Lake Of The Woods Research Articles

Cultivating Common Ground: Cultural Revitalization in Anishinaabe and Anthropological Discourse

Cultivating Common GroundCultural Revitalization in Anishinaabe and Anthropological Discourse Anna J. Willow (bio) Into each life, it is said, some rain must fall…. But Indians have been cursed above all other people in history. Indians have anthropologists. Vine Deloria, Jr., Custer Died for Your Sins Something important is happening beside a small muck-bottomed lake sixty miles of slow winding road to the north of Lake of the Woods. Since December 2002 members of Grassy Narrows First Nation have maintained a blockade to protest industrial clear-cutting taking place without their consent within the 2,500 square miles they claim as their traditional territory. Grassy Narrows First Nation—or Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek, as many residents prefer to call it—is an Anishinaabe community located in northwestern Ontario, Canada, about an hour-and-a-half drive from the small timber- and tourism-dependent city of Kenora. Just over thirteen hundred members belong to the First Nation, with approximately eight hundred of them living on Grassy Narrows' fourteen-square-mile reserve.1 The Grassy Narrows blockade makes use of a long-abandoned truck turn-around situated a few hundred yards from the reedy eastern shore of Slant Lake. Although only a few miles from Grassy's population center, the site is not officially part of the reserve. To the governments of Canada and Ontario this is Crown land owned by the federal government and managed by the province. But to the blockaders it is the Grassy Narrows Traditional Land Use Area—land that their forefathers agreed to share in Treaty Three of 1873 but that, they maintain, was never surrendered. In the blockade's early months protestors remained at Slant [End Page 33] Lake day and night, taking turns standing in the snow-covered logging road in order to physically obstruct the passage of contractors' trucks and equipment. They also took turns tending a ceremonial fire kindled during the blockade's exciting opening hours. The blockade had been standing for only one day when Judy DaSilva—one of Grassy Narrows' most dedicated activists and a prominent anti-clear-cutting spokesperson—noted its emerging symbolic significance. "[It] is like a vigil," she said. "We have what we call a sacred fire at the site that we can't let burn out until we finish."2 This fire burned steadily from December 2002 until the fall of 2003 and is still regularly relit by community members. A naive, nervous, and hopeful anthropology graduate student, I first arrived at Slant Lake in May 2003 in order to learn about and lend my support to the blockade and the Grassy Narrows community. It has now been over six years since the blockade began. And though today more symbolic than actively confrontational, the Slant Lake blockade still stands. As early as January 2003 logging operators began taking a detour to the east rather than contend with the blockaders at Slant Lake. Yet many Grassy Narrows residents continued to spend considerable amounts of time at the site. Given that their presence was no longer necessary from a strategic standpoint, why did so many people remain dedicated not only to their community's anti-clear-cutting movement but also to Slant Lake as a physical place? What else was going on at Slant Lake that continued to attract so many? The lasting appeal of the Slant Lake blockade for Grassy Narrows activists as well as outside observers can be compellingly explained in these terms: Slant Lake is not merely a blockade; it is a site of cultural revitalization. But what does this mean? Since the 1950s anthropologists have used this phrase to reference rapid and consciously organized processes of cultural change that aim to "construct a more satisfying culture."3 In recent decades—and increasing in conjunction with the rising global prominence of indigenism—American Indian people have also employed this terminology to underscore their desire to maintain and celebrate cultural identities distinct from those held (and often imposed) by members of surrounding colonial settler societies. But even when we use the same words, we may have something very different in mind. Within the interdisciplinary framework of American Indian studies anthropology has played a prominent role. But the...

