Summer is upon us in the Forest. There’s still some clinging snow I’ve spotted at Lutsen and in a couple of places where plows made enormous mounds, but it is safe to say that the natural snow cover is gone. Given that it is June, it is about time.
Our woods are fully leafed out, and the springtime blossoms of the Juneberry and cherry trees are just about done. The high winds and rain of the last few days meant an early end to those flowers, but there are plenty of other flowers in the woods right now. Among those flowers are pink and yellow moccasin flowers. These beautiful orchids are coming into their peak, along with other wildflowers like twisted stalk, starflower, twinflower, and wild sarsaparilla.
As much as you may want to take some of these flowers home with you, please don’t dig up and try to transplant wildflowers. Many, particularly the orchids, are quite fussy about the soil they are in, and will not survive being moved. Enjoy them in the woods where they belong, or bring them home with a camera instead of a shovel.
People have been seeing fawns this past week. Deer, along with other animals like snowshoe hare, have a very different family life than humans and they spend very little time with their young over the course of the day. Moms will instead park their offspring somewhere safe and rely on the young ones to stay hidden while the parent goes off to forage. And, sometimes, deer seem to have a very bad idea of what ‘somewhere safe’ is and will leave fawns near roadsides, in the middle of the lawn, or in the garden. It is almost always best to leave the fawns alone. The doe will return to feed the young one, often at night when you won’t see it. Fawns that appear to be abandoned seldom are, so just like the orchids, take pictures, enjoy the experience, and leave the fawn where it is.
Another animal that is very abundant right now is much smaller than a fawn. Canadian tiger swallowtails are currently all over the place. These large yellow and black butterflies at first glance look like eastern tiger swallowtails, and in fact, on second glance and probably even third and fourth glance look like eastern tiger swallowtails, but Canadian tiger swallowtails are a little different and are a separate species. They are a butterfly that loves a behavior called ‘puddling’ where butterflies gather in groups often at the edges of puddles near roads.
What we believe they are doing is finding minerals in the mud. Unfortunately, this behavior brings them directly into conflict with vehicles using the road. There isn’t much you can do to avoid hitting butterflies with a car except to drive slowly if you are on a back road where it is safe to do so.
The adult butterflies are beautiful, but the caterpillars are equally interesting. These butterflies have large greenish caterpillars with eyespots, creating an imitation of a snakehead and scaring off predators like birds. To carry the imitation even farther, the caterpillars have an organ called the osmeterium. The osmeterium is normally stored near the head inverted like an inside-out rubber glove. Still, when the caterpillar is disturbed, the osmeterium is expanded into an orangish imitation of a forked tongue. Coupled with the eyespots, this fake snakehead will hopefully frighten off