Big River - January 1996

January 1996

the monthly newsletter for people who live, work or play on the Upper Mississippi River

Vol. 4, No. 1

$2. 75

Circle of Life in Navigation Study the Backwaters Continues on a

By Pamela Eyden Ken Salwey knows Whitman swamp about as well as a human being can know a complicated place. He's trapped, hunted and guided people through it for most of his 52 years. This 6,000-acre backwater in Pool 5A, on the Wisconsin side of the river, is not an easy place to know. It's a maze of floodplain forest, sloughs, islands and marshes - difficult to get into, rife with wildlife and endlessly interesting to a man like Salwey.

French Canadian by heritage, Salwey grew up four miles from where he now lives in Buffalo City, which is just a few miles from his trappers' shacks in the backwaters. His uncles taught him to hunt and trap while keeping a sharp eye out for the Massasauga rattlers that sometimes sunned themselves on beaver mounds. They taught him to dig ginseng and blue cohosh. They also taught him to love the out of doors.

"They did just about everything a person can do out here, except seek gainful employment," Salwey said.

In recent years Salwey has taken up a new vocation that would surely have amazed his uncles - he's a freelance

His uncles taught him to hunt and trap while keeping a sharp eye out for the Massasauga rattlers that sometimes sunned themselves on beaver mounds. environmental education teacher. He's popular with Boy Scouts, college students and Sierra Clubs. He leads elementary school children on hikes through the woods and takes teachers on canoe trips. Next spring he'll start leading "eco(Backwaters continued on page 2)

Narrow Course

By Reggie McLeod New measures to improve shipping on the Upper Mississippi River for the next 50 years will probably cost between zero and $6.4 billion, according to Dave Wehrley, who works in the engineering division of the Army Corps of Engineers Rock Island (Ill.) District.

Admittedly, that's a pretty broad spread, but the Corps' Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway System Navigation Study hasn't yet come to a conclusion about what changes to make to accommodate commercial shipping for the first 50 years of the next millenium.

The Corps conducted a third set of public meetings about its Navigation Study in December. At the first set of meetings in towns along the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers, it generated a lot of ill will by not providing opportunity for public comment.

(Navigation continued on page 4)

WHAT'S INSIDE ...

Aerial Photograph Whitman Backwater

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Current Events Keep the Waste, Move the People

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River Calendar & Almanac Eagle Watches, Candelight Ski

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(Backwater continued from page 1)

can see perfectly preserved leaves in their fall colors."

Mound-shaped muskrat houses are a familiar sight in winter backwaters. Made of mud and debris, they have a front and back entrance, and a little sleeping pad inside that stays high and dry.

"With four or five muskrats in there, it's crowded.

There's a lot of jostling," Salwey said.

Muskrats also build smaller mounds called feeder houses, where they go to eat cattail, arrowhead and pickerel weed tubers they dig out of the mud. They stay under the ice from November until March, making their way from the sleeping house to tuber bed to feeder house by way of "rat runs," familiar tunneltrails through the icy mud.

Muskrats swim with their back feet, tucking their front feet under their chests and using their tails as rudders. As they swim they breathe out air bubbles that get caught under the ice and frozen into it. It' s not hard to find rat runs, Salwey points out. Thin ice and trails of air bubbles are two signs.

"In summer you'll see a mother muskrat swimming with long grasses in her mouth she's going back to feed her young. Muskrats have three litters each year, with the first one having a litter of its own by the end of the summer. They have to have a lot of young ones. Muskrats are the rabbits of the marsh everything eats them."

Owls, snapping turtles, even mink.

The mink is a nonThe Whitman backwaters, along the right side of this picture, are one of the few stop hunter, Salwey places on the river where a person can still get seriously lost. Lock and Dam 5 is near said, and will take fish, the center of the photo. (Seth Urion combined seven aerial photographs from the frogs and crayfish. It'll Environmen ta! Management Technical Center, National Biological Service, to create this composite image.) even bore holes in

tours" with a new venture called Upper Mississippi Valley Adventures, so he can show adults what he's been showing kids and teachers: How to slow down, use your senses, keep a code of silence and pay attention to how you feel when you're outside.

