Arranged by season and including helpful "as seen while hiking" views, this guidebook opens up a world of natural beauty for wildflower watchers in northen climes.
Learn to identify wildflowers in Minnesota with this handy field guide, organized by color. With this famous field guide by award-winning author and naturalist Stan Tekiela, you can make wildflower identification simple, informative, and productive. There’s no need to look through dozens of photos of wildflowers that don’t grow in Minnesota. Learn about 200 of the most common and important species found in the state. They’re organized by color and then by size for ease of use. Fact-filled information contains the particulars that you want to know, while full-page photographs provide the visual detail needed for accurate identification. Book Features 200 species: Only Minnesota wildflowers! Simple color guide: See a purple flower? Go to the purple section Fact-filled information and stunning professional photographs Icons that make visual identification quick and easy Stan’s Notes, including naturalist tidbits and facts This new edition includes updated photographs, expanded information, and even more of Stan’s expert insights. Grab Wildflowers of Minnesota Field Guide for your next outing—to help you positively identify the wildflowers that you see.
The vast North Woods, a land magnificently arrayed in the deep greens of pine, spruce, and fir and the brilliant blues of crystal clear lakes, spans the area from Minnesota to Maine and from Michigan to Hudson Bay. With a little help fromCanoe Country Flora, keen explorers will discover a world full of life and wonder in the plants that thrive in this beautiful lake country. Canoe Country Flora, a friendly field guide, introduces you to ninety-six of the most common trees, shrubs, wildflowers, fungi, ferns, lichens, and other plants you're likely to encounter during your travels north. Detailed line drawings and brief plant profiles help you recognize what you're seeing, while "Sparky" Stensaas's intriguing tales draw you into a deeper study of the plants's natural and cultural histories. Each plant is made identifiable and memorable by fascinating facts, handy checklists, diagrams and charts, and interesting activities that help adults and children learn by discovery. Use this book as a companion to Canoe Country Wildlife or alone as your guide to a unique North Woods adventure.
With more than 200,000 visitors annually, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is among the most alluring wilderness areas in the country, unique because it is most often explored by canoe. Comprised of more than one million acres, the BWCAW is an exceptional combination of expansive wilderness, abundant wildlife, and fascinating natural and human history. Exploring the Boundary Waters is the most comprehensive trip planner to the BWCAW, giving travelers an overview of each entry point into the wilderness area as well as detailed descriptions of more than one hundred specific routes—including a ranking of their difficulty level and maps that feature the major waterways, portages, and the designated campsites. The book is crafted so that readers can design their own route through the almost inexhaustible network of lakes and streams. Daniel Pauly, Boundary Waters expert, worked with the U.S. Forest Service, the Minnesota DNR, and local outfitters to collect and present crucial information here: instructions on about how to obtain a permit, the rules and regulations of the park, safety tips, and suggestions about how to help maintain the ecological integrity of the wilderness. As engaging as it is informative, Exploring the Boundary Waters not only contributes advice on the pros and cons of each route, but also brings the reader a natural and historical context for the journey by offering insight into the pictographs, mining sites, logging railroads, and ruins one may encounter on an expedition. With its accessible and personal style, Exploring the Boundary Waters is the perfect guide for anyone—novice or seasoned veteran—arranging a trip to the BWCAW. A companion Web site for this book, http://www.boundarywatersguide.com, presents useful information that can be downloaded for planning a trip, including gear lists, overview maps, and route updates.
"When Bill Magie began taking canoe trips in the wild country along the Minnesota-Ontario border, there were places where the lakes were so crowded with logs heading to the mill, that his group put their gear on a horse-drawn wagon to portage to a spot where they could paddle. There were other places where they could travel for two or three weeks and see no except an occasional Indian family. Bill's stories originate from the Canoe Country -- today's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Voyageur National Park, and Quetico Provincial Park. But they are not the dry facts of the past. (Some would argue that there are few facts to be found in these stories!) Instead, they are full of the elements that still draw us to this wilderness area today -- wolf howls, sparkling water, storms, solitude, stillness, adventurous undertakings, relics of bygone days, campfires and camaraderie. Take this book on your next canoe trip, and imagine Bill has joined you, spinning tales of lumberjacks and trappers, surveying the border, flying bush planes when flying at all was a novelty, camping before nylon and plastic and freeze-dried food, hunting and fishing when you succeeded or went hungry. Find stories about the places you visit: Curtain Falls, Prairie Portage, Granite River, Knife Lake, Basswood, Saganaga -- and so many more. And know that the spirit of those who have loved this place lives on as today's paddlers discover what a wonderful country this is"--Front flap.
Canoeing the Boundary Waters Wilderness: A Sawbill Log continues the story of wilderness canoeing begun in A Boundary Waters History: Canoeing Across Time, this time offering historical information about black bear attacks on humans, loon calls and behaviors, lightning strikes on the waters, the experience of a woman going into labor while canoeing with her husband, the sighting of spectacular northern lights, and reflections on the wilderness experience. All the while Wilbers reflects on experiences canoeing with his family. As in the first book, quotes from some of Minnesotas well known wilderness authors appear throughout the manuscript.
In this field guide to the future, esteemed Harvard University botanist Peter Del Tredici unveils the plants that will become even more dominant in urban environments under projected future environmental conditions. These plants are the most important and most common plants in cities. Learning what they are and the role they play, he writes, will help us all make cities more livable and enjoyable. With more than 1000 photos, readers can easily identify these powerful plants. Learn about the fascinating cultural history of each plant.
Catbirds and pocket gophers, bur oaks and bull snakes, bluestem grass and leopard frogs have populated the gently rolling prairies around Sue Leaf's Midwestern farming community for centuries. A hundred years ago her town, located forty-five miles from the nearest city, shipped thousands of tons of potato starch across the country, stiffening the collars of working men. Today it has become one of America's fast-growing suburbs. As naturalist and biologist Sue Leaf watched her rural surroundings become a magnet for developers, she became curious about the history of the land. Before the freeway and the housing developments, before the farmers cultivated the fertile soil, what plants and animals called this place home? To her delight, Leaf discovered the oak savannah, a park-like ecosystem that supports abundant wildlife and soothes the human psyche with its quiet, open spaces. As she looked more closely, she found remnants of the savannah in her own yard, in the trees lining her quiet street, and in nearby preserved patches of prairie. In lyrical essays, Leaf traces the natural history of her community, offering rich details about the people who built this area, about its once prosperous farms, and about the oak trees and wildflowers and prairie animals native to this part of the country. By examining remnants of the past still visible in a place deeply affected by sprawl, Leaf reveals how to slow down, look carefully, and untangle the jumble of unnoticed clues that can enrich our daily lives.
The wetlands of Minnesota and Wisconsin are categorized into fifteen plant communities. Each community is described and illustrated by color photographs, along with descriptions and color photographs of a total of 115 representative plant species. The descriptions include taxonomic characteristics, habitat, and notes on wildlife use and economic values.