The Hazecam Is Back

Just wanted to let everyone know that the Grand Portage Hazecam is back up and running. The picture is looking east from the roof of the Grand Portage Community Center towards Hat Point and Grand Portage Island and out over Lake Superior towards Isle Royale.

The snow is still coming down this morning so not much to see yet, we received about six inches of fresh powder overnight with even more up over the hill. Perfect skiing snow.

Air Quality Update

The air quality has been good in Grand Portage over the past week. Smoke has not traveled from either the Pagami Creek Fire or the fires in Ontario.

The Grand Portage haze-camera is back up and running, so check out the website to get a view of Grand Portage and get an update on the air quality.

Air Quality

If you smell smoke and see haze from the Pagami wildfire, you may want to limit your outdoor activities. Currently in Grand Portage, the air quality is good, but the air quality is unhealthy this morning in the Boundary Waters near Ely. Yesterday afternoon at my home near Colvill, smoke blew in from the fire and was present for about an hour. The levels of particulates from the smoke are changing depending on wind conditions, so pay attention to how you may be affected by the smoke. Symptoms from inhaling woodsmoke are coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and headaches. If you have an existing lung or cardiovascular condition, be very careful around wood smoke and remain indoors while smoke levels remain elevated.
Picture courtesy of Minnesota Public Radio

Smoke from the Pagami Fire

The air has cleared today in Grand Portage (and back at my home in the Colvill area). The level of fine particulates lowered yesterday afternoon, and there is currently no air quality alert issued. However, please pay attention to your health as the Pagami Fire continues to increase. The smoke levels are changing quickly. Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michcigan are having air quality alerts. Chicago was experiencing haze from the Pagami Fire yesterday (Photo courtesy of Chicago Tribune). I was in Grand Marais on Monday when the fire increased and the smoke plume went through town. The sun was a bright, fire red, and the smell of wood smoke took over the town. Yesterday, smoke spread to Grand Portage in the afternoon and for a few hours haze filled the air.


Here is a satellite image of the smoke plume from the fire on Monday (Picture courtesy of CIMSS Satellite Blog). Smoke contains fine particulates, and there is a monitor at Trust Lands that measures the levels of these particules each hour. I will post air quality alerts as the monitor shows elevated levels of particulates. However, if you smell smoke, stay indoors and do not draw smoky air inside.

Air Quality

The amount of fine particulates in the air in Grand Portage is low this morning. I smelled smoke at my house near Colville on Saturday morning, but the rain quickly cleaned up the air. The fires are still burning in Canada, so keep checking the air quality at the Grand Portage hazecamera, especially for children elders, and those with respiratory or cardiovascular conditions. High amounts of particulates can exacerbate heart and lung disease.

If you smell smoke and/or see haze from smoke, it is likely the particulates are high, so stay indoors and run your air conditioner if you have one. If you think the particulates are high, avoid physical activity outside.

Visit AirNow to monitor the air quality across the whole U.S.

Learn more at EPA's website about particulate matter.

Grand Portage Hazecam

The hazecam is experiencing difficulties and may not be uploading images to the Midwest Hazecam website until further notice.

Air Quality Advisory

By yesterday afternoon at around 3:00 pm, the level of particulates in the air in Grand Portage decreased to a level that was safe for the general population to be outside. Currently, the air in Cook County is excellent due to the rain and winds that washed the particulates out of the air.

You can monitor Grand Portage air quality by visiting the Grand Portage hazecam website (the data is an hour or two behind) at: http://www.mwhazecam.net/grand.html. To monitor air quality nationwide, visit AirNow at: http://www.airnow.gov/.

Health and Wellness Fair

The Grand Portage Health and Wellness Fair is tomorrow, Saturday, June 17th from 10 -1 at the Community Center. Come learn how to improve your health!

Oshki Ogimaag

The students at Oshki Ogimaag went on a nature hike yesterday. With the school year coming to an end, this was the last day that staff at Trust Lands will teach Environmental Education for the students. We walked down to the Grand Portage trail and then headed to the beach. The black flies were out, but as long as we kept moving, they left us alone. The students had a great time. They saw Canada Geese, and we looked at different flowers, plants, and animal tracks. Their enthusiasm for the natural world is so inspiring.

If the weather holds up next week, the older students will be going to Isle Royal for a camping trip. They are very excited, and I have to admit that I am excited as well. The students are a joy to be around, and I look forward to exploring the island with them. Let's hope the weather is nice, so the students can enjoy some much needed time in the outdoors!

