Linda Grenzer
Loons
Loons on the rise
No, not the human kind; the welcome ones with the haunting tremolo voices and the well-earned “shell” necklace across their backs.
Just today LoonWatch announced the results of a 2015 one-day survey that shows an upswing in Wisconsin’s loon population. The program at Northland College’s Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute recorded a 37.8 percent increase (834 counted) in chicks from 2010 and a 9.1 percent increase in adults (4,350 counted).
“I’m surprised and pleased,” LoonWatch Coordinator Erica LeMoine is quoted in a press release. “Between the 2010 Gulf oil spill and 2012 botulism outbreak they’ve faced extraordinary challenges over the last five years, so this is good news.”
Erica credits the efforts to reduce use of lead in fishing tackle and education about good loon stewardship as aiding the population increase. The Wisconsin Loon Population Survey is the longest running and only statewide survey of the birds, the release states.
A short 1959 film, “The Loon’s Necklace,” relates one legend of how the loon got its shell necklace. The reproduction is shaky, but the use of authentic Native masks is very intriguing.
More Tall Ships Duluth day sails available
A fresh batch of sailaway tickets just became available late this morning. If you want to ride on a tall ship during the four-day festival in August, grab your tickets immediately. Previous batches have sold out in mere hours.
Fisheries roundup
Some 35,000 splake were stocked in Munising Bay this week, reports Mallory Anderson for WLUC-TV:
Every year since 1974, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has stocked Lake Superior with thousands of fish to benefit anglers. This restocking allows for anglers to fish right near the shoreline rather than having to have a large vessel to head out further into the water.
Splake are a hybrid of lake and brook trout. Take a minute to watch the video for a behind-the-scenes look. The DNR says the waterpark-style ride leaves the fish no worse for wear.
+ The Chinook salmon fishery in Lake Superior is dominated by wild fish, which is “something to celebrate,” reports WJMN-TV.
+ Christa Lawler, Duluth News Tribune: “Smelt honored, eaten at annual Duluth parade.”
On the trail of a 200-year-old mystery
Was lead-infused rum the main cause of death for British sailors stationed in Antigua at the turn of the 19th century? A team of Lakehead University researchers intends to find out with the help of access to skeletal remains in the British Navel Hospital cemetery on the West Indies island, reports the CBC in Thunder Bay.
Early results show mix findings, says head researcher Tamara Varney, who has studied the deaths since 2009. Lead has long been believed to be the cause of the deaths because the sailors daily ration of rum was distilled with lead equipment. However, remains so far reveal a wide range of contamination, from extreme to little exposure.
Courtesy University of Wisconsin-Superior
UW-Superior Library Wins Governor’s Award
University of Wisconsin-Superior students in the Jim Dan Hill Library view blueprints from the Fraser Shipyard Collection.
UWS receives archival award for maritime collection
The University of Wisconsin-Superior acquired the Fraser Shipyards collection in 2013, a sprawling addition to the school library’s maritime special collections. It included decades worth of project files, technical drawings and photographs from Fraser, which has been a fixture of the Superior waterfront for more than 125 years.
For its work to preserve and catalog these historic documents, the Jim Dan Hill Library won the Governor’s Award for Archival Achievement from the state of Wisconsin this month.
The Fraser collection boasts design documents for well-known ships such as the Edmund Fitzgerald, Ranger III and Woodrush. Along with the library’s thousands of other maritime items (from which we at the magazine often draw), it’s an invaluable resource for history buffs and researchers.
“To me, this award honors not just the archive staff, but everyone who has been involved with this collection,” says Shana Aue, the special collections librarian. She started at the library a month after the acquisition and led the processing effort. “From the staff at Fraser Shipyards who have been so supportive of our work with their records, to the maritime historians who have volunteered their time to help interpret these materials, to the student employees and interns who helped re-box files when we first received the collection.”
Houghton, Michigan, finished eighth in a Smithsonian ranking of best small towns near national parks. It’s a gateway to Isle Royale National Park and home to some Keweenaw National Historical Park sites.
Delta Diner makes the New York Times: Jennifer Rossmann, a waitress at the northwestern Wisconsin diner, was featured in the Times’ Vocations feature.
Video: From SooToday, go behind the scenes at an alpaca farm (yes, alpaca) near Sault Ste. Marie.