Properly dispose of yard waste, ashes or animal waste.
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Online ...
The University of Minnesota Sea Grant Program hopes to model the way for other groups in its "Shoreland Management Resource Guide," available at www.shorelandmanagement.org. The guide includes fact sheets, scientific and technical literature, citizen lake restoration projects and an interactive state map.
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The Clean Water Act turns 30 in 2002. This landmark law makes it unlawful for any person to discharge any pollutant into navigable waters without a permit. It also gave the EPA authority to set water quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters. www.epa.gov
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A remembrance of Jack Sparks . . .
Around the lake, friends and neighbors of Jack Sparks were saddened to learn of his death on August 15. At the time of his death, Jack was living at the Arrowhead Senior Living Community in Eveleth and had been battling serious health problems for a number of years.
Over the 50 years that Jack lived and worked on Vermilion, virtually everyone who lived at the lake and most who visited here had crossed paths with "Sparky." Visitors knew him as a resort owner and fishing guide. Those of us who call the lake home were fortunate to know Jack as a friend, a neighbor and a co-worker. Jack worked tirelessly for the causes and organizations that he believed were good for the lake and good for its residents. And beyond giving his time and talent as a member, he also provided leadership as a board member and officerof the Sportsmen's Club, the Penguin Snowmobile Club and Conservationists With Common Sense.
As a long-time member of our Sportsmen's Club, Jack served as a board member for many years and was president of the Club from 1989 until 1992. He was our "fishing expert" and made sure we never lost sight of the first mission of the Clubto improve fishing. Jack was the Club's liaison with DNR-Fisheries, attended state-wide fishing roundtables for us and maintained our relationship with sportfishing organizations throughout northern Minnesota.
Shortly after Jack died, as we all stopped for coffee at the meeting places around the lake, every conversation turned around the news of Jack's death and the sadness we felt at not being able to see that big grin or hearing his laugh again. He was truly a giving person and a gift to those who knew himalways having time to iiseen and always there to lend a hand. There seemed to be no end to the amount of room in his big heart for kids of all ages and for most critters, too. But make no mistake, Jack had his fun-loving side, and there are lots of "Sparky" stories out there that will attest to his love of a good time.
So when we count up the spots of good fortune that have come along in our lives, knowing Jack will be right up there at the head of the list. And sharing the gift of his friendship with so many around Vermilion has been a joy and a privilegeand one of the reasons we're all so lucky to live at the lake.
Paula Bloczynski
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ONLY A LITTLE PLANET
The planet you're standing on
looking out at the stars
is the earth, the third planet from the sun
and the mildest and softest of the nine ....
If you can stop, and let yourself look,
let your eyes do what they do best,
stop
and let yourself see
and see that everything is doing things to you
as you do things to everything.
Then you know
that although it is only a little planet
it is hugely beautiful
and surely the finest place in the world to be.
So watch it, look at it
see what it's like to walk around on it.
It's small but it's beautiful
it's small but it's fine
like a rainbow,
like a bubble.
Lawrence Collins
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LAKE VERMILION: FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH ????
If you've ever used your age as an excuse for not doing something (as in, "When I was younger I loved to go canoeing and camping, but I couldn't do that now"), DON'T READ THIS ARTICLE. You won't want to hear about a guy who's older than youmaybe much older and kayaks the Boundary Waters, tends a big garden, builds kayak and canoe trails in Florida's mangrove swamps, and looks about 60. On the other hand, after you've heard about Ed Woolverton, maybe you'll feel like getting back to the woods, so read on.
Like a lot of Ed's history, his decision to come to northern Minnesota was unusual. After five years at the University of Minnesota, he had a summer job that covered his expenses and would lead to a nice career. In spite of the Depression, he seemed to have the world by the tail. But with graduation approaching, he realized that life in town wasn't for him. Characteristically, Ed acted on his instincts and left St. Paul to return to the area he had first seen as a boy canoeing with his dad. While most people were worrying about finding a job, he left a good one behind and headed for the woods.
At first he spent summers in northern Minnesota and winters on ships traveling the world. He was a mess boy first, then a second cook and a baker. In the summer he was a canoe guide for the Boy Scouts and manned a lookout tower on Kekekabic Lake for five months. In another interesting decision, he spent one summer's wages to buy land on Lake Vermilion. When World War II began, Ed was 4-F, so he sailed as a civilian on ships transporting supplies to Casablanca and other ports in Europe and Africa. When he had a chance to spend nine months in the Azores building an air base, he jumped at it. On some of these adventures, he was joined by Dick Lavine, who would later start Timbuktu Marina in Oak Narrows on land he bought from Ed.
After the war, Ed built a cabin on Hinsdale Island, then another in Wakemup Narrows. He married Marie, and shortly thereafter they went to work as caretakers for the Dayton family at their home on the other side of the Narrows. The Woolvertons' early years at the Daytons' are a reminder that Lake Vermilion hasn't always been home to several thousand increasingly elaborate cabins and homes. They spent one winter in a cabin that a logging crew had built from green lumber. As the heat from their stove sweated the moisture out of the logs, Ed and Marie spent the winter in a constant drizzle. Everything in the cabin was covered with tarps, raincoats or whatever they could find.