"It takes a while for people to get themselves geared down when they come out here," he said. "I make each one an ash walking stick, which is basically to lean on. It's when you stop and observe that you let nature's energy flow into you."

A Trapper's Life Fewer people are willing to put up with the hardship and heavy labor of trapping anymore, not with the cost of living rising and the price of pelts dropping.

In early December Salwey was setting muskrat traps in openwater sloughs and visiting them by canoe, his dog Spider in the bow. A finished muskrat pelt brings $2.70 these days.

Winter, he said, is the time of the survivors.

The creatures you see are the ones that have to stay active and seek food in order to survive like coyotes, deer, eagles, otter, mink and owls.

Except for them, everything above the ice is dead or dormant. Dried cattails flutter in the wind. Trees have sent their life blood down into the earth. Raccoons and opossums sleep in dens. But under the ice, life goes about its business.

"If you cut a hole in the ice, which I do when I lead people out in winter, you see bugs, fish, frogs, green plants. Life is thriving under there.

The duckweed is withered and gone, but you

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muskrat houses to get at the muskrats. Male mink take from 50 to 100 muskrats each year. They travel long distances and may come back to the same part of their territory only once every three or four days.

Otters, too, need large territories. They hunt by sight, travel in family groups and are a joy to see, Salwey said.

They slide, roll and play together, and even cooperate to school fish into places where they can catch them easily.

A pile of carp leftovers is one sign of otter. Another is a family toilet area, where otters come habitually to defecate and regurgitate fish bones.

"If you've got a dog with you, it'll find that right away.

Dogs love to roll in that stuff."

There are more otter in Whitman backwaters now than there have been in many years, Salwey said. This may be partly due to trapping restrictions that require a special permit and then allow only one otter pelt per year, but it's also due to the general health of the area . Snakes, snapping

Dried cattails flutter in the wind.

Trees have sent their life blood down into the earth. Raccoons and opossums sleep in dens. But under the ice, life goes about its business. turtles and all kinds of frogs and birds choose to live in Whitman swamp because it's still thriving, while aquatic plants and animals are declining in the rest of the Mississippi, Salwey said.

"It's still a wilderness in there, because there aren' t any roads. The backwaters are spring fed, except for one stream, and they're protected from the river by a dike."

It's probably easier to travel through the backwaters in winter than in any other season.

The Warm Months In spring the ice melts. First it changes color, from multi-colored diamond ice to a black honeycomb, then it disappears. The sun brings everything to life again in a hurry. You can smell the mud, the silver maples and swamp birch. Salwey claims there are days when he can hear the sap rising in the trees, although he admits a person might think this was "just the talk of an old river man without both oars in the water."

By full summer the vegetation is so thick it muffles sound.

"When I go out to my shacks in the summer, it's dead quiet, except for the birds," Salwey said.

Whitman backwaters are great habitat for birds, home to everything from reclusive warblers to woodpeckers, ducks, owls and Canada geese, a bird that's won Salwey's heart.

He's seen one pair return to the same place to build their

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Ken Salwey (photo by Pamela Eyden)

nest each spring for seven years now. In his presentations, Salwey tells stories about "Big Boy" and "Beauty" and their loyalty to each other.

"The Canada goose is to the Mississippi River what the wolf is to the North woods - it's a symbol of wildness.

When the wild geese fly over, we all look up. Their comings and goings are markers for us to know our place in the circle of life."

Salwey has no quarrel with people who dislike hunting and trapping.

"We should form a coalition of people who care about wild things," he said. "We shouldn't fight each other. We should fight to make sure there's habitat for them, then afterward we can argue about what to do and what not to do with the creatures."

Pamela Eyden is assistant editor of Big River.