Image from www.wikitravel.org

Hazardous Waste Collection

The Grand Portage Household Hazardous Waste Collection is next Friday, June 3rd from 8am-4pm and Monday, June 6th from 8am-4pm. Come drop off your hazardous items at the Trustlands Office at 27 Store Rd. Contact Amy Seitz at 475-2028 for questions.

Improperly disposing hazardous waste can cause environmental pollution and can be dangerous to human health. Check out the EPA website to learn more.

Accepted items are:

• paints and stains
• pain thinner
• solvents
• automotive products
• home and garden pesticides and fertilizers
• PCB ballasts
• adhesives
• hobby supplies
• aerosols
• acids and bases
• rechargeable and button batteries
• fluorescent tubes

Also, the Cook County Hazardous Waste Collection is on Saturday June 11th, from 9am-1pm at the Cook County Recycling Center.

Image from St. Charles County Division of Environmental Science, which also has some good information on hazardous waste.

Oshki Ogimaag Plant Sale

The students at Oshki Ogimaag planted seeds this spring in order to have a fundraiser plant sale. They watered the plants each week, and now the plants are ready to be sold. The sale will take place this Saturday, May 21st, at 9am. It will be in the ENP parking lot (at the community center) in front of the hoop house. Some of the plants for sale are broccoli, basil, tomatoes, squash, and various flowers. Come support the charter school students!

Picture from http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=OCBA

Greenversations

The Environmental Protection Agency has a blog about living green called Greenversations. I wrote an article for this blog about the Oshki Ogimaag, the Grand Portage Charter School, student community cleanup. Last year the students celebrated Earth Day and spring by cleaninging up trash in their community, and they are going to do another clean-up this year. The clean-up was scheduled to happen the week around Earth Day, but due to lingering snow and wet weather, it has been postponed. It will happen this Friday at 10 am, so join us then at the school to clean up the community. Check out the EPA blog to read the article (due to editing in Washington, the blog article states that the clean-up has already happened).

To promote the clean up, the fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students created posters to put up around the community. Here is a poster that Sarah created.

Grand Portage Bay Frozen Over

Yesterday on the bus ride home, I saw an animal running across the ice cover on Grand Portage Bay. It was hard to tell what it was, maybe a wolf or a coyote. It was a great sight to see. The ice did not appear to be very thick, and this morning it was already broken up. Winter offers such great animal sightings...keep your eyes open!


(Photo taken by Paul Sundberg with the MN DNR and taken from http://samcook.areavoices.com/)

Grand Portage Hazecam is Offline (temporarily)

I have been trying unsuccessfully to get the Hazecam back online, but it looks like the hard drive in the main computer that processes the images has crashed for good.

I will have to send it in to our support company so the camera will be down for a couple of weeks.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

January Is National Radon Action Month

Radon is a colorless, odorless radioactive gas that naturally occurs in soil. Radon causes around 20,000 lung cancer deaths annually, making it the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States.

The EPA has declared January National Radon Action Month - a time to raise public awareness of the dangers of radon, and how to test for Radon in the home. Radon can occur in any home, but homes with basements are more at risk for elevated radon levels. Radon can enter through cracks in the foundation or the blockwork, or through the sump, or through an uncapped block wall like is commonly seen in Grand Portage. The only way to know is to test your home. Even homes that are side by side can have different radon levels.

If you would like your home tested for radon or would like to learn more about it, please call me at 475-2415 ext. 35, or stop by my office at the Trust Lands building at 27 Store Road.

Interesting Bird Sightings

Over the last couple of weeks I have had a Black-backed Woodpecker feeding on an old spruce snag in my yard. I was able to take a couple of pictures, but my camera only has a 6x optical zoom and I was not able to get closer without scaring him off.

My mom lives across the bay from me and has had a pair of Cardinals coming to her feeder. We never used to get them this far north, but they are even nesting in Grand Portage now. I will try to get some photos of them to post.

Birding is a lot of fun for me, and I have seen a few rarities around Grand Portage in the winter - the best one was a white phase Gyrfalcon about ten years ago. It was flying low over the softball field and at first I thought it was a Snowy Owl, but the head was much smaller and not round, and the wings were more pointed and tipped with black. It flew by only about thirty feet away from me and I had a great look at it.

OT and just for fun, here are a couple of photos of our puppy Maggie Maye and I getting ready to watch the Vikings.