North Shore Naturalist

John was in the area today so of course we went out and did some lichenizing after I finished with work. About a week ago I found an interesting specimen which was probably an Enchylium species along the Caribou. Today’s adventure was to go out and collect some of it to ID it.  Although the Caribou is a beautiful landscape that seems like it should harbor a variety of rare lichens, I’ve seen surprisingly few species. Although, each time I seem to find one more. One factor that might affect this is that it is incredibly steep for most of the river above the falls - great habitat for lichens, but hard to reach without any good access points. There are a few good finds below the falls. The falls The river gorge Black hawthorn (Crataegus douglasii) is a western disjunct species, similar to thimbleberry but with a much more restricted range along the Great Lakes State Special Concern Species Shag-belly stippleback lichen (Dermatocarpon moulinsii) State Endangered Species Common chocolat...

River walking is perhaps my favorite pass time. In the past year I’ve visited nearly all the major rivers draining into Lake Superior within the boundary of Minnesota. Most of these multiple times. Each new visit brings new discoveries and new sights. Deepening your relationship with the river, and in turn coming to better understand the entire watershed. While I’ve probably said each of these rivers is my favorite at least a dozen times, the serious contenders are the Cascade, Kadunce, and Devil Track. Although the Onion, Temperance, and Caribou are not far behind. After today the Cascade might be edging out the others (at least until I visit one of them next).  Today’s adventure really began on April 5th, I knew that Otto had seen fringed moon lichen just further downstream than I had been on this section of the river. So I figured I’d better go look for it. Although rare it is a distinctive species. I guessed that it wouldn’t be too hard to find. As I approached a nice looking s...