Fiction by Established Authors

Fiction by Established Authors Cynthia Sugars (bio) Michael Ignatieff once wrote, 'We could face the worst if we simply renounced our yearning for certainty. But who among us is capable of that renunciation?' (The Needs of Strangers). This quotation is appropriate for many of the Canadian novels published in 2008, though whether they [End Page 208] point to the power of yearning or to a renunciation of it is unclear. Indeed, many of the novels of the current year are poised at that moment of the not-quite renunciation. They hover on the edge of an optimism that tantalizes yet is perpetually deferred. More than a hundred and fifty years ago, Henry David Thoreau observed that the great mass of people appeared to be leading lives of quiet desperation. It probably comes as no surprise to hear that this adage is still true and that, indeed, these struggles remain at the heart of contemporary fiction. At times the desperation is not so quiet. The novels published over the past year by many of Canada's established authors focus on the horrifying spectre of endless broken lives - victims of sexual abuse, poverty, racism, physical injury, terminal illness, infidelity, murder, depression, and suicide - but these more jagged examples of human suffering are balanced by endless numbers of characters whose troubles are more ineffable and whose humanity is tested by their relation to these damaged lives. The stories of these badly scarred, dysfunctional lives are often less interesting in themselves than in their effect on others; they are the human catalysts whose plight sets in motion the more complicated struggles of those who must bear witness to their pain. It is difficult to pinpoint the emotional register of many of these novels, which may be what makes them especially unsettling. Their conclusions are often tentative, provisional, ambiguous, pointing towards a vague promise that follows the act of witnessing. Given the sorts of spiritual thirst and makeshift redemption that run through all of these novels, it may not be surprising that religion plays a major role in some of them, but it is often more closely associated with the alienation that characters struggle with than with the salvation they sometimes stumble onto. Following upon the success of his 2005 Giller Prize-winning novel The Time in Between, David Bergen's The Retreat chronicles the story of Emma Byrd, who drags her family to 'The Retreat,' a two-bit cult run by a self-styled guru prophet known as The Doctor who spouts New Age truisms and, it quickly becomes obvious, considers sex with the women who arrive as part of his mission. Emma, whose utter selfishness is wonderfully dressed up as spiritual need, is the sort of character whose vacuous self-indulgence would be easy to overdo, but Bergen makes the most of the story by depicting her with admirable restraint. Her husband, a decent man who wants nothing to do with the place, but who tries to hold his family together by indulging his wife's whims and covering for her when she decides to abandon the family at The Retreat and abruptly flee to Chicago, is a much sadder but far more compelling character. Their story converges with a very different tale when the Byrds' teenage daughter, Lizzie, meets a young Native teenager named Raymond. The Retreat opens with a bleak account of old-fashioned racism that makes Emma Byrd's story seem all the more pathetic. [End Page 209] Raymond, having become involved with a local white girl named Alice, is picked up by her uncle, Earl, who happens to be a policeman. Offended that Raymond should have dared to cross the line that ought to protect girls like Alice, Earl detains Raymond on spurious charges, loads him into Raymond's motorboat, and leaves him on a remote island in Lake of the Woods to fend for himself just as the first snows of winter begin to fly. Raymond survives when a barge carrying propane to cottages spots him, but not until he's had to fend for himself for more than a week. What is most chilling, however, is how little comes of the event. Raymond understands local politics too...

An assessment of MERIS algal products during an intense bloom in Lake of the Woods

Lake of the Woods (LoW) is an international (USA/Canada) inland water body under significant water quality pressures from recurring cyanobacteria blooms. Its remote location combined with the hydrologically complex nature of its waters makes adequate in situ monitoring of the lake difficult. This work aimed to test the potential of Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) full-resolution imagery for monitoring algal blooms in the lake. A full assessment of MERIS L1 and L2 chlorophyll and chlorophyll-related products was carried out over LoW during an intense surface algal bloom in September 2009. The Case 2 regional model and fluorescence line height/maximum chlorophyll index (MCI) plug-ins for BEAM were assessed for their ability to accurately distinguish the bloom. Results suggest that none of the Case-2-specific algorithms effectively extract chlorophyll concentrations over LoW, whereas the greatest potential is seen within the MCI product. Adjacency effects in near-shore waters are shown to be significant, although the improved contrast between ocean and land processor (ICOL) does not appear to notably improve water constituent retrievals in these waters. Images of L2 MCI are shown to adequately identify the bloom and are used to track the evolution of the bloom across the lake. Evidence is presented for the effects of variable depth distributions of cyanobacteria on the surface signal seen by the sensor; imagery suggests that day-to-day variations in wind-induced mixing have a profound impact on surface algal biomass as detected by remote sensing.

