Bemidji Joint Planning Commission

We endured a couple hours of a marathon public hearing of the Bemidji Joint Planning Commission last week. Our interest was in the variances that were passed to enable the event center development, but alas, they outlasted us. We had other pressing concerns, including a need to get to bed before midnight on a weeknight.

This organization is obviously vested in the interests of the wealthy power brokers of this city. A case in point:

A woman in her 80's would like to build an addition to her house so that she can have her bedroom and laundry on the main floor. She lives alone. What would seem like a no-brainer turned into a half hour discussion on how many hoops we can get this old lady to jump through before we let her have her addition. Of concern to at least two representatives of First Lutheran was a garage that apparently offends the eyes of some of the people who attend the hideous gargantuan church, next door. Also, there is an antique car in her yard that hasn't moved since 1948. Greg Negard, our new city councilor, made a motion to allow the addition, AFTER the garage was fixed and the car moved. Eventually, it was amended to allow all three actions to transpire simultaneously.

We had to drive by and look at this property after we had invested so much time in it. The garage is really a picturesque building. The weathered patina of the wood siding could not be matched for beauty by anything you will find at Home Depot. The roof is a little saggy, but it is not falling apart. The old automobile is also one of the most interesting artifacts in the neighborhood. In fact, it could be a tourist attraction... Come see the automobile that has not moved since 1948!

Apparently, for some perverse reason, the concept of an automobile that doesn't move is offensive to some people! I wish none of them moved! They are certainly less offensive to me when they aren't polluting, making noise, and threatening the lives of innocent pedestrians and bicyclists on the roadways.

I wonder how many hoops First Lutheran had to jump through before it was allowed to completely dominate the neighborhood with their monsterous building addition. This poor old lady doesn't see the sun from October through February because of this huge brick building on the south side of her house. The least hoop that should have been prescribed was for the church to provide its closest neighbor with full-spectrum lighting systems for every room in her house and some beautiful artwork to take the place of the view that was usurped. If that was not a stipulation for their variance, perhaps the church could compensate the lady by remodeling her garage, not that it really needs anything.

I wonder how much of the foot dragging on the part of the commission was inspired by complaints from the church leadership. Perhaps they should heed the sage advice, "If thy eye offends thee, pluck it out." My interpretation is that we should focus on the spiritual, not the material world. Funny that this lesson has escaped the Lutheran purview.

passing of seasons

At long last, we will be rid of daylight savings time! As a 'morning person', it can't come too soon. We should get organized and insist on the government leaving our clocks alone, or at least alternate years. Or... how about 'leaping ahead' every Monday, say about 8am, and 'falling back' every Saturday?

We are finishing up a month long orgy of horror and entering a two-month celebration of Christian/pagan indulgence. We were just given a cast-off I-Pod. Maybe that will help me get through the holidays without being overexposed to carols.

My theory about holiday hoppers is that they are people that hate winter. They probably are house-bound and only experience winter when they walk from the house to the garage and sit down on frozen vinyl for a trip to the mall. They get through till spring by hopping from Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas to Valentines Day.

While it's good to have things to look forward to, we need to celebrate every day for what it is.

corydalis

I learned a new plant while working in pine forests east of Cass Lake on Monday. Corydalis (Corydalis sempervirens) is not real showy at first glance, but if you get close, it has a very distinctive flower. It is a narrow pink tube with yellow lips.

I've also been seeing pyrola flowers this week. They are small evergreen broadleaf plants that live in wet and dry forests.

Biting flies and mosquitoes have been making life challenging in the forest. Deer flies and horse flies can take your mind off the mosquitoes, at times. We are still seeing adult deer ticks and dog ticks. My strategy for dealing with them is to stay focussed on what I am doing and not what they are doing. It usually works. Today, I happened to look at my hand and a half dozen mosquitoes were biting it, but I felt nothing.

Calcareous fens

On July 17, I visited several calcareous fens in northwestern Minnesota. These fens lie within the prairie or on the edge of it. The calcium present in these areas gives the soil a near-neutral pH. The seepage probably prevents the soil from freezing hard. The mineral soil is overlaid by muck that is rather vacuous. Occasionally, someone would step in a spot where the mat of plant roots was weak and they would drop through into the muck past their knee. Sometimes, they'd have trouble pulling their foot out and need to get rescued. These plant communities are unique, including potentilla (Potentilla fruticosa, whose yellow flowers were beginning to open), sterile sedge, and various small orchids. I think they are the only type of plant community that is protected by state statute. One fen contained scattered tamaracks (Larix laricina) of various sizes, but mostly small. They seemed to be growing well, and could lead a forester to think that timber production was a viable use for that site. Whether they would ever produce a merchantable volume of timber is debatable, but extracting it would likely be impossible due to the wetness of the site. The fens are botanically interesting, but not overwhelmingly attractive landscape features.

