Monday, July 31, 2017

Brenda and I take part in climate change study

A mature white pine on our acreage. Deer eat all the seedlings.
Last winter Brenda and I were honoured to be interviewed by Kelsey Jones-Casey, a researcher from Duluth who is working through Lakehead University in Thunder Bay to examine the effects of climate change on people in Northwestern Ontario.

She wanted to talk to people who have spent most of their lives outdoors in Northwestern Ontario to see how climate change is affecting them. If you go to her website you can read excerpts from her interviews including ours.
Most of us are saddened, anxious and even depressed by what is happening although a few see opportunities from it. There are realities, however, that temper what seem like advantages from climate change in Northwestern Ontario. For instance you might think that warmer temperatures and a longer growing season would see this area become an agricultural powerhouse. There is a bit of farming here now but it is limited primarily to hay and potatoes. One enormous reason why this region is not ever going to take over as the Breadbasket for North America is a lack of soil.
Glaciers in the last Ice Age sent all of ours to the U.S. Midwest. The only soil that we have is clay, and it exists only in tiny pockets around Thunder Bay, Dryden, Rainy River and Fort Frances. Everything else is sand, gravel and peat.
My observation is that there are a cascade of effects happening from climate change, most of them not obvious to casual observers. To illustrate, I'll just pick one, the emergence of whitetail deer as the primary wild herbivore. In my lifetime I have seen the disappearance of woodland caribou, the emergence and then the decline of moose and now the dominance of whitetail deer. Logging was undoubtedly the primary reason for the disappearance of caribou and the emergence of moose but climate change is behind the explosion in deer numbers.
Our famous Boreal Forest winters simply don't exist any more. More important than warm temperatures, as far as deer are concerned, is the lack of snowfall. Back in the '60s there were quite a few deer in Red Lake, lured to the area by logging that produced lots of hardwood browse in cutovers. It was excellent for moose for the same reason. Then we had several consecutive winters with over four feet of snow. Deer were absolutely wiped out except for pockets at Thunder Bay, Dryden, Fort Frances and Rainy River where agriculture sustained them. Moose, on the other hand, have much longer legs and although hampered by the deep snow, are not killed by it. So deer disappeared and moose took off.
Now the snow comes late, leaves early and never amounts to more than two feet. The deer have come  back big-time. Red Lake is one of the few places where they still are scarce, just because it is so far from the main deer concentrations farther south, but even there the population is re-building fast. You see them especially in the town of Red Lake.
And moose are disappearing. Deer carry a brain worm parasite that is harmless to them but fatal to moose. The parasite spreads quickly and easily. No sooner do you notice equal numbers of deer and moose than there are no moose at all.
At our home in Nolalu, 48 kilometers southwest of Thunder Bay, moose are gone and the deer population is sky high. It has been that way for decades.
Deer also bring with them ticks. When we raised our sons here in the 1980s and '90s not once did they have a tick on them. Now you can pick up several ticks just walking across the yard. Red Lake is mostly tick-free so far.
The deer are also changing the vegetation. We attended a climate change conference in Thunder Bay a few years ago where it was predicted that this area will become an oak savanna due to warmer temperatures. It is currently right on the edge of the Boreal Forest. The closest oak forests are on the other side of Lake Superior in Wisconsin. Oaks spread faster than other trees, it was noted, because blue jays and animals carry away their acorns.
What wasn't predicted was the rapid demise of native tree species, just from heavy browsing by deer. They eat 100 per cent of the seedlings of white pine, red pine and jackpine as well as those of white cedar and red maple. I mean, they get every one. On our 65 acres there are no trees of those species younger than 15 years old. What is left are balsam fir, black spruce and white spruce, quaking aspen, balsam poplar and white birch.
Balsam fir is a prolific seeder and it is not hard to see that in the future we are going to have large stands of them throughout the Thunder Bay area. Balsam is affected about every 40 years by a pest called the spruce budworm that ends up killing them all. This leaves large acreages of standing dead trees that are among the most volatile when it comes to forest fires. At first this may seem like nothing new because the balsam-budworm-fire cycle has been going on forever. What will be different is just the sheer size of the fires. We can expect lots of towns to be threatened.
And incredibly, this will have been initiated by the deer, just because they ate competing tree species for balsam.
The deer are likely extirpating smaller plants too, such as wildflowers, but it isn't as obvious.
So we don't have to wait for blue jays to bring oaks to the North. The forest is changing right now.
And that is just the result of one new species entering the ecosystem due to climate change.
Of course, there are also going to be wholesale changes just from the weather. Colossal rain events that are happening all over the world now are going to reshape the landscape in a hurry.
They are also going to cause major upheavals in our transportation system. Here in Nolalu we have had two unbelievable storms in the past few years that have devastated the road network. Road crews right now are installing more and bigger culverts everywhere to hopefully reduce the problem in the future but how successful their efforts will be is unknown.
As some of Kelsey's interviewees point out, weather events now are unpredictable. We can stop using terms like "100-year storm" and "500-year storm" because the new rainfalls are unprecedented.
Brenda remains optimistic, as do some of the others. We will adapt, she says, and undoubtedly we will. There is no other choice.
What I find particularly sad about the whole situation is that the means to lessen the effects of climate change are right in our hands, yet so few people are participating, at least at the national level. Individually and locally it is a different story and that is where hope really lies. The problem is we are out of time for everything except making a bad situation even worse
Click to see the latest on the blog

