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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Public hearings set on future of Ely’s K-Lab

Nancy Jo Tubbs
Posted 7/31/10

It’s not a secret, but few people in the area know that one of the two longest wolf research studies in the world is currently being conducted right outside of Ely.

The historic Kawishiwi Field …

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Public hearings set on future of Ely’s K-Lab

Posted

It’s not a secret, but few people in the area know that one of the two longest wolf research studies in the world is currently being conducted right outside of Ely.

The historic Kawishiwi Field Laboratory, located 12 miles south of Ely, has been a base for wolf research since 1968. Researchers there developed and made early landmark use of radio telemetry to track radio-collared wolves, conduct studies and author hundreds of professional papers on our local predator.

K-Lab, as it’s known by those who work there, has been a training center for wolf researchers around the world, putting The Coolest Small Town in America on the map in scientific circles even before we knew just how cool Ely was. The lab’s international reputation has been built by scientists who studied here from more than 18 countries including Finland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Croatia, Russia, China, India and, currently, the Netherlands and New Zealand.

Now K-Lab (formerly the U.S. Forest Service’s Halfway District Ranger Station) is at risk for being torn down, and the public is being invited to comment on the proposal by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service Northern Research Station (NRS). In its draft environmental assessment, the USDA identified six possible outcomes for the future of the 11 buildings on the shore of the Kawishiwi River.

The six are (1) to take no action, (2) to increase maintenance funds, (3) to transfer ownership and management, (4) to transfer management, (5) to relocate the buildings or (6) to demolish the buildings. The last is the USDA’s recommendation, and for understandable reasons. The structures are in medium-to-fair condition, with powder-post-beetle infestation, bats in the belfry and some rotting wood. Restoring the buildings and bringing them up to code would be a pricy venture. Additionally, the NRS has not used the buildings since the 1980s, and the sole occupant at this time is the wolf research project conducted by the Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, which isn’t well enough funded to take over the facility.

Yet, the buildings have considerable historic significance. The main lodge, pump house, oil house, outhouse-sauna, cabin, warehouse-garage and boathouse were built in the Adirondack cabin style by the CCC in 1934-35. Two daughters of President Lyndon Johnson stayed there, as did Orville Freeman who was Secretary of Agriculture under presidents Kennedy and Johnson and three-time governor of Minnesota. The buildings make the facility eligible for consideration on the National Historic Register.

In addition to world-renowned wolf research by Dr. L. David Mech and wildlife research biologist Dr. Mike Nelson, K-Lab was the site of 20 years of well-known bear research by Dr. Lynn Rogers, and famous studies on forest ecology and history by Dr. Bud Heinselman.

The wolf research is ongoing in an 800-square mile area, where radio-collared wolves still fuel new knowledge about the ever-controversial mega-species. Over the years, researchers there have studied white-tailed deer, lynx, beaver, loon, raven, marten and moose. Other studies involved the impacts of mining, recreation, plant ecology and forest fires.

Work at K-Lab helped spawn both the International Wolf Center and the North American Bear Center, facilities that have brought much notice to Ely and produced major boosts to Ely’s economy.

The 40-year history of research at the lab has been made convenient by the facility’s sleeping, eating, office and work areas. It’s central to the Superior National Forest and the BWCAW and sits near Ely. Its proximity to the airport and sea plane base make wolf observation from the air possible. Perhaps, most importantly, it is in the center of a high wolf population density. Finding another such location for wolf research in the Ely area is highly unlikely.

Vermilion College and the International Wolf Center use data from wolf research in classes and programs, and young wolf technicians and Center interns frequently move from one program to the other as they advance their careers in wildlife sciences.

Many uses for the facility have been suggested—as a site for studying climate change, as a history center or recreation site. Reconstruction of the buildings, as needed, and ongoing-maintenance could provide jobs in the Ely area, and would most importantly allow wolf research to continue in the heart of the largest population of wolves in the Lower 48.

K-Lab has historic, economic and current scientific value to the Ely area and to the international scientific community. It deserves preservation in one of the several forms suggested. Unless another entity steps forward to take over management, the first two proposals by the NRS are most likely to keep the research facility functioning—leaving K-Lab as is or increasing maintenance funds so that the buildings can be restored.

K-Lab is an important resource for Ely, for wolves and for science. We need to save it!

Public hearings to consider the NRS options and the proposal to destroy K-Lab are set for 1-3 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 3, at the Grand Ely Lodge in Ely. Comments in writing can be submitted through Aug. 10. To view the Draft Environmental Assessment on the NRS Kawishiwi Field Laboratory Building Disposition online, go to www.nrs.fs.fed.us/projects/kawishiwi.