Minnesota is having a little ripple of realization moment. It feels almost like cavemen starting to notice that when they  rub two sticks together really fast  that yellow light starts burning and they get hotter. Let’s hope they catch up to the way science works in the rest of the states and that this is the start of something great.

Advocates to Minnesota DNR: Don’t Blame the Beavers!

Dams have never been a friend to steelhead. So, dam builders, including beavers, have been implicated in the demise of Great Lakes rainbow fisheries for over a century. But a new study from the University of Minnesota Duluth, focusing on the Knife River, offers evidence that beavers should perhaps not take the rap, especially on smaller streams where river systems emerge. In some cases, they may even deserve some credit for benefiting the trout.

The Knife River, just north of Duluth, on the far western end of Lake Superior, is a storied steelhead fishery. Legends recount spring runs of 10,000 lake rainbows during its heyday in the 1950s and ’60s. Kevin Bovee, 66, a 35-year member of the Lake Superior Steelhead Association, told the Duluth News Tribune, “People used to gather in huge groups to watch the fish go over the first falls. I got in on some of those good old days.” (more…)