2009 Oct-Nov The official newsletter of the Minnesota Canoe Association by Jay Hawkinson

MINNESOTA

E-paddler

October-November 2009 • Vol. 45 No. 5 • $2 • Official Publication of the Minnesota Canoe Association

Pike Island Cleanup, Sept. 27 ! • page 12 Boat Builders Contest • page 9 Fall Color Cruise • page 10 Photograph by Bruce Gerbig

M I N N E S O TA

The Upper Midwest's Paddling Resource Official publication of the Minnesota Canoe Association, Inc.

Pa d d l e r Contact Information

See Yourself in Minnesota Paddler! Minnesota Paddler promotes paddling in

Editor - open -

the Upper Midwest, and supplies MCA members with useful and fun information about paddling. We welcome your paddling-related stories, articles, gear & book reviews, and photos. We’re especially interested in sharing information about upcoming events, good places to paddle, helpful tips and techniques, and interesting trips you’ve taken recently. Want to see your smiling face on the cover? It’s a little easier than seeing it on the cover of Rolling Stone. Just send the editor your photo(s) along with a story of what happened. Did you make the best whitewater maneuver of your life? Are you building your canoe from scratch? Send us a photo! Send the editor your plain text or Word files (for articles) and JPEGs (for photos). Please do not embed photographs in your Word documents; send them as separate attachments in the e-mail. E-mail your photos, articles, and stories to editor@canoe-kayak.org or mail electronic copies of them on CD to: Editor, Minnesota Paddler; PO Box 13567; Dinkytown Station; Minneapolis, MN 55414.

Calendar Information Andy Bergstrom 612/928-7904 MCAcalendar@canoe-kayak.org Trading Post (Classified ads) - open Advertising Manager - open Web Master Joe Conrad 715/425-2818 MCAwebmaster@canoe-kayak.org

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ISSN 0739-7445 The views expressed in Minnesota Paddler are not necessarily those of the MCA Board of Directors or of the MCA as a whole.

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Issue

Feb-March 2009 • Minnesota Paddler

Inside From the Bow • 4 From the Stern • 5 Mankato Paddling & Outing Club • 6 A Letter to Friends of BWW • 8 Canoe Builder’s Contest Returns • 9 Fall Color Cruise • 10 Pike Island Cleanup • 12

E-mail Addresses Needed MCA Helps Heart of the Continent Partnership Board Minutes for August DNR Conservation Agenda Greenleaf Lake SRA News Make Your Own Canoe Paddle MCA Application Minnesota Canoe Association Trading Post

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Photograph by Dan Domeier

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many weeks before that’s an important issue to consider for all of us.

From the Bow By Tom Mings

Finally some summer weather and a chance at some milder early fall weather to stretch this paddling season a little further. As the weather cools it can be tempting to start getting reflective and reviewing the year – but first it’s time to look forward to what can be the best time of year to float a boat. As always, there’s lower water going into fall around this paddling region – but there are gorgeous opportunities in every part of the region nonetheless. I’ll be looking for a day or two to beg off of work and wander down a short stretch of the Cannon near my house to sample the fall sites and smells…and to see how the new pup handles the boat. For those with youngsters in their circle of paddling acquaintances (or wishing to add some as I am always plotting with my grandkids, nieces and nephews), these next few weeks have potential to give them one last weekend look at the water while temps are friendly – a little something to whet their appetites for some spring 2010 softwater adventure. The water is cooling along with the air, prepare accordingly as the season progresses – small bodies take cooling a little harder than adults and it won’t be Page

Contact your regional affiliates if you have questions about which way to head once the boats are loaded or which boat to take along… or are just looking for someone else to paddle with. In looking at the drought indices for the region, the water is surely low in some areas of the state, but there are always opportunities – some areas in Minnesota and Wisconsin have been wet-, not drought-impaired. A couple of outstanding aesthetic opportunities present themselves for a group paddle if you are interested and the recently-inviting weather holds. Last years fall color cruises were fabulous days on the water and this year’s have potential to be the same: MCA’s Fall Color Cruise is set for October 10 on the St. Croix River. This year’s cruise will be marked by the return of the Boat Builder’s Contest. The contest is being revived

