The Minnesota Department of Agriculture “Proposed” Aerial Spraying of Ely for Gypsy Moths

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture, MDA, is proposing to spray for gypsy moths over most of downtown Ely and parts of wooded areas south of Ely. The proposed spray zone of 565 acres is shown below. The application rate for the agent Foray 48b, manufactured by Valent BioSciences, is 1/2 gallon per acre. That will […]

Encounter with Black Bear in Ely, MN

See Video at end of Story

This is a story about a common Minnesota American Black Bear and a person originally from Indiana, me, who used to believe if you got this close to a Black Bear you were a goner. Obviously not true. Since I did get very close and I’m […]

Paradise Lost? The Ocean as Harbinger by Chuck Dayton September 3, 2013

Chuck Dayton presented personal slides and his observations from a trip to numerous coral reefs in the South Pacific recently to the Ely Tuesday Group at the Grand Ely Lodge last Tuesday. Chuck described and showed evidence with his slides of the negative effects humans are having on the health of corals in this region. […]

Pagami Creek Fire in the BWCA near entry points on Lake One is now 30% contained – Sept. 21, 2011

Pagami Creek Fire had Ely Residents and Visitors Concerned about Fire

The Pagami Creek Fires had burned for over three weeks, and the small fire burning near Lake Two was not deemed much of a threat. The Pagami Creek Fire was of such a small nature, that the Forest Service decided to help […]

Common Buckthorn – Another Invasive Species in Northern Minnesota and the BWCA

Buckthorn could take over the BWCA

Common Buckthorn – Another Invasive Species -by Mark Haarman

It stopped me cold. My heart sank, then I began to fulminate. But don’t do that in public. Don’t stand cursing at a tree as I did, since it’s termed ‘probable cause’ in law enforcement. The act of even […]

When Spring Comes Back With Rustling Shade…

Before some intelligent and well read reader calls me on the carpet for stealing someone’s words, let me give full credit to Allen Seger who left a small farm in Iowa to go and fight in France during World War One. He wrote a poem during the spring of 1918 titled; I Have a Rendezvous […]

Spring Walked in on Cold Feet, but the Ice is off Shagawa Lake

Spring Ice on Shagawa

It was not the May Day morning I was looking for, but then it’s been that kind of Spring where one day it is sunny and at least half way warm, and then the next, it’s back to being cold. We started watching the ice three weeks ago, and the […]

Spring is slowly arriving in Ely!

It’s been a long winter here at the end of the road. We had a lot of snow and cold temperatures that tested the metal of the inhabitants who chose to winter here in Ely. We had some warmer weather in mid March, but then Old Man Winter decided he wasn’t done yet. March ended […]