Along the Shore

Be sure to boil the crayfish until they turn red. | CHRIS PASCONE

Trapper’s delight: Rusty crayfish

By Chris Pascone

NORTH SHORE—Want to wash your camping dishes in the wilderness with zero effort? Let me share a life hack made in the Northern Wilds.

I had fried up a big pan of bacon on my MSR stove one Friday evening at a campsite on Tofte Lake outside Ely, and was dreading washing the grease off. On a whim I threw the greasy pan in our crayfish trap overnight and plopped it in the lake.

The next morning, the pan with bacon bits burnt all over was now spotless! No exaggeration—it was cleaned to a shine by hundreds of crayfish. I’m not sure how Leave No Trace this method is, but I can say there was definitely no trace of the bacon...

I literally pulled the pan out of the trap and started cooking on it again—no soap, no sponge, nothing. It was like having one of those Japanese robots that does your housework for you—but wilderness style. When we bought our crayfish trap at Piragis Northwoods Company in Ely, we didn’t realize we were getting a free dishwasher to go with it.

Rusty crayfish are an invasive species that are overtaking some northern lakes. I personally don’t wrestle with any hard feelings about harvesting them. The MN DNR allows individuals with valid resident or nonresident angling licenses to harvest up to 25 pounds of live crayfish. Here’s how to become a crayfish trapper and get your next meal straight out of the lake.

First, you’ll need a trap, which weighs almost nothing. Ours, made by Promar, has nylon netting wrapped around a wire frame. The collapsible trap folds up flat and is easy to take on your next camping trip. Steve Piragis, owner of the namesake store in Ely, says that he originally got the idea of carrying crayfish traps about 20 years ago.

The MN DNR allows individuals with valid resident or nonresident angling licenses to harvest up to 25 pounds of live crayfish. | CHRIS PASCONE

“We had a friend from Sweden who told us that many people there use traps as a way to get some interesting wild food resources. We found someone in Duluth who imported the traps, and put them in the catalog,” said Piragis.

Next, you’ll need to do your research to find lakes where “rusties” have become established. Ask around locally, inquire at your favorite bait shop, or just scan the lake bottom the next time you’re at your favorite lake for this invasive species.

Rusty crayfish are native to the Ohio River Basin, but were likely transported to Minnesota by fishermen as bait, then released into the water rather than being properly disposed.

According to Matt Weberg, assistant area supervisor in the Grand Marais office of the Minnesota DNR, crayfish are predators. Weberg explains that in a lot of lakes in the Northern Wilds, the macroinvertebrate (bug) community is very important to the food chain, and rusty crayfish can eat those bugs before the fish species get them. This can disrupt the natural food chain. Furthermore, crayfish can reduce the amount of habitat for aquatic bugs by eating the aquatic plants that the bugs hide in. Crayfish can clean out a lake with their voracious eating habits and impact the ecosystem so that it’s not as productive as it should be.

Weberg also states that in lakes where rusty crayfish and native crayfish co-exist, the rusties are much more likely to push the native crayfish out.

“It’s not a mutualistic relationship between crayfish once the rusties get in the lake,” says Weberg.

Rusty crayfish are an invasive species that are overtaking some northern lakes. | CHRIS PASCONE

Weberg refers to the Pike Lake Homeowners Association as a Grand Marais-area entity that has promoted crayfish trapping as a way of dealing with runaway rusty crayfish populations. Besides Pike Lake, Weberg names Caribou Lake in Lutsen, and Hungry Jack, West Bearskin and Duncan in the mid-Gunflint Trail as other area lakes with confirmed rusty crayfish populations.

So, what do you do when you catch enough rusty crayfish to make dinner? The first step is to boil them until they turn red. Try seasoning the water with bay leaves, salt and Old Bay to make a broth. It took our family about 100 crayfish to make a meal (you’ll want corn, bread and other side dishes to round out the skimpy crayfish), since the only meat you get comes from the tails. According to Piragis, rusty crayfish are a “slow feast.” They’re not a lobster, that’s for sure. Piragis says a lot of customers know that crayfish are a delicacy down south in Cajun country, and that piques their curiosity to net them in Minnesota.

