[mou] MOU has leased land in the Sax Zim Bog Area

[Bernard P. Friel]

Great idea to lease this land !! Perhaps I've missed it (I've been canoeing
in the Quetico for a week) but in addition to the information already
provided about the location, GPS coordinates might be helpful.

Bernie Friel




on 6/2/05 10:24 AM, Jim Barrett at jwbarrett10@msn.com wrote:

> Good post,  Manley.  I think this also ties in nicely with Jim Williams'
> exhortations to buy duck stamps.  As a duck hunter, I buy them anyway, bu=
t
> anyone buying them is helping to acquire, expand, improve and maintain
> habitat important to birds.
>=20
> From: Ann and Manley Olson <a_molson@unidial.com>
> Reply-To: a_molson@unidial.com
> To: "Alt, Mark" <Mark.Alt@bestbuy.com>
> CC: mou-net@cbs.umn.edu, MOU Board <mouboardcomm@yahoogroups.com>,mnbird
> <mnbird@lists.mnbird.net>
> Subject: Re: [mou] MOU has leased land in the Sax Zim Bog Area
> Date: Thu, 02 Jun 2005 10:09:04 -0500
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> I applaud the action of the MOU to lease land in the Sax Zim Bog,
> thereby increasing the access for MOU members in this unique area of
> Minnesota.  Given the propensity of land owners to increasingly espouse
> a "this land ain't your land, this land is my land" philosophy, we need
> to find ways to assure that we will be able to look for those birds that
> chose to frequent other than public lands.  Working out lease
> arrangements not only helps provide this access but may also help to
> improve relations with local land owners.  However we should also
> recognize that we need to be concerned with preserving habitat, even if
> it is not a place where we might actually go to seek birds.  This I
> would hope that the MOU and its members would continue to support public
> acquisition of important habitat, even if it is not a place we are
> likely to visit.  Not only do we need places where we personally expect t=
o
> see birds,but we need to support the acquisition and
> preservation of wilderness for its own sake.  It must be both/and not
> either/or.  This is the vision of  Thoreau (" In wildness is the
> preservation of the world"), John Muir and Aldo Leopold.  In the
> concluding paragraphs of "A Sand County Almanac", Leopold passionately
> argues for the preservation of wilderness for its own sake, not just for
> the use of  "trophy-recreationists" as well as trophy hunters.
>=20
> If we doubt that most of us birders are not in the trophy collection
> business, one needs only to review the data Randy Fredrickson compiled
> on the spending in pursuit of owls.  For some of us the trophy was a
> photo, for others a tick on a  list.  After 45 years of marriage my wife
> is no longer surprised by a trip to Aitkin County to see owls but I
> think she was not quite prepared for at least 150 people from 9 states wh=
o
> came to our back yard seeking the Varied Thrush.
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> So while I encourage the providing, either by lease or purchase, of
> places where we can bird freely, I also encourage us to put some of our
> resources into land acquisition, even if we may never bird there.
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> Manley Olson
> Falcon Heights
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> Alt, Mark wrote:
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>> The MOU has taken a first step and become a leaseholder on a parcel of
> land in St Louis County, in the Sax Zim Bog area, less than a mile from O=
wl
> Avenue. We are leasing 79 acres from Potlatch Corporation for a year. It
> will be posted for no trespassing except with the permission of the
> leaseholder, which is the MOU, so anyone who is a MOU member is a
> leaseholder, so come on down! The MOU Board is doing this to take a first
> step towards setting aside areas here for recreational birding. The DNR a=
nd
> MN Audubon are strong supporters of this initiative.  We hope it leads to
> other land being set aside, such as McDavitt for the woodpeckers, the Blu=
e
> Spruce loop for Boreal specialties, and others. Perhaps it may lead to a
> birding trail. We are not certain of how to best use this plot, but we wa=
nt
> it used, so I invite each of you to come visit and bird on it!  I will ke=
ep
> a tally of species reported on it and make notes on our usages.
>> The legal description of the property is referencing the St Louis Plat
> book - it is the SW quarter of section 21 in T.54.N. - R.19W. For regular
> directions,  drive North from Cloquet to Cotton on Hwy 53, then turn west=
 on
> Hwy 52 (Arkola Rd), past CR 7 (about 6 miles), then continue west another
> 5.5 miles to Owl Avenue (Township rd 203). Turn south on TR 203 and head
> south. Continue about 2 miles through a gradual "S" turn, (where TR 203
> turns into TR 202), then you come to an intersection with S. Overton Rd. =
(TR
> 980). Turn West on TR 980 and proceed 1.75 miles, from this point to wher=
e
> TR 980 makes a 90 degree turn to head north, you are driving along the
> southern border of our property. As you turn north the Township Rd number=
 is
> now TR 230, and the name of the road is now Overton Rd. The first =BD mile =
as
> you head north on TR 230, the MOU property borders you on your right.  Th=
ere
> are boglands on the remote NE corner of the property, so we could get all
> types of northern specialties, potentially.
>> We are arranging to have a small parking area set up for 6 cars or truck=
s
> in the area. We will be looking forward to hearing from all visitors to t=
his
> little spot of woods up north; please let us know what is there! Good
> Birding!
>>=20
>>=20
>>=20
>> Mark Alt
>> President,
>> Minnesota Ornithologists Union
>> J. F. Bell Museum of Natural History
>> University of Minnesota
>> 10 Church Street SE
>> Minneapolis, MN 55455-0104
>> MOU.mn.org
>> mark.alt@bestbuy.com
>> Cell:  612-803-9085
>>=20
>>=20
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--=20
Bernard P. Friel
Web Page - http://www.wampy.com