We saw wood lilies (Lilium philadelphicum) and wild licorice (Glycyrrhiza lepidota) blooming in nearby meadows. In prairie areas, lead plant (Amorpha canescens), joe pye weed (Eupatorium maculatum), and various milkweeds (Asclepias spp.) and prairie clovers (Dalea spp.) were blooming. Some of these plants, although common in the prairie, were, by far, more outstandingly beautiful than those we saw in the fens. The wood lily was especially pretty.

blueberries

On July 16, I visited a red pine stand near Ponemah, the peninsula between Upper and Lower Red Lakes. There were a few ripe blueberries. This unique plant community enjoys a microclimate that is tempered by its proximity to the two large lakes. Poison ivy and sumac were very common plants in these stands that have been managed with prescribed burning. It was a real treat to visit this area, as it is generally not open to visits by people who are not members of the tribe. I was there for a tour that was arranged by the Society of American Foresters.

juneberries

I biked along Lake Bemidji, on July 19, and saw two pelicans, a woodchuck, and ripening juneberries. They are very sweet, but seedy.

beardtongue on Paul Bunyan

Sorry for the lack of posting. I've been busy with my new job and family things. I'll try to catch up on events, later, but I have to alert you to the large-flowered beardtongue (Penstemon grandiflora) that is blooming along the Paul Bunyan Trail on the east side of Lake Bemidji. It's one of my favorite flowers. It has a stalk of lavendar bugle shaped flowers that have wide mouths for pollination by bumblebees. I saw a few bumblebees working them, too. Also blooming are yellow goatbeards and red columbines.

Deer River

I spent several hours on May 30, in an aspen stand just southeast of Deer River. I saw an amazing variety of plant species, including three species of Viburnum: high-bush cranberry (Viburnum trilobum), nannyberry (Vibernum lentago), and arrowwood (Viburnum rafinesquianum). That is an interesting genus. The fruit of all three species are eaten by birds.

Arrowwood had buds, getting ready to bloom. I've been on the North Country Trail when the arrowwood is blooming. The blossoms smell like rotten meat. They must be pollinated by flies seeking carrion.

High-bush cranberry produces a head of small flowers that are surrounded by larger showy flowers around the perimeter. The larger flowers are sterile and just serve as attractors. People favor the high-bush cranberry for jellies and wines. The fruit keeps on the bush well into the winter. Drug companies purchase the bark for its anti-cramping qualities. The bushes don't seem to sprout well from the stump, so if you harvest it for its bark, leave some buds on the plant so it can continue growing.

I think nannyberry could often be mistaken for pincherry or chokecherry. The leaves have a similar shape. If you notice that the leaves are opposite, you realize it can't be in the Prunus genus. After it sets buds, it is more distinctive. It has a bud that is spherical near the base, but then is drawn out into a long spire. It reminds me of the ornament my parents put on the top of the Christmas tree.

Remer

I biked to work in balmy mid-50's temperatures! Yesterday, the low at my house was 33 degrees. The day before was 28. Maybe that will be the last frost of the season. The blossoms on our plum and cherry bushes didn't appear to be harmed.

I went to the Remer area, today. I saw a couple of pine grosbeaks. I hadn't seen one in a long time.

I think Remer is a bit ahead of Bemidji, phenologically. The bigtooth aspen leaves are about twice as big. I noticed ferns of several species that are fairly well developed, there, and I've noticed hardly any fern activity around Bemidji.

The Skunk Cabbage Patch

A few weeks ago, during a cruise hosted by the Headwaters Canoe Club, we discovered a patch of skunk cabbage (Simplocarpus foetidus) in Clearwater County. It was growing in a seep. Yesterday, I returned to the patch with Becky Marty, DNR regional plant ecologist. We tried to document the other species on this site.

This discovery turned out to be rather interesting, as the nearest previously-documented skunk cabbage had been in Aitkin and Crow Wing Counties, 80 or 100 miles away. The plant, itself, is interesting because it has an unusual appearance, and because it has unique chemistry. A search on the Internet will turn up abstracts like: "Nonlinear dynamics of homeothermic temperature control in skunk cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus." The abstract mentions that a blooming skunk cabbage can maintain an internal temperature of 20 degrees Celcius when the ambient air temperature dips below freezing. Somehow, it generates heat through respiration. That ability permits it to bloom very early in the spring.

It gets its name from its smell. The smell attracts insects that feed on carrion, effecting pollination. The hood concentrates the smell. It is edible, but it contains calcium oxalate crystals. This chemical will burn your mouth unless the plant is completely dried (No form of cooking eliminates it, only drying.) Personally, I can't imagine why someone would spend much time or effort trying to eat this plant.

While listing species, we found a tiny white flower on a slender stalk. It appeared to be associated with a ball of foliage on a petiole, wrapped up like a clenched fist. Becky coaxed a leaf open and it appeared to be split into three leaflets. I suggested that we take a speciman back to the office for identification. When she pulled it up, a couple inches of gold rhysome came with it. Goldthread! Sure enough, there were older evergreen goldthread leaves nearby, but we had never encountered it when it was blooming and didn't realize how tiny it is at that stage of its life.

We listed the following species within the immediate vacinity of the skunk cabbage:

Overstory trees:
tamarack (Larix laricina)
paper birch (Betula papyrifera)
willow (Salix spp.)
black spruce (Picea mariana)

Understory trees and shrubs:
raspberry (Rubus spp.)
balsam fir (Abies balsamea)
red-osier dogwood (Cornus stolonifera)
tag alder (Alnus incana)
Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum)
chokecherry (Prunus virginianum)
fly honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis)
Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica)
red currant (Ribes triste)

Forbs, ferns and fern allies:
bunchberry (Cornus canadensis)
strawberry (Fragaria americana)
marsh marigold (Caltha palustra)
naked bishop's cap (Mitella nuda)
rough bedstraw (Galium asprellum)
ground pine (Lycopodium dendroideum)
oak fern (Gymnocarpium dryopteris)
Canada mayflower (Maianthemum canadense)
goldthread (Coptis groenlandica)
trillium (Trillium spp.)
sweet-scented bedstraw (Galium triflorum)
pyrola (Pyrola spp.)
aster (Aster spp.)

Mosses & lichens:
undifferentiated sphagnum and feather mosses