October-November 2009 • Minnesota Paddler

by Don Ternes and his crew of builder volunteers. With a prize or two to make it interesting for the builders… and the opportunities for the rest of us to see a few of these beautiful craft, it should be an excellent day on the water. See the calendar for more information. MCA will be putting on the second Near North Symposium on December 5, 2009 in cooperation with Midwest Mountaineering. There will be opportunities to assist if you are so-inclined and, as always the opportunity to just come and enjoy the presentations. Phil Cotton will be back from the Wabakimi Project – I traveled with him for a week and it is all the adventure you might imagine it to be as well as a great learning experience…we used to think to think we were hot stuff ‘cuz we have a little cow flop on our cowboy boots, but now that I’m older I realize that woodland caribou poo is the real razzmatazz. For those looking for a service opportunity, we are looking for someone to take the lead in production of this news letter, The Paddler. Our current editor, Jay Hawkinson has done an incredible amount of work over the last few years and is looking to step back from the day-to-day tasks. As several knowledgeable folks have noted over Jay’s several years of service - he has put out a professional-quality magazine for MCA during his tenure, and deserves our thanks for both the quantity and quality of his work. If you are interested in helping put out the newsletter, please contact Jay Hawkinson (see the masthead contact info) or Tom Mings (651-332-0559) by phone or email.

From the Stern By Jay Hawkinson

I completely missed the August/ September newsletter. We never got notice of the ‘The Dose!’ canoe race and now we are late for the Pike Island Cleanup and all the work Mel Baughman has done to prepare. I don’t know what to say, other than I am culpable. A lot more could be said, but it is probably best not to say it. Do you remember your Mother’s advice? “If you have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.” It is time to move on. If you know anyone that can help the MCA with the newsletter, please send them to the board. I have enjoyed working with some excellent people and appreciate the contributions of some great local talent. From authors like Lynn Diebel and Rob Kesselring, to professionals at the DNR and other non-profit organizations. We will all miss Brand Frentz articles from the MPOC. I has been great to see how many businesses support and share the ideas and goals of the MCA. They understand that we are all in this together. I will be around. Please, don’t think twice about calling me. My lines are open and I will help when I can. Well, I hope to see you on the water. Thank you for allowing me to be the editor for the MCA.

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Report

from

Mankato Paddling & Outings Club by Brand Frentz

By Brand Frentz, MPOC Secretary The Long Gone Blues

voyage of 2009, 10 in the big boat with Warren Wagner and Peggy It’s summertime, and the livin’ is Kreber paddling their own tandem easy. We paid our weather dues in canoe (and one member who “didn’t the winter, waited patiently through like the looks of those waves” stayed a long, cold spring, and now here on shore). Actually it is – lush green no one liked the woods and fields, wind, but we had warm sun, lazy days, confidence in the the splash of the big boat, steered by paddle and our boats Mark Bosacker and cut through the powered by Paul water. The MPOC Schafer in the bow. is paddling now, St. Peter naturalist canoes and kayaks Bob Dunlop was on all over the Southern board and provided Prairie: river trips, a good commentary, lake excursions, rides to those close for the public, even a enough to hear river clean-up. him over wind that Brand Frentz is the Secretary of the Mankato Paddling & Outings Club. was howling out of The low water the south at 20 mph, in early May was gusting to over 30. It was okay going probably helpful for the annual river directly against it and with it, but the clean-up project – more tires were turns were hairy. I didn’t know the exposed, to be dug out. Crews worked war canoe could tip that far and not hard on the Blue Earth and LeSueur go over. We came back lucky to be dry rivers for two days, removing nearly (and Mark was bushed). Warren and half a ton of trash not counting Peggy had a good show, as they stayed recyclable materials and tires. And as protected in the weeds and watched always, the camaraderie was great. us fight our way around in the middle of the lake. A hardy group showed up at Swan Lake for the war canoe’s first Page

