Star Tribune
What does an iceless Lake Superior portend?
DULUTH – From Duluth, Lake Superior is a colossal expanse of blue this week with no otherworldly ice shards smashed against the shore or colorful fish houses decorating stretches of white.
At about 2%, the amount of ice on the lake is the lowest it has been at this point in recorded history, a phenomenon that is true for the Great Lakes as a whole.
It’s a disappointing winter without the icy lunar landscape that the Park Point beach is known for this time of year, said Jake Kapsner, who lives on the sandspit.
“I absolutely love being able to get out on the ice,” he said, both on the lake and bay sides of the point. “If you caught the bay at the right time, you could skate for miles.”
But not this year. The Great Lakes crossed a threshold, NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory reported recently, with mid-February ice levels the lowest they’ve been since the federal agency began keeping records in 1973.
The average ice cover on Lake Superior this time of year is 40%.
A longer shipping season aside, this year’s strange winter has been bad for an economy that relies on snow and ice, and it won’t be good for lake ecology, either.
Combined with record-breaking mild air temperatures of a snowless El Nino winter, Lake Superior is expected to warm at the surface much more quickly this year than typical, creating conditions for coastal erosion and fertile ground for harmful algal, or algae blooms and invasive species that kill native fish. And as the days get longer with more sun shining on the deep, iceless lake, the chances of ice formation grow slimmer. It isn’t freezing because it hasn’t had the chance to cool to that point.
“The water temperature is a master controlling variable of everything,” said Bob Sterner, director of the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Large Lakes Observatory (LLO.)
It affects how the water moves, how materials cycle through the lake, how fast organisms grow and predator-prey interactions, he said. Anecdotally, the observatory’s research has shown that mild winters mean algae blooms for Lake Superior.
The unsightly blue-green blooms are not truly algae but a type of bacteria that thrives in warm, nutrient-rich water that can be harmful to pets and humans. It’s best to avoid skin contact with blooms, Sterner said, but “we have no reason to say the lake water is toxic when there’s a bloom in Lake Superior proper.”
After the mild winter and heavy rains of 2018, blooms on Lake Superior that resembled “melted crayon green” spanned from Duluth and Superior to the Apostle Islands, but typically such blooms are smaller and short-lived, he said.
Toxicity, however, has been found in blooms inside the St. Louis River estuary. (Those who spot an algae bloom on Lake Superior are encouraged to call their local Department of Natural Resources.)
Peter Birschbach is a graduate student in UMD’s Water Resources Science program studying the importance of ice to algae bloom cycles. He and other researchers typically reach project sites on the St. Louis River and its bays via snowmobile. This year, some of the sites are inaccessible even on foot.
With lots of ice last year and plenty of blooms in the river during the subsequent summer, “we’re really curious about this upcoming season and what we’re going to see,” Birschbach said.
A warmer lake also is bad news for some native fish that depend on cold water temperatures to thrive. Warmer water typically means smaller numbers of cisco, a fish important for commercial anglers and other fish that eat them. It also allows invasive species like sea lamprey to grow bigger and kill more lake trout and other fish.
When Lake Superior stays cold longer, either through ice or a winter with intense snowmelt, “it pushes the lake back to what it naturally should be: very cold,” said Cory Goldsworthy, Lake Superior Fisheries Supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
The lake’s deep and cold reserves have kept many of the invasive species found in other Great Lakes from establishing a foothold, but that could change, he said.
Lake Superior ice cover peaked at about 20% last year and 80% in 2022, but it was short-lived.
Jay Austin, a professor and researcher with the LLO, said a more meaningful measure of ice intensity is duration, such as in 2014 when ice largely covered the lake in February and most of March.
Along with its effects on ecology, the lack of ice is altering northland culture. It’s not been safe to visit the ice caves near Bayfield for almost a decade and there’s been little chance to ice fish, walk or ski on the lake this year.
“Ice is part of what defines where we live,” Austin said. “And that sense of place is changing as we encounter more and more of these warm winters.”
A 19-year-old driver trying to get around slower vehicles collided head-on with an SUV in Wright County and killed one person and injured several others, officials said Thursday.
SUV passenger Janice Evelyn Johnson, 92, of Arden Hills, died Monday at HCMC from injuries she suffered in the collision on Oct. 22 in Monticello Township on County Road 37 near County Road 12, the Sheriff’s Office said in a search warrant affidavit filed in Hennepin County District Court.
The driver and two other people in the SUV survived their injuries, according to the affidavit, which the Sheriff’s Office filed to collect Johnson’s medical records at HCMC as part of its investigation.
According to the affidavit:
Deputies arrived at the crash scene and spoke with the car’s driver, Christian Kabunangu, of Brooklyn Park, who said he was heading west on County Road 37 and found himself behind two vehicles traveling below the speed limit.
“He was late for work, so he decided to pass them,” the affidavit read. Kabunangu said he saw the oncoming SUV and estimated it was about a half-mile down the road.
