[mou] What's a Birder to do?

[Steve Morrison]

After reading the Sunday Strib article, I decided to
ask fellow birders’s opinions on this series and what
we could/should do about what is occurring in our
critical NE Minnesota habitat.  Yes, over the last
several years I too have noticed the booming growth
along the North Shore and inland lakes.  I think part
of me just wanted to ignore it, hope for the best and
just continue to happily bird my way up and down along
the North Shore.  The problem is that the seemingly
unregulated development in combination with insatiable
demand for a “piece of the north country” is indeed
permanently changing the north woods.  Truthfully I
get a sinking feeling when I think about how things
are currently and feel even worse when pondering the
future of our North Woods.

 

I am originally from the Duluth area and still spend
much time there and in NE Minnesota in general.  I
also have first hand experience of how the essence of
the north woods is changing from the vantage point of
my family being longtime cabin owners on a Carlton
County lake not too far from Duluth.  Just on “our”
little lake people seem intent on having large year
round homes with lots that seem more appropriate for a
new metro area subdivision than for a small inland
lake.  This obviously doesn’t do much for keeping the
area/lake hospitable for wildlife.  We can talk
shoreline management some other time but my focus in
my writing today is with the sheer volume of new north
country arrivals and the opening up of land formerly
off limits, i.e. corporate land now up for sale.

 

So what the heck are we supposed to do about it?  The
general public obviously wants to build their retreat
away from urban areas, and as we all know, thereby
inadvertently creating yet another crowded situation
from which to get away.  The pattern will most likely
be the same up north as in urban areas where folks
flee from crowded congestion further into heretofore
undeveloped lands.  Then of course the money to be
made is huge from realtors and land speculators up to
the corporations cashing in their land piggy banks. 
There are even people who scout around for land which
has potential to become available presently or in the
future.  A lot of people have a lot of money with
which to buy their dream retreat and are indeed doing
just that in droves.  So what should we do?  God
forbid NE Minnesota becomes another Brainerd lakes
area!

 

Maybe I am off base but I really feel we (by “we” I
mean members of the public who care about the state of
the natural environment) should join the party and buy
land, lots of it.  We could also try a different or
concurrent approach by getting involved politically
and getting some good regulations in place for the
inevitable.  I am aware that the MOU took the
initiative and bought a small parcel in Aitkin County
and this is a move in the right direction.  But I
question whether or not the MOU is the right vehicle
for habitat acquisition primarily because of limited
funds and its other mission goals.  On the other hand,
if the MOU wants to be a land owner then let’s ratchet
it up a few notches and make it a major initiative.

As I said before, maybe I am off base and uninformed
of wonderful initiatives already under way to protect
habitat, but I feel we are watching our
birding/wildlife lands disappearing forever.  Once
areas are developed we never get them back, or at
least I haven’t heard of it happening lately, and I
don’t read many headlines about hundreds or thousands
of acres being added to land holdings off limits to
development.  It would be great if environmental
organizations would band together and be able to pony
up enough cash to be a significant player compared to
the developers.  I don't know if we have the luxury of
time for more passive methods such as education of
youth or publicity from birding festivals or eco
tourism in general.

So next time we are birding our way up and back from
Grand Marais take a good look at the ridge line and
shoreline development.  I hope we like the view, I am
not sure the birds do.

 
Peace,

Steve Morrison
Mpls and Duluth





		
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