To us the sight of a Moose feeding or a fleeting glimpse of a Wolf are both images that help to define living with northwoods wildlife. While we are less likely to see a Moose today, that say five years ago, the chances seeing a wolf have definitely gone up. The DNR management plan established a minimum wolf popluation of 1,600 wolves. When the gray wolf was removed from the threatened species list this January the wolf population was estimated at 3000 wolves.


The wolf's range has had to expand as the balance between wolf and their prey has been lost. To reduce the possibility of conflicts between wolves and livestock or domestic animals a wolf harvest has been proposed. History tells us that this will be an emotinal issue that will crates a lot of controversy.


We had two wolf sighting yesterday when we went down to Duluth. Of course the camera was unable to document either sighting. We did manage to capture a photo of the rare northern White Wolf on our way home. Enjoy.

This afternoon we received the following e-mail from The Geophsical Institute at the University of Alaska: "The solar events occurred on Jan. 18/19, 2012. The first two were small and of short duration. The last one was a coronal mass ejection associated with a long-duration solar flare from the northeast quadrant of the Sun. The location is such that the event is not facing Earth directly, but the intensity, duration and development are such that it will lead to increased auroral activity on this weekend.
The shock and the effects should reach Earth as early as 6 am GMT the 21st. This is approximately 10 hours from the time of this message." I quickly checked with the National Weather Service for a cloud forecast and found; "Tonight, mostly clear, with a low around -20. Wind Chill values between -25 and -30." Guess I will stay up till midnight to look for the Northern Lights. But at -20, I won't be looking for very long!