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Dry Minnesota at risk of more, hotter fires this spring
Posted by Star Tribune: Josephine Marcotty on March 17th, 2015
Star Tribune: As spring follows winter in Minnesota, early fire warnings follow a year with little snow and record warmth in March.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on Monday issued an unusually early alert, saying conditions across the state are ripe for more frequent and more intense fires this spring, thanks to an abnormally dry winter and record-breaking temperatures this month.
"We are moving into a drought period,' said William Glesener, DNR fire specialist. "It's going to intensify...
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Saving the great north woods
Posted by Star Tribune: Josephine Marcotty on October 20th, 2013
Star Tribune: In a clearing at the edge of one of the largest intact forests on Earth, Laura Kavajecz flits about like a tree fairy with a clipboard, slipping long mesh tubes over tiny seedlings. The sun beats down. It's buggy. The ground is covered with a tangle of downed trunks, stumps and severed limbs. Kavajecz, a graduate student, has a mundane but vital task: Protecting the fledgling trees -- 33,000 of them scattered across Minnesota's northern forest -- from the scourge of deer that await in the shadows....
How much do you affect the ecosystem?
Posted by Star Tribune: Josephine Marcotty on January 9th, 2011
Star Tribune: The human race -- you -- has become the dominant force of change on the planet. What you eat, how much you drive and even whether you pick up after your dog affects the ecosystem in your neighborhood and around the Earth.
Now, what would it take to get you to change?
An in-depth survey of 3,000 households in Ramsey and Anoka counties is providing environmental researchers at the University of Minnesota insight into just that question.
It turns out that most people really do care about their...