BIG RIVER Big River (ISSN 1070-8340) is published monthly by Big River, 70 1/z East Fourth Street, Suite 203, Winona, MN 55987; (507) 454-5949; E-mail: bigriver@aol.com Reggie McLeod

editor/publisher

Pamela Eyden

assistant editor

Molly McGuire

circulation and marketing manager

Seth Urion

layout and design

Subscriptions are $28 for one year, $50 for two years or $2.75 per single issue. Send subscriptions, single copy orders and change-of-address requests to Big River, PO Box 741, Winona, MN 55987.

Second-class postage paid at Winona, MN.

POSTMASTER: send change-of-address requests to Big River, PO Box 741, Winona, MN 55987.

Big River, Volume 4, Number 1, copyrightŠ January 1996. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited.

A Printed on recycled paper.

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(Navigation continued from page 1)

At the second set of public meetings, in the fall of 1994, attendees were given the opportunity to address Corps experts and the audience. The turnout was low and the response low-key at some meetings, notably in the Twin Cities. At other meetings, especially in La Crosse and Dubuque, turnout was high and the response generally ranged from skepticism to hostility.

The most recent series of meetings followed an openhouse format, with a video and displays, where Corps employees discussed issues and answered questions face-toface with individuals and small groups. These meetings were different for another reason: at each one the Sierra Club leased a nearby room to offer information about the environmental costs of the current navigation system and the dangers of expanding it.

We attended the evening session of the open house at Huckleberry's Family Restaurant in Prairie du Chien, Wis. No more than a couple dozen people at any one time wandered among video and display stations. One or two Corps employees were positioned at each station to answer questions.

The video and displays emphasized the economic importance of shipping grain on the river and listed changes to the navigation system that could increase the volume of grain shipped. Slowdowns at the locks are a major constraint on shipping volume, according to the study. Lock traffic might be increased by helper boats, longer guide walls or

While the environmental section of the study looks at some of the impacts of increasing barge traffic, it will not consider the environmental impact of the present system, or of reducing or eliminating commercial shipping on the rivers. devices attached to locks that would help pull barges through. The most expensive solution, costing between $200 million and $400 million per lock, would be to increase the lock lengths from 600 to 1,200 feet, so that large tows could pass through in a single lockage. Another possibility would be to schedule lockages for recreational boats and tows.

The study budgets $20 million for an environmental study of the possible impacts of increasing barge traffic on the rivers.

"We've solicited some of the best scientists. The results will be unbiased," promised Ken Barr, who is managing the environmental part of the study.

January 1996

"The environmental report will be a full-disclosure document."

Narrowing the Possible Conclusions While the six-year, $46-million study promises to gather a lot of information, its design limits its possible conclusions.

Corps experts at the open house agreed that the questions asked by the study limited its scope: 1. While the environmental section of the study looks at some of the impacts of increasing barge traffic, it will not consider the environmental impact of the present system, or of reducing or eliminating commercial shipping on the rivers.

2. The economic section of the study will only consider the economics of shipping more grain on the rivers. It will not consider the effect of shipping less or of increasing the cost, either of which might increase processing or use of the grain in the Midwest, possibly creating jobs and adding value to the grain closer to its source.

Shipping raw products rather than processed products (exporting logs rather than boards, for instance) is akin to exporting jobs and is often cited as one of the reasons that Third World nations remain in poverty.

3. The engineering portion of the study is locked into the current system, which some have described as based on nineteenth century technology. It will not consider alternatives, such as using barges with a six-foot draft, which would not require the current lock-and-dam system. Such a system may be faster and would not require the huge government subsidies needed to maintain the current system.

Meanwhile, across a couple of parking lots from the Corps open house, representatives from the Sierra Club and the Mississippi River Revival explained their own displays in an upstairs suite of the Quiet House Suites Best Wes tern Motel.

They were showing a video too, "The Mighty Mississippi: A Balance of Integrity," produced by the Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee. It claims that impounding the river with a series of dams may be causing the collapse of the river ecosystem. Backwaters are rapidly filling in while plants and animals disappear. One use of the river, commercial shipping, may be superseding other uses, such as recreation and commercial fishing.

The federal government spends $90 million a year to support the navigation system, but only a small fraction of that for the river's ecology, according to the video.