October-November 2009 • Minnesota Paddler

Hiniker Pond – Action Central Hiniker Pond in North Mankato saw plenty of the MPOC too. About 30 people came to our rides-for-thepublic evening in late May. We had lots of enjoyable cruises around the small lake, and one mishap where justice reared its ugly head. A loud, burly citizen said he “didn’t need no help” launching the canoe so we stood back and watched (closely). He grabbed the stern and started running, pushing it straight out -- and capsized within 10 feet. Mumbling fiercely he turned and stamped off, leaving his partner in the bow wet and wondering. We quickly emptied the canoe and found a member to paddle the partner around, safely. Then we had the annual potluck and boat trials at the Pond, and again the water was dotted with colorful boats zipping here and there. Roger Kontak brought his beautiful homemade woodstrip tandem canoe that everyone admired (but it is a little tippy), Brand Frentz offered his inflatable Airis kayak for sale but got no takers, and little Allen Schafer paddled non-stop for two hours in every boat we had! If he keeps it up (he is 9) he will be a champion paddler. Eight o’clock Sunday morning, June 28. Hiniker Pond is in an uproar as 70 athletes hit the water at once – the North Mankato Triathlon! The churning mass of swimmers plows ahead under the watchful eyes of lifeguards riding in – you guessed

it – MPOC canoes. For the 11th year we carried the water safety team at this event. We were able to help a couple of struggling swimmers and, like all the triathlons before it, this one came off without incident. And Now … Goodbye Ten years is enough. I wrote my first Mankato Report for HUT! magazine in the August 1999 issue – I am writing this, my last MPOC report, for the August 2009 Minnesota Paddler. A lot has happened in those 10 years – spectacular paddling moves, scary near misses, unforgettable trips, warm summer evenings, biting early spring trips with snow in the air... We have a lot of fun paddling in the Mankato area. And I am sure it will continue, whether reported or not. On leaving I want to thank the MCA for providing this forum, the editors who all work so hard to produce the magazine, and my fellow MPOC members who supplied the stories – Peggy Kreber with her vast knowledge of our waters, Mark Bosacker for his calm, reliable guidance, Warren Wagner for his humor and wisdom, and all the rest: Tom, Dean, Paul, Scott, Joe, Bob, everybody! My hat’s off to all of you!

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A Letter to the Friends of the Boundary Water Wilderness 8/27/09 To: Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness (Entered as a message on the Friends Website) The Minnesota Canoe Association will donate $200 toward your educational video on sulfide mining. In addition, one of our Board members, Joe Conrad, will donate an additional $100 on behalf of the MCA. We will mail these checks to you within a few days. In return for these contributions, the MCA would like to have our name and/ or logo shown on the video where you list other contributors or sponsors. We will send you a CD with a couple of logos on it. We appreciate the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness producing an educational video that does not advocate for or against this mining. It is a complex issue that requires an in-depth knowledge of mining engineering, hydrology, chemistry, legislation, and regulations to understand. Because of its complexity and the uncertain legislative and regulatory environment, an unbiased educational video is very appropriate. While we expect the video to be relatively unbiased, the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness website leans strongly toward antagonism about sulfide mining and tends to create a built-in bias about this industry. It may hurt your efforts to conduct education around this issue. In bold print on your Web, you state, “It has decimated water supplies, killed fish, destroyed entire landscapes, and left taxpayers holding the bag for expensive clean-up operations almost everywhere it’s been done before. Now, the sulfide mining industry has set its sights on northeastern Minnesota, including many areas at the very edges of the Boundary Waters.” The MCA Board encourages you to maintain an educational mindset on your Web as well as in the video. We look forward to seeing the video and including it in discussions with MCA members. -Mel Baughman MCA Conservation Director Page

October-November 2009 • Minnesota Paddler

Canoe Builder’s Contest Returns By Joe Conrad Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009 Judging at 1:00 PM at the Mn DNR Picnic Area at the Osceola Bridge In conjunction with the 44th Annual St. Croix Color Cruise Bring Your Canoe or Kayak Now Yes, canoe and kayak builders and MCA friends, our Building Contest is back. We know that canoe building is a continuing activity of our paddlers. These craftspeople deserve a chance for the rest of us to be impressed and to compliment them. In turn we will all have a chance to vote on the “best” canoe. Charlie Rader has a new single…. I’ve seen it and it will be competitive in any contest. Bob Brown is rumored to have a new model (and since when does he not?). We’ll try to get Al Button to bring his special BWCA single tripping canoe…we think he has built two of them. Doug Nordang may have an original. Others builders are out there. If your boat has been built within the last 4 years, we will consider you as eligible for our prize. However, if it is older, and you are still proud of it, bring it along, maybe we’ll work up an “ancient boat” category. In the past we have recognized those special souls who have repaired and refurbished a classic rib, plank and canvas canoe. Voters will receive a brief “ judge’s guide” with what to look for….like

“overall beauty”, hull smoothness, fittings and trim quality, originality of design, quality of glass/fiber work with resin, etc. This is basically a “popular vote” contest. We want to give some recognition to the continuing craftsmanship of the hand built canoe or kayak. Also, if you’ve built a paddle or decorated one (or several) bring ‘em along. See all of you there and we hope you also enjoy our Color Cruise down the wild and scenic St. Croix. Joe Conrad, Don Ternes and Doug Nordang.

