Stay Dry When the Waves Are High: As things heat up around Lake Superior, more people will be out enjoying a swim or a wade in the warm waters (see the July average water temp graphic). This is also the season when dangerous rip currents can whip up, putting those in the water at risk. “Mid- to late summer and even into early fall is really the key time,” says Jesse Schomberg of Minnesota Sea Grant. “It corresponds with the time when the beach is most shallow, typically (so rip currents can form easier) and warm water, when it's most likely for folks to be in the water.” Minnesota Sea Grant has a webpage and a downloadable PDF devoted to being aware of rip currents and how to escape them. The currents, generated from wind and waves, can quickly form channels that carry you away from shore, causing panicked people to swim directly into them to reach shore. That may be fatal because these surface currents can be faster than Olympic swimmers. Jesse is the Sea Grant point person for rip currents, so we asked him what everyone should know about them. “Stay dry when the waves are high!” he advises. “Rip currents are driven by waves, so wavy days – even 1- to 2-foot waves – are most dangerous. While these currents can be deadly, it’s also really important to remember that just because you get caught in a rip current doesn’t mean you're going to die. Remember to Flip, Float and Follow: remain calm, flip over and float on your back to keep your head above water, and then follow a safe path out of the current, usually sideways to the direction you’re being pulled. Rip currents are very fast and strong, but narrow, so swimming just a few feet to the side can get you out of the current.” Jesse adds that rip currents, which form on sandy beaches with a sandbar present, are just one form of hazardous currents in Lake Superior. “Dangerous currents are also common near any structure jutting out into the Lake – piers, jetties, etc. … Outlet currents, longshore currents and channel currents can also be dangerous." So when headed to the beach, pay attention to rip current warnings; many towns post warning flags: red for high hazard, yellow for medium hazard and green for low hazard. A recently added pole near the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center in Duluth’s Canal Park sports flag alerts. Inside, the center features a new interactive display about rip currents. So enjoy those warmer temps, but respect what the Lake can churn up, even on a sunny day.
Commanding View: We got the great privilege this week of joining the new commander of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Unit Duluth as she toured the control booth of the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge for the first time. Cmdr. Frances Smith says Duluth was at the top of her command posting list this go round. Last week she replaced outgoing Cmdr. Erin Williams, the first time in Duluth the command has gone from one woman to another. “I did request assignment to MSU Duluth,” Frances told us in a note before her arrival. “It was a top choice of mine, and there are several factors that drew me to request the unit. I am honored that I was selected to be the next commanding officer. I look forward to working with the maritime industry operating on the Great Lakes and learning more about the vessels “lakers” and the commodities shipped. I have served on the West Coast, Gulf of Mexico, and inland rivers; I anticipate some differences.” Frances comes to Duluth from MSU Pittsburgh, where she had been stationed since 2016. Her husband, Tim, came early to Duluth to scout housing, she told us. “His first visit this year, the level of snow made house hunting quite daunting since there were several feet of snow hiding most of the houses. We are excited and looking forward to exploring all of Duluth.” Luckily both are avid snowboarders … the season for which, as we know, could be arriving any day now (not really, Frances, just joking). Still, she already got a great welcome … her visit to the Aerial Lift Bridge control booth serendipitously coincided with the arrival of the Indiana Harbor, so she got the full-throated greeting between boat and bridge.
Need Rescue? Will Travel: Two of our St. Louis County Rescue Squad members on training in Utah got to put their skills to use in a real river rescue during a training lunch break. We’ll let the rescue squad’s Facebook post tell the tale: “Aaron and Dan got to help a couple of folks out of a jam while training on the Colorado River in Utah. During lunch between sorties, our team observed two kayakers capsize, wet-dump, and gecko to the side of the cliff in obvious distress behind that rocky crag at the bottom of tonight's photo. Had the pair lost their grip, the current would have pulled them into some major nastiness with a possible tragic outcome. We've been training hard since last summer's basic course, and it showed. The course instructors simply pointed and said, ‘Red Team, go!’ ‘Ay-Ay-Ron’ and ‘72-Dan’ performed the rescue, then went back and finished their lunch. All in a day's training, eh?”
