Who We Are
Northern Wilds is a monthly magazine that celebrates the lifestyle of Lake Superior’s North Shore, the BWCAW and northwestern Ontario with news, events, features, columns and outstanding photography.
Publishers Amber Pratt and Shawn Perich started Northern Wilds magazine in 2004. Read the Northern Wilds story here.
You can pick up a free issue at numerous locations along the North Shore from Duluth to beyond Thunder Bay. Our company, Northern Wilds Media, Inc. also publishes an annual map of Cook County, MN, the North Shore Menu Guide and a selection of regional books.
Meet Our Contributors
Shawn is a veteran writer and editor well-known for his many books and outdoor stories. A native of Duluth and longtime North Shore resident, he’s spent a lifetime roaming the...
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Elle Andra-Warner is a veteran travel writer and has an abiding curiosity in all things unusual. Her monthly column Strange Tales covers everything from UFO sightings to historic oddities.
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Outdoor writer Gord Ellis shares his stories and insights about hunting and fishing with Northern Wilds readers through his monthly column, Northern Trails.
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Rae Poynter is a creative writer and freelance book editor who lives in the woods near Grand Marais. Her most noted accomplishments include saving a sheep in Ireland, learning to...
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Eric Kaira is a paddling fool who likes books, lakes and good beer. After graduating from Colgate University with a degree in Philosophy, he spent a summer solo-circumnavigating Lake Superior...
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Casey Fitchett is a full-time travel advocate and dog lover, originally from the urban sprawl of Hampton Roads, Virginia. After accidentally living with a Lord and Lady in Scotland, getting...
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Erin Altemus lives with her husband and a kennel of Alaskan racing huskies in the deep woods off the Gunflint Trail. She has run the Beargrease Marathon, canoed all the...
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Eric “Shmo” Chandler is a husband and father who cross-country skis as fast as he can in Duluth, Minnesota. Check out his published fiction, non-fiction, books and poetry.
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Julia Prinselaar holds a degree in journalism from Concordia University (Montreal), and works for an environmental stewardship organization in Thunder Bay. In her spare time she gardens, hunts and gathers...
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Chris Pascone was born in Massachusetts, went to Macalester College in St. Paul, and moved to Russia when he was 20. He came back to Minnesota 14 years later with...
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When he isn't working as a Special Education Director in Duluth, raising his two cats, or in his studio painting, Sam Zimmerman is outside hiking, fishing, or sketching along the...
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Joe Friedrichs holds a journalism degree from the University of Montana. He lives in a lakeside cabin near Grand Marais and hopes to one day land a brook trout "big...
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As someone who enjoys restaurants and loves to cook, Maren Webb brings culinary wisdom to her monthly column North Shore Dish.
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Kalli Hawkins is a writer and outdoor enthusiast who grew up in Grand Marais. She enjoys sharing her passion for history, education, and the outdoors through storytelling. When she's not...
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Breana Johnson holds a degree in English Literature from the University of River Falls in Wisconsin and she covers the North Shore's creative side with the monthly Art Spotlight section. When...
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Peter Fergus-Moore calls himself a "southern Ontario fugitive" as Thunder Bay is now his home. He is a retired adult literacy educator with the Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre, and...
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Chuck grew up near Grand Marais and returned to the area a couple of years ago after careers as a bookseller and an English teacher. He currently teaches at Great...
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Virginia is a North Shore transplant, who has no intention of ever leaving. A lifelong student, she is fascinated with the many faces of the lake. Virginia has dreams of...
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Joe Shead is happiest playing outside. He began his journalism career in a cubicle, but decided he is claustrophobic. Since then, he has tromped around Alaska, “working” as a rafting...
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Michelle resides in Two Harbors and holds a bachelor’s degree in Therapeutic Recreation. She owned an arts education business and actively advocates for creativity, inspiration and a love of the...
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Emily M. Stone is a naturalist by birth, training, profession and passion. Her childhood spent as a “mud and water daughter” in northeast Iowa led to a degree in outdoor...
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Hartley was born in the deep South, raised in Texas, and in 2010 she moved with her husband and children to the North Shore. She has a bachelor’s degree in...
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Kim Falter grew up in Kansas City, Missouri and has lived all over the U.S. She has been a wildland firefighter in Arizona, studied sensitive plant species in the Smokey...
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Michael Furtman is a lifelong resident of Duluth and has been a full-time, freelance writer and photographer since 1982. The author of over a dozen books and many hundreds of...
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Artist and writer Kathy Toivonen finds inspiration for creativity from nature, culture, and history; and she often combines her interests to develop projects. For example, she has produced a series...
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Kim was born and raised in Thunder Bay. She obtained her Social Service Worker Diploma from Confederation College. She went on to Lakehead University, where she graduated with an Honours...
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Rhonda Silence grew up in Grand Marais, moved away for 20-plus years and worked a variety of jobs before returning in 1995. She served as editor of the community newspaper...
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Amy Woschek Schmidt writes and dwells among the tall pines and emphatically beautiful people of Lake Superior’s northern shore. Among other things, she derives particular delight from her family, homemade...
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Ali Juten is an avid outdoor enthusiast, hunter, and writer from Duluth, MN. Besides a Journalism degree, Ali also has a bachelor degree in International Studies and has been to...
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Shelby Lonne-Rogentine is a North Shore enthusiast who loves storytelling. When she’s not freelance writing, she is the library director for a very cute and cozy little library in Moose...
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