To bad the video doesn't mention Sax-Zim Bog Winter Bird Festival. The
festival was intended and is still is protecting and bringing awareness to
Sax-Zim Bog. People from all over the United States and elsewhere have been
part of the festival and we are now accepting registrations for the 2012
festival at sax-zimbog.com. If it wasn't for the festival the communities that
surround the Sax-Zim Bog would not known what is so special about the bog. The
people who live in these communities are also part of the planning committee
that help organize the festival. Getting the community involve has done
wonders with the relationship with visiting birders and photographers.
Also saxzimbog.com is the official web site where visiting birders &
photographers can come to the web site to download maps and get a lot of
information about the bog.
There are a lot of questions regarding the building once its built and ready to
be used by the public.
* Who will have the key to get into the building? Are there going to be
set times during the day when its open?
* How many people will fit in the building? Will it be first come and
first serve situation?
* Will it be built to sustain any break ins and vandalism?
* If building is heated.. what kind of heat? Propane? Electricity? Fire
place?
* Restrooms? That means a septic tank unless you are thinking outdoor
old fashion out houses.
* How are you going to manage photographers and non photographers at
the same location. People will be walking around and being noisy and that will
disrupt photographers. I see a lot of drama here.
* Parking.. are you going to make a parking lot too? All the back roads
have some degree of traffic on them and during the winter season it will be
tough to park a lot of cars on roads with no shoulders on them. If you are
going to clear land for a building and then install a septic tank plus a
parking lot that is a lot of habitat clearing. Plus if you go electricity that
means installing hook ups as well to the site.As a frequent visitor to Sax-Zim
Bog and founder of the Sax-Zim Bog Winter Bird Festival I am very concern about
the building plans and the organization of how this building will be used and
managed. There is no information on the website given about building/welcome
center.
Also on another thought.. the signs you see on Mark's video (Birders are
welcome to Sax-Zim Bog) along CR 133 were funded by Toivola-Meadowlands
Development Board which is also the steering committee of the festival. There
was no mention of that in the video as well. Also the Duluth Audubon Society
built a kiosk in downtown Meadowlands which across the street from the Catholic
Church on CR 133. There is information on the kiosk that DAS created about
Sax-Zim Bog.
I am not snubbing this project but have some serious questions and maybe the
MOU community on this listserv might have questions too. Personally I do not
see a need for a welcome center or any building at all in the bog but that is
just my opinion. Birders have been visiting the bog for many many years and
yes restrooms are a issue but its no different than birding along Stoney River
Road in northern Lake County or Hedbom Logging Rd west of Floodwood.. you take
care of yourself before you go to these locations and plan it out. Also there
a lot of trees and bushes in the bog as well. I just do not see how a welcome
center will protect the bog from logging. Also from what I know there will be
very little if no logging done in the bog for some time since most of the pulp
trees and thinning of the tamaracks have been logged out on Owl Avenue -
McDavitt Rd - Spruce Rd - CR 133 - CR 7 and Stone Lake Rd.
I would like to see the county foresters, county representatives and state
representatives from the iron range area see how important it is to save the
old growth areas in the bog. We gotten some attention from these people who
thought about attending the festival but they had to cancel out for some reason
or another and we plan on inviting them to the festival in 2012.
Anyway
Good birding
Mike Hendrickson
Duluth, Minnesota
________________________________
From: sparky stensaas <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, November 2, 2011 2:39 PM
Subject: [mou-net] visitor ce nter in Sa x-Zim Bog— video—rece nt sightin gs
First a few recent sightings in Sax-Zim....Flocks of redpolls and White-winged
Crossbills have been seen recently. A Great Gray was seen on Admiral Road a few
weeks ago. Winter is coming!
When Steve Martin and Owen Wilson both mention "Sax-Zim Bog" in a major motion
picture, you know the place must be famous, right? But we also know that that
place is not protected...Nor is there a place to welcome visitors, share
sightings, learn about the natural history of the Bog, or even warm up and use
an outhouse on a minus twenty morning!
Friends of Sax-Zim Bog is kicking off its efforts to preserve bog lands and
construction of a Birder/Photographer Welcome Center in the Sax-Zim Bog.
Alaska artist, Nancy Hausle-Johnson will be making handmade tiles of boreal
birds for a permanent installation.
Details here: www.SaxZim.org
A new 3-minute Sax-Zim Bog video is also posted on the homepage.
See you in the Bog!
Sparky Stensaas
2515 Garthus Road
Wrenshall, MN 55797
218.341.3350 cell
[email protected]
www.ThePhotoNaturalist.com
www.SaxZim.org
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