15 minute read
Winter shelter
Get ready for winter sheltering
By DAVID HOSKING
Winter is just around the corner, and most of us prepare for the season by purchasing a jug or two of windshield washer fluid, a bag or two of road salt and maybe a small stack of fireplace wood for those cozy stay-at-home evenings during a snowfall.
We all joke about the stampede of customers who rush to the grocery store to stock up on bread and milk after the weatherman predicts a few inches of snow. No one really worries much about these snowstorms here in Missouri since the snow will usually melt in a few days. No big deal.
However, in December of 2006, an ice storm knocked down trees and power lines throughout the St. Louis area, causing one of the longest power outages that left over 500,000 households and businesses in the dark and cold for days. Similarly, in January of 2007, subfreezing temperatures along with an accumulation of freezing rain caused widespread power outages for more than 100,000 homes and businesses. My elderly in-laws in St. Louis endured five days without heat and lights. To keep warm, they closed off their living room from the rest of the house and were able to stay somewhat warm by means of a gas fireplace.
NOW THAT
WAS A STORM!
The worst ice storm and power outage that I recall occurred in Quebec in January of 1998. The storm lasted five days and coated power lines and trees with five inches of ice. Countless power transmission towers and utility poles collapsed throughout the province, cutting electricity for weeks to almost 5 million people.
Imagine a Canadian winter with minus 30-degree temperatures, without electricity or heat. My father was prepared, however. His old house had oil heating, but there was no electricity for the burner and the circulating blower. Thinking well ahead, he had installed a small wood stove in his basement and a stash of firewood in his shed in anticipation of just such an occasion. The rising heat
OUTDOOR
November-December, 2021
GUIDE
MAGAZINE
HUNTING • FISHING • CAMPING • BOATING • SHOOTING • TRAVEL
Volume 29, No. 5 • Published six times a year Office: 505 S. Ewing, St. Louis, MO 63103 News department — 618-972-3744 www.outdoorguidemagazine.com e-mail: news@outdoor-guide.com
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The Quebec ice storm in 1998 lasted five days and coated the town with five inches of ice, cutting electricity to almost 5 million people. – CTV News photo
from the stove was able to keep the house sufficiently warm and prevented the water pipes from freezing.
So a long-lasting ice storm can be a big deal here in Missouri, too. Previous articles written for Outdoor Guide Magazine discussed the wisdom of stockpiling food, water, a water filtration kit, batteries, lanterns and fuel, and essentials like medicine, enough to last several weeks. But what should you do for emergency heating during a cold winter? A bug-out location away from your home, say, with family or friends is a good idea but, as in the massive Quebec ice storm, road travel was impossible for weeks.
SHELTERING IN PLACE
Therefore, the options are to shelter in place or else relocate to an emergency shelter operated by the Red Cross, for example. Sheltering in place requires advance planning and preparations. Whole-house generators will enable you to operate your furnace and provide lighting, but they typically cost about $12,000, and few can afford the cost. Thus, most of us will have to find a way to keep warm and prevent water pipes from freezing during a prolonged outage.
If the outage duration and freezing temperatures are expected to last a long time, you should turn off your main water supply and then drain the pipes throughout the house. Be sure to fill up as many jugs as possible for drinking water and flushing toilets. If shutting off the water is not practical, you should open up each faucet to allow a trickle of water to drain into the sink. Running water doesn’t easily freeze.
Consider partitioning your house so you live in only one or two rooms. Cover doorways and windows with blankets so you’re only heating a small area. You can even pitch a camping tent inside your room for a much smaller space to heat.
USING HEATERS
• Propane heaters – Well before the storms arrive, and before there is panic buying at the big box stores, you should purchase a couple of Buddy Heaters and lots of propane bottles. Buddy Heaters and other similar propane heaters are safe and designed for indoor use, although they still require a source of fresh air for proper ventilation. • Catalytic heaters – Catalytic heaters that burn white gas or kerosene are very effective but they also require good ventilation; they consume oxygen in a closed room and may cause asphyxiation. • Coleman stoves – Coleman stoves are great for cooking, but it’s dangerous to use them inside the house due to a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. • Barbecue grills –Cooking food on your grills is also effective, but you should use them outdoors because of the same risks. The Quebec ice storm was blamed for the deaths of 35 people, mainly from carbon monoxide poisoning or asphyxiation.
WHAT TO WEAR?