Reorganization of algal communities in the Lake of the Woods (Ontario, Canada) in response to turn‐of‐the‐century damming and recent warming

Paleolimnological approaches were used to assess the ecological and environmental implications of diatom assemblage compositional changes recorded over the last ~ 200 yr from four sites in the Lake of the Woods (LoW), Ontario, Canada. Comparisons between a reference site (Whitefish Bay) and three disturbed sites (Bigstone Bay, Paleolimnological Project site No. 1, and Forrest Island) provide insights into the effects that multiple stressors (dam construction, total phosphorus [TP] changes, and recent warming) have had on the ecology of this highly complex freshwater system. Overall patterns of diatom compositional changes from highresolution 210Pb‐dated sediment cores revealed a strong temporal coherence ca. 1910 and then again over the last few decades among all sites. Hydromanagement activities at the turn of the 19th century and recent warming over the last few decades played key roles in the LoW diatom changes. Diatom compositional changes at all sites were significantly related to trends in nearby air temperature records over the past century and to changes in lake ice phenology over the past ~ 40 yr from Whitefish Bay. Turn‐of‐the‐century hydromanagement activities do not appear to have had long‐term effects on diatom‐inferred TP (DI‐TP), particularly at the disturbed sites. Clear decreases in DI‐TP over the last few decades were evident at all sites, but at the reference site these decreases were well below pre‐disturbance levels, which we link in part to recent warming. Substantial changes in climate will amplify the effe

After the end of history: American fiction in the 1990s

this bold book, Samuel Cohen asserts the literary and historical importance of the period between the fall of the Berlin wall and that of the Twin Towers in New York. With refreshing clarity, he examines six 1990s novels and two post-9/11 novels that explore the impact of the end of the Cold War: Pynchon's Mason & Dixon, Roth's American Pastoral, Morrison's Paradise, O'Brien's In the Lake of the Woods, Didion's The Last Thing He Wanted, Eugenides' Middlesex, Lethem's Fortress of Solitude, and DeLillo's Underworld. Cohen emphasizes how these works reconnect the past to a present that is ironically keen on denying that connection. Exploring the ways ideas about paradise and pastoral, difference and exclusion, innocence and righteousness, triumph and trauma deform the stories Americans tell themselves about their nation's past, After the End of History challenges us to reconsider these works in a new light, offering fresh, insightful readings of what are destined to be classic works of literature. At the same time, Cohen enters into the theoretical discussion about postmodern historical understanding. Throwing his hat in the ring with force and style, he confronts not only Francis Fukuyama's triumphalist response to the fall of the Soviet Union but also the other literary and political 'end of history' claims put forth by such theorists as Fredric Jameson and Walter Benn Michaels. a straightforward, affecting style, After the End of History offers us a new vision for the capabilities and confines of contemporary fiction.

In the Lake of the Woods: Masculinity and the Limits of Concealment

In the Lake of the Woods: Masculinity and the Limits of Concealment

Relative abundance and habitat association of three crayfish (Orconectes virilis, O. rusticus, and O. immunis) near an invasion front of O. rusticus, and long-term changes in their distribution in Lake of the Woods, Canada