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Many anglers are in a battle with themselves

Now that we have retired after 56 years at Bow Narrows I would like to reflect a bit about fishermen over those years.
I'll pose this first observation as a question: what are people looking for when they go fishing?
Fish, you might think, but that turns out to be a very incomplete answer. And I'm not referring to all the other components that make a great vacation such as scenery, camaraderie, relaxation, etc. I'm just talking about fishing, the actual act of fishing.
We noticed that for some people the full answer to the question above should have been something like this. "I want to catch fish but only by fishing in the manner that I like, using the tackle that I want to use and at the time of day I like to fish."
Not everybody is this rigid in their approach, thank goodness, but it is astonishing how many are, perhaps one-third.
I'll give two real examples, both involving a very old bait, the Junebug Spinner. If you were to open my grandfather's tackle box back in the Great Depression you would have found this lure. It was also in my dad's. It is still sold today. Obviously, it must catch fish somewhere but it has always been an absolute dud for Red Lake. It didn't work when we first came to Red Lake in 1960 and it never got any better.
Most anglers simply accepted that some lures work in some lakes but not everywhere and moved on to something else. Others just planted their feet.
Since I went to school by mail, I was able to start work at a very young age. I began guiding for fishing when I was just 9 and ended up spending almost every summer day on the water from then until I was 18. I will always remember my last guest as a guide. He was alone and when I saw his fishing tackle my heart sank. He had an old, cheap baitcasting reel and a stubby solid fiberglass rod. His tackle box was the small, no-tray type and when he opened it the only things inside were a red-and-white bobber, a nine-inch pipe wrench and, you guessed it, a Junebug Spinner.
I couldn't entice him to buy another lure or even accept one as a gift. Nope, he always had done well with the Junebug, he said.
He insisted that we fish by trolling which I could understand because his rod and reel were incapable of casting. There was only about 12 feet of braided line on his reel and he would let about seven feet of this out at a time which meant his Junebug was about 12 inches behind the outboard's propeller. We were obviously just wasting our time fishing like this but I had to drive the guy around all week nonetheless. I decided just to head to parts unknown so at least I would learn some new water. Incredibly, we actually caught two northern pike for our week on the water. Had we been trolling a Rapala or even a Dardevle at the right distance behind the boat we would have caught hundreds.
The second example is more recent, probably eight years ago. We had a couple in camp in September who only wanted to fish for walleye which isn't uncommon. The fish were in about 30 feet of water at the time. Our other guests were doing quite well by anchoring and using jigs tipped with live minnows. The couple, however, was getting absolutely nothing even though I showed them exactly where and how to fish. It was their experience, they said, that if you couldn't catch walleye by trolling Junebug spinners laced with pike belly and weighted down with a one-ounce egg sinker, than there simply weren't any fish.
Why are people like this? I have no idea and we eventually just accepted that some people could not be helped. They had preconceived notions that could not be blasted out of their heads. It wasn't always about lures. In fact, the most common hang-up was on the kind of location for fishing.
"Just show me where there is a sandbar," more than one person told me. "That is all I need to know to catch walleyes." Unfortunately, almost none of our best walleye spots is a sandbar.
Some of the contrary fishermen seemed to live just to prove me wrong on some advice I had given them.
"I caught this walleye while using a steel leader, something you said couldn't be done!" they would trumpet. I would not have told them it couldn't be done because many pike fishermen using steel leaders catch a couple of walleye every day. It just isn't the best idea when you are targeting walleye which is what they were doing. Of course I didn't care if they got their jollies by believing they knew better than me, as long as they were happy. But they never were. They were always upset that they couldn't catch more fish.
For these people, I came to realize, catching fish wasn't the main priority although they would insist it was. There was something else going on. I tried to express that on the blog one time in a poem.

"Fishing is the art
of exploring the unknown
in search of yourself," I wrote.

