February 9, 2005 - Mainstreet Radio's Tom Robertson reports on a plan to build an interpretive center in the Big Bog State Recreation Area in northern Minnesota. The idea is making its way through the Legislature as the Senate has earmarked $1.4 million for the project. Supporters are hoping to get the project added to the House bonding bill in the coming weeks. The 9,000-acre Big Bog State Recreation Area was created by the Legislature five years ago.
November 28, 2007 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer interviews author Carrol Henderson about his book “"Oology and Ralph's Talking Eggs” and bird history/conservation in North America. The book details new discoveries that have come from researching a collection of about 4,000 bird eggs gathered by an Iowa farmer named Ralph Handsaker.
April 1, 2008 - MPR’s Bob Kelleher reports that there are urgent new efforts to keep a virus that's deadly to many kinds of fish out of Lake Superior. The disease, known as VHS, has quickly spread through the other Great Lakes. Minnesota officials say if it reaches Lake Superior, VHS could jump to inland waters and devastate the state's fishing industry.
January 15, 2009 - MPR’s Bob Kelleher reports that efforts to help Lake Superior sturgeon become self-sustaining is entering a critical phase. Lake Superior sturgeon were nearly wiped out in the big lake about a century ago. In the 1980's, wildlife officials began restocking sturgeon. Those fish are just now reaching the age to reproduce - but they don't have a good place to do that. Crews have been busy this winter, trying to build the perfect sturgeon love nest.
January 28, 2010 - MPR’s Bob Kelleher reports that a deadly fish disease has been confirmed in Lake Superior. Researchers have identified the disease known as VHS in fish taken from four places in the lake, including the Duluth-Superior Harbor. It is not known yet if that means fish populations are at risk in the big lake.
May 16, 2012 - MPR’s Dan Gunderson reports on pollutants from the 2010 British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico showing up in Minnesota birds that migrate to the gulf.
July 16, 2012 - MPR’s Laura Yuen investigates recent dolphin deaths at the Minnesota Zoo and the institution's decision to end exhibiting dolphins.
July 17, 2012 - MPR’s Stephanie Hemphill presents a special science report on deformed frogs in Minnesota, first found in 1995. Even seventeen years later, scientists still have not completely solved the mystery of what caused frogs to develop deformities.
November 13, 2012 - MPR’s Dan Kraker visits Grand Marais, as lake herring season on Lake Superior crests. For about six weeks every October and November, thousands of the silvery fish, also called cisco, are pulled from the Lake's icy waters. The harvest supports a small but thriving fishing industry along the North Shore that caters to the growing market for local and sustainable food.
July 15, 2013 - MPR’s Dan Gunderson rides along with Kevin Kenow, a research wildfile biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, who nets a loon on South Turtle Lake in Otter Tail County. Kenow is looking for special tags that track where loons travel and how deep they dive.