Be sure to wear layers of clothing to stay warm. Fleece is a modern wonder for retaining body heat and wicking away moisture. I spent a lot of my surveying career working in northern Canada and Alaska, where I learned a few good tricks for keeping warm. There is a common saying in the north that “Cotton Kills” which means that cotton clothing such as jeans is the worst for retaining heat, especially if they are even slightly damp.
Wool socks are the best for keeping your feet warm. A good sleeping bag is essential, but they can be quite expensive, so a less costly arrangement is to double up two cheap sleeping bags.
Stay safe and warm!
Prepper’s Guide author David Hosking can be contacted at gamekeeper01@ gmail.com.
Pass Grasslands Act to protect vital prairie
Photo and Text By BRANDON BUTLER
North America’s grasslands – tallgrass, mixed grass and shortgrass prairie – have suffered greatly at the hands of expansion.
Grasslands once covered much of North America. Today, most of our native grasslands are gone. Over 50 million acres have been lost in the last decade alone, making grasslands one of the most threatGuest ened ecosystems on our continent. Editorial To save what little native grassland habitat we have left, and to lead robust restoration efforts, our nation’s largest conservation organizations – including Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever, the National Wildlife Federation, National Wild Turkey Federation, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership – are teaming up to call onCongress to establish the North American Grasslands Conservation Act.
Agriculture is critically important to the economy of this country. Corn, soybeans and other row crops grown here in America help feed the world. We have to find a way to strike a balance where prime agriculture lands remain in cultivation, but marginal lands – those not best suited for growing crops – are returned to native habitat. We need government, agriculture and industry to collectively bring greater value to grasslands.
A MOST IMPORTANT STUDY
A study entitled, “Cropland expansion in the United States produces marginal yields at high costs to wildlife,” co-authored by Tyler J. Lark,Seth A. Spawn,Matthew Bougieand Holly K. Gibbs,was published in Nature Communications in September, 2020. The study states, “We find that croplands have expanded at a rate of over one million acres per year, and that 69.5 percent of new cropland areas produced yields below the national average, with a mean yield deficit of 6.5 percent.
“Our findings demonstrate a pervasive pattern of encroachment into areas that are increasingly marginal for production, but highly significant for wildlife, and suggest that such tradeoffs may be further amplified by future cropland expansion,” the authors say.
The National Wildlife Federation (NWF), which is the largest member-based conservation organization in the country, works extensively on grasslands protection. NWF is currently one of the organizations leading the call for the creation of the North American Grasslands Conservation Act.
POLICIES HAVE FAILED
In response to the above-mentioned study, Aviva Glaser, director of agriculture policyat the NWF, is quoted on their website as saying: “The ongoing destruction of our nation’s native prairies highlighted in this research shows that existing policies have failed to protect a cherished American landscape. Without a national strategy to protect and enhance grassland habitat, our last remaining native prairies are at risk of vanishing forever, along with the many plant and animal species that populate them.
“Federal policymakers should combat this troubling trend by establishing a North American Grasslands Conservation Act, modeled after the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, to stop habitat loss and ensure healthy landscapes for future generations.”
The conservation of North America’s grasslands has to be bipartisan in nature. Environmentalists must understand and be willing to accept the critical role of agriculture to the economy of our country. Agriculture needs to continuously do better at valuing the native ecosystems of great concern to wildlife and ecosystem conservation.
Industry needs to innovate and create modern methods of generating income from alternative agriculture practices, like renewable energy. And government needs to make sure the playing field is fair by ensuring that the critical aspects of ecosystem conservation and agriculture all are considered.
GRASSLAND PROGRAM LAGS
The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is heralded as the most successful government program for grasslands on private land. Yet the number of acres enrolled continues to decrease. In 1985, the farm bill authorized up to 45 million acres for CRP. It peaked at 37 million acres. Recently, CRP acres enrolled dipped below 22 million. Many wanting to sign up can’t. This loss of grasslands is detrimental to the wildlife, birds and insects reliant on grasslands habitat. It’s also bad for humanity.
Grasslands work against climate change by sequestering carbon in the soil by keeping dangerous greenhouse gases underground. Grasslands also reduce flooding. Their complex root structures can grow 15 feet deep in the soil, absorbing large quantities of water. Grasslands also help with erosion control and block pollutants from entering our streams, rivers and other water sources.