Wolf River Guides White Water Canoe And Kayak School Beginning Kayak & Canoe Classes Tripping Whitewater Classes River Rescue Kids Classes Advanced Playboating Look us up on the web at: www.wolfriverguides.com or call us at: 715-882-3002

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44th Annual St. Croix Color Cruise By Joe Conrad And the return of the Canoe Builder’s Contest Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009 Come and join our MCA cruisers at the MCA’s oldest general event. View the fall colors of our beloved Saint Croix River. Picnic with fellow kayakers and canoeists at the Osceola bridgelanding (bring your own food/beverages). Bring a child under 17 and be eligible for a River Prize Drawing Basic Route: Interstate Park at Taylor’s Falls to O’Brien State Park Lunch stop at the Osceola Bridge Schedule with Alternatives: (Mn State Park Stickers or Daily Entrance fee required at Parks) 1. 9:30 AM Arrive at Interstate Park (MN side) canoe landing, sign in, unload, etc. (see map) 9:45 Start shuttle to O’Brien with other drivers Wait for drivers to return 10:30 Paddle Away! 12:30 Stop at Osceola Bridge/ Landing have lunch; drawing for River Prize. 1:00 Canoe Builder’s Contest Judging 1:30 Depart after lunch, paddle to O’Brien (maybe stop on sandbar Page 10

or “Big Island” for a while) 4:00 Arrive at O’Brien, begin shuttle drivers back to Interstate 5:00 Last call for drivers for shuttle 2. Fast paddlers can put in at Osceola, paddle upstream for a while and return to Osceola to join us for lunch. Paddle on down to O’Brien for the afternoon or enjoy fall colors on your own. 3. Come to Osceola at noon, hang around for lunch with everyone, then paddle with us on down to O’Brien. MCA will help drivers arrange shuttles at lunch.

4. Arrange your own put-in, take-out and shuttle, yet join us for lunch at Osceola. (See alternative put-ins and take-outs on the map.) 5. Whitewater boaters can spend the day in the rapids at Taylor’s Falls and drive down to O’Brien for a picnic supper and greet cruisers as they come in starting around 4:00 pm 6. Impromptu gathering for supper at O’Brien or other restaurants on the way home.

October-November 2009 • Minnesota Paddler

Pike Island Cleanup MCA’s Public Service Project Fort Snelling State Park Sunday, September 27, 2009 1:30 – 5:00 pm Please come to the MCA’s Pike Island cleanup -- our biggest public service project of the year. Several natural resources student clubs from the University of Minnesota also are invited to bolster our turnout. Your State Park entrance fee will be waived if you tell staff at the entrance booth that you are helping with the MCA’s Pike Island Cleanup. Meet at the end of the park road closest to Pike Island. The clean-up starts at 1:30 pm. Gloves and trash bags are provided by the DNR, but you still may want your own gloves. Most work is done by walking the banks, but we need a few canoes to pick up full bags on the banks and return them to a dumpster. If possible, share your canoe with a student so they have a chance for some paddling fun after the work.

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When the cleanup ends about 4:00 pm, we will have a potluck. The MCA will provide brats, buns, beverages, plates, and tableware. Bring a dish to share with MCA members and U of M students. Fort Snelling State Park is located on Post Road off State Highway 5, just west of the main terminal exit for the Minneapolis – St. Paul International Airport. FMI: Fort Snelling State Park, 101 Snelling Lake Rd, Fort Snelling, MN 55111-4116, (612) 725-2389, http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_ parks/fort_snelling/index.html Advance registration is recommended so we bring enough food and can notify the park about how many cars to expect. Contact Mel Baughman, MCA Conservation Director, baughman@umn.edu, home (651) 645-9409.

