Waking Up Den Mates - White Pines UPDATE February 9, 2016
White pines mist
White pines mist
In this 2-minute video from January 24, 2014, Holly?s den mate, Vinny the Vole approached Holly from the den doorway, retreats and then circles around and approaches her from the other way. Holly is snuggled deep into the straw. Two nights prior, the temperature dropped to minus 34?F. Vinny jumped on Holly and Holly jumped up like I?ve never seen before. Then, in fast motion, Holly rearranges her bed and settles back down into the deep straw. It was nearly 9 PM and the temperature was below zero.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC8DqUiKyggIn this 14-minute video from March 1, 2011, 4-year-old Lucky tests Ted?s patience by repeatedly poking him with a stick in the den. Linda Gibson interprets with her cute captions. Funny.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0U70V5UonUThis 1 minute 41 second video from Juliet?s den on April 20, 2014 shows something I wasn?t aware of. A new animal to add to the list of den inhabitants. It?s a blue-spotted salamander (Ambystoma laterale) on the move. The high for the day was 49?F.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IrxsoyrAIEWhite pines sunset
White pines sunset
This year is the 20th anniversary of the 1996 white pine victory after a US Forest Service/MN DNR nightmare worse than what the DNR has been doing the last few years. I revisited the 1990?s while putting together some history for something coming up.
The USFS offered to return my white pine data, pay my outstanding legal bills, wipe my record clean (expunge it), and give me full early retirement. In return, I could not sue the USFS or reveal details of the USFS investigation to the press. It was a hard decision for me. The USFS and DNR had ruined my bear study and had spent over a year blackening my name to the press. If I accepted, I couldn?t reveal their misdeeds and clear my name. I knew I could prove their dishonesty in court and could probably recover all that I?d spent on the case and more. My attorneys believed I could win in court but said it would be prohibitively expensive, and it is always risky to contest the government. I decided to accept the USFS offer and move forward on projects that would let my work speak for itself. I retired on November 21, 1993, a little over 21 months after the case began on February 18, 1992.
I immediately moved forward on three fronts: (1) Sustainable management of Minnesota?s white pines, (2) Creating the North American Bear Center for public education about bears, and (3) Continuing bear research.
1. To work for sustainable management of Minnesota?s white pines, I formed the White Pines Society (
www.whitepines.org). Eighteen local or national environmental organizations that are listed in the credits of the award-winning video ?Minnesota?s White Pines: Our Vanishing Heritage? soon joined in support. Together, we found strong support from the media, the public, scientists, and legislators. With that support, we brought white pine management issues to a head in early 1996:
On February 6, 1996, the Minneapolis Star Tribune featured my white pine data in a full-page article ?Keeper of the Pines.?
On February 8, 1996, the same newspaper wrote an editorial ?Our perspective: White Pine: Stop the cutting, save the remains.?
In the legislature, Representative Willard Munger introduced the ?Restore the White Pine Act.? In nearly passing, it got the attention of DNR foresters.
DNR forestry officials sat down with a coalition of white pine advocates and agreed to nearly all my proposals for (1) planting and protecting white pines, (2) conducting research toward sustainable management, and (3) sparing nearly all white pines on public land until we develop a sustainable management plan.
The governor budgeted a million dollars for white pine regeneration and research.
On April 16, 1996, Minnesota?s Wilderness and Parks Coalition selected me as an ?Environmental Hero? because (as stated in the Minneapolis Star Tribune) I ?crusaded to preserve and regenerate Minnesota?s depleted white pine forests.?
That year (1996), white pine management changed drastically and permanently at federal, state, and county levels. White pines would no longer be systematically eliminated to provide short-term benefits for a few. Where there is logging on public land, white pines would be left standing. They are actively regenerated to provide wildlife habitat, seeds for the future, and an important and beautiful part of our public forests for generations to come.
2. Upon retiring, I immediately began working to create the North American Bear Center (NABC) that opened in 2007. The mission of the non-profit North American Bear Center is to advance the long-term survival of bears worldwide by replacing misconceptions with scientific facts about bears, their role in ecosystems, and their relations with humans.
3. Upon retiring, I built the Wildlife Research Institute?s Northwoods Research Center and began a long-term study (1996-present) of black bears around a community that coexists with bears and has fewer problems than any comparable community I know. To assess the effects of community feeding on the bears I compare their behavior, ecology, and reproductive success with data from my earlier study (1969-1992).
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
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