 Click to see the latest on the blog

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Take a trip to Bow Narrows with this video

Anyone who has followed this blog will be aware of the fantastic videos posted here by the Cieplik family over the years.
Here is the latest, from their trip to camp just a couple of weeks ago. Just when you think these things can't get any better, along comes one like this.


https://youtu.be/UwuTWTX_ZXc

 Click to see the latest on the blog

Saturday, July 22, 2017

Uh oh!

Brenda has been working hard to establish some flower beds around the house. She finally got this one just to her liking. Then we went to town today to get some supplies and the trail cam tells the rest.
Click to see the latest on the blog

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Creatures really like the white clover I planted

This doe and her twin fawns are regular visitors to the clover patch
I showed a photo earlier of a small bear eating clover in one of my clearings. He still makes an occasional appearance on the trail cam watching the spot; however, there are hundreds of photos of deer eating the same stuff every day.
I had made a small clearing in the spot, just from cutting out dead trees, and hand-broadcast some white clover seed as well as a commercial deer plot mixture. The clover has grown very well. The only thing that grew from the commercial mix was one big sugar beet the first summer.
White clover not only feeds bears and deer but ruffed grouse and snowshoe hares as well. Since it is perennial I only need to plant it once.
In a lot of the nighttime trail camera photos I can see bats flying back and forth over the deers' heads. That's cool too. Maybe the clover attracts moths that the bats feed upon. The flying mammals often are photographed low to the ground.
Click to see the latest on the blog

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Why it is important to know the names of things

Wood frog lies submerged in a puddle along one of our trails
A couple of people have ribbed me a little about bothering to identify obscure plants and flowers.
I just always want to know what something is. I realize most people aren't "into" plants, just fish and animals. So what if they met someone who wasn't "into" those things? That conversation might go like this.
Hey, Al, how did you do fishing today?
"OK, I guess. We got some of those prickly-backed things."
Prickly-backed? What are you talking about?
"I don't know their names but we just call them prickly-backs. Funny-looking things with spikes on their backs and weird eyes."
Walleyes? Did their eyes look like mirrors?
"Yeah! That's them!"
Those are walleyes.
"We just call them prickly backs."
OK. Did you catch anything else?
"Yeah, some of those torpedo fish."
Torpedo-fish?
"Yeah, they shoot through the water like a torpedo."
Those are probably northern pike.
"They're torpedo fish to us."
OK. Anything else?
"A bunch of those teeny-stripers. That's about it."
Were they about as long as your hand with vertical bars on their bodies?
"Yep."
Those would be perch.
"Whatever."
Hmm. Did you see any animals?
"A huge horny thing! It came right in the water. I said 'we better get out of here before that thing eats us!'"
Did it have a big nose and were its "horns" really wide?
"That's it! It looked really mean."
A moose. You saw a bull moose. They are vegetarians. They don't eat people.
"Then along came this insane duck. It started freaking out -- screaming and laughing -- and I said "Man, that thing looks like it wants to peck our eyes out!'"
Was it black and white with red eyes and a dagger-like beak?
"Exactly. Those red eyes looked evil!'
It was just a loon. The red eyes help it see underwater. It can't even walk on land and I don't believe loons have ever harmed a human.
"And we saw the cutest hairy thing. We wanted to pick it up and bring it home, it was so cute."
How big was it?
"Kind of like a small dog, 'cept it didn't have any tail. Cute as a button."
Hmm. Was it black?
"Yep."
Sounds like a black bear cub. Don't pick those up.
"Whatever."

Click to see the latest on the blog

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Amazing things we find on evening walks

The light is extra special as sunset nears

One-sided pyrola

Close-up

Pink pyrola

Close-up

One-flowered wintergreen


Dwarf raspberry. It is delicious!

Northern green bog orchid

Close-up. Its scent indicates it as Plantanthera huronensis.

Hygrocybe mushroom, probably Vermilion Waxcap

Close-up

Day lily in the field

Birdsfoot trefoil that lines our country roads

Running club moss

Thimbleberry

Its leaves are enormous

Rose twisted stalk

White cedar sap

Cork and I have been delighted by all the things we are finding on after-supper walks. We take the camera and keep our eyes peeled for the latest blossoming plant. The air is nice and cool and the light, although a bit dim, has a wonderful quality.
Click to see the latest on the blog