As he attempted to pass one of the slower vehicles, he explained, the other driver “sped up, preventing him from getting back into the westbound lane,” the filing continued.
As the Honda drew near, he swerved to the left, but the SUV did the same and they collided.
Star Tribune
University of Minnesota researchers find that native plants can beat invasive buckthorn on their own turf.
If the invasive buckthorn that is strangling the life out of Minnesota’s forest floor has a weakness, it is right now, in the shortening daylight of the late fall.
With a little help and planning, certain native plants have the best chance of beating buckthorn back and helping to eradicate it from the woods, according to new research from the University of Minnesota.
The sprawling bush has been one of the most formidable invasive species to take root in Minnesota since it was brought from Europe in the mid-1800s. It was prized as an ornamental privacy hedge. All the attributes that make buckthorn good at that job — dense thick leaves that stay late into the fall, toughness and resilience to damage and pruning, unappealing taste to wildlife and herbivores — have allowed it to thrive in the wild.
It grows fast and thick, out-competing the vast majority of native plants and shrubs for sunlight and then starving them under its shade. It creates damaging feedback loops, providing ideal habitat and calcium-rich food for invasive earthworms, which in turn kill off and uproot native plants. That leaves even less competition for buckthorn to take root, said Mike Schuster, a researcher for the university’s Department of Forest Resources.
When it takes over a natural area, buckthorn creates a “green desert,” Schuster said. “All that’s left is just a perpetual hedge, with little biodiversity.”
Since the 1990s, when the spread became impossible to ignore, Minnesota foresters, park managers and cities have spent millions of dollars a year trying to beat it back. They’ve used chainsaws and trimmers, poisons and herbicides, and even goats for hire. The buckthorn almost always grows back within a few years.
It’s been so pervasive that a conventional wisdom formed that buckthorn seeds could survive dormant in the soil for up to six years. That thought has led to a sort of fatalism: even if the plant were entirely removed from a property there would be a looming threat that it would sprout back, Schuster said.
But there is nothing special about buckthorn seeds. They only survive for a year or two.
Eden Prairie Eagles (6-3) at Maple Grove Crimson (9-0), 7 p.m.
Jim says: Maple Grove faithful are understandably jittery about getting Eden Prairie this early in the playoffs, but they should trust their eyes. The Crimson are loaded, with quality playmakers at every turn, like safety/receiver Dylan Vokal. Eden Prairie is built for games like this, but while the Eagles will keep things tight for awhile, Maple Grove will pull away in the second half, leading to a seismic sigh-of-relief from northwest metro. The pick: Maple Grove 35, Eden Prairie 21
David says: Eden Prairie’s time, however decorated an success-filled, is done and over. Provided the Crimson are able to take it. Maple Grove is capable of success as long as players don’t make the moment too big. Former coach Matt Lombardi cracked the code. What about his replacement, Adam Spurrell? The pick: Maple Grove 21, Eden Prairie 14
Edina Hornets (7-2) at Eagan Wildcats (5-3), 7 p.m.
Jim says: On paper, this leans toward an Edina victory. The Hornets have top-end talent on offense (QB Mason West, WR Meyer Swinney), an under-appreciated defense and a season-opening 35-14 victory over Eagan. But the Wildcats are resilient and don’t back down from anyone. Quarterback Brooklyn Evans is adept at running the Wildcats option offense and will keep them in the game. The pick: Edina 28, Eagan 15
David says: Tempting as it is to pick against Edina and revel in another office cake party, let’s go with the Hornets in this one. Expect an improved Eagan team to keep Edina within reach, however. The pick: Edina 21, Eagan 20
Alexandria Cardinals (7-2) at Moorhead Spuds (9-0), 7 p.m.
Jim says: Alexandria came oh-so-close to beating Moorhead on Oct. 11, falling 36-34 when a game-winning field goal went wide-left. While the Cardinals hoped for this rematch, Moorhead has the look of a team on a mission. Outside of the head-to-head matchup, Moorhead dominated every other opponent with a series of 30-point plus victories. No one mashes the Spuds. The pick: Moorhead 44, Alexandria 34
David says: The Game of the Year, Part II. Only thing to make this more juicy would be an upset. Is Alexandria up to that task? I don’t have the courage to go out on that limb in this space. The pick: Moorhead 42, Alexandria 24
Andover Huskies (7-2) at Elk River Elks (8-1), 7 p.m.
Jim says: Another highly anticipated rematch. Andover handed mistake-prone Elk River it’s only loss, 47-31, on Sept. 20. With three lost fumbles, Elks’ coach Steve Hamilton called it the worst game they’ve played in five years. You can bet they’re itching to prove they’re better than they showed that night. The pick: Elk River 49, Andover 37
David says: Bet the over when these two teams clash. Andover’s quarterback Joseph Mapson is a much more polished and proven signal caller that he was in late September. The Pick: Andover 49, Elk River 48.
