Minnesota briefs: Willmar looks at future of historic city auditorium

Willmar's historic city auditorium, completed in 1937 by the federal Works Progress Administration, will undergo an assessment aimed at identifying needed repairs and changes to carry the building into future decades of use.

At its meeting Monday, the City Council is expected to approve a contract with the Minneapolis architecture firm McDonald & Mack, which specializes in restoring and preserving historic buildings.

The firm will study the building and recommend needed work, as well as work with city staff to identify ways the city can best make use of the facility.

The auditorium is on the National Register of Historic Places. It features sculptured panels on the exterior facade and painted murals on the interior. It also contains a War Memorial Room honoring World War I veterans and houses basketball and volleyball courts, along with an indoor shooting range.

john Reinan

The Voyageurs Wolf Project, a University of Minnesota program in and around Voyageurs National Park, is using a state culture and tourism grant to fund equipment and supplies for its second phase of wolf research.

The research project at Minnesota's only national park also produces digital content that educates the public about wolves, wildlife and Minnesota's North Woods. Its social media influence reaches nearly 200,000 people a day.

The second phase of the project at the 218,000-acre park in northeastern Minnesota involves purchasing and installing 35 additional trail cameras, bringing the total number to 160.

The cameras are used to obtain high-quality video of wolves, wildlife and scenery, and according to organizers, have captured behaviors never observed or filmed before.

"Our goal is to increase online impact and connectivity with people in order to drive interest and tourism to Voyageurs National Park and northeastern Minnesota," said Tom Gable, a research biologist at the U.

The park's 55-mile northern border abuts Canada. As wildfires rage in Canada this summer and creep southward, the park has taken precautions, restricting campfires and charcoal grills until further notice.

The fires, burning amid a drought, have prompted air quality warnings across most of the state.

There is concern, too, that wildfires in Quetico Provincial Park in Canada could spread into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness east of Voyageurs National Park.

Reid Forgrave