Besides eating a free meal of crayfish, and preventing the ecosystem damage they do, one also gets the pleasure of playing with them. Our daughters spent hours on the beach handling the not-so-dangerous crayfish. When the crayfish pinched them, the girls whooped out loud—something kids are always looking to do anyway.

Make crayfish your next foraging target and do some environmental justice by removing this invasive species from northern waters. Have a fun, lean meal and enjoy playing with these pint-sized crustaceans that make kids squeal in delight.

Incentives attract films

By Rae Poynter

DULUTH—Northern Minnesota is a region of pristine and wild beauty, and soon the region’s forests and lakes could become the backdrop for movies and television shows. As state and local incentives continue to intrigue film industry executives, organizations like Lost Forty Studios and the Upper Midwest Film Office are working to bring more films to the area, a move that could provide a boost to Northern Minnesota’s economy and more job opportunities for local residents.

Nick Swedlund is a co-founder and producer for Lost Forty Studios, a studio and production services provider based in Chisholm, Minn. Swedlund is a Minnesota native who spent 10 years studying and working in the film industry in Los Angeles before returning to Minneapolis. Over the years he’s had experience in many areas of film, including writing, direction and production, and he’s now putting those skills to work in Northern Minnesota.

“I’ve been doing my part to help build the Minnesota film community,” Swedlund said.

Lost Forty Studios had its beginnings at the 2019 Catalyst Story Institute & Content Festival, the nation’s only independent television festival that is now held in Duluth every fall. It was at the festival that Swedlund and business partner, Matt Roy of Headwaters Entertainment, met Karl Gajdusek, a producer who has written screenplays for films such as Oblivion and has worked as a showrunner on shows such as Stranger Things. Gajdusek, Swedlund and Roy began the plan to start Lost Forty Studios together, which started its first productions in January 2022.

Organizations like Lost Forty Studios and the Upper Midwest Film Office are working to bring more films to the area. | SUBMITTED

“We’ve successfully produced three projects, two in Chisholm and one in Duluth,” Swedlund said. “The state, as well as St. Louis County and the Iron Range, have reimbursement incentives for films, and these incentives are the primary reason that films are happening here. When you combine them all, they’re the best incentives in North America, and they’re acting like a beacon to the film industry.”

The idea of film coming to Northern Minnesota could be good news for the local economy. Currently, Lost Forty Studios has been working with independent films and TV shows coming to Northern Minnesota, typically with budgets from $500,000 to $2 million. Half of those budgets are spent locally, which brings an opportunity to diversify local economies: many pockets of the Northern Wilds have economies that are heavily dependent on tourism, which can be challenging when tourism demand is concentrated during just a few months of the year. Film opportunities, by contrast, could provide more year-round income for local workers and businesses. For example, one of the films that Lost Forty Studios recently produced was filmed in Chisholm in January. This brought an injection of spending to the area during a time of year when local hotels, restaurants, and shops typically see lighter traffic. Not only that, but the film industry brings opportunities for locals to find non-tourism related work.

“Film is a great opportunity to change careers,” Swedlund said. “It’s a common misconception that you need some sort of degree to work in the film industry, but that’s not true. The majority of jobs are blue-collar skills, such as construction or transportation. And one of the most amazing things about the film industry is the transferable skills. Have a background in graphic design? We could use your skills in the art department. Finance and accounting? We need those skills in production. Writing or more creative skills—it’s all transferable.”

