Northwoods Naturalist

It's been nearly a month since my last post. I'll try and catch up with logging some of my adventures over the next couple days, I'll probably end up combining many of them into a few posts because much of what I have been noticing is very similar from day to day. On April 6th I made my way to the beaver dams on cedar creek (I think that the ponds might actual be on the beaver or palisade creek) just north of Bean and Bear Lakes. I had been to the north facing cliff and talus slope there early in the fall and seen some amazing lichens and plants. This trip I focused on the beaver ponds and surrounding area. This whole area has got to be one of the best biodiversity hotspots on the North Shore: the surrounding forest is dominated by red oaks and maples; on top of the cliff it is white spruces, firs, and white pines; there is a nearby section of logged forest with aspens popping up; add in the magic of a huge north facing cliff; and along the river there were signs of very re

Ellingson island is right of the shore of Lake Superior at Split Rock. I've explored there once before, but last year the water was high enough that I had to walk through freezing cold, waist-deep water to get out there. The bay was mostly frozen and the water was a little lower, so I was able to jump across the rocks, not even getting my feet wet.  It was a nice sunny day, I spent a few hours sitting on the rocks reading and just enjoying the view. I was able to snuggle into the root base of a rather large white cedar, enjoying the fragrance in the slight breeze. I spent most of the morning kicked back and relaxing but also did a little bit of exploring. I didn't spend much time looking around, so I'd like to go back soon. I'll probably wait until the plants are up and growing.  Arthonia clemens lichenicolous on Rhizoplaca  Black rock licorice lichen (Lichinella nigritella) Common clamshell lichen (Hypocenomyce scalaris) Montanelia saximontana Punctelia stictica - stat

I've explored the shoreline of Lake Superior quite extensively, but I haven't done much inland exploring of the area. This recent adventure (and more to come) is an attempt to fix that.  I drove a loop starting at Wolf Ridge, out to Forest Service Hwy 15, and returning on State Hwy 1. I've been up near Isabella only a handful of times (mostly for our winter lynx tracking seminar), so for the most part this area was completely new to me.  Of course I stopped multiple times. Driving up Hwy 15 there were quite a few older white pines growing mere inches from the road sometimes. I got out at a few sections of woods with really large ones to stop and appreciate them and explore the lichens growing on them.  At some point I noticed some older white cedars a ways off on the left. Once I stumbled back their through all the raspberry thicks I found a nice peatland. Luckily more of these plants are evergreens, so I could appreciate the mosses and some other shrubs. At this time of ye

On Friday Leah, Nolan, and I spent a few hours exploring on and around the Baptism River. We parked at the main lot at Tettegauche and made our way up the cascades trail. Shortly in to the hike, we went down to the shore, jumped on some rocks, crossed the frozen river (most of the ice in that spot was pretty thick so it was only a little alarming), and then continued up the shore by jumping on the rocks up that side. It was really cool looking at how variable the ice thickness and textures were at different points along the river. We spent a lot of time just adventuring and scurrying on the rocks/cliffs, and probably an equal amount of time just sitting, watching, and listening to the water. Of course we also did some botanizing and lichenizing. Lots of looking and adventuring, very few pictures for today. At one point Nolan and I climbed about 15 feet up a large white pine and hung around for a while. We both got full of sap, but I saw a new lichen species for me, so it was worth it. 

As of late I've really been exploring the rivers of the area; my last two posts have focused on the Baptism River and Dragon Creek. This is just the perfect time of year for such adventures, the weather has been warm and sunny, but the ice is mostly thick enough to still comfortably walk on the rivers, although you need to walk along it from time to time where the ice is a little thinner (or completely gone). Today I explored the Cascade River near the Hidden Falls. This was the first time I've ever stopped at this river and it's definitely one of my favorites in the area.  One of the falls I came across Still plenty of thick ice on the river Lots of bridges with water flowing underneath Another bridge A lot of interesting textures and shapes in the ice Beaver skull found along the river I was absolutely taken aback by all the cedar trees. Almost the entire area was dominated by huge cedars, many of which had their roots exposed. I think there were two different ecosystems