MN Master Naturalist Submission: Heather Cummins — Entomologist, Science Educator, Metropolitan State University Community Faculty

The art and habit of nature journaling has grown in popularity over the last few years, but it’s a practice that goes back quite a ways. Naturalists, scientists, and amateurs of all kinds have used forms of art and journaling to engage with and document the world around us all throughout time. A nature journal is simply a record of your observations of nature, typically with some creative element included to help convey the story you’re discovering in your observations.

Minnesota Master Naturalist Submission: Cheryl Batson

Spring through September is harvest season for the versatile dandelion, an herb imported from Europe. All parts of this plant are edible, however, make sure you harvest in an area that has not been treated with chemicals. Healthline states that dandelion is high in vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, folate, calcium, and vitamin K. As with any wild food, eat in small amounts to make sure you are not allergic and check with your doctor before eating any wild food when you are pregnant or have any medical conditions. Dandelions can thin out the blood due to the vitamin K and possibly lower blood sugar to some extent.

By Misi Stine, Environmental Educator and member of the MN Herpetological Society

Spring is finally here, and many species are mating and having babies. What follows inevitably, is well-meaning people posting on social media and contacting wildlife rehabilitators wanting to help wildlife they believe are in distress, orphaned, or injured. Often humans do not understand animal behavior when rearing their young, and those behaviors vary from species to species. In all cases, they are much different than humans.

Article By Maddy Masucci, MNDNR Cooperative Forest Management Forester

The warmer weather may have you thinking about getting outdoors and doing some gardening or landscaping. Maybe you already have a plan to plant a new tree, shrub, or perennial this year and are looking for the perfect species to add. In your endeavors to find a great tree or shrub, you might encounter Amur maple. This is a small, deciduous tree with brilliant red fall foliage - making it a sought after tree species to plant. This maple is sold and planted all over Minnesota. However, many people don’t know that Amur maple is an invasive species that invades natural areas and crowds out native plants. The ability to take over grasslands, prairies, and woodlands has landed Amur maple on the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Noxious Weed List.

Minnesota Master Naturalist Submission: Cheryl Batson

2022 started as an odd year for foraging. Typically, April is the beginning of spring foraging in the Twin Cities. This year, though, was pretty much a wash with its unseasonal wet, winter-like temperatures followed by unseasonably warm summer temperatures. This has resulted in a very brief harvesting period for such things as the ostrich fern fiddleheads and a delayed harvest for morels.

Eli Sagor, UMN Extension Specialist, Cloquet Forestry Center

As we juggle the demands of jobs, family, and other commitments, many of us have limited opportunities to slow down and connect with nature. This is particularly relevant in May, as we recognize National Mental Health Awareness Month. Those of us who have built a strong connection to natural places understand the many ways that time outside can reduce anxiety, remind us of the simpler things, and build mindfulness as we breathe and notice nature around us.

by Misi Stine, Environmental Educator and member of the MN Herpetological Society

Spring is a time of awakening for many animals from that long winter nap, which includes turtles, tortoises and terrapins, but for this article I will refer to them collectively as turtles. Soon we will start to see turtles moving from winter to summer habitats, and in May/June we will see females moving across the landscape to find “the perfect” place to lay their eggs. As turtles move around the landscape, some travel long distances, and they are often seen crossing roads to get to their intended destination. Unfortunately, many turtle species are on the decline, some at an alarming rate. There are several factors contributing to those declines. One significant cause is road mortality which is human-driven. Even small declines in a turtle population can lead to long-term downward trends.

By Amelie Hyams, DNR Forestry Outreach Specialist

Minnesota’s trees are being negatively impacted by increasing pressure from pests, diseases, and invasive species, changing temperatures and precipitation, and more extreme weather events due to climate change. Now more than ever, this Arbor Day (April 29) and Arbor Month (May) we need to plant trees that will be resilient to these stresses!

By Sophia Patane, MNWWN Board Member and Community Engagement Coordinator at WaterLegacy

From lakes and ponds to rivers, streams, and aquifers, water saturates our lives as Minnesotans. The quality of our water has a fundamental impact on our quality of life—and the quality of life that we observe in our woodlands.