Wetlands, another critical natural habitat that has faced peril over the last couple of centuries, receive protection through the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA). Creating similar legislation to protect our grasslands is long overdue.
Check out Brandon Butler’s podcasts at www.driftwoodoutdoors.com or anywhere podcasts are streamed.
The Life Outdoors
Look hard; you might find God in the woods
By RICHARD W. AITES
Some people may have considered me a bit delusional in my youth because, while they were searching for God in their places of worship or in some life-changing event, I found him in the woods of northwestern Pennsylvania.
No, I wasn’t hiking along some secluded trail before stumbling across this old guy resembling George Burns sitting on a stump, contemplating his creation. Nor was there this blinding flash of lightning and rumble of thunder, followed by the hallowed voice of James Earl Jones, announcing his divine presence.
However, years before I knew what it was to be a Christian, I could sense God’s presence whenever I stepped into the peaceful solitude of the forest. Please don’t get me wrong – I have the utmost respect for anyone who sincerely attends church to praise and give thanks to our glorious Creator, and I believe that people can find God within the scriptures.
SQUIRRELS & RABBITS
As a teenager, I enjoyed hunting and fishing, as did most of my family and friends. But I think I may have appreciated the outdoors a little more. While most of my high school buddies were attending the Saturday afternoon football and basketball games, or treating their girlfriends to a matinee, I was in the woods with my trusty .22 rifle searching for squirrels and rabbits.
When I wasn’t hunting or exploring, I was usually down at the creek with my favorite rod and reel, trying to land a mess of trout for supper. And as much as I liked the girls myself, I was content being outdoors and greatly appreciated the solitude it offered.
The wonderful flora and fauna of the Allegheny foothills that surrounded our little hamlet made for a great place to grow up. A state park – with thousands of acres of steep, wooded hills and deep, shaded hollows, and three fine trout streams – was within walking distance of our house. The Allegheny River, a mere three miles to the south, was plum full of smallmouth bass, walleye and channel catfish. On the rare occasion, you might even land a musky.
ALLEGHENY WINTERS
Of course, my place of worship wasn’t always paradise. Following the late flintlock season in January, the snow-covered forest became a cold, desolate place where the leafless silhouettes of pin oak and hickory trees crackled and creaked in the frigid breeze. Most of the wildlife was slumbered in hibernation or nestled in the deepest parts of the woods awaiting the thaw of the pending season.
The local rivers and creeks were usually iced over until March. And just like the wildlife, I looked forward to the arrival of spring and its warming temperatures.
Fly fishing on the Allegheny River
– flyfisherman.com photo
TROUT SEASON COMES
The trout season opened in mid-April and was my second favorite time of the year. The fishing was usually good throughout the spring but eventually, the hot, dog days of July and August arrived and the local streams slowed to a trickle.
Though the fishing wasn’t much good in late summer, the sweet, succulent blackberries and raspberries that flourished along the creek banks kept me busy. And it was a good time to scout other areas of the forest for the upcoming small game season in October.
My absolute favorite time of the year was the opening of deer season in late November. Back in those days (1980s) the first day of the “antlered-deer season” fell on the Monday following Thanksgiving. The local schools were closed on that particular day to allow students and teachers to participate in the quest for venison. You had 10 days to harvest a buck, and if you weren’t successful or just plain lucky, there was a 3-day antlerless season that followed shortly thereafter. Because my father and brothers also hunted, we usually ended up with a deer or two for the freezer.
I found nothing more delectable than lightly breaded (with seasoned flour) deer tenderloin seared in butter with a couple of eggs over easy on the side. The runny yolk of the eggs served as a delicate gravy for the tender meat. Those same runny eggs also went well with pan-fried rainbow trout.
SCROLL IN A CAVE
Delusional? A scroll found in a cave near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1945 may help prove my claim (and possibly my sanity) about finding God in the woods. Some scholars believe the ancient document was written in the first century A.D. and contains secret sayings of Jesus. It is commonly referred to as The Gospel of Thomas, but you won’t find it in your bible. In short, Jesus questions Thomas as to why he and others cannot see what is right in front of them.
Jesus reveals to Thomas that God’s kingdom is already here on Earth and then proclaims, “If your leaders tell you that the kingdom is in the sky, then the birds of the sky shall precede you. If they tell you that it is in the sea, then the fish shall precede you. But I’ll tell you that the Kingdom of God is inside of you and all around you. Split a piece of wood and I am there. Lift a stone, and you will find me.”
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