Thursday, November 1, 2012
The state's deer hunting season begins on Nov. 3, and officials at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources say the take should be good due to a spike in the deer population.
Hunters are in for a heck of a deer season this year. So says the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which estimates that there are about 1 million deer in the state. “Minnesota’s deer population is up from last year, in part, because of the mild winter,” Lou Cornicelli, the DNR’s wildlife research manager, said in a press release. “Mild winters result in more survival of adults, more fawns being born, and more deer in the state’s fields and forests the following hunting season.” However, the population is not evenly distributed and in 2012 there are fewer areas where hunters can legally harvest more than one deer. The agency has reined in the harvest in some areas where the herd is too sparse. In Northern Minnesota, the …
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Beginning Sept. 6, The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources began updating fall color reports online for Minnesota state parks and recreation areas.
Editor’s Note: As an ode to fall, we encourage Inver Grove Heights Patch users to show off the images you have captured this fall and add them to the gallery on this post. Feel free to add any fall events and activities to the comments. The leaves are beginning to change color around the state, and staff at the Minnesota state parks are keeping you in the know when it comes to all things fall. Starting last week, Minnesota parks staff began posting fall color reports online, and will continue to update the website by noon every Thursday. As in past years, these reports will include percent of color change, peak color projections, flowers and grasses in bloom, and three parks considered "hot picks" of the week. The DNR also offers fall …
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Thanks to a local family, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources save more undisturbed land along the Mississippi River for preservation.
The sun is barely breaking through the trees on Monday morning, and already Ruth Rechtzigel’s front yard resembles a petting zoo. Dozens of wild turkeys wander fearlessly onto her driveway, heads bobbing as they dig for the seeds and bread Ruth and her husband Butch left out. A few deer stay long enough to forage for scraps. Songbirds hover around feeders on the Rechtzigel’s back deck. Several ducks flit past, on their way to warmer waters. For 24 years, complete immersion in nature has been the norm for the Rechtzigels, who live on more than 70 acres of wooded bluffs next to the Mississippi River in southern Inver Grove Heights. Ruth and Butch hope to keep it that way, which is why the pair chose at the end of December to sell 66 acres of…
