Hello Clam Lake:
Tuesday night saw us experiencing something we hadn’t seen for quite some time – a thunder storm. I awoke to the rumble of thunder and the crackle of lightening. With the advent of spring trying to make some headway side roads and driveways are becoming especially challenging. As I travel down my forest road into the deep, deep woods I can almost feel my teeth chattering together. Puts a whole new spin on the words “spring break-up”. And, of course, once again, I extend a warning when driving about to keep an eye out for deer and elk making their way out onto the highway in search of easier mobility and possible hill sides opening up with vegetation to snack on. Been a long winter, not only for us, but for all the forest creatures.
SPRING FLING: On Saturday April 29th Clam Lake’s Annual Spring Fling will be held at Pinehurst. This event runs from Noon until ? and will be a Pot Luck and a BYOD. Thanks go out to Richard and Makala Reukema for donating the use of the Pinehurst for the get together. In the past, the Spring Fling has been held at the Community Club. Hopefully, by the end of April, some of our snow will be gone so we can “Think Spring!” in earnest! Time to come out and mingle with friends and neighbors and have a good time as we welcome in this much longed for season.
CRANE COUNT: There is still time to sign up for the Crane Count that will be held on Saturday April 15th. Sawyer County is looking for volunteers willing to assist between the hours of 5:30 am and 7:30 am on that day. The volunteers will be asked to go out to assigned spots and count. Currently, there are 8 sites available between Clam Lake and Hayward and one site near Loretta. If interested, contact Bonnie Booth at 317-708-3481 or bonniemarie214@yahoo.com . She will be coordinating the Sawyer County sites. You can also check the saving cranes.org website for more info. This organization- the International Crane Foundation – has made it their mission to save cranes and their habitats for the past 50 years. What a great opporunity to help these wonderful creatures!
CORRECTION: I wish to extend an apology to Travis Wold of Woodland Rolloff for omitting him from my list of thank-yous last week when writing of the demolition of the Community Club. We were very grateful to him for all he did with hauling away the debris as the demolition was in progress. Thank you Travis!!!
FIREWORKS UPDATE – MARK THOSE CALENDARS: I have had it asked of me a few times, “Will there still be fireworks at the former Clam Lake Community site this coming summer?” The answer is YES! They will be held on Saturday, July 1st.
ELK UPDATE: I had a chance to speak with elk biologist Josh Spiegel about how the elk have been faring this past winter. He reported that it had been a successful season for their winter trapping with 63 different elk having been captured for recollaring and assessment in four different locations. Those locations were: Clam Lake, Moose Lake, Rusk County and the Flambeau. Of those 63, 52 were given new collars and ear tags. Precipatated by agricultural concerns, 18 animals have been moved to Moose Lake from Rusk County to join with the Clam Lake herd. As always we welcome them to the Chequamegon and hope they mingle with our established groups. More good news – Josh said that last summer saw the successful collaring of 11 calves. He was happy to report that this year’s trapping, along with DNR people, saw several partners joing in the process. These being the US Forest Service, USDA Wildlife Services, GLIFWC (Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission), LCO Conservation, Rusk County Forestry Department and people from UW Madison. He would like, at this time, to extend a big thank you to the private land owners whom assisted in the process. Thanks to all for their work and contributions during this season.
Until next week…..
Pictured is a the “Highway M herd” out for a stroll on the highway. (Photo courtesy of Jan Sharp)
