Dedicated to the conservation and appreciation of Minnesota’s native plants and plant communities
Enjoy a morning hike into Interstate State Park, Wisconsin's oldest state park. See bedrock prairie, oak woodlands, white pine-hardwood forest, spring-fed creek, shady, basalt talus slopes lush with mosses and ferns. Please consider bringing a lunch and hiking the stunning bluff trails overlooking the St. Croix River in the afternoon.
Digital dragonflies in an analog world? Join us for a different kind of field trip with a focus on dragonflies. We will spend about a half hour in the classroom reviewing dragonflies and then spend about an hour out in the wetland looking for dragonflies, taking their photos when we can get them to pose and netting those that do not want to pose.
Come join other MNNPS members for a return trip to Quarry Park SNA to explore the granite bedrock outcrops found throughout the SNA as well as high quality wet meadow, wet prairie, oak woodland, and oak forest plant communities. This mix of natural communities supports rare birds and orchids and forms the most significant remaining example of the granite bedrock outcrop community in central Minnesota.
Come join Steve Eggers and other MNNPS members for a day of wetland plant identification canoeing through the unique plant communities of Weaver Bottoms. Weaver Bottoms is located on the Upper Mississippi River within the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. This 5,500 acre habitat complex includes areas of open water, flowing channels, backwater lakes, isolated wetlands and forested wetlands.
Come join Mike Lee and other MNNPS members for part of a day hiking and identifying wetland plants at St. Wendel Tamarack Bog SNA. This SNA is one of the top sites for significant biological diversity in Stearns County as evaluated by the Minnesota County Biological Survey in 1999. The site is a large wetland complex encompassing one of the largest remaining blocks of native vegetation in the county, including the best and largest example of tamarack swamp in central Minnesota.
FIELD TRIP IS FULL. Join butterfly enthusiast Dean Hansen on a day-long trip to look for spring butterflies in the jack pine/oak barrens in northwest Wisconsin’s Burnett County. The trip will start at the Visitor’s center at the Crex Meadows Wildlife Area just north of Grantsburg, WI, and end up on the Namekagon Barrens in far northwest Burnett County.
This hike is a unique opportunity to observe the “before” scene of a first-time bison introduction at Cedar Creek Reserve. Barb Delaney, Professional Plant Ecologist and Botanist, will describe plant micro-habitats within the bison enclosure area before the beasts arrive!
Explore strongly-rolling morainal terrain that supports a large tract of mature mesic hardwood forest with small vernal wetlands. This 350-acre SNA lies in the heart of central Minnesota's 65,000-acre Avon Hills region. The region is known for its constellation of high value natural and cultural features within the often strongly rolling terrain of the St. Croix Moraine.
Join Jyneen Thatcher and other MNNPS members in exploring a small dry prairie remnant in a city park in Oak Park Heights. The park has undergone restoration efforts by the environmental studies classes at Stillwater High School, including buckthorn removal and prairie reconstruction, but the only management in this remnant has been prescribed burns. We will add to the species list which currently includes plants such as prairie phlox, prairie violet, purple-lipped twayblade, lupine, and short prairie grasses.
FIELD TRIP IS FULL. An Overnight Trip to Multiple Sites in Black River State Forest. Meet in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, travel time of approximately 2 hours, 15 minutes from St. Paul, MN. Spend Saturday afternoon exploring various habitats. Stay overnight either at the Pigeon Creek Campground within the state forest, or at motels in Black River Falls. Spend the next morning exploring additional habitats and then travel back that afternoon.