75 & Still Active: Marathon, Ontario, is having a banner week. The 3,000-population town on Lake Superior’s northern coast has been celebrating its 75th Anniversary, plus it just received word that it earned designation as “Ontario’s Most Active Community.” The Marathon Family Health Team, whose logo is seen here, announced Thursday: “It’s official. Marathon has been recognized as Ontario's Most Active Community and is being awarded $20,000 to go towards local physical activity initiatives!! Throughout the 17-day challenge, Marathon logged over 1.8 million minutes of physical activity! That's equivalent to over 32,000 hours and 1,300 days of physical activity! Well done, everyone!” The first Community Better Challenge was through ParticipACTION, an initiative to get Canadians active that started in 1971. According to the group’s website: “When we first started, Canadians were struggling to achieve their physical activity goals. So, we showed them how 30-year-old Canadians were about as fit as 60-year-old Swedes.” Those Swedes can be proud of Marathonites, whose community is surrounded by trails, beautiful beaches and a Stanley Thompson-designed golf course. Those active Marathon folks will have even more reason to get out this weekend as the last of the weeklong 75th Anniversary Celebrations wrap up, including geocaching Saturday, a colour fun run, an open house at Hemlo mine with tours, barbecue, a bouncy castle and other family activities with the day ending in a street dance back in town. Closing ceremonies are noon Sunday.
Be Well … Outside: A study published last week in Nature Scientific Reports shows that getting out in nature at least two hours a week significantly improves well being, apparently whether those are urban green spaces or our larger north woods. The 19,806 study participants reported satisfaction with their lives 20 percent more after at least two hours outdoors during the week, a pattern consistent even among older adults and those with long-term health issues. Less than two hours showed no increased satisfaction, but the two hours could be all at once or over the course of the week, and the effect of nature apparently peaked at five hours per week, according to the researchers. Of course, those of us living with nature as our backyard didn’t need a study to tell us we just feel better when we can spend time with the flora, fauna and Big Lake (just take a look at these happy folks at Aguasabon Falls near Terrace Bay, Ontario, on the Circle Tour), but maybe this research will encourage more green space planning in bigger cities … or will encourage more frequent visits to our shores.
Keep Balloons on a Leash: Catch & release is no way to handle a balloon if you love the Great Lakes. Keith Matheny wrote in the Detroit Free Press about balloon pollution on Great Lakes shores. “Balloons are frequently used to decorate, celebrate or commemorate almost every major life event,” Keith writes. “But there’s a growing awareness that balloons released to the sky come down to Earth, somewhere, as litter, 100 percent of the time. And that litter, in addition to polluting the environment, can be deadly to animals that eat the balloons or get tangled in them.” From 2016 to 2018, Alliance for the Great Lakes beach-cleaning volunteers logged more than 18,000 balloons, balloon pieces or balloon strings. Only five states, none on the Great Lakes, limit or ban the intentional release of balloons. A study being done by University of Michigan student Lara O’Brien invited people to log the where, when and what of their balloon finds on the Great Lakes. Meanwhile just this week, Peterson Farm in New York posted this photo noting how unfestive finding balloons in the field makes them: “Erik picked up this strand of ELEVEN balloons out of the hayfield this afternoon. They were losing helium and would have been essentially invisible in another few hours, and then stood a good chance of getting mowed, raked and baled in the dense grass to be potentially eaten by a cow, horse or goat this winter. This is often fatal to the animal, causing intestinal blockage or choking.” So for the sake of farm animals, lakeshore wildlife and the Big Lake itself, please, only enjoy tethered balloons!
Nice Looking Fishes: The Minnesota DNR announced this week the certification of two fish-catch records. It was beginner’s luck for Oklahoma angler Billy King when he tried ice fishing for the first time on Lake of the Woods in April. Billy got the biggest walleye of the day and followed that up with a whopping 13 lb., 9 oz. whitefish that was 29.5 inches long (the Minnesota record whitefish on Lake Superior is a lean 2 lbs, 7 inches and 21 inches long). “This turned out to be the trip of a lifetime and I have to say that everyone was so nice. Not just in relation to the potential new state record but everyone was so polite and welcoming. It made the trip all the more enjoyable,” King said. Ethan Rasset broke the other record, catching a 4 lb., 13 oz. golden redhorse (the fish here with a moustache) in March. He basically broke his own record, having taken the golden redhorse record just one year before in April 2018, also on the Otter Tail River in northwestern Minnesota, with a 4 lb., 8 oz. golden redhorse. “Very few people can say they have broken a state record twice!” Rasset said in the DNR press release. If you want to see what all the fish records are in Minnesota, check out the DNR’s online list.