We documented the abundance and habitat association of the native virile crayfish [Orconectes virilis (Hagen, 1870)] and two invasive species, the rusty crayfish [O. rusticus (Girard, 1852)] and the papershell crayfish [O. immunis (Hagen, 1870)] in a 38 km 2 area in the Lake of the Woods (LOW; Canada). From 20 June to 1 September in 2006, traplines were set at 376 sites for approximately 24 hours. A total of 9833 crayfish were captured, of which 68% were O. virilis, 23% were O. rusticus, and 9% were O. immunis. The mean catch per unit effort (CPUE) was 4.4 crayfish per trap with a maximum of 29. At least one invasion front of O. rusticus was detected, where its CPUE decreased sharply from a mean of 1.3 to 0.03. The mean CPUE of both O. virilis and O. immunis was significantly higher outside than within the front. For the entire catch, CPUE values of all thr ee species were negatively correlated. Water depth (0.5-12 m) was significantly related to crayfish abundance, positively for O. virilis and negatively for O. rusticu s and O. immunis. The distribution and abundance of the two invasive species on islands and adjacent mainland sites indicated that water depths near and deeper than the thermocline limit the colonisation of islands by O. rusticus and, particularly, O. immunis, but that islands surrounded by shallower water may serve as shortcuts in crayfish expansion circumventing convoluted shorelines. Mean CPUE of all three crayfish species differed between bottom substrates, being highest on mainly rocky substrates for O. virilis and O. rusticus, and on organic and inorganic fines for O. immunis. Mean CPUE of O. virilis near macrophytes was similar to that in areas free of aquatic plants; CPUE near macrophytes was significantly lower for O. rusticus and significantly higher for O. immunis. In conjunction with crayfish captures during lake-wide fish surveys between 1973 and 2006, we show that by 2006 O. rusticus has spread into most parts of LOW since its first record from Long Bay on the east side of the lake in 1963, expanding its distribution by an average of 2.1 km per year. Our results further indicate that O. immunis is more widespread and more abundant in LOW than previously assumed.

Cyanobacteria and microcystin-LR in a complex lake system representing a range in trophic status: Lake of the Woods, Ontario, Canada

Euphotic water samples were collected monthly from 16 sites in Lake of the Woods, Ontario, Canada from July to September, 2006 and 2007. Sites represented a range of inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations and mixing regimes, which was reflected in the spatial variability in phytoplankton biomass and community composition, and cyanobacterial toxin [microcystin-LR (MC-LR)] concentrations. Nutrient concentrations decreased along a south to north transect, concomitant with distance from the main river inlet at the south end of the lake. Filamentous, nitrogen-fixing Aphanizomenon spp. and Anabaena spp. were dominant at most sites: Aphanizomenon was more abundant at southern sites and Anabaena was more abundant at northern sites. MC-LR was detected at all sites at least once (maximum concentration 0. 69 μg L -1 ). However, there was no correlation between MC-LR concentration and the biomass of Anabaena, a documented MC-LR producer. For the pooled data set, total phosphorus and ammonium concentrations were the two parameters most strongly related with MC-LR concentration. Principal components analysis was used to analyze the data set; it indicated that two factors accounted for 81 % of the variability among the 12 environmental parameters tested. Factor 1 represented physicochemical characteristics and phytoplankton biomass and Factor 2 represented Anabaena and Woronichinia biomass.

Arc of the Medicine Line: Mapping the World’s Longest Undefended Border across the Western Plains (review)

