Minnesota
More Minnesota bear permits available this year
GRAND RAPIDS — Minnesota’s bear inhabitants is doing principally nicely, besides within the northeastern areas of the state, and extra bear searching permits will likely be accessible in lots of areas for this fall.
Potential Minnesota bear hunters have till Could 5 to use for a bear searching license from the Minnesota Division of Pure Sources both on-line, at any license agent or by cellphone at 888-665-4236.
A complete of 4,035 licenses can be found in 14 allow areas for the season, which opens Sept. 1 and closes Oct. 15.
The variety of permits accessible every year within the quota zone is predicated on inhabitants estimates. The DNR says bear numbers have stabilized and began to extend in lots of areas over the previous decade, partially due to current conservative allow quotas. That is why the DNR is providing 430 extra permits this 12 months in comparison with 2022. The exceptions are in a number of allow areas in far-Northeastern Minnesota, the place permits have been diminished to assist develop the inhabitants.
Allow areas 24, 25 and 31, which collectively cowl all the Arrowhead area outdoors the Boundary Waters Canoe Space Wilderness, noticed decreases in permits the place bears have been struggling in deeply forested areas.
Andy Tri, Minnesota bear biologist based mostly in Grand Rapids, mentioned poor wild meals crops in 2020 and 2021 damage northeastern bears. He additionally mentioned too many bears might have been harvested a decade in the past the place poorer high quality meals within the northeast, particularly no agricultural crops, results in very gradual bear improvement. Some females within the northeast do not attain reproductive age till age 6.
“The decline was gradual, however regular. … We simply had been unable to detect it till not too long ago,” Tri instructed the Information Tribune. “The allow ranges we had on the time (a decade in the past) had been a bit too excessive for the inhabitants to maintain, and so to reverse the decline and stabilize the northeastern bear inhabitants, we lower permits. It takes a very long time for these populations to get better attributable to poor meals manufacturing up north. … That mentioned, if we mix the lowered allow ranges with a pair years of excellent meals manufacturing, it received’t take lengthy for issues to show round.”
Final 12 months, hunters killed 2,251 bears in Minnesota, down some from 2,971 in 2021 and three,203 in 2020, however in keeping with earlier years. Higher wild meals manufacturing in 2022 might have saved some bears away from hunter’s bait. Searching is by far the main reason behind bear mortality within the state and has the most important impression on the bear inhabitants of the in any other case long-lived species.
Lottery winners will likely be notified by June 1. The deadline to buy bear searching licenses awarded by lottery is Aug. 1. Any remaining unsold licenses will likely be accessible over-the-counter beginning at midday Aug. 4.
A vast variety of bear licenses additionally will likely be offered over-the-counter for the no-quota space that features east-central and far-northwestern Minnesota.
Hunters with both a quota or no-quota license who’re involved in taking an issue bear ought to contact the world DNR wildlife supervisor
mndnr.gov/areas/wildlife
to be added to the hunter contact record for any alternatives that will come up.
Full directions about tips on how to apply for a license, maps of allow areas and a list of allow availability for every space can be found at
mndnr.gov/searching/bear
.
John Myers stories on the outside, pure assets and the surroundings for the Duluth Information Tribune. You may attain him at jmyers@duluthnews.com.
Minnesota
Goalie Nicole Hensley stars as league-leading Minnesota Frost top New York Sirens in shootout | CBC Sports
Nicole Hensley made back-to-back saves in the shootout and the Minnesota Frost earned their fourth straight victory with a 4-3 win over the New York Sirens on Sunday in Newark, N.J.
It was the fourth time in seven all-time meetings that a game between the teams was decided in OT and the second this season. New York won the season opener in St. Paul, Minn.
Kendall Coyne Schofield scored two first-period goals to stake the Frost to the early lead and Taylor Heise beat Kayle Osborne, who relieved starter Abigail Levy in the New York net to start the second period, two minutes in to make it a 3-0 lead.
WATCH l Heise scores shootout winner:
But Osborne did not allow another goal in regulation and wasn’t seriously challenged in overtime while the Sirens staged a comeback. Brooke Hobson and Elizabeth Giguere each scored in the second period and Alex Carpenter pounced on a loose puck and lifted a shot over Hensley’s shoulder from deep in the face-off circle to tie the game midway through the third period.
Hensley was brilliant in overtime, turning away four close-in, open shots by the Sirens (2-1-1-1), two of them on breakaway chances.
Minnesota (4-0-1-0) got goals from Denisa Křížová, Grace Zumwinkle and Heise in the shootout. Noora Tulus and Carpenter each converted in the shootout for New York, but Hensley came up with a save on Sarah Fillier before stopping the final two shooters for the Sirens.
Hensley finished with 33 saves on 36 shots to earn the win. Osborne made 18 saves on 19 shots over her 45 minutes in goal for New York. Carpenter’s two-goal effort lifted her past Coyne Schofield and into the league lead with four goals in her first five games and she now has a league-leading seven points.
WATCH l Sirens’ Fillier, Carpenter test their off-ice chemistry:
Minnesota
Unique northern Minnesota border airport closing after 70 years
A northern Minnesota airport with an unusual claim to fame is closing after 70 years of operation.
The Piney-Pinecreek Border Airport near Roseau is the only airport with a paved runway crossing the U.S.-Canada border.
The border airport opened in 1953 to expedite customs processing for air travelers and was regularly used by hunters and anglers flying to Canada.
Initially, the airport had a grass runway that ended at the border, but in 1978 a runway expansion added a paved runway that extended into Canada.
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Customs agents would meet travelers on either side of the border.
But declining usage and significant impending repair costs led to the decision to close the one of a kind operation, said Ryan Gaug, director of the Minnesota Department of Transportation aeronautics office.
“We know that the pavement condition has declined significantly over the years and will need a reconstruct most likely in the next one to three years,” said Gaug.
Short-term costs to bring the facility up to safety standards is estimated at $3.8 million.
Piney-Pinecreek is the only airport owned by MnDOT, and it is operated in collaboration with the Rural Municipality of Piney, Manitoba.
A Canadian official said the local government could not raise the money to pay its share of the planned improvement costs and Piney officials ended the joint operations agreement.
Gaug said an estimated 200 airplanes a year use the facility, far lower than traffic at similar sized facilities.
There are six airports on the U.S.-Canada border, but Piney-Pinecreek is the only one with a paved runway.
“It’s always been the No. 1 fun fact that I’ve shared with friends, family, coworkers, colleagues here at MnDOT,” said Gaug.
“It’s a tough decision to close an airport ever, but the evidence was all there that now was the time,” he said.
There are no local airplanes based at the airport.
“It’s very sad for the community to lose its airport,” said Marlin Elton, a local resident who served on the airport commission and helped maintain the facility for 30 years.
Elton said the closure hasn’t raised concerns in the community because “if you don’t fly, it won’t affect you. The ones who will be affected are the pilots who use it.”
Gaug said MnDOT reached out to pilots and aviation groups to gauge support for keeping the airport open but found “there just isn’t a strong user base for this airport and that also led to not a strong local support fighting to keep this airport.”
The final day of operations for the Piney-Pinecreek airport is Dec. 26.
Minnesota
NEXT Weather: 10 p.m. report for Minnesota from Dec. 21, 2024
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