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...

The bonspiel is one of the great Wolf Ridge traditions - watching Men with Broom, curling, meeting past nats, and partying afterwards at home. It also provided an excuse to explore some of the rivers near Two Harbors. The French seems like your typical North Shore river, but for some reason there are some strange Collemataceae along it. Otto found Enchylium expansum there in 2017 growing in a ~1m x 1m patch. To date that’s the only occurrence of it in the state. In that spot it grows abundantly, but elsewhere on the river I couldn’t see it. It has to be elsewhere one would think, but how many other spots? The river Mostly frozen Enchylium expansum  State Watchlist Species Close up when dry Close up when wet  Likely rose-petalled jellyskin lichen (Scytinium gelatinosum) State Watchlist Species Likely birdnest jellyskin lichen (Scytinium tenuissimum) Canada buffaloberry (Sheperdia canadensis) growing near the mouth of the river Definitely a weird assortment of species for a Nort...

I made my way out to explore some peatlands in the Isabella area with Norma (bogwalker on iNat). This is an ecosystem that I have not explored much yet. Although we were only out for a few hours, I found quite a few new species to me, with many more to come.  Northern yellow eyed grass (Xyris montana) State Special Concern Species Inundated bog clubmoss (Lycopodiella inundata) White beaked sedge (Rhynchospora alba) Rosemary tar spot (Rhytisma andromedae We made our way to a second location in search of yellow specklebelly lichen (Pseudocyphellaria holarctica) and were successful. We also spotted a handful of other rare species, all of which I had seen before, but never in this type of habitat.  Yellow specklebelly lichen (Pseudocyphellaria holarctica) State Endangered Species Spiny gray horsehair lichen (Bryoria nadvornikiana) State Watchlist Species Mealy-rimmed shingle lichen (Pannaria conoplea) State Watchlist Species Pale-footed horsehair lichen (Bryoria fuscescens) State ...

A few posts ago I focused on black huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata) and my quest to see all Minnesota native species in the blueberry family. Today I made another huge step forward, seeing alpine bilberry (Vaccinium uliginosum) for the first time. This is yet another of the incredibly rare, arctic-alpine disjunct, state endangered species found in MN. Alpine bilberry was first documented in the state in 1891, then in a second location in 1937. The second population has not been relocated in recent years, whereas the first location was found again in 1982. So, these plants growing along the shoreline, may very well be the only population in the state.  I made my way out to the site early morning through the light sprinkling. After about 30 minutes of walking I sheltered under a black spruce as the rain increased to a drizzle and waited about 2 hours, listening to the rain and waves, until the sun rose around 7:30. There was a large pool mostly protected from the waves; this specifi...

Creeping cedar (Juniperus horizontalis) is an uncommon plant throughout Minnesota, at least native populations of it. Cultivated varieties are quite abundant in a horticultural setting. Its distribution is quite interesting. It is very abundant in intact dune ecosystems, although these habitats are quite rare in the state. Otherwise it can be found on rock outcroppings, and along cliff and talus. These habitats are far more common, but creeping cedar is far less abundant here, completely absent from most of these locations. So, although it has a rather widespread distribution in a variety of habitat types it is still of heightened conservation concern. Similar to huckleberry in my last post, although always uncommon this plant used to be more abundant in the state. Thanks to fire suppression it has been in decline for quite a while. This plants relationship with fire is quite interesting, like its close relative eastern red cedar, it is an extremely fire intolerant species. It grows lo...