Mhairi McFarlane
Big Trout Bay
Thirteen miles of Lake Superior shore on Ontario's Big Trout Bay will become a nature preserve thanks to a Nature Conservancy of Canada acquisition.
Ontario’s Big Trout Bay protected
The Nature Conservancy of Canada announced the purchase of 2,517 acres of undeveloped coastal boreal forest on Big Trout Bay, near the Minnesota-Ontario border. The acquisition includes 13 miles of Lake Superior shoreline.
The new nature preserve, accessible by road, is expected to draw outdoor enthusiasts for low-impact activities like hiking, birdwatching and paddling, while protecting habitat important to species like the bald eagle and peregrine falcon.
This Big Trout Bay property had been on the market for years as the conservancy tried to raise funds. The seller had already plotted the land into 300 potential lots.
Funding for the purchase came from the Canadian government’s Natural Areas Conservation Program, a number of foundations, The Nature Conservancy programs in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and individual donors.
James Duncan, Nature Conservancy of Canada vice president for the Ontario region, said in a news release, “This project gives us hope that the landscapes we love today will be here for others to enjoy tomorrow.”
+ WTIP Radio in nearby Grand Marais, Minnesota, has a story on the acquisition.
Duluth intermodal terminal opens, first containers arrive
The Duluth port unveiled its new intermodal terminal on Tuesday, allowing the port to handle those ubiquitous shipping containers carried by trucks and trains.
It’s a partnership between CN and Duluth Cargo Connect (itself a partnership of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority and Lake Superior Warehousing). Containers move across the U.S. and Canada from coastal ports on road and rail; the new terminal allows shippers to easily move containers between the modes of transportation right in Duluth, saving time and money.
“By working with CN to establish this Duluth intermodal ramp, Duluth Cargo Connect is helping customers move freight by its shortest and most economical path,” Jonathan Lamb, president of Lake Superior Warehousing, said in a news release. “CN is the only railroad in this market with direct service to East, West and Gulf Coast ports.”
Vanta Coda, the executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, added, “Opening CN’s newest intermodal location here in Duluth instantly connects our region to containerized imports and exports via CN’s rail network, avoiding the congestion in large urban intermodal facilities. Our truck traffic has grown exponentially in recent years, and now we’ve partnered with CN to bring a whole new mode of efficient transportation services to the Twin Ports.”
The Duluth News Tribune has video from the first containers’ arrival. Minnesota-based Lexington Manufacturing, a maker of door parts, was the first customer to utilize the terminal. The company imports agricultural fiber boards from the Netherlands and China. The boards arrive at ocean ports and then via the CN rail network reach Duluth, where the containers can now be loaded onto trucks for the final leg.
Great Lakes historian honored
Courtesy GLSPS
Fred Stonehouse award
Fred Stonehouse (middle) accepts the award from GLSPS President Phil Kerber.
Fred Stonehouse – a historian who has published many books with us and a longtime friend of the magazine – received the C. Patrick Labadie Special Acknowledgement Award from the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society this week. The award recognizes his “exceptional contributions to the upper Midwest preservation, history or dive community.”
Says Fred, “I am deeply humbled by the award. First because it is from such a stellar group as the GLSPS that has done so much to preserve our maritime history over the decades and second, that it is named after Pat Labadie, the true Dean of Great Lakes Historians.”
Pat was the founding director of the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center in Duluth’s Canal Park.
+ Read some of the stories Fred has written for us over the years.
Rock of Ages Lighthouse to be restored: The multi-year project aims to return the Isle Royale light to its 1930s condition. The Rock of Ages Lighthouse Preservation Society hopes to welcome visitors in 2020, reports Lisa Kaczke for the Duluth News Tribune.
What’s under your house? The Minnesota DNR has a neat interactive tool showing you the geology under your feet. For example, it’s less than 10 feet to bedrock under the Lake Superior Magazine offices in downtown Duluth, whereas in downtown Minneapolis, you need to go down 59 feet to bedrock under the Foshay Tower. (We’re rock solid Up North.) There’s also a version of the site for tablets.
Soo Locks upgrade study progresses: Michigan officials are making their case about the need for a new lock, MLive’s Garret Ellison reports. They want the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expand the scope of its cost-benefit study, arguing that a breakdown would have major consequences for the national economy.
Cougar found frozen in a snowbank near Thunder Bay: “A startling discovery made this weekend northwest of Thunder Bay may have answered a decades-old question about whether cougars prowl northwestern Ontario,” writes Gord Ellis for the CBC.
Sault College expanding: It’s investing $18.2 million to build the Institute of Environment, Education and Entrepreneurship, which will “house programming in the natural environment, geographic information systems (GIS), and information and communications technology (ICT) sectors,” reports Lindsay Kelly for Northern Ontario Business Review.
Birch bandits cut down thousands of trees: “Law enforcement officials in northern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota say there's been a recent rash of illegal cutting of small birch trees that are smuggled out and sold as decorations in stores and online,” writes John Myers in the Superior Telegram.
That’s my hat! A Duluth woman lost her beloved and distinctive hat in 2015. This year she found it – when she saw it in a local TV commercial.