The Navigation Study is scheduled to recommend a plan in November 1997 and begin site-specific planning for construction.

Reggie McLeod is editor of Big River.

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January 1996

CURRENT EVENTS

By Pamela Eyden, Molly McGuire and Reggie McLeod

Keep the Waste, Move the People

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he Prairie Island Dakota tribe is considering taking money from Northern States Power in exchange for relocating and dropping its opposition to the power company's plans to store nuclear waste in casks on the island, according to St. Paul Pioneer Press (12-1795).

The island is home to 128 of the total 500 members of the tribe. They have long opposed the storage of nuclear waste there on the grounds that it would increase radiation levels, affect public health and increase the danger of an accident.

Neither side would comment on the talks' progress.

Winter Water Fun • The Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge welcomes skiers, hikers and snowshoers, but warns people in ATVs, snowmobiles, cars and trucks to stay on the roads or on the ice.

Such vehicles are not permitted to cross over or travel on refuge lands or islands.

• There are some changes afoot for ice fishermen this year: First of all, you can now be 200 feet away from your tipup, instead of the 80 feet allowed before.

Second, you can identify your shelter with your driver's license number instead of your name and mailing address.

The numbers have to be three inches tall.

Just a reminder: It's not only illegal to pour antifreeze or window washing fluid into your ice fishing hole, it's also irresponsible and dangerous. These toxic chemicals pollute the water, contaminate fish pulled through them and dogs drink-

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ing from the such a hole may be poisoned and die.

• Trout anglers can cast their lines into icy streams this winter in the Minnesota's second experimental winter trout season, open in four areas: middle and south branches of the Whitewater River, Beaver Creek and Hay Creek. Rules call for catch-and-release and barbless-hooks, said Deserae Bushong of the Lake City DNR. For more info, call her at (612) 345-3365.

at all. In Pool 9, they found 6,000 fingernail clams per square meter, well above the 2,000 level thought to provide a good food source for waterfowl.

The better the plants and invertebrates do, the more waterfowl we'll see in spring, summer and fall. This fall, biologists counted 60,830 diving ducks, such as canvasbacks, in Pool 7, compared with 71 ,870 in 1994. Pool 8 peaked at about 1,000 diving ducks in both years.

In Pool 9, peak numbers were about 159,000 this year, compared with 212,000 in 1994.

For Whom the Bridge Tolls Low on the Food Chain

T

he health of the mighty Mississippi depends on some very humble things - among them, fingernail clams, mayfly larvae, midges, aquatic worms, wildcelery and arrowhead. These plants and animals provide food and protection for a lot of other creatures. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has been monitoring their presence in several pools in the last few years, ever since the drought of 1988 left the river barren of resources for migrating waterfowl. This year's monitoring proved 1995 to be a pretty good year.

Arrowhead, which provides cover and food for fish, waterfowl and furbearers, is as healthy or healthier in Pools 7 and 8 as it was in 1994. The sample showed a low density of wildcelery plants in Lake Onalaska, however, despite the plant's resurgence in many parts of the lake.

Biologists sampled seven pools (4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11) and Trempealeau Wildlife Refuge to determine the number of aquatic insects and invertebrates living in the mud. In Pool 7 they found equal numbers in 1994 and 1995, except for fingernail claims and midges, which increased to over 1,000 each per square meter in open hunting areas. In Pool 8, they found no invertebrate food sources

T

he Minnesota Department of Transportation has proposed five new toll roads, including two that include new bridges across the Mississippi River. The two new river crossings would be on I494 in South St. Paul, and on Trunk Highway 610, the corridor between I-35W and I-94. The toll road program, called Transmart, is a cooperative venture between the state and private industry. All proposals are subject by law to community approval.

Resources

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f you're interested in the Army Corps of Engineers' Responses to Issues Raised

at the Public and NEPA Scoping Meetings of November 1994, send $12.00 payable to FAO, USAED, Rock Island, to District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District, Rock Island, ATTN: Planning Division (Simmons), Clock Tower Building, PO Box 2004, Rock Island, IL 61204-2004.

