Researchers are using technology and citizen scientists to track Minnesota’s bird populations. Then, new concerns about the state’s logging practices. And, the Leech Lake Band sues two big businesses, alleging contamination.—–Executive Producer: Victor Palomino Producer: Maija HechtAnchor: Chantel SinGsReader scripting: Victor Palomino Fact checking: Joel Glaser, Victor Palomino Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Emily Krumberger
Transcript
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HOST: You're listening to North Star Stories: Voices from Where We Live, a daily newscast about what it means to live in Minnesota.
ANCHOR: Researchers are using technology and citizen
scientists to track Minnesota’s bird populations. Then, new concerns about the state’s logging practices. And, the Leech Lake Band sues two big businesses, alleging contamination. I’m Chantel SinGs.
A new state audit says the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, or DNR, failed to properly plan and document timber harvests in wildlife management areas. Logging in these areas is only allowed if it benefits wildlife, but the report found uncertainty about whether those requirements were met. The findings, by the office of the Legislative Auditor, come just months after a federal audit cleared the DNR of wrongdoing but warned about competing priorities in forest management.
Next, artificial intelligence and community scientists are joining forces to study bird populations across Minnesota. Reporter Maija Hecht talks with state researchers about this innovative partnership.
Maija Hecht: Artificial intelligence, or AI, is changing the way humans interact with the world at breathtaking speed. At the same time, the natural world is changing around us. Bird populations across North America have declined by 30% in the last 50 years. Scientists at the University of Minnesota are using AI to understand why.
Dr. Elena West: We're building this sort of comprehensive long term acoustic archive of Minnesota's bird communities.
Maija Hecht: Dr. Elena West works within the U of M's
Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology. She currently leads the Sounds of Nature project.
Dr. Elena West: AI algorithms can now automatically identify thousands of vocalizing species, you know, from birds to frogs to you know, there's even some work on mammals.
Maija Hecht: Over the summer, the Sounds of Nature team strapped waterproof recorders to trees on public and private lands across southern Minnesota. They pressed record and collected the sound of birds for six weeks, day and night.
Dr. Elena West: We had this really incredible opportunity to look at an entire avian community across Minnesota.
Maija Hecht: Now with thousands of hours of audio to
process, the team is using an AI tool called BirdNET to count bird species and numbers across Minnesota.
Dr. Connor Wood: BirdNET is an algorithm. So it's not like the generative AI type tools like Chat GPT and some of these other AI tools that are getting quite a lot of attention.
Maija Hecht: Dr. Connor Wood leads the BirdNET ecology team at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, where they study birds.
Dr. Connor Wood: It's a machine-learning tool that's really good at making predictions for what animal it has heard.
Maija Hecht: Through pattern recognition, BirdNET is making it possible for Minnesota researchers to ask bigger questions about the natural world. But that doesn't mean humans are off the hook.
Dr. Connor Wood: With these powerful machine learning tools, you need expert naturalists and biologists more than ever.
Maija Hecht: Scientists still need to lend a human ear to
confirm the validity of the data.
Dr. Connor Wood: They can actually ground the outputs of those algorithms in reality.
Dr. Elena West: Combining this accessible technology and then also Minnesotans’ enthusiasm for birds seemed like it was just sort of the perfect time to launch a statewide citizen science program like this.
Maija Hecht: Dr Elena West said public participation has been key to gathering quality information.
Dr. Elena West: Especially on private lands where we have very little biodiversity data. We're lucky here in Minnesota. We have a lot of public land.
Maija Hecht: But private lands, which account for over 70% of Minnesota—
Dr. Elena West: They might support rare and declining species in really unique ways. We just wouldn't be able to achieve this statewide coverage without the participation of private land owners, and so we're really grateful for that.
Maija Hecht: Maija Hecht for North Star Stories.
Anchor: You are listening to North Star Stories.
The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe is suing 3M and DuPont, claiming P-F-A-S, or long-lasting chemicals, have tainted the reservation’s water and wildlife. Member station KAXE reports that independent testing found high levels of the toxic chemicals in fish, deer, and surface water around Cass Lake and Pike Bay, in northern Minnesota. The lawsuit says the pollution puts the health of tribal members at ongoing risk and calls for cleanup and remediation.
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HOST: North Star Stories is produced by AMPERS, diverse radio for Minnesota's communities, with support from the McKnight Foundation and the State of Minnesota. Online at ampers dot org.