Black Lake Bog Scientific and Natural Area (SNA) is in rural eastern Pine County, approximately 2.5 hours north of St. Paul and 1 hour south of Duluth. The SNA is part of a larger interstate natural area encompassing more than 3,600 acres in Pine County, MN and Douglas County, WI.

Our focus will be on updating and expanding the plant list for the site, but other activities could focus on insect or bird inventory or taking GPS points of the boundary signs depending on group time and interest. As parking is limited and the site remote, we will likely choose a meeting place along I-35 or Hwy 23 and carpool.

Larix WMA is located in the extreme southern portion of the Minnesota aspen parkland. It is a large undeveloped wooded WMA, which is immediately adjacent to the Gully Fen SNA and contains many of the same habitat types. Its location in the Glacial Lake Agassiz Lake plain is notable as it is located just north of the high beach ridge at Gully. The Larix WMA is one of the true treasures of the MN DNR Wildlife Management Area lands in terms of native plant communities and rare plant species. This area is where east meets west and includes several very unique plant communities including calcareous fen, tamarack seepage swamp, and rich fen.

FIELD TRIP IS FULL. Co-sponsored by Minnesota School of Botanical Art and Minnesota Native Plant Society.

Botanical Artists: Explore the morphology of native plants under various growing conditions in several habitats; sketching in the field. Develop your palette of color samples, learn proper methods of plant collection and photography to assure realistic depictions.

Plant lovers: Explore new locations of fens, prairies, and rock outcrops. Shalom Hill Farm lies in the center of a circle of at least 15 potential destinations to be selected depending on the conditions of the season. These include upland prairies, rock outcrops, “waterfalls,” mesic prairies, and wetland complexes with calcareous fens. Two prime publicly owned forests are a little over an hour away.