October-November 2009 • Minnesota Paddler

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E-Mail ! Yes, that modern mode of communication. Addresses needed. We need to take advantage of this swift outlet for MCA news and info about our functions. Print media is expensive and not always easy to maintain. Sometimes event info comes in out of sync with our bimonthly publication schedule. We know that everyone is been leery of spreading their e-mail address around. The MCA has never and will never share our contact information with any other entity or organization. Any organization that wishes to contact our members must go through the Board of Directors and even if approved, the info will be sent by the MCA, Inc. With the option and availability of a special e-mail address (through Google, Yahoo, or others) in addition to the one supplied to you by your Internet Service Provider, you can always change the second address and keep your “home address” safe. How to do this? It is easy for our members to obtain an e-mail address just for MCA use (or any other that you desire.) You can get a free e-mail address from Google.com---look for Gmail on the Google home page. Yahoo.com also provides this service. There are many other options. Please supply the MCA with an operative e-mail address. Send an e-mail to Gary Hennes, our membership director. Be sure that your message gives clear info on your identity so we can get your info into our database. MCAmemb@canoe-kayak.org or webmaster@canoe-kayak.org Try to choose an address that will help us keep our membership info straight, such: hennesMCA@gmail.com or, conradpaddler@yahoo.com Our members miss some canoe/kayak events and club functions because information simply doesn’t always arrive in a timely manner. Help us help you! Joe Conrad for the Board of Directors. Page 14

October-November 2009 • Minnesota Paddler

The MCA helps out The Heart of the Continent Partnership By Rob Kesselring The Boundary Waters â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Quetico Wilderness is located in the center of the North American Continent. It is roughly 1500 miles from salt water whether you look east to the Atlantic Ocean, south to the Gulf of Mexico, west to the Pacific Ocean or north to the Polar Sea. And it is big, when you total up the acreage of Quetico, BWCAW and the remainder of Superior National Forest, Voyageurs National Park and some of the smaller parcels of protected lands in parks and land trusts, it emerges as arguably the largest protected natural area south of Alaska and northern Canada. It is a true wilderness located at the heart of the continent. Even so it does not have as strong a worldwide reputation as does Yellowstone, Banff or Yosemite. Maybe this is because it lacks the singular feature, which distinguishes the more famed parks - no picture postcard canyon, or jagged mountain peaks cloaked with glaciers. Or maybe the fame of the border lake country is

diluted because it is fragmented by different political and administrative jurisdictions. Straddling the international border are the two largest preserves, the BWCAW and Quetico, which together total over two million acres in size. The BWCAW, as part of the Superior National Forest, was first given some protection by the US Forest Service almost

Photo by Sue Plankis Heart of Continent Steering Committee Chair Rich Kelley and David Shanteau.

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Photo by Sue Plankis Reese, a Chinese foreign exchange student participating in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Paddle the Heartâ&#x20AC;? clinic with David Shanteau and Rob Kesselring, author.

100 years ago, and eventually gained stringent and specific preservation under the Wilderness Act of 1964. It continues to be administered by the US Forest Service. North of the border, Quetico was established by the provincial government of Ontario, again, almost 100 years ago and it is currently administered by Ontario Parks. These events did not happen by themselves. Visionary Canadians and Americans worked together to ensure that the beauty and recreational value of these lands would endure for future generations. Voyageurs National Park was formed much later, in 1975, and is part of the American national park system. Hunting is permitted in the BWCAW but not in Quetico or Voyageurs. Motorboats are okay on the big lakes of Voyageurs, but not in most of the BWCAW or Quetico. Fishing and camping regulations are different in all three places. Adjoining these Page 16

three large areas are many smaller parcels of state, provincial, crown, federal, aboriginal, private and nonprofit holdings with still different regulations, histories and reasons for existence! However, to the wandering moose and wolves it all looks much the same. And maybe the animals are on to something. Each of these places has multiple administrative units, advocacy and guardian groups. In many cases they are doing similar things but not always with the awareness of what is happening a few pine trees to the north or to the west. Five years ago, Superintendent of Quetico Park, Robin Reilly, with the help of the Quetico Foundation pulled together a group of 15 interested parties that recognized the potential value of meeting together to share common interests and concerns. The approach of the 100th year

October-November 2009 â&#x20AC;˘ Minnesota Paddler

WANTED!