Minnesota Conservation Volunteer March-April 2017
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DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES MARCH–APRIL 2017 MINNESOTA CONSERVATION VOLUNTEER How the Swans Came Back Conservation Officers Save the Day Contents 32 A Thing Called Birding A city-park escape from the daily grind of a tech job leads one man to discover the allure of watching birds. By Travis Bonovsky Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, March–April 2017 Volume 80, Number 471 see more online features 8 Visions of Swans The story of this bird’s return to Minnesota is more fascinating than a fairy tale. By Carrol L. Henderson 22 What Is Wilderness? Researchers reconsider the history of human influence in the Boundary Waters. By Evan Larson EXPLORE THE PAST You can see every issue of Minnesota Conservation Volunteer magazine back to 1940 online. Visit MCV’s archives at mndnr. gov/mcvmagazine/archive. Minnesota Conservation Volunteer (USPS 129880) is pub- lished bimonthly by the Department of Natural Resources, 500 Lafayette Road N., St. Paul, MN 38 Search and Rescue, 55155-4046. Preferred periodicals postage paid in St. Paul, Minn., and additional offices. Detect and Solve POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, Depart ment of Natural Young Naturalists learn how conservation officers Resources, 500 Lafayette Road N., St. Paul, MN look out for everyone’s safety. By Joe Albert 55155-4046. Equal opportunity to programs of the Department of Natural Resources is available to all individuals regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, or disability. 46 The Waters Downhill Discrimination inquiries should be sent to DNR Affirmative Action, 500 Lafayette Road N., St. Paul, Along with crops and cattle, this farmer nurtures a MN 55155-4031, or the Equal Opportunity Office, conservation ethic. By Keith Goetzman Department of the Interior, Washington, DC 20240. For alternative formats, call 651-259-5365. Minnesota Conservation Volunteer is available online or mailed on request. An annual contribution of any amount ensures continuation of your subscription. departments © Copyright 2017, State of Minnesota, Department of Natural Resources. Permission from the publisher is required to reproduce or transmit in any form or 2 This Issue by any means. Printed on chlorine-free paper con taining at least 10 4 Letters percent post- consumer waste. 6 Natural Curiosities 50 Thank You COVER PHOTOGRAPH: RICHARD HAMILTON 70 Field Notes SMITH. OPPOSITE PAGE: RED-TAILED HAWK BY TRAVIS BONOVSKY. ABOVE LEFT: BWCAW BY 72 Minnesota Profile EVAN LARSON. This issue Where We Came From You, dear reader, and I have been having installed indoor plumbing—improvements long conversations over the time you’ve been we kids barely noticed but which the grand- reading this magazine. Whether or not you mothers repeatedly praised. write to me, I try to listen—to imagine your Here at the DNR magazine, I’ve been concerns and your joy. This editor’s column, watching, and guiding, where we’re headed my 156th letter to you, marks the close of my since 1986. My on-the-job training started years as editor of Minnesota Conservation with editor emeritus Robert Kraske, who Volunteer. For the past three decades, my hired me as associate editor. On my first relationship with you and the natural world day, he put a large box of letters from read- has animated my life. ers on my desk and assigned me to read Now, making this strange passage called each one. Thus he wisely introduced me to retirement, I feel a little like Alice dropping you and your passion for outdoor life. down a rabbit hole into uncharted territory. When my mentor announced his To get my bearings, I am trying to follow impending retirement, I worried that I some of my own advice. In the May–June was not ready to act in his place. But when 1997 issue, I wrote: “The lessons of navi- DNR leaders offered me a chance to take gating in the woods could apply almost over, I followed Teddy Roosevelt’s counsel: anywhere as a person attempts to mark “Whenever you are asked if you can do a progress and maintain a course: Know job, tell ’em, ‘Certainly, I can!’ Then get busy where you came from. Watch where you’re and find out how to do it!” headed. Start where you’re at.” To begin, I enlisted the help of people Where I came from takes me back to with more knowledge and experience than summer weeks in western Minnesota with I had. Besides being critically important to a grandparents on the farm and grandparents fledgling editor, teamwork invites creativity living in town. For us grandkids, staying in and invigorates everyone. Over the years, both places seemed a lot like camping. We I’ve been fortunate to hire and work with pumped pails of cold well water and heated many dedicated people—far more than I it in kettles on the stove for washing dishes, could name here. clothes, and us. On the farm we could take Today our ace team (Lynn Phelps, Mike a quick shower with solar-heated rainwater Kallok, and Keith Goetzman in editorial; from a bucket and hose rigged up alongside David Lent and Sue Ryan in circulation) the garage. In town and country, we used collaborates on almost everything. We live by outhouses and, honest, Sears Roebuck cata- a few unwritten rules: Meet deadlines. Don’t logs. Those were the 1950s, before my uncles assume—verify facts. Serve readers—what 2 Minnesota Conservation Volunteer A reader-supported magazine encouraging conservation and sustainable use of Minnesota’s natural resources. MAGAZINE STAFF Editor in Chief Kathleen Weflen Art Director Lynn Phelps Managing Editor Keith Goetzman Online Editor Michael A. Kallok Database Manager David J. Lent Circulation Manager Susan M. Ryan DNR PHOTO, RELEASE OF NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL SAW-WHET OF NORTHERN RELEASE DNR PHOTO, Subscriptions and donations does the reader need to know, see, discover? Try to make each 888-646-6367, press 5 for MCV new issue the best one ever. Governor Mark Dayton Since 1940, excellence has been a hallmark of The Conser- vation Volunteer. In my time here, we’ve acquired many new tools for polishing that tradition. In 1986 we were typing stories on typewriters or word processors. We sent edited manuscripts to a typesetter, who set columns of type for the editor to cut and paste into page layouts. By 1989 we were Our mission is to work with citizens to conserve and manage the state’s natural working on desktop computers and sending files directly to resources, to provide outdoor recreation the printer. In fall 1992 black-and-white photos gave way to opportunities, and to provide for commercial uses of natural resources in a way that full color. Before long, instead of slides, photographers were creates a sustainable quality of life. transmitting digital images online. Throughout the changes, the magazine has stayed true Commissioner Tom Landwehr to its mission of encouraging conservation, sustainable use, Deputy Dave Schad and enjoyment of natural resources. And you, MCV readers, Commissioner have marked its progress. Assistant Bob Meier Commissioners Barb Naramore Readers make everything possible. Your contributions Sarah Strommen support Minnesota Conservation Volunteer from start to finish. No other magazine that I’ve ever heard of anywhere in the Communications Director Chris Niskanen country can make that claim. The life of this magazine relies Division Directors uniquely on you. Luke Skinner, Ecological and Water Resources What animates your life? For me, and perhaps for most Rodmen Smith, Enforcement Jim Leach, Fish and Wildlife of us, the root cause is a verb—love. We love this place called Forrest Boe, Forestry Minnesota, our home, our natural community. Beginning at Jess Richards, Lands and Minerals Laurie Martinson, Operation Services home, we expand our vision to love the Earth deeply, truly, Erika Rivers, Parks and Trails and actively. Regional Directors Thank you all for being such a vital part of my life for Rita Albrecht, Bemidji so long. Lori Dowling-Hanson, Grand Rapids Dennis Frederickson, New Ulm Kathleen Weflen, editor, [email protected] Keith Parker, St. Paul March–April 2017 3 Letters “I sincerely welcome the Minnesota DNR’s involvement in the controlled expansion of the Minnesota elk population. ” —Brad Shinkle Best Birds. The article by Michael Furtman and time to support the reintroduction efforts. about grosbeaks (“Have You Seen a Grosbeak?” I sincerely welcome the Minnesota DNR’s Jan.–Feb. 2017) was one of the best. The pine involvement in the controlled expansion of grosbeak on the cover is the most beautiful the Minnesota elk population. But I fear that I’ve ever seen. without attendant predator control, the efforts Diane Pierce Huxtable, Lake Wales, Florida will have limited success. Brad Shinkle, Minnetonka Snail Level. What a great piece on snails (“Tiny Travelers,” Sept.–Oct. 2016), and your Any restoration must be done recognizing that opening piece (This Issue) brings the wide wolves are well established on the landscape, world down to snail level. says DNR wolf expert Dan Stark. Wolves would Danny J. Bobrow, Normandy Park, likely be an important mortality factor to any Washington elk population where the species overlap, but in many places the two species successfully coexist. Appreciation for Elk. I commend MCV and author Joe Albert for the excellent sum- Wow Again! I had an interesting rainy day mary of the status of elk in Minnesota (“A at the cabin recently. It was the perfect oppor- New Chapter for Elk,” Jan.–Feb. 2017). I am tunity to sort through and reduce my pile of a landowner in Sawyer County, Wisconsin, MCV magazines. What should have been a which hosts the first restored elk herd in the two-hour task on my to-do list turned into an state.