Ed and Marie's children, Vicki and Richard, were both raised in their cabin at the Daytons', and both still live on Lake Vermilion. Raising kids on a boat-access property created some interesting challenges, so Ed had to learn how to get across the ice when it wasn't yet solid. He worked his way gingerly across, punching holes in the ice and putting a balsam branch in each hole; as snow weighed down the ice, water would come up through the holes and flood it, gradually building a much stronger ice road as the flooding water froze. In spite of his precautions, Ed did fall through the ice once while walking ahead of Marie and pulling the infant Vicki on a toboggan. Luckily, they were close enough to shore that Ed got back up on the ice after a struggle; and they were all safe.
After spending most of his 84 years around Lake Vermilion, Ed Woolverton has been at home on Treasure Island in Wakemup Bay for almost 30 years. Ed and Marie bought their land on Treasure Island in about 1970, and. Ieft the Daytons' in the mid-'70s. Marie enjoyed a few years on the island, but died of heart disease at 50 in 1978. At an age when most men have settled into their easy chai rs, Ed seems to defy Father Time. In July of this summer, Ed and his old buddy George Ehrhardt (a youngster of 74) took an eight-day kayak trip through the Boundary Waters. Less than a week after that trip ended, he was off to the Quetico with his daughter Vicki and friends Jeanne and David O'Melia for a 12-day trip. In both cases, Ed carried his own kayak and his share of gear and supplies.
It's not just that Ed has lived a long life, but that he's enjoyed that life. When I asked him the standard question "To what do you attribute your long and active life?" Ed's reply was simple. "Stay active and don't worry about things you can't change." It's obvious that he follows his own advice. When he's not carrying or paddling a kayak around the wilderness, Eg is carving animals or people out of wood, or weaving a basket, or tending the large garden behind his house. And just talking to Ed for a few hours will leave you pretty sure that he doesn't spend a lot of time worrying.
So, before you young sprouts in your 50s and 60s complain about stiff knees or a sore back, watch out for an 84-year-old "kid" who's paddling up behind you.
Tom MorrowClub Member
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Baiting deer is illegal
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wants to remind hunters that no person may place or use bait for the purpose of taking deer.
"I'm getting a lot of complaints about folks setting up illegal deer baiting sites," said Conservation Officer Marty Stage of Babbitt. "Conservation Officers in other areas of the state told me they are also receiving calls on deer baiting so it seems to be a wide ranging problem. Baiting deer is illegal."
"Bait" is defined as grain, fruit, vegetables, nuts, hay or other food transported and placed for the purpose of attracting or enticing deer. This restriction does not apply to foods resulting from normal or accepted farming, forest management, wildlife management, orchard management, or similar land management activities. Liquid scents, salt, and minerals are not considered bait.
"Deer baiting has been illegal in Minnesota since 1991, when the DNR acted to avoid the types of baitingassociated problems here that we were seeing developing to the east of us, particularly in Michigan," said Ed Boggess, DNR wildlife assistant director. "Michigan historically had no restrictions on baiting, and as it became highly popular there we were told it literally changed the traditional methods of deer hunting. Even those who had no particular interest in baiting found that they had to become bait hunters to compete for the deer in local areas where baiting was occurring," he said. Recently, concerns for the spread of disease have led to much closer scrutiny of this activity even in Michigan, where tuberculosis in some areas of the lower peninsula has been a problem in deer, elk, and cattle, Boggess added.
Deer Baiting Questions and Answers
The following provides answers to some of the common questions regarding restrictions on the use of bait for deer hunting.
Q. Do mineral or salt blocks constitute bait?
A. No. Salt and mineral blocks are exempted, as are scents. However, blocks that contain food materials such as grain or apples are considered as bait.
Q. Can I hunt on a trail that leads to a feeding site?
A. As a general rule, yes, but it depends on whether the food is placed or used for the purpose of taking deer. In that case, if a hunter is within sight of or hunting over the food, it would be considered baiting.
Q. Is corn or grain teft in fields or stored in cribs considered bait?
A. No, as long as they are the result of normal farming, wildlife management, or other land management practices. Also, since food must be transported and placed in order to constitute baiting, standing crops and food plots are not bait sites.
Q. How long must food be removed before the site can
legally be hunted?
A. There is no time restriction. As long as all the food is removed before hunting at the site, there is no violation.
Q. Can hunters feed wildlife on the same property they are hunting?
A. Yes. The regulation is not intended to restrict deer feeding. However, the location of the feed site and the timing of the feeding, as discussed above, must be considered.
*** Contact the Minnesota State Patrol or a DNR Regional or Area Office for the name and phone number of a Conservation Officer in your area.
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Venison Recipies
MARINADE FOR VENISON
3 cups dry white wine
1-1/4 cups olive oil
2 onions, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
2 garlic cloves, mashed
1 teaspoon salt
I bay leaf
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/4 teaspoon thyme
8 peppercorns
1 clove
6 coriander seeds
6 juniper berries, crushed
Mix ingredients and pour into bowl just large enough to hold the meat. Marinate in refrigerator at least overnight, but preferably for a few days, turning occasionally. Makes over 1 quart.
VENISON AND WILD RICE STEW
3-1/2 pounds shoulder venison cut into 2-inch cubes
2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper (fresh ground)
2 quarts water
2 yellow onions, peeled and quartered
1-1/2 cups wild rice
Place venison, water and onions in large, heavy kettle. Simmer uncovered for 3 hours or until venison is tender. Mix in salt, pepper, and rice. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir mixture, then simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes more or until rice is tender and most liquid absorbed. Makes 6-8 servings.
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