Other documents are available, ask for the list. Or, download this information and more at: http:/ /ncrsun7.ncr.usace.army.mil / nav_study I scoping.html .

The six principles of riparian management are outlined in a free guide from

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(Current Events continued from page 5) the Lake County (Ill.) Stormwater Management Commission. Riparian Area Management: A Citizen's Guide helps landowners make sound decisions affecting streambanks and shorelines. Order from 333-B Peterson Road, Libertyville, IL 60048, or call (708) 918-5260.

The Upper Mississippi Waterway Association is offering The Mississippi River - The Economic River, an nineminute video that looks at the river from a historical, economic and environmental perspective. Send $12 to UMWA The Economic River, P.O. Box 7006, St. Paul, MN 55107.

The Fall/Winter 95 River Voices is full of watershed information and resources. Two that look interesting:

Toward a Watershed Approach: A Framework for Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration , Protection, and Management, with graphics, examples, definitions, quotes and statistics, Coastal America, 1305 EastWest Highway, SSMC 4, Room 11141, Silver Spring, MD 20910.

Clean Water in Your Watershed: A Citizen's Guide to Watershed Protection, advice for citizen involvement. Terrene Institute, 1717 K Street, NW, Ste 801, Washington DC 20006, (202) 833-8317.

Interested in steamboat wrecks, river boats, early navigation and the golden age of river transportation? You may be interested in a free brochure titled "Paddling and Piloting: Vessels of the Northern Mississippi River," published recently by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and the Army Corps of Engineers. It includes photos and a map. Call or write state senator Dale Schultz, 800978-8008; Rm. 19 South, State Capitol, P.O. Box 7882, Madison, WI 53707.

January 1996

Bird News

ecutive director Mark Cupp was quoted in the Boscobel Dial (11-16-95).

ald eagles have been plentiful along the Mississippi River this year. Look for them feeding or sitting in trees near open water.

At the same meeting the board heard a request by the town of Prairie du Sac for construction of an emergency vehicle launch site directly across from the nude beach at Mazomanie, apparently due to the high incidence of drownings at that particular beach.

B

Birders report that a wave of northern shrikes pushed south in early December after leaving their summer nest-

They capture small birds, mice and bugs, and impale them on thorns or barbed wire for cold storage, then shred them with their sharp, hooked beaks. ing grounds in the Yukon and Hudson Bay. They haven't appeared in these numbers in Winona and La Crosse in many years.

Shrikes, about the size of robins, are the only predatory songbirds in the Americas. They capture small birds, mice and bugs, and impale them on thorns or barbed wire for cold storage, then shred them with their sharp, hooked beaks.

Riverway Board

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he house-color issue has come home to roost on the Wisconsin River. The Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Board, which oversees the aesthetics of the last 90 free-flowing miles of the river, reluctantly took its first enforcement action on November 9 against a farmer whose trailer was not painted in one of the earth tones approved for structures visible from the river. When efforts at working with the building owner failed, the board revoked his permit, feeling they needed to enforce the law uniformly.

"I wish there was another recourse we could take, but frankly I don't see what else we can do if this board is to retain any credibility whatsoever," ex-

The Riverway Board has recently recommended loosening restrictions on quarrying, mining and logging within its jurisdiction, a position favored by property-rights groups but opposed by environmental groups.

Shredded Metal

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he Twin Cities' riverfront is being eyed for plenty of potential recreational projects: a baseball stadium, Science Museum and park development.

However, two proposed metal shredders, one in St. Paul and another in Minneapolis, are raising opposition from neighbors and environmentalists.

Alter Trading Corp., which is based in Bettendorf, Iowa, wants to build a giant metal shredder at a 40-acre, riverfront site it already uses on the west side of St. Paul. Alter already loads metal destined for recycling at the site, which is across the river from the Metropolitan (Pigs Eye) Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Meanwhile, on the north side of Minneapolis, American Iron is plodding through the permit process in its attempt to build the Kondirator, a metal shredder on the banks of the Mississippi there.

The shredders would chew automobiles and other metal objects into small pieces that would be easier to load onto barges and taken somewhere to be recycled.

