Two retired professors with long histories of conservation work Erik Fritzell and Robert Seabloom have launched a campaign to raise at least $25,000 for an endowed ornithology scholarship at UND in honor of Dave Lambeth. Well known in Grand Forks birding circles and beyond, Lambeth has been dubbed the “Dean of Grand Forks Birders” by Mike Jacobs, former Herald editor and publisher. Jacobs writes the weekly “Always in Season” bird column that appears in the Herald’s Saturday Northland Outdoors section. Lambeth has been a leader of bird study and prairie conservation in North Dakota for decad ..read more

DULUTH Minnesota and Wisconsin wild turkey populations appear to be thriving, with both states coming off near-record spring hunting season harvests in 2023 and no sign yet of the mysterious decline in turkeys plaguing several southern states. That's the report from Department of Natural Resources wildlife officials heading into the 2024 spring turkey hunting seasons that start April 17 in both states. Minnesota hunters recorded their second-best season in 2023, trailing only the pandemic-fueled rush of hunters in 2020. Last year 53,574 permits were issued and 13,659 turkeys were registered ..read more

ALEXANDRIA Walleye season is either here or very near all across the Midwest. Now that walleyes are or will be fair game throughout walleye country, here are some things to keep in mind regarding walleyes. Some anglers are reporting the spawn happened a bit earlier than usual this year. The timing of the spawn varies from region to region, but it should be completed soon. After the spawn and throughout the summer, walleyes are often thought of as fish that like to be near deeper structures. While it’s true that these glassy-eyed fish often can be found near rockpile and points and sunken isla ..read more

BISMARCK The North Dakota Game and Fish Department recently paid more than $762,000 in taxes including more than $21,500 in Grand Forks County to counties in which the department owns or leases land. The 2023 in-lieu-of-tax payments are the same as property taxes paid by private landowners, the department said in a news release. The Game and Fish Department manages more than 200,000 acres for wildlife habitat and public hunting in 51 North Dakota counties. The department does not own or manage any land in Traill or Renville counties. Following is a list of counties and tax payments received ..read more

CROOKSTON Prairie grouse will take center stage when the Minnesota Sharp-tailed Grouse Society and the Minnesota Prairie Chicken Society host a joint meeting Friday, April 19, and Saturday, April 20. The indoor portion of the event, titled “Living on the Edge Prairie Grouse in the Aspen Parkland and Beyond,” will be held at the Crookston Inn and Convention Center, 2200 University Ave. This “special combining of our flocks” happens only once every four to six years, organizers say. The event gets under way at 12:30 p.m. Friday with an afternoon field tour of Polk County prairie sites, incl ..read more

PALMVILLE WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA, Minn. On a beautiful April Saturday when signs of spring were everywhere, a group of ambitious volunteers mainly university wildlife students spent a few hours outdoors helping wildlife. Specifically, habitat for sharp-tailed grouse. The students from The Wildlife Society chapters at the University of Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State University and a half-dozen-or-so other volunteers had converged on Palmville WMA with loppers and hand saws to cut brush that was encroaching on the open habitat sharp-tailed grouse need to survive and thrive. Located ..read more

BARNUM The little birds were already singing outside the tent camper when I opened my eyes. We had overslept because Eric, my hunting partner, accidentally set his phone alarm for 4 p.m. instead of 4 a.m. There would be no time to brew coffee or eat breakfast. We dressed as fast as we could and loaded into the pickup. It was already light on the eastern horizon when we arrived in the farmer’s yard. I could hear him, the tom turkey we knew was hanging around, back in a grove of pines, already gobbling to his hens. We were an hour late in getting set up on the first day of our 2023 Minnesota ..read more

This is the time of year anglers are itching to get their boats in the water for spring fishing. In this week’s segment of “North Dakota Outdoors,” Mike Anderson gives us an update on boat ramps on our state’s waters. Joining him is Bob Frohlich, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s fisheries development supervisor. ]]> ..read more

Most of the Northland looks to finish up the week on a dry but somewhat breezy note. Sun shines for much of Friday afternoon and clear skies stick around throughout the evening. By Saturday, clouds stay away for most of the morning, but a chance of very light showers does pop up across northern Minnesota and North Dakota by the afternoon. Even with the few clouds, temperatures stay rather warm for the weekend. Most of the Northland gets highs in the 60s and 70s, with the North Shore being the coolest in the 50s, and the warmest being 80s across much of South Dakota. Winds for Saturday remai ..read more

KNIFE RIVER Two feet of snow melting fast, coupled with a half-inch of rain Monday, were just the ticket to finally loosen the last ice on North Shore streams, sending water tumbling down into Lake Superior and sending fish upstream. Streams closer to Duluth opened the first week in April, while streams farther up the shore opened this week, said Cory Goldsworthy, Lake Superior fisheries manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. DNR crews captured their first spawning steelhead rainbow trout of the season in a North Shore river fish trap Monday. Many more will follow soon ..read more