Reviewed by: Arc of the Medicine Line: Mapping the World’s Longest Undefended Border across the Western Plains Sheila McManus Arc of the Medicine Line: Mapping the World’s Longest Undefended Border across the Western Plains. Tony Rees. Toronto: Douglas & Mcintyre, 2007. Pp. 384, $36.95 Tony Rees is an excellent storyteller and this story is worth telling. Arc of the Medicine Line is the first detailed narrative of the 1872–4 survey of the Canada-U.S. border between the Lake of the Woods and the Rocky Mountains. In less than three years the British and American survey teams mapped and marked more than eight hundred miles of the forty-ninth parallel from the Lake of the Woods to the Continental Divide, produced detailed topographical maps of about nine thousand square miles, and placed 388 boundary markers including iron pillars, stone cairns, and earth mounds (344). The book provides enough technical information for a lay reader to understand and appreciate the full range of scientific work the teams conducted, which went far beyond the survey itself to include the flora and fauna. But the real focus is on the British, Canadian, and American men who made up the two commissions. The story is grounded in extensive primary research – the reports, journal, diaries, and letters written by men from both teams. The highlight is certainly the personal correspondence, where the men told their wives and family members exactly what they thought of each other, their jobs, the food, the weather, the land they were passing through, and the Native peoples they met along the way. The book is organized chronologically so that a reader can follow each step of the journey. The map at the front of the book is excellent, and the photos are familiar but reproduced to a very high standard. Scholarly readers will have two concerns with the book. The first is that there is very little secondary research in the book, and what is there is a bit dated. There is no mention of recent scholarship about the Canada-U.S. border or the outstanding recent scholarship about the Native peoples of the borderlands like the Cree, Sioux, Metis, and Blackfoot. There is little historiographical context for the narrative, and perhaps this was Rees’s goal, because context has a way of bogging down a good story. The lack of historical context will be the other concern many readers will have, and this is particularly problematic in Rees’s treatment of First Nations peoples. By emphasizing the ‘moment’ the survey started and framing it with Aboriginal deaths, Rees leaves one with the impression that this survey marked the end of the Aboriginal chapter [End Page 585] of the history of the West and the start of the chapter about heroic white men conquering the land. The introduction and the final chapter hinge upon the Cypress Hills Massacre of 1873, the flight of the Sioux northward after Little Bighorn in 1876, and the flight of the Nez Perce in 1877; the final chapter also throws in the 1885 Northwest Rebellion to explain where the Metis went. This gives the unfortunate impression that the book is sounding the death knell for groups who are still alive and well today, because that makes a more dramatic backdrop for the central cast of white characters. Native peoples do appear throughout the book, but as backdrop – convenient but lazy workers, or necessary but inscrutable informants, or invisible moccasin-providers, or threatening opponents. This problem is perhaps unavoidable, given the emphasis on primary sources written exclusively by white men, and the lack of secondary sources that could have given other perspectives. The story of the 1872–4 boundary survey, the men involved, and the staggering amount of work they completed has been waiting a long time for its own full treatment. This book is invaluable for any of us who work on the history of the Canada-U.S border across the West, and will be appreciated by anyone eager to know more about the border itself. Sheila McManus University of Lethbridge Copyright © 2008 University of Toronto Press

Hemispheric‐scale patterns of climate‐related shifts in planktonic diatoms from North American and European lakes

AbstractA synthesis of over 200 diatom‐based paleolimnological records from nonacidified/nonenriched lakes reveals remarkably similar taxon‐specific shifts across the Northern Hemisphere since the 19th century. Our data indicate that these diatom shifts occurred in conjunction with changes in freshwater habitat structure and quality, which, in turn, we link to hemispheric warming trends. Significant increases in the relative abundances of planktonic Cyclotella taxa (P<0.01) were concurrent with sharp declines in both heavily silicified Aulacoseira taxa (P<0.01) and benthic Fragilaria taxa (P<0.01). We demonstrate that this trend is not limited to Arctic and alpine environments, but that lakes at temperate latitudes are now showing similar ecological changes. As expected, the onset of biological responses to warming occurred significantly earlier (P<0.05) in climatically sensitive Arctic regions (median age=ad 1870) compared with temperate regions (median age=ad 1970). In a detailed paleolimnological case study, we report strong relationships (P<0.005) between sedimentary diatom data from Whitefish Bay, Lake of the Woods (Ontario, Canada), and long‐term changes in air temperature and ice‐out records. Other potential environmental factors, such as atmospheric nitrogen deposition, could not explain our observations. These data provide clear evidence that unparalleled warming over the last few decades resulted in substantial increases in the length of the ice‐free period that, similar to 19th century changes in high‐latitude lakes, likely triggered a reorganization of diatom community composition. We show that many nonacidified, nutrient‐poor, freshwater ecosystems throughout the Northern Hemisphere have crossed important climatically induced ecological thresholds. These findings are worrisome, as the ecological changes that we report at both mid‐ and high‐latitude sites have occurred with increases in mean annual air temperature that are less than half of what is projected for these regions over the next half century.

Water Regurgitation by Adult Double-crested Cormorants: A Possible Mechanism to Assist in Chick Thermoregulation

Abstract A previously undocumented thermoregulatory behavior of adult cormorants for their pre-fledged young was recorded during observations of a Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) colony in Lake of the Woods, Ontario. Many adult cormorants were observed regurgitating water over their chicks’ bodies. The authors believe that the warm temperature, intense sun, and calm winds during the observation periods were the primary factors triggering this previously undocumented thermoregulatory behavior.

