times, twice at the Rock Harbor weather. she said admiringly. campground. CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE www.clipresearch.com Electronic Clipping The two college students said And once there, a visitor may be a boardwalk over a bog, I found a they'd planned to backpack, but subject to savage weather in purple-fringed orchid, one of 32 when they hoisted their 80-pound "hypothermia country," as former varieties there. Farther up, New- packs, filled with $200 worth of ranger Nevada Barr put it in her man pointed to the old man's deli food and a daily change of mystery novel "A Superior beard lichen that clung to the clothes, they changed their Death." lower branches of a dying tree minds. and asked if we knew why that When I was there in early August, should bring a smile to our faces. "We picked up our packs, walked peak season, I was prohibited to the first campsite and said, from using the canoe that came "It tells you you're breathing 'This looks fine,'" Stephens said with my cottage, even in calm some of the cleanest air on the ruefully. Tobin Harbor, because of high planet," she said. winds on the lake. The nature Ironically, busy Rock Harbor may walks, sightseeing cruises and In a meadow, Newman said, ar- be the best place to see wildlife in hiking shuttles I'd planned to chaeologists had found traces of summer. The moose know wolves take were canceled because of copper mining from 4,500 years avoid people, so they hang out wind and rain. ago. And even we could see nearby. And red foxes know signs of a more recent attempt - where there are people, there's But I got to hear two evening pro- the meadow had been burned, food. grams, one given by the two art- which stripped off vegetation and ists in residence, and I had two heated rock outcroppings; min- "We were cooking some shrimp, fine dinners in the restaurant. ers then poured on cold lake wa- and four foxes came up," Ste- When I could get out and explore, ter, which fractured the rock and phens said. "They were circling the inclement weather made me revealed veins of copper. around, and I thought they were hunker down and really look at going to try to take us down." the little things - and on Isle Roy- Like the Keweenaw Peninsula, ale in particular, God is in the Isle Royale yielded up its copper. We took shelter from the rain for details. But despite many attempts, the a while in Suzy's Cave, named for isolated mines never made much Suzy Tooker, an island girl who And then, on my last day, the sun money. liked to play there. Then, I came out. headed back on the Tobin Harbor "That great big lake out there led Trail, stopping to admire the ex- Suddenly, the island sprang into to the end of the mining eras," travagant flora: curtains of moss, action. At 9 a.m., I hopped on the Newman said. clusters of pearly everlasting, M.V. Sandy excursion boat for the waxy pink petals of the pip- the twice-weekly guided trip to Loggers tried to extract money, sissewa or "prince's pine." Lookout Louise, named for an- too.