Outdoors report: Game Fair to feature record number of exhibitors ...

This year's Game Fair will feature more exhibitors -- dog trainers, inventors, gunsmiths, hawkers, barkers and artisans -- than any of the 30 that have come before it.

The annual outdoors festival with a heavy emphasis on hunting will be held Aug. 10-12 and Aug. 17-19 at Armstrong Ranch Kennels in Anoka County.

This year the event will have nearly 300 exhibitors, up from about 250 last year, Game Fair founder and owner Chuck Delaney said.

Delaney said he's not certain what caused the uptick, aside from his trademark salesmanship.

"I think people want to get back in the game," he said. "Sales have been lacking for several years, and maybe people are ready to start buying."

For information, go to www.GameFair.com.

Songbird 'sisters'

Superintendents from 13 national parks in the Upper Midwest -- including Isle Royale, Voyageurs, St. Croix National Scenic Riverway and Mississippi National River and Recreation Area -- have endorsed a "sister park" plan with their counterparts in Costa Rica.

The National Park Service's sister park program is designed to foster collaborative relationships across international borders where parks share common interests.

So what do Corcovado National Park on Costa Rica's Pacific coast and Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior have in common?

Songbirds.

Scores of songbirds that Minnesotans love -- warblers, Baltimore orioles and so on -- actually spend

most of their lives in Central and South America. The little birds store up energy eating in rain forests so they can make their epic migrations that usually involve 500 miles of non-stop flight to cross the Gulf of Mexico.

Preserving their habitat on both ends of that route is essential for the birds' survival, said Christopher Stein, superintendent for the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway.

A formal signing ceremony was scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 5, in Washington County.

Dave Orrick can be reached at 651-228-5512. Follow him at twitter.com/OutdoorsNow.

Source: http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_21222015/outdoors-report-game-fair-feature-record-number-exhibitors?source=rss

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