Saturday, July 15, 2017

Re-learning the lessons of life

We just learned that we have lost another of our friends. Jeff was a long-time angler at Bow Narrows and was still quite a young man. Brenda and I both sobbed at the news and as always at times like this, each turned silent.
I left the house and went for a walk in our woods. For the umpteenth time I photographed a massive tree stump, now just a pile of rotten wood. The stump is a grave stone really, a monument to the giant white pine that once stood here.
I always find solace in this relic. It reminds me of what life is all about. Growing out of the top and sides of this moldering mound of cellulose and bark are several other trees. Some are perhaps 20 years old and a couple are just seedlings. As its last act the white pine has provided a place for other trees to take life.
Each life is temporary but Life itself goes on and on, I am reminded.
If I sit down on a stump from a more recently deceased tree my mind will delve more and more into the Big Picture. Everything in creation is so inter-connected, I believe, that there really are no boundaries between one thing and another. We are all part of the one Big Thing.
I think of the following example that I heard somewhere. For some reason it reaches me.
A little girl bites into an apple, and is savouring the crunch and flavour of her favourite fruit when she notices half a worm still in the part that is in her hand. The implications of this discovery are obvious to her and she immediately spits out the mouthful of chewed pulp. Is that blob laying on the ground the little girl or the apple?
Awhile later the girl recalculates her act and comes to the conclusion that if she avoids the part of the apple still containing half a worm she can still enjoy her snack. So she eats the rest. Her body breaks down the apple into its component parts of carbohydrate, fiber, vitamins and minerals. Are these things the little girl or the apple?
The components of the apple are absorbed into the the girl's cells and help her to live and grow. Eventually nature calls and being a country kid she goes behind a tree and leaves a "deposit." Was that deposit the little girl or the apple?
As it turns out the tree she went behind was an apple tree. The deposit is welcomed by the tree which eventually absorbs through its roots the elements not used by the girl. These are taken into the tree's cells and help it to live and grow. Were these things the apple tree or the little girl?
We can argue about where one life form ends and the other begins but a simpler conclusion is there just are no boundaries. We are all parts of one gigantic organism and that entity which we call  Life never dies.
I find comfort in that lesson.
The best thing to do when we "lose" a friend or loved one, I think, is to use the occasion to incorporate the inspirational qualities of that person into our own lives. In that way the person continues to live on.


Click to see the latest on the blog

Monday, July 10, 2017

How to beat the bugs this summer

My arsenal for all bug situations
A remarkable thing happened in our house yesterday -- I swatted a mosquito. It was remarkable because it was the first mosquito of the season, at least inside the house. So are we having a bug-free year here in Nolalu? Hardly. I have never seen the blackflies this bad but it is like they are the only bug (other than ticks, something new for Brenda and me to deal with).
The lack of mosquitoes and the abundance of blackflies are a reflection of the cool, wet summer we have had so far in Nolalu (Red Lake has fared better).
Typically the bug seasons go like this: May-to-mid-June blackflies, mid-June to mid-August mosquitoes, July-August ankle-biters and deer flies, September blackflies.
What is the best way to deal with them? Life is short so I'm not going to beat around the bush. Use insect repellent that contains DEET. There's no point screwing around with so-called natural repellents.
Mosquitoes are the easiest pest to keep off. Repellents with low concentrations of DEET will work. Flies are much tougher. The BLUE top Deep Woods Off contains 30% DEET and that is the minimum necessary to keep off ankle-biters. It also keeps away blackflies and, of course, mosquitoes. Anything less than 30% has zero impact on ankle-biters. The BLUE top Deep Woods Off works well on ankle-biters but it evaporates fairly quickly meaning you need to reapply the repellent every few hours.
It also works against ticks here in Nolalu. Just spray it on your socks and pant legs. Although there are lots of wood ticks here in Nolalu there are virtually none at camp in Red Lake.
A longer term repellent is Repel lotion. It contains 40% DEET and because it is a lotion rather than an aerosal sticks on for up to eight hours. I recommend this for anyone who wants to wear shorts and/or sandals while fishing in a boat mid-summer.
If you are sitting still, like at a picnic table or on the porch in the evening, a wonderful thing to have on hand is the ThermaCell. This has a tiny butane cartridge that heats up a repellent-soaked pad which keeps mosquitoes, blackflies and most importantly, no-see-ums (tiny gnats that can come right through the window screen at night).
No amount of DEET will keep away the larger deer flies or horseflies. However, a great product for dealing with these vicious biters is the Deer Fly Patch. It is a sticky piece of tape that you affix to your cap. It is incredible.
To see it in action, check out this link on YouTube.
I love this commercial's simplicity. Seeing is believing.

 
Click to go back to the website
Click to see the latest on the blog

Saturday, July 8, 2017

Great video of fishing trip a couple of weeks ago

Check out this video made of the Kinzenbaw group who were fishing at camp in early June. It is absolutely great.




Click to go back to the website
 Click to see the latest on the blog