Houlton Conservation Area

 Today I attended a zoom meeting of the Saint Paul Audubon Club about the William H. Houlton Conservation Area in Elk River.  I wasn't exactly sure where it was. As it turns out I have driven by that spot many times driving or cycling through Elk River on Main Street and taking a left to curve over the dam and take the back roads to Big Lake. This area was a working 160 acre corn and soybean farm in 2016. The row crops were converted to prairie starting in 2016. As an experiment, they sowed 80 acres with a broadcast spreader and the other 80 acres with seedling plugs. The experiment is still going on so they don't know which way works better yet. The farm is bordered by the Elk River on one side (just past the dam) and the Mississippi River on another side adding up to 7 miles of shore land. The DNR owns the islands in the river near the property. The woods on the property were thick with buckthorn. Using large equipment, most of the buckthorn has been removed.  Managing the return of the buckthorn will be a large project for years to come. The farm was surveyed with the assistance of a biology teacher and the students of the Elk River High School. Already they are seeing more frogs, snakes, butterflies, bees and birds.  This fascinating project was funded in part by LCCMR. The Friends of the Mississippi River are in charge of the prairie restoration. The Friends of the Mississippi River are the ones who gave the talk tonight. I think the residents of Elk River are lucky to have such a wonderful prairie right in the town allowing them access to two rivers.

Tokyo Ueno Station

 I like to read books that take me away to other places. This book brought me to Tokyo Ueno Station, a train station in Tokyo near museums, the zoo, and the cherry blossoms. The story is narrated by Kazu. Kazu grew up in the Fukashima prefecture in a very poor family. He and his siblings had to lie and say their parents were not home when the bill collector came to the door. Kazu started working to support his family at age 12. He harvested fish and kelp from the ocean. After he married he continued to work to support his family while his wife lived with his parents and their two children. Kazu helped to build tennis courts, volleyball courts, and facilities for the 1964 Olympics. The story is told in bits and pieces going back and forth in time. Eventually it comes to light that Kazu has died but his spirit is still hanging out at the Ueno Station where he used to live as a homeless person. In preparation for the 2020 Olympics, the city officials keep moving the homeless people from place to place as dignitaries visit the area. The story is sad yet moving and I really liked Tokyo Ueno Station.

The President Versus The Press

I listened to Howard Holzer's book The President Versus the Press: The Endless Battle Between The White House And The Media-From Founding Fathers To Fake News. Much like the title, this book was long and took over 21 hours to listen to the entire thing. The book starts out with George Washington. George was treated unfairly by the press, especially by Benjamin Franklin Bache, Ben Franklin's grandson. Washington decided not to respond to the press. Other presidents such as Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln did respond to the press in very extreme ways such as throwing publishers in jail without trial and smashing their printing presses. Andrew Jackson rewarded favorable newspapers with government contracts. Kennedy and Franklin Delano Roosevelt charmed the press to keep their secrets. Roosevelt got around the printed press by using radio. Kennedy got around the press by using television. Obama got around the press by using Twitter. The book describes in detail how sixteen of the presidents dealt with the press. Every president felt they were being treated unfairly at times. There is a mistrust between the press and the people in the  White House. Having a free press is essential to our democracy and all presidents understood that at some level. The last chapter of the book was the hardest to listen to because it was about Donald Trump's genius at manipulating the press via Twitter and "alternative facts." Overall I felt the book was educational as far as how each president responded to the press. I wish there was more information about the press and what actually constitutes good journalism.

The Road To Little Dribbling

 Bill Bryson wrote The Road To Little Dribbing: More Notes From A Small Island as a sequel to is first travel book about Britain called Notes On A Small Island. I had already read A Walk in the Woods (about walking the Appalachian trail) and Notes on a Sunburned Country (about travel is Australia).  In this story he writes about traveling the longest line in Britain without crossing the sea. The places he visits are different than the places he visited in his first travel book about Britain. He ends up at Cape Wrath in Scotland at the finish. In the book he describes each town. He has a satirical style and sometimes he comes across as downright grumpy. I liked the first two book I read by him much more than this one.

The End Of A Trip

We left Medora and drove across the width of North Dakota. We crossed the Red River in Fargo, North Dakota. We were hoping to camp at Maplewood State Park so we stopped in Pelican Rapids for groceries. As it turns out, there is a pelican at the rapids in Pelican Rapids. Maplewood state park was at peak color when we visited. Unfortunately it was raining. Leaf peepers were not deterred by the rain. The campground was full and so were all the overlooks on the nature drive. I definitely want to return to this park in the fall but not on a weekend.

We got a little turned around. We drove past the Ottertail River and past Dead Lake where I had been before. As we came to a "T" in the road with the beautiful Ottertail Lake ahead of us, I suddenly knew where I was. My BFF's family store, The Corner Store, is still open for business. Her family sold the story decades ago but I insisted we stop. I used to stay over at this store sleeping in either the trailer or the ice fishing house next to the lake. I used to sort eggs at this store. I used to stock the shelves and arrange the Minnetonka moccasins at this store. Being in this store again brought back a flood of memories from the good old days.

 

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

We started our visit to Theodore Roosevelt National Park at the North Unit. The north and south units are about an hour apart. Both areas are scenic and full of animals such as bison.

We parked the van and decided to hike to the prairie dog area. We hiked for about 45 minutes through the very dry valley between buttes before I heard a strange sound that I didn't think was a bird. The strange sound was a prairie dog probably telling the other prairie dogs that we had arrived. I turned to my companion to point out the prairie dog when over her shoulder I saw a bison. I said, "You have a bison behind you." How often do you hear those words? Not very. The bison was calming walking on oblivious to us. We sat down on the ground in this prairie dog town to soak up the prairie dog life.

The prairie dogs appeared to be nibbling on the roots of the prairie plants. I think I saw them rotating the roots like we humans rotate corn on the cob.

In the distance a pair of mountain bluebirds flew back and forth. Their brilliant blue plumage made them look Disneyesque. This is my first glimpse of a mountain bluebird. The bluebirds were too far away to catch a picture but I saw them clearly in the binoculars.

We took a nature guided hike with 21 spots to see that corresponded with a color pamphlet.

These odd red bumps on the side of the butte are iron ore deposits.

The southern unit is near Medora, North Dakota. Much of Medora is owned and operated by a non-profit called Friends of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The non-profit employs many students. Once the students go back to school, much of the town shuts down. We were able to find a campground that was still open.

The southern unit has more vegetation than the northern unit of the park.

We saw a dozen wild ponies on the prairie too.

 

Bennet Campground

 The day after we hiked to the Apgar Lookout we loaded up and headed east. Rain was falling in West Glacier and kept falling as we drove east across Montana. Highway 2 is a good road to travel. Many small towns are located near rivers. As we traveled through a town we would most often come up hill out of a river valley where the wind from Canada tried to shove us south and off the road. I quickly learned to keep both hands on the wheel as we left towns. Towards dusk we camp to the North Dakota border. Before we got into the town of Williston we headed south on Highway 85. We hoped to camp at the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. As it turns out this national park does not allow camping. Glacier didn't allow camping either but Yellowstone did; go figure. As we drove into the park four buffalo greeted us by walking down the road with their heads held high and their hooves audibly clomping on the pavement. We were lucky to find a campsite at Bennett campgrounds just a few miles away in the Little Missouri National Grasslands.  This was a basic campground with a pit toilet and a water source but little else. We were camped right in the badlands with beautiful scenery and sagebrush all around us. We were tired after all that driving and went right to sleep after a quick PB&J sandwich.