September 8, 1998 - MPR’s Amy Radil reports that Duluth's Lake Superior Zoo is on the lookout for Mel, a kangaroo that jumped the zoo's 8-foot fence Saturday morning. West Duluth residents have called in a few sightings, but zookeepers have yet to lay hands on their missing marsupial. Zoo visitors pursued him, but kangaroos can hit 45 miles an hour, and Mel soon vanished down a bike trail.
September 15, 1998 - As part of a series of stories following the path of the "Father of Waters,” aka the Mississippi River, Minnesota Public Radio's Art Hughes has this Mainstreet report on the he U.S. Army Corps, which vigorously controls the river in the southeastern part of Minnesota. That has come at a environmental cost…a loss of diversity.
October 7, 1998 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center in Fergus Falls. In this first hour of program on Minnesota's wetlands and waterfowl, Rachel Reabe interviews Tim Bodeen, director of the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center; Kevin Brennan, member of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife; and Dr. Jay Leitch, economist at North Dakota State University. The group discuss Minnesota's vanishing wetlands, actions being taken to protect them, and educating the public about the wetlands.
October 7, 1998 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center in Fergus Falls. In this second hour of program on Minnesota's wetlands and waterfowl, Rachel Reabe hosts a discussion on hunting in the wetlands with Doug Wells, wildlife manager at the Fergus Falls office of Natural Resources; and Tom Brimhall, chairman of the local Ducks Unlimited. Reabe then interviews John House, wildlife artist, and winner of DNR duck stamp contest.
October 7, 1998 - With the opening of Minnesota’s sixty-day duck season, Mainstreet Radio's Dan Gunderson spent a few hours in a duck blind near Fergus Falls and filed this report. Minnesota has more waterfowl hunters than any place in the nation. Some 130,000 duck hunters are expected to shoot 800,000 ducks in two months.
November 18, 1998 - As part of the Our State, Our Forests series, a Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from MPR studios in Duluth, highlighting the Minnesota Northwoods. In this hour, MPR’s Rachel Reabe presents stories by reporters Leif Enger and Mary Losure which portray the timber industry past and present and describe its impact on the environment and economy of Northern Minnesota.
December 3, 1998 - MPR's Brent Wolfe has this Mainstreet report on the study of tundra swans. The Upper Mississippi River between Wabasha and La Crosse is a temporary home to as many as 15,000 tundra swans, as they stop off here each winter enroute from their breeding grounds along Alaska's north slope to their wintering grounds on the Chesapeake Bay.
April 1, 1999 - On this special date, MPR’s Amy Radil reports that the Duluth Port Authority is scrambling to respond to unconfirmed reports of whale sightings in the Duluth Ship Canal. Biologists speculate a scarce food supply has driven a whale far inland during the spring breeding season. Authorities are trying to determine whether the whale poses a shipping hazard and how the marine mammal made its lengthy journey.
May 5, 1999 - MPR’s Bob Kelleher reports on the diminishing population of rainbow smelt in Lake Superior. Years ago, the smelt run drew huge crowds to Lake Superior beaches, where fish were netted by hand and cooked over open fires. Raucous all-night beach parties fueled by generous doses of alcohol achieved mythical status around the big lake. But now, the big smelt runs are history.
July 28, 1999 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from the International Wolf Center in Ely. Rachel Reabe hosts a discussion about wolves with Bill Route, a wildlife biologist at the International Wolf Center; Ron Refsnider, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist; Mike Don Carlos, wildlife specialist with Minnesota DNR; and State Senator Gary Laidig.