The Outdoors Scott Rall, Outdoors Columnist I just read the 2022 state of bird report and for an outdoor enthusiast it is totally disheartening. The report concludes that “Grassland birds have suffered the biggest bird declines of any terrestrial biome since 1970… due to habitat conversion, tree and shrub encroachment and pesticide applications.” About two-thirds of… Read More

From Where I Sit By Pat Spilseth, Columnist Around the Thanksgiving table did you add your thoughts to the round robin question of “What are you grateful for this Thanksgiving?” That’s been annual ritual at our family Thanksgiving, and I’m so pleased that we still continue this custom. Around the world there are so many living without… Read More

Pope County residents were greeted with winter-like weather last week.  Temperatures dropped, we received some snow that actually stayed on the ground, and most of the area sloughs and shallow lakes donned an ice covering that will likely be there for the winter months. Lake Minnewaska was ice-covered on the Glenwood side over the weekend, but… Read More

Stoneage Ramblings By John R. Stone The election of 2022 is behind us, or behind most of us, except for the folks in Georgia who will be having a runoff for their Senate seat and Alaska where ranked choice voting will take a little more time for their Senate seat. I was surprised there wasn’t a… Read More

Questions about safety concerns on new ‘overpass’ on Hwy. 29 From Steve Nestor, Glenwood (former bridge construction supt.)  Dear MnDOT design and safety engineer, After driving over the recently completed “Mount Wagner Bridge” on Highway 29 north of Glenwood, I must ask: Where are the guard rails on either side of the bridge? Why are… Read More

View from a Prairie Home By Hege Herfindahl, Columnist I have rowed my whole life. It takes effort. And persistence. If I row on a river or a very shallow slough, I will encounter barriers. Rocks. Fallen trees. Even beaver mounds. I think growing older is like rowing. Most people will encounter barriers. That is unless your… Read More

Growing Green By Robin Trott, Extension Educator Trees can experience many stresses during the winter months including lack of water, sunscald, wildlife damage and winter injury. Young trees (one to five years old) should be watered throughout the year, until the soil freezes. Watering young conifer trees from October to soil freeze-up is critical.  Sunscald is… Read More

The Outdoors By Scott Rall, Outdoors Columnist I have purchased a deer license every year for the past 37 years and this year was the first year that I actually filled my tag. I purchased my deer license before Sept. 1 and this automatically enrolls you in the doe lottery. In Minnesota every hunter that buys… Read More

From Where I Sit By Pat Spilseth, Columnist November means families getting together to remember our blessings and enjoy a huge Thanksgiving meal. Today families are usually smaller and cousins spread out across the country. It’s harder to host a large family gathering of cousins, aunts and uncles, but our immediate family loves to get together. This… Read More

Publisher’s Perspective By Tim Douglass, Publisher of the Pope County Tribune I get a lot of interesting, but often trivial information that crosses my desk.  From time to time the trivial is worth mentioning.  So here goes. In a study about talking fast, Minnesota has been ranked the Number 1 fastest-talking state in America, averaging 5.34 syllables… Read More