The neighbors and environmentalists who oppose the shredders complain that they will be very noisy, unsightly and will pollute the surrounding area with a fine dust containing toxic metals,

January 1996

such as lead, cadmium and mercury.

Much of the battle hinges on questions of: How noisy? How unsightly?

How much toxic metal?

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Winter on the Big River

A public meeting of the Pollution Control Agency's Citizen Board on January 9 (see River Calendar, page 8) will determine whether to require an Environmental Impact Statement for the Kondirator.

Another public meeting on January 13 (see River Calendar) will focus on the Alter shredder.

DNR Chief Fixes Tickets

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ive of the six citations against a Prairie du Chien, Wis., grain hauler were dropped at the request of the head of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Didion, Inc., had agreed to limit its operation to loading 135 barges per year, in order to limit disturbance of mussel beds that contain endangered Higgins eye mussels (see Big River, August 1994 and August 1995). However, because of pressure to load more grain from this year's good harvest, Didion asked for permission to load an additional 50 barges. Government agencies okayed the request, but the Madison-based chapter of the Sierra Club and Marian Havlik, a La Crosse expert on mussels, filed a petition in court opposing the request, according to the Dubuque Telegraph Herald (11-25-95).

Didion ignored its previous agreement and continued loading barges, receiving six citations from the DNR. DNR secretary George Meyer ordered five citations dropped. The Sierra Club accused Meyer of dropping the citations at the request of Governor Tommy Thompson, who appointed Meyer. Didion's president, John Didion, admitted being "a strong supporter of Tommy Thompson," but would not say how much he contributed to Thompson's campaign. An attorney for the DNR said the governor was not involved in the decision.

A Frog Slough boathouse. (photo by Reggie McLeod)

The shipping season ended at the end of November.

River of Life This spring students will be able to plug into a new river education project, thanks to the Center for Global Environmental Education at Hamline University, St. Paul. Rivers of Life, an interdisciplinary learning project, will be based on the importance of rivers and their connections with humans, wildlife and the land.

The Center is making a 13-year commitment to this program, hoping to foster awareness of complex water issues and

provide valuable research information.

Students will have opportunities to collect data, monitor wildlife, interview river p eople and participate in outdoor adventures.

The Rivers of Life project follows other popular adventure learning projects sponsored by CGEE, including the Steger International Trans-Antarctica Expedition and Journey North, a migration-tracking project.

For more information on Rivers of Life, contact Tracy Fredin, (612) 659-3105, or e-mail, tfredin@seq.hamline.edu.

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cALENDAR

January Special Events & Festivals 6 Candlelight Ski, Wildcat Mountain State Park, Ontario, Wis., 5 p.m. - 10 p.m., (608) 337-4775.

6 Candlelight Ski, Blue Mound State Park, Blue Mounds, Wis., 6 p .m . - 9 p.m., (608) 437-5711.

10 Wis. State Parks begin accepting summer camping reservations by mail or in person, forms, (608) 2662181.

12-14 Winterfest, Allamakee County, Iowa, (319) 568-2137.

13 Winter trout fishing program, Whitewater State Park, Altura, Minn., registration, (507) 932-3007.

16-21 Minnesota Sportsmen's Boat, Camping & Vacation Show, St. Paul Civic Center, (612) 755-8111.

19-21 Brrrmidji Polar Daze, Bemidji, Minn., 800-458-2223.

20 Cross Country Skiing, Black River State Forest, Coulee Region (La Crosse) Sierra Club, (608) 788-8831.

24-28 Minneapolis Boat Show, (612) 827-5833.

26-28 Cabin Fever Days, Onalaska, Wis. 26-Feb. 4 St. Paul Winter Carnival, 800-488-4023.

27 Ice skating, Merrick State Park, Fountain City, Wis., 5 p.m. - 8 p.m., (608) 687-4936.

27 Hiking, Nelson Dewey State Park, Cassville, Wis., 6 p .m. - 9 p .m ., (608) 725-5374.

27-28 Winter Fest, Lake City, Minn., 800-369-4123.

