Around the Circle This Week: June 8, 2018

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Preserved for the Public: Two local families have agreed to a living legacy by granting protected public access to 100 acres of the lower Siskiwit River near Cornucopia, Wisconsin, the Bayfield Regional Conservancy announced this week. The BRC project was initiated in 2015 following the tragic deaths of Dorothy Swenson and her son Dennis Swenson in a house fire. Cheri (Swenson) Surowiec and her husband, Brent, decided a fitting memorial to Cheri's mom and brother would be to continue a plan the family already had discussed. “As the heirs to the property, Brent and Cheri carried out the Swensons' vision to protect the land while also

allowing people to enjoy the property,” the BRC reported in its announcement. “The family had welcomed the public to enjoy beautiful river and its cascading waterfalls since 1943 when Arvid and Dorothy Swenson first purchased the property outside of the Village of Cornucopia. Adjacent property owners, Larry and Marcy Dorau, eagerly added their 6 acre coastal estuary wetland to the project.” During the ensuing three years, the conservancy worked with the landowners, the Town of Bell and Bayfield County to sort out ownership, management and land protection options. “In speaking with local people and regional partners, we knew that this area had long been recognized as an 'ambassador landscape' that could build on public appreciation of Lake Superior's south shore streams and coastal estuaries. We also saw an opportunity to build on prior land protection work at Cornucopia Beach and Lost Creek,” says Erika Lang, conservation director at the BRC. Grants from NOAA's Coastal and Esquarine Land Conservation Program and Wisconsin's Coastal Management Program helped with land purchase costs, along with matching funds coming from the landowners, local Cornucopia residents, regional supporters and BRC fundraisers. Bayfield County holds ownership of the property and intends to establish a trailhead and improve the existing primitive trails, making the property more ready for substantial public access. The Bayfield Regional Conservancy holds a conservation easement on the property, called the Swenson Forest Preserve. Until upgrades are completed, the County asks that visitors to use caution while visiting to prevent damage to sensitive vegetation and landscapes. Visitors are asked to along the north side of Siskiwit Falls Road.

International Port for a Day (or Two): L'Anse, Michigan, is not known for being a port along the shores of Lake Superior (even though a local business, Indian Country Sports, has its own working lighthouse). But the small town became an international port this week when a saltie, the Palabora cargo ship, arrived from Italy carrying 10 reciprocating internal-combustion engines for local power stations, including Negaunee and Baraga. Each engine weighs 325 tons and measures 46 feet tall by 20 feet long, and the shipment should take two days to unload, Mariah Powell of TV6 FoxUP reports. "Considering we don't have a big dock here, it is kind of neat when the big ships do come in like the one that was docked this winter during the big storms. Twice in one year is kind of neat," said Sarah Thompson, local resident and Baraga Telephone Company employee.

Soapbox Success: Youngsters racing soapbox cars helped to raise more than $37,000 in just two days for the George Jeffrey Children’s Centre in Thunder Bay this past weekend (June 1 & 2). That's $6,000 more than last year's Soapbox Races. This year the action was captured by Greg Malo Photography (as seen here). The children's centre is a pediatric outpatient facility

aiding in the communication, developmental and physical needs of children. Its history dates to 1948 when the Kiwanis Club and the Lakehead Cerebral Palsy Parents’ Council established the J.B. Larway School to serve preschool children with disabilities. The 15th running of the annual Soapbox Races were well attended with 26 racers from ages 6 to 17, according to Steve MacDonald, executive director of the George Jeffrey Children’s Foundation. "It was a mix of races, fun and local food vendors. ... The weather cooperated very well. The racers had a great time." New this year, the foundation partnered with the Boys & Girls Club, which brought inflatables for a fun zone. Proceeds will be shared with the club. The soapbox races are one of two major fundraisers for the centre, the other being a Hometown Heroes Charity Golf event in August. The fundraisers help to increase access to care at the centre, Steve says, adding a plug for main sponsor Best Western Plus Dryden Hotel and for volunteers from the Superior North Association of Professional Paramedics (or SNAPP). "They are all over the grounds that day, getting the cars up and down the hills," Steve says. "We couldn't do it without them."

Message in a Mural: Artist Jonathan Thunder has added the latest Native perspective writ large in another amazing outdoor mural in Duluth. The new mural graces a building at 2301 W. Superior St. and features plants and animals important in local culture, including deer, birch bark, sweetgrass and the Three Sisters – corn, squash and beans. Jonathan, a Duluth resident, attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe and received a bachelor's degree from the Art Institutes International Minnesota. He has done illustrations, cartoon animations and film shorts. Earlier this year, a mural he painted honor Fond du Lac chief Joseph Osauge was unveiled in Duluth’s Denfeld High School. On Tuesday (June 12) at 5 p.m., a public ceremony and dedication of the latest outdoor mural, part of a series by the American Indian Community Housing Organization, popularly known as AICHO. Jonathan’s latest work is part of the College of St. Scholastica’s Mural Initiative Project, connecting CSS students with Twin Ports community in artistic collaborations. Earlier this year, Jonathan did another Lincoln Park Business District mural. The painting of Chief Joseph Osaugie, an important leader of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, is in the Denfeld High School. An Arrowhead Regional Arts Council Community Arts Learning Grant helped to fund the murals.

Moose-Wolf Balancing Act: The U.S. Park Service will indeed reintroduce 20-30 wolves back on Isle Royale over the course of three to five years, Isle Royale National Park Superintendent Phyllis Green formally announced at a press conference Thursday. The intention to reintroduce the island’s top predator has been anticipated; the reintroduction was listed as the park’s preferred plan for the current situation where only two wolves – a male and female, which have not been able to reproduce – remained. It will cost about $660,000 to capture and release the wolves from the three Lake Superior states and/or perhaps Ontario’s shore. The 20 to 30 wolves is an average resident population, determined during a more than 50-year study of the moose-wolf dynamic on the island. Without the wolves, the moose population has been on the rise to the detriment of some plants and trees due to overbrowsing with the potential of eventually affecting the moose population itself. What will happen to the remaining two wolves, which are father/daughter and share the same mother, is something of a mystery, according to Phyllis and Mark Romanski, the park’s chief of natural resources. “Only time will tell,” Phyllis indicated in an email to Lake Superior Magazine. “Wolves are very territorial, however, they also seek mates. They may integrate into new relationships or they could potential end up in fatal interactions, or they could ignore each other. We will start the transplants well away from the known pack territory of the remaining two, but it’s a small enough island they will eventually know where new introductions are staking out territories.”

This Day on America: In his This Day in Duluth post on June 7 (Thursday), publisher Tony Dierckins notes that 90 years ago on June 7, 1928, the SS America sank at Isle Royale and he posted this old postcard. The America was a watery lifeline between Duluth and Minnesota’s North Shore in the days before a passable roadway was developed, delivering goods and picking up product from commercial fishermen. The vessel remains visible under the waters by Isle Royale. Its service was never replaced, perhaps, as Tony points out, the roadway had just been completed. WDSE TV’s Karen Sunderman did a story on her documentary search for the America’s history for Lake Superior Magazine.

Photo & graphic credits: Bayfield Regional Conservancy; TV6 FoxUP; AICHO Galleries; Greg Malo Photography; NPS / Kelly Morrissey; Zenith City Press.