A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news

Articles written by Alyssa Bloss


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  • Workshop set on buffering land

    Alyssa Bloss|Mar 15, 2024

    Are our local lakes and streams as clean and healthy as they should be? Is your shoreline or streambank eroding more and more each year? Would you like to beautify your yard while protecting water quality and attracting turtles, frogs, songbirds and beneficial pollinators such as bees and butterflies? Whether you've lived on a lake or stream for 1 year or 20 years, we encourage you to think about what we call your "buffer zone." This area between your backyard and the lake is very important. A... Full story

  • SWCD update: Class helps grow gardens

    Alyssa Bloss|Feb 23, 2024

    Would you like to beautify your yard with showstopping flower blooms and grasses while protecting our lakes and streams, and attracting songbirds, hummingbirds and beneficial pollinators like bees and butterflies? If you said yes, we encourage you to think about installing a pollinator rain garden on your property. A pollinator rain garden is a small, depressional garden that collects rainwater from your roof, lawn, driveway and other impervious surfaces before it ends up in our groundwater,... Full story

  • Attend free rain garden workshop Thursday in Cloquet

    Alyssa Bloss|Feb 16, 2024

    Would you like to beautify your yard with showstopping flower blooms and grasses while protecting our lakes, streams, attracting songbirds, hummingbirds, and beneficial pollinators like bees and butterflies? If you said yes, we encourage you to think about installing a pollinator rain garden on your property. A pollinator rain garden is a small, depressional garden that collects rainwater from your roof, lawn, driveway, and other impervious surfaces before it ends up in our groundwater, storm... Full story

  • SWCD update: Learn how to battle invasive buckthorn

    Alyssa Bloss|Oct 6, 2023

    It’s the season of stunning reds, yellows, oranges, crisp autumn mornings with brilliant blue skies. It’s also the time of year many of us northern folks look forward to tromping around in the woods and wetlands with our hunting dogs chasing our choice of wild game. Those of you who frequent the woods in the fall may have noticed a particular shrub that is still green and holds onto its leaves way longer than the surrounding trees. What is it? Buckthorn. These invaders may already be a thorn in your side. Look in your backyard or favorite par...

  • Take steps toward soil health and earn cash

    Alyssa Bloss|Mar 10, 2023

    Calling all farmers. Increase your forage supply, save fuel, reduce labor, and improve soil health while getting paid up to $80 per acre … and that’s no empty promise. The Carlton Soil and Water Conservation District was recently awarded over $14,000 in funding through the state of Minnesota to assist landowners in improving and renovating hayfields or pastures and planting cover crops. The Carlton SWCD and the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program, in partnership with the University of Minnesota Extension, will hold a joi... Full story

  • Popular native garden sale is back

    Alyssa Bloss|Feb 10, 2023

    The Carlton Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) native plant kit and seed mix sale is back. Last year, people in the region helped convert more than 40 acres of mowed lawn to pollinator habitat by purchasing seed mixes and kits. The SWCD event has been the largest sale in Minnesota for the third year in a row. That's something to be proud of. We are keeping the pollinator powerhouse momentum going with a fourth sale. The native plant kits come in monarch, pine mulch, rain garden,...

  • Get help blasting buckthorn, other invasive plants

    Alyssa Bloss, SWCD News|Sep 16, 2022

    Buckthorn, knotweed (a.k.a. bamboo), or wild parsnip got you down? The Carlton Soil and Water Conservation District is here to help. The recently formed Carlton County Cooperative Weed Management Area Program is working hard to remove invasive plants in neighborhoods around Carlton County. Invasive plants can be frustrating to remove from a yard, threaten healthy ecosystems - affecting food, clean water and air - and cost our community money. These invasive plants choke out native plants and... Full story

  • Buffer zones improve water shorelines and habitat

    Alyssa Bloss|Apr 8, 2022

    Do you live or vacation near a lake or stream? Is your shoreline eroding more and more each year? Would you like to beautify your yard with showstopping flower blooms and grasses while protecting water quality and attracting turtles, frogs, songbirds and beneficial pollinators like bees and butterflies? Whether you've lived on a lake or stream for a year or 50 years, we encourage you to think about what we call your "buffer zone." This area between your backyard and the lake is very important.... Full story

  • Carltom SWCD news: Plant pollinator habitat with SWCD

    Alyssa Bloss|Mar 4, 2022

    The Carlton Soil and Water Conservation District has been busy helping community members plant pollinator habitat in their backyards and is eager to do it again this year by offering native plant kits and a rain garden workshop. Native grasses and wildflowers provide critical habitat for our bees, butterflies, songbirds and many other types of wildlife that use the vegetation for shelter and food. Low-cost and low-maintenance, native plantings do not require fertilizing, regular mowing, or... Full story

  • Cover crops work to improve soils

    Alyssa Bloss|Nov 12, 2021

    Duane Laveau said "every deer in Carlton County is out in my field at night." With the Minnesota deer hunting season in full swing, a lot of hunters are hoping for the same thing. Laveau, a local land steward and dairy farmer, said the deer were plentiful in a conversation with Carlton Soil and Water District staff last week regarding the more than 18 acres of cover crops he broadcast seeded between rows of corn in June. Just like most farmers in our region, Laveau was hesitant to try something... Full story

  • Native plants available at SWCD

    Alyssa Bloss|Mar 12, 2021

    Have you heard the buzz? The Carlton Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) has been busy helping community members plant pollinator habitat in their backyards, and will launch its second annual Native Plant Kit sale soon. New this year, native seed mixes will also be offered. Native Pollinator, Monarch, and Songbird mixes covering about 100 square feet will be available for pickup at a cost of $18 each. Native plant kits offered include Monarch, Pine Mulch, Rain Garden, Deer Resistant,...