Using Microfossil Remains in Lake Sediments to Examine the Invasion of Eubosmina coregoni (Cladocera, Bosminidae) in Lake of the Woods, Ontario, Canada

Many nonindigenous species (NIS) present in the Laurentian Great Lakes are expanding their ranges to inland lakes and streams. This study used cladoceran microfossils to examine the invasion history of Eubosmina coregoni, the first known nonindigenous zooplankter to invade Lake of the Woods (LOW), Ontario, Canada. Sediment cores from 16 sites in LOW were used to analyze broad-scale presence/absence of E. coregoni prior to human development (bottom sediment samples) in comparison with present-day distribution (top sediment samples). E. coregoni had the highest relative abundance in the northern and eastern regions of LOW and the abundance of all cladoceran remains was low in the southern region of the lake. A long core (time core) from Clearwater Bay provided a more detailed historical account of E. coregoni's abundance in the northern region of LOW, indicating that E. coregoni was first detected in the lake in the early 1990s, approximately 25 years after it was discovered in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Results obtained in this study have illuminated temporal and spatial patterns of colonization of this inland water body. Study of the early invasion dynamics of NIS in these inland lakes may aid in the prevention of future invasions of taxa that have already altered the food web dynamics in the Laurentian Great Lakes.

Mapping the International Boundary Between the United States and Canada 1797–1843

The Barclay Collection (Coll. 26) at the Maine Historical Society includes original manuscript materials of the British Commissioners assigned to the boundary commissions for the line running from the islands in Passamaquoddy Bay near Nova Scotia and Maine, westerly to Lake of the Woods, Ontario from 1797 to 1843. In particular, the maps, surveys, and correspondence between the International Boundary Commissioners and surveyors give us a window into the world of nineteenth-century boundary survey work. This article will briefly describe the history of this archival collection, give some background into nineteenth-century boundary surveys, describe the original maps and letters by Great Lakes surveyor David Thompson, and will highlight a few of the map treasures to be found within the collection.

First assessment of cyanobacterial blooms and microcystin-LR in the Canadian portion of Lake of the Woods

Cyanobacterial blooms containing the hepatotoxin microcystin-LR (MC-LR) occurred at least once at each of 5 sites sampled in June, July and August 2004 in the Boreal Shield (Ont., Canada) portion of Lake of the Woods. In June, cyanobacteria constituted 3.5–49% (median 25%) of total phytoplankton biomass and consisted largely of Aphanothece spp. (median 98% of total cyanobacterial biomass). In July and August, cyanobacteria comprised 54–98% (median 77%) of total phytoplankton biomass in surface water samples and consisted largely of Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (median 82% of total cyanobacterial biomass). Three species of Anabaena (A. flos-aquae, A. lemmermannii, and A. mendotae), as well as Homeothrix janthina, Pseudanabaena spp., Aphanocapsa spp., and Woronichinia spp. were also present during the study period. Among study sites, total phosphorus concentrations in surface grab samples ranged from 11 to 31 μg/L and were positively associated with total cyanobacterial biomass (r = 0.64, P = 0.01). MC-LR concentrations (μg/g dry weight) in bloom material collected with a 64-μm tow net and analyzed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography were positively related to ammonium concentrations in surface grab samples (r = 0.94, P = 0.001), but not to the total biomass of cyanobacteria or any cyanobacterial taxon. In the isolated Boreal Shield basins of this lake, cyanobacterial blooms and cyanotoxins like MC-LR may have ecological and human health consequences and may be sensitive indicators of human disturbance in the drainage basin.