A Tradition Passing: We recently received word that one of the last commercial fishermen on Isle Royale, Milford Johnson, died June 1 at the age of 91 in California, where he moved to be near his daughter after his wife’s death in 2018. His obituary included this information about his Lake Superior-based life: “Milford was born February 17, 1928, to Milford Iver and Myrtle Dora (Sivertson) Johnson in Duluth, Minn. As part of one of the pioneer commercial fishing families on the North Shore, he grew up in Two Harbors and on Isle Royale. As a young man he ran fishing charters for the National Park Service, fished with his family and served in the Korean war as an MP in the Army. He married Monica Alice Wannebo on May 9, 1953, and together they made their home in Two Harbors. Milford worked at Reserve Mining Co. for more than 20 years. During that time, he fished out of Duluth. After his retirement from Reserve Mining, he continued in the family business of commercial fishing in Duluth and Isle Royale as well as operating the MV Wenonah between Isle Royale and Grand Portage. … He enjoyed commercial fishing on Lake Superior, visiting with family and friends and traveling.” He is survived by four children, 12 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren as well as a brother and sister.
Circular Logic: You might call them mini “circle tours” – roundabouts have popped up around the Big Lake neighborhood on Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin roadways. Not everybody loves driving around in the circles, but this replacement for traditional stop-and-go intersections has proven benefits, according to studies done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety quoted by the Wisconsin DOT. The study showed a 75 percent reduction in injury crashes in general and a 90 percent reduction in fatal collisions with roundabouts. Replacing streetlights with the circular solution saves the $5,000 to $10,000 per year cost of maintaining a light. So it’s with future benefits in mind we remind those driving around Marquette Township about the US 41/MI-28 reconstuction and roundabout project (seen in this map). This Saturday, Michigan DOT alerts drivers, the traffic configuration will change there, with eastbound and westbound travel lanes shifting north and westbound lanes moving onto the new pavement. Two lanes in each direction and a center left-hand turn lane will be maintained. Work begins next week on the south side of the highway in front of the Menards store. During the project, which started this spring and is expected to end in June 2020, access to some businesses may be temporarily rerouted.
Ferry Nice: A Texas ferry is getting a renewed life in the northland as the newest member of the Madeline Island Ferry Line fleet. The former B.L. DeBerry became the La Pointe, renamed for Madeline island’s only town. As befitting a boat that will spend its time going from La Pointe A to Point Bayfield, it gets two official dedications Saturday – the first at 9:30 a.m. at the ferry dock on Madeline Island and the second at 11 a.m. at the Bayfield City Dock. The island ferry line came across the 102-foot ferry boat in a small Chicago shipyard as it was being reconfigured to a river cruise boat and purchased it. In May 2018, it was moved to Fincantieri shipyard in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, where it got a complete makeover, including new pilothouse, passenger accommodations, engines, generators, mechanical equipment, hydraulic ramps and state-of-the-art electronics. The double-ended ferry (with engine, propeller and rudder at both ends) need not turn around and, at 44 feet wide, can carry up to 22 vehicles and 149 passengers. The La Pointe joins the Bayfield, Madeline, Island Queen and Nichevo in the ferry line’s fleet, which makes the crew happy … if this photo they sent is any indicator.
Barking Up the Right Tree: This will be the last weekend to see the exhibition of international birchbark artwork that has been part of the Washburn Cultural Center’s monthlong celebration of the birch tree. More than 100 art pieces showcase the work of Swedish, Finnish, Russian, Mongolian and Anishinaabe and other local artists. This exhibit ends Sunday. “All across the northern latitudes of the globe,” according to the exhibits press release, “wherever birch trees exist, people have always used the bark, sap, wood, branches, roots and fungus for utilitarian and artistic purposes. Locally, the Anishinaabe people have historically used the birch bark for wigwams, canoes, baskets, and writing on birch scrolls to name only a few of many uses. Birch trees are a major source of wood for a variety of industries. County, state and national forestry programs manage the birch tree resource carefully. At a time when the changing climate affects many species, birch trees have new challenges that must be considered by scientists, resource managers, and the public.” Plans are being explored to make this a traveling exhibit, which has been curated by Lorraine Norrgard of Washburn.
A Shopping Treasure Hunt: Art in the Alley, started in Superior in 2008 and now in two locations in Duluth (downtown and at the Miller Hill Mall), remains a delightful treasure hunt of locally produced artwork, both practical and whimsical. The downtown store is fun-packed with clothing, jewelry, scarves, inspirational wall-hangings and décor. The works inside are created by the owners and the employees. Owner/artist Tami LaPole Edmunds talks about her store and the treasures in it as this week's installment of businesses within the Superior Street construction zone.
Photo & graphic credits: Minnesota Sea Grant; Bob Berg; St. Louis County Rescue Squad; Marathon Family Health Team; Konnie LeMay; Peterson Farm; Minnesota DNR; Cavallin Funeral Home; Michigan DOT; Madeline Island Ferry Line; Lorraine Norrgard; Nik Wilson