Conservation work on Bemidji’s Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues is underway.

Last weekend, planned maintenance and conservation work on Paul and Babe began that is headed up by Jensen Conservation, a company with over 30 years of experience in the industry. They’re confident that the project will be finished within the next 10 days at the most. The Bemidji Parks and Recreation department set a timeline in mind to have Paul and Babe back in time for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.

Because Paul’s arm was broken earlier this month, they are looking to help reinforce it in the future.

There are several proposals planned at the moment to protect Babe’s feet in the future, ranging from a new drainage system to raising the platform Babe rests on.

By — Betsy Melin