Watch those Eagles! Special programs and exhibits: 6 Bald Ea gle Watch, Clinton , Iowa, viewing near Fulton and Albany, Ill., (815) 259-3628.

6 Bald Eagle Days, Sauk City I Prairie du Sac, 800-68-EAGLE, or (608) 6434168.

6-7 Eagle Watch, Le Claire, Iowa, (319) 289-3009.

12-14 Eagle Watch, Allam akee County, Iowa, (319) 568-2137.

13 Eagle Watch, Dubuque, (319) 5579200.

13 and 20 Bald Eagle Viewing, Sauk

City I Prairie du Sac, 800-68-EAGLE, or (608) 643-4168.

14 Bald Eagle Watch, Bellevue, Iow a, 800-342-1837.

27-28 Bald Eagle Days, Cassv ille, Wis., (608) 725-5855.

27-28 Bald Eagle Days, Rock Island, Ill., (309) 788-5912. through March Eagle Watch, Wabasha, Minn., city deck staffed Sundays 1 p.m. - 3 p.m., 800-5654158.

Meetings 4 Public meeting on U.S. Fish & Wildlife plan for Midway Marsh acquisition, 7 p .m ., Midway (Wis.) Tow n Hall, (608) 783-8405.

8 St. Croix Valley Sierra Club, 6:30 p.m. - 9 p .m ., Public Library, Stillwa ter, Minn., (715) 425-5807.

9 Public hearing on the Kondirator metal shredder, 9:30 a.m., Minn.

Pollution Control Agency Citizens' Board, 520 Lafayette Rd., St. Paul, (612) 222-2193.

9-10 Mississippi River Heritage Corridor Study Commission, review of public comments, 12 noon - 5 p .m .

Tues., 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Wed., Radisson Hotel, St. Paul, (608) 786-0774.

13 Public meeting on the Alter metal shredder, 9 a .m., Humboldt High

J a nuary 1996

School, St. Paul, (612) 227-1130.

17 Public meeting on Wis. Department of Natural Resources 5-year land acquisition plan, 5:30 p .m., DN R Western District H eadquarters, Eau Claire, (608) 266-8575.

Workshops & Conferences 19-21 Land trust training session, Wausau , Wis., Gathering Waters, (608) 251-9131.

February Events & Festivals 2-4 Winter Rec Fest, La Crosse, (608) 782-2366.

3-4 Winter Carnival, Winona, (507) 452-2272.

3 Skiing, hiking, and snowshoeing, Interstate Park, St. Croix Falls, 6 p.m.

- 9 p .m ., (715) 483-3747.

3 Ice Fishing Contest, Pepin, Wis., (715) 672-5709.

9-11 Feb-Fab-Fest, Prairie du Chien, Marqu ette and McGregor, (319) 8732186.

10 Skiing and hiking, Wyalusing State Park, Bagley, Wis., 6 p .m . - 9 p .m., (608) 996-2261.

17 Ice Fish ing Contest, Lake City, Minn., 800-369-4123.

24 Grumpy Old Men Festival, Wabasha, Minn., 800-565-4158.

Meeting Feb.12 St. Croix Valley Sierra Club, 6:30 p .m . - 9 p.m., Public Library, Stillwater, Minn., (715) 425-5807.

ALMANAC

By Ken Salw ey, Pool 5A The critters a re going to have a hard go if we get more snow on top of the ice we got in December. Deer can break it to get their food , but c oyotes and other animals can't. The ice in the b ackwate rs won 't freeze as thick, eithe r.

Beaver are better prepared for winter than most animals. They pile up willow, red dogwood and aspen in feed beds so the ice freezes over it and they have food all winter. All they have to do is peel the b ark off and spit o ut the sticks. Their lodges are snug a nd warm - mud-plaste re d with a chimney hole at the top to vent sta le air. If you see frost around this hole, you know a lod ge is oc cupied.

Owls mate in January. We have lots of barred ow ls and great horned owls in the backwaters. You see them sitting in their hunting trees, which are used by generations of birds. _

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