Despite the promising incentives and opportunities, large-scale film productions still need large crews and the infrastructure to support those crews. To help with some of this, Lost Forty Studios partners with the Upper Midwest Film Office, which is headquartered in Duluth, to put on quarterly workforce training workshops. These workshops typically take place over a weekend, and train about 20 new people at a time to work on film sets. Swedlund said that funding for the Chisholm workshops comes through the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board, while the Upper Midwest Film Office is working with the City of Duluth and other partners to bring more workshops to Duluth. (The goal is to alternate workshop locations between Duluth and Chisholm.) The next of these weekend workshops will take place October 21-23.

“Putting on these workshops is essential. More crew means more films will come here, and more films means more jobs for crew,” Swedlund said.

For more information visit: lostfortystudios.com and uppermidwestfilmtv.org.

Art and community: The Tamarack Land Cooperative

By Rae Poynter

HOVLAND—Lake Superior’s North Shore has long been a source of inspiration for artists. And now, a new artist cooperative in Hovland hopes to be a haven for artists looking to focus on their creative work and connect with other artists.

Ross Orenstein is a co-founder and full-time resident at the new Tamarack Land Cooperative (TLC). According to Orenstein, the idea for the TLC was born from a group of creative-minded friends at the University of Minnesota who graduated around 2012. Many in this group of friends continued to work together in the Minneapolis theater world, renting space in an artist collective together and working on similar projects throughout the years. However, an idea of building an artist collective outside of the city was starting to brew among the friends.

“Being from Minnesota, a lot of us had a love for the northwoods, and the idea of doing something up here was always in the back of our minds,” Orenstein said.

In 2018, one of the friends was looking at properties on Zillow and found a unique property in Hovland: with several buildings on the site, including large gathering spaces, it was one that could potentially work for their dream of starting a northwoods artist collective. Some of the group members visited that November and decided to purchase the property, turning the idea of the TLC into a reality.

According to Orenstein, there was a lot of work to be done on the property to make it liveable year-round, including adding heat to the buildings. However, he said the bones of the property were good, and they knew it had the potential to be converted for their purposes. The first members were able to move to the property in March of 2020—just in time for the covid pandemic to start.

Apart from long-term residents, the Tamarack Land Cooperative in Hovland also plans to offer short-term residences throughout the year for artists of all disciplines—residences will last about 10 days. | SUBMITTED

“It had always been the plan to move up in March, before we knew about covid,” Orenstein said. “We moved up here with three weeks worth of food, not sure what would be open. Even though it brought challenges, the silver lining was that it was also a beautiful time, and it forced us to really get to work on finishing up the property.”

Right now, the TLC has four full-time residents, with the housing cooperative being a large part of the operations. Apart from long-term residents, the TLC also plans to offer short-term residencies throughout the year. Open to artists of all disciplines, the residencies will last about 10 days and give the artists full use of the property. Orenstein said that it’s been their goal to offer affordable programs that open pathways for artists who may be interested in a residency program but don’t have the means to participate in expensive residencies.

“A lot of artists benefit from coming here and not having to leave or have any other distractions for 10 days. You can focus on your work, meet other artists, and take time to explore the property and enjoy being surrounded by nature,” Orenstein said. “This is a very unique project, and there’s nothing else like it in the area, but we’ve had a lot of support from people in the county on this project.”

Looking ahead, Orenstein said that they plan to start doing more performances for and with the community. TLC is partnering with Open Eye Theater in Minneapolis, which does The Driveway Tour. As the name suggests, The Driveway Tour takes shows out on the road to be performed in various outdoor locations in the Twin Cities Metro area. Open Eye and the TLC are planning to bring something similar to Cook County, with their first performance planned for late summer 2022. Orenstein said they are also working with neighbor Shannon Crossbear, who is planning to do a puppetry show.

“This is an example of a kind of event that pairs people out of the area with artists in Cook County,” Orenstein said. “We want to bring in events that are accessible and appeal to many people in the county while still pushing artistic boundaries.”

To learn more about the Tamarack Land Cooperative, visit: tamaracklandcoop.com.