Rain, rain, and more rain
October 26, 2010 – 7:30 PM CDT
This was a day of staying inside, staying dry, and getting office work done ('3 faces of Hope' pics from yesterday).
If Lily had picked the wet den, she would have learned today it was time to move. Big downpour. The storm is making national news. Barometric pressure records are falling all over the state. Grand Rapids, 74 miles southwest of Lily’s den, set the all time Minnesota low of 28.28 inches of mercury about 10 AM this morning, and it was still dropping at that time. Lily and Hope’s present, drier den is a few more inches above the water table. It is in a cedar swamp but on higher ground than the wet den was. They may be wishing they had chosen the den they dug in September on the top of the hill, but that one had an unusually big entrance. We suspect part of the entrance collapsed while they were digging for it to end up that big. Maybe they thought that den didn’t provide enough protection.
All we can say is “Darn.” That den would have been within reach of electricity and DSL telephone and could have provided the same bandwidth as this past winter. The den they eventually chose will require us to use a cell phone, and the upload speed there is only 0.35 mega-bits per second. That’s about a sixth the speed of last winter. The Den Cam team is looking for ways to increase that with a big antenna and maybe an amplifier. One member suggested putting a temporary cell phone tower there. We don’t know what is possible yet along that line. The den is on private property, which can be good or bad. We called the property owner of record a few days ago but have not heard back. Today, we learned who the other property owners are and will call one or more of them tomorrow.
We again thank you for the big effort from the fundraising committee you created and from all who bid on the items they auctioned off. Thank you.
We looked with amazement at the votes you are amassing in the Care2 contest to bring $20,000 to Ely’s Schools at http://www.care2.com/schoolcontest/2704/054/. After a surge from the 2nd place school, you pulled farther ahead for a current score of 2,965 to 1204 with only 17 days left. Way to go. This is one more reason for property owners to help us place a den cam in Lily’s den. One of the property owners is a former principal of the school you are voting to help. Lynn’s kids loved him.
Your letters to officials are great. We know how much work each letter is! You and we both know how important this effort to protect the radio-collared bears is to the future of the study and the lives of these bears. We cannot continue to lose such valuable research bears at the rate that has been happening. We really can’t understand why there is so much debate about it. Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center