Season Watch Newsletter: 11/11/22

This week, we learn about the importance of fire to our local forests, that spiders like to hide in mittens, and that those big columns of midges are made up of males!

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FEATURE: Fire-Dependent Landscapes

In the second episode of the Local Forest History series, producer Mark Jacobs introduces Heidi and John to Lane Johnson, a research forester at the Cloquet Forestry Center. They discuss how old Red Pine stumps tell the story of indigenous fire usage on Minnesota's pre-colonization landscape and how these regularly-occurring fires benefited species diversity, forests, and humans alike. I found it fascinating, and Lane was kind enough to provide us with additional information if you want to dig deeper!

Listen in!

STUDENT AND LISTENER REPORTS

This week, our students put the 'trick' into 'trick or treat'! In addition to fooling John, they discovered the importance of aspect (the direction a slope faces), observed three spiders hiding in a mitten, and spotted an abundance of swans, blackbirds, and Blue Jays. Plus, we hear from Eagle View Elementary- our first report from Pequot Lakes this year!

Enjoy!

JOHN LATIMER'S WEEKLY REPORT

This week, John's weekly monitoring of the number of berries on a holly branch paid off: the robins and White-throated Sparrows finally ate them! You could say they branched out. John also went looking for flowers, finding a measly four species, and looking for leaves, which only remained on the oaks and ironwood. It's an information-filled episode: enjoy!

Listen to John's report!

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More dates and locations will be announced. Desperate to get in on the fun? Send me an email, and we'll set up a zoom meeting!

11/13 Phenology in the Classroom. Session during the Minnesota Naturalists Conference at Long Lake Conservation Center. Palisade, MN.
Save the date: 1/16: Phenology in the Classroom. Lac qui Parle Valley High School. Registration information TBA!

SARAH'S RECOMMENDATION

Being the internet-addicted millennial that I am, I was snooping around the internet the other day and found this INCREDIBLE video on Great Grey Owls! The videography is incredible, the information is top-notch, but what really got me is the slow-mo footage of the owl's legs dangling behind it as it flew. It looks like someone took a human two-year-old, covered their legs in feathers, and stuffed their front half into an owl body, leaving their legs dangling and kicking behind. I got a big chuckle out of it! Enjoy! (And please bring me to the Sax-Zim Bog STAT.)

Owl see you there!

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The majestic Canada Goose (Branta canadensis). Ojibwe: Nika

If your mood is foul, go find an owl!

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Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). The Trust Fund is a permanent fund constitutionally established by the citizens of Minnesota to assist in the protection, conservation, preservation, and enhancement of the state’s air, water, land, fish, wildlife, and other natural resources.