Multi-core investigation of a lotic bay of Lake of the Woods (Minnesota, USA) impacted by cultural development

The freshwater Zippel Bay (Minnesota, USA), from its headwaters to its outlet on Lake of the Woods, a larger lake, was identified as a degraded system because of augmented nutrient and sediment loads, and for low oxygen affecting aquatic life. Anthropogenic impacts were purportedly from stressors including agriculture, urban development and hydrologic modifications, so paleolimnology using multiple indicators was employed in the bay and its two primary tributaries to characterize long-term trends since European settlement of the region. Isotope analyses of the sediment cores indicated notable shifts in sedimentation rates in response to human activities, and the application of a new diatom-based nutrient model to fossil diatom assemblages indicated that phosphorus levels have approximately doubled over the last ∼150 years. While Zippel Bay appears to be naturally eutrophic, increased nutrient loads have resulted in significant algal blooms, particularly during late summer. The multiple-core approach revealed that anthropogenic activities upgradient of the two tributaries varied in their contributions to aquatic degradation in Zippel Bay, and that despite the close proximity of the cores, there has been notable spatial variation in water quality. This research also further validates the application of traditional freshwater paleolimnological methods to lotic systems with sufficient sedimentary regimes. This study has important implications for Zippel Bay as it quantifies the extent of limnological impacts and underlines the need for remediation.

The use of angler diary surveys to evaluate long-term changes in muskellunge populations on Lake of the Woods, Ontario

Reported improvements in the muskellunge angling fishery on Lake of the Woods, Ontario over the last two decades have paralleled an increase in the practice of catch and release angling, and an increase in minimum size regulations for this species. The overall status of muskellunge populations in this large, complex lake has proven difficult to monitor using standard assessment methods. A volunteer muskellunge angler diary program, established in 1988, has provided a cost effective method of gathering a large amount of information with which to track this fishery and associated populations. Results from angling diaries indicated increased angling effort, catch and success rates for muskellunge on Lake of the Woods since the early 1990s. Although the month of July accounted for the majority of angling effort and catch, angling success rates and sizes of fish reported in diaries improved monthly into the late fall. Angling success rates were consistently higher in angling diaries than from creel surveys, but both survey types showed similar long-term trends in the fishery. Angler diary data, incorporating both the numbers of fish caught and/or seen by anglers, were used to calculate catch equality indices which proved to be sensitive to changes in population abundance. Increased minimum length regulations for muskellunge during 1987–2001 have been largely responsible for a decline in harvest rates from an estimated 36% in 1986 to 0% since 1999. Although higher size limits have yet to produce more quality-sized fish in angler catches, diary survey data, supported by recent improvements in catch rates from assessment gill nets, would indicate that muskellunge recruitment has increased. This article concludes with a brief review of how muskellunge angler diary data has been used in the past, including recommendations to minimize biases associated with this survey method.

Holocene Climatic Change and Landscape Response at Cathedral Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada

Environmental sensitivity to temperature change was established by comparing pollen, plant macrofossils, macroscopic charcoal, and sediment yield data from Lake of the Woods, Cathedral Provincial Park in the Cascade Mountains of southern British Columbia, Canada, to an independent record of midge-inferred paleotemperature. Steppe vegetation with some spruce and fir occurred initially, developing into pine forests in the warm early Holocene. These forests burned often, preventing spruce and fir succession. Once established, the forests retained an Engelmann Spruce-Subalpine Fir character. After 8000 cal BP, in warm but wetter conditions, the forest contained less pine and fires burned less frequently. About 4000 cal BP, cooler temperatures resulted in closure of the Engelmann Spruce-Subalpine Fir forests and a further reduction in fire frequency. Sediment yield results suggest a stable environment throughout the Holocene, likely due to sediment trapping in two upstream lakes. Midge-inferred temperatures correspond closely with a consensus reconstruction of temperatures from southern British Columbia, however Cathedral Provincial Park terrestrial ecosystems were not as sensitive to past climate change when compared to other nearby Engelmann Spruce-Subalpine Fir sites.