Science shows that woodlands and water have a mutually beneficial partnership. Trees help prevent erosion and filter excess nutrients before they can flow into water bodies. In turn, clean water benefits the health of every living thing in the surrounding ecosystem.

Blog intro by Angela Gupta, UMN Extension Forester

I’m writing this blog introduction on International Women’s Day, March 8, which seems fitting. MN Women’s Woodland Network recently stumbled across this great webpage from the USFS, as it says:

By Allissa Reynolds, MNDNR Firewise Specialist

Have you ever considered your annual yard cleanup to be a wildfire mitigation practice? Well it is! That’s right, if you clean your gutters, rake leaves, prune your trees and shrubs, or even just mow your grass, you’re already on your way to becoming Firewise (the practice of living safely near or in areas that can be damaged by wildfires).

By Julie Miller, Rochester MNWWN Member

It all started back in February of 1993. Whitewater State Park was offering a class on cultivating maple syrup through Continuing Education. Our girls were young and this sounded like a great adventure. We had recently purchased some land suitable for fishing, hiking, camping and who knows? Perhaps even maple syruping!

By Misi Stine Environmental Educator and member of the MN Herpetological Society
When Europeans settled what is now Minnesota, the white-tailed deer range was limited to the southern and central parts of the state. When the new settlers cleared forests for wood products and agriculture, it forever changed the landscape. By the 1880s, degraded habitats from agricultural conversion, hunting for both subsistence and to supply markets with meat, reduced the deer population significantly. Subsequent changes in management practices have resulted in an amazing rebound in the number of deer, primarily due to the landscape alterations, which opened new habitats and allowed white-tailed deer to move into areas they had not previously occupied. Today the white-tailed deer population in Minnesota is much larger than it was at the time of European settlement, and they are found throughout the state. (Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, n.d.)

By Angela Gupta, reviewed by Matt Russell and Shirley Nordrum, UMN Extension Educators

Forests are vibrant changing ecosystems that are dynamic with plants, animals, fungi, weather and of course people. Minnesota’s woods are owned and managed (or not) by many thousands of private woodland owners and various local, county, state, federal and tribal agencies and organizations. Each land owner and land manager has their own hopes and dreams for the land. Commonly those goals include supporting healthy, sustainable and resilient forests; rarely is the goal explicitly to harvest timber. However, many landowners learn that harvesting wood is often an important part of cultivating healthy woodlands.

by Misi Stine

No one I know would be surprised if I said this was a challenging year with the drought. We saw our lawns dry up as well as plants and trees struggling not only in our yards but across the state. Depending on where you were in Minnesota, the drought conditions throughout the summer varied from moderate to exceptional. Water use restrictions were implemented. Campfires, and other burning, were banned across the state. Despite those restrictions, there were several fires in northern Minnesota with persistent dry and hot conditions. I observed water across the state become scarcer in my travels, from ponds drying up entirely to the mighty Mississippi River at levels so low I wondered if I could walk across as I drove over a bridge in Monticello one day in early August. It also impacted human activities: the inability to use certain water resources due to low levels, the loss of homes, cabins, and restrictions on the use of The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA), a favorite destination of summer travelers. (Drought in MInnesota, 2021), (Simon, 2021) (Coexisting with Wildlife During Droughts, n.d.), (Seitz, 2021)

Article Written By Cheryl Culbreth, MNWWN Board Member and Owner of Landscape Restoration, Inc.

Rita Erickson contacted Cheryl Culbreth, MNWWN board member, in January to create a habitat restoration / buckthorn control plan for her six-acre woodland property in Scandia. During a February site visit, Cheryl strongly encouraged Rita to add a basic trail system to the nearly impassible brush and terrain as part of the overall restoration work plan. The impact of Lyme disease occasionally zapped Rita’s energy. A trail would make access much easier for Rita, widen the “no tick” zone, and offer the benefit of new perspectives on what was growing in the woodland.