Estimates of Tackle Loss for Five Minnesota Walleye Fisheries

AbstractLead poisoning in waterbirds from ingestion of lead fishing items may be a growing problem. There are few studies that quantify tackle loss for recreational fisheries. Tackle loss from large recreational lake fisheries in Minnesota is unknown. The objectives of this study were to determine tackle loss for five large lake fisheries targeting walleye Sander vitreus in Minnesota by means of creel surveys and to estimate recent cumulative losses. Mean rates of tackle loss were low: 0.0127/h for lures, 0.0081/h for large sinkers, 0.0057/h for small sinkers, 0.0247/h for jigs, and 0.0257/h for hooks. Many anglers lost no fishing tackle on a fishing trip. The estimated total loss of tackle for the five water bodies in the summer of 2004 was 214,811 items. Over 100,000 lead‐based items were estimated to have been lost, representing about 1 metric ton of lead. Assuming 2004 lead tackle loss rates, estimates of cumulative lead item loss for Lake of the Woods and Mille Lacs and Rainy lakes from 1983 to 2004 were 285,000 (SE = 8,800), 1,033,000 (SE = 39,700), and 211,000 (SE = 8,400) items, respectively. In critical wildlife areas with high angling effort or high tackle loss rates, determining the impacts of lead tackle on wildlife would be prudent, and prohibiting the use of lead tackle may be necessary.

Paradigms of paranoia: the culture of conspiracy in contemporary American fiction

The recent popularity of The DaVinci Code and The Matrix trilogy exemplifies the fascination Americans have with conspiracy-driven subjects. Though scholars have suggested that in modern times the JFK assassination initiated an industry of conspiracy (i.e., Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, Area 51, Iran-Contra Affair), Samuel Chase Coale reminds us in this book that conspiracy is founda-tional in American culture - from the apocalyptic Biblical narratives in early Calvinist households to the fear of Mormon, Catholic, Jewish, and immigrant populations in the 19th century. Coale argues that contemporary culture - a landscape characterized by doubt, ambigulty, fragmentation, information overload, and mistrust - has fostered a radical skepticism so pervasive that the tendency to envision or construct conspiracies often provides the best explanation for the chaos that surrounds us. Conspiracy as embodied in narrative form provides a fertile field for explorations of the anxiety lying at the heart of the postmodern experience. Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49, Don DeLilio's Underworld, Toni Morrison's Jazz and Paradise, Joan Didlon's Democracy, Tim O'Brien's In the Lake of the Woods, and Paul Auster's New York City Trilogy are some of the texts Coale examines for their representations of isolated individuals at the center of massive, anonymous master plots that lay beyond their control. These narratives remind us that our historical sense of national identity has often been based on the demonizing of others and that American fiction arose and still flourishes with apocalyptic visions - in the very marrow of its narrative bones.

Modeling the history of Lake of the Woods since 11,000 cal yr B.P. using GIS

Because of differential isostatic rebound, many lakes in Canada have continued to change their extent and depth since retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Using GIS techniques, the changing configuration and bathymetry of Lake of the Woods in Ontario, Manitoba, and Minnesota were reconstructed for 12 points in time, beginning at 11,000 cal yr B.P. (∼9.6 14C ka B.P.), and were also projected 500 years into the future, based on the assumption that Lake of the Woods continued to have a positive hydrological budget throughout the Holocene. This modeling was done by first compiling a bathymetric database and merging that with subaerial data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). This DEM file was then adjusted by: (1) isobase data derived from Lake Agassiz beaches prior to 9000 cal yr B.P. (∼8.1 14C ka B.P.) and (2) modeled isostatic rebound trend analysis after 9000 cal yr B.P. Just after the end of the Lake Agassiz phase of Lake of the Woods, only the northernmost part of the basin contained water. Differential rebound has resulted in increasing water depth. In the first 3000 years of independence from Lake Agassiz, the lake transgressed >50 km to the south, expanding its area from 858 to 2857 km2, and more than doubling in volume. Continued differential rebound after 6000 cal yr B.P. (∼5.2 14C ka B.P.) has further expanded the lake, although today it is deepening by only a few cm per century at the southern end. In addition, climate change in the Holocene probably played a role in lake level fluctuations. Based on our calculation of a modern hydrological budget for Lake of the Woods, reducing runoff and precipitation by 65% and increasing evaporation from the lake by 40% would end overflow and cause the level of the lake to fall below the outlets at Kenora. Because this climate change is comparable to that recorded during the mid-Holocene warming across the region, it is likely that the area covered by the lake at this time would have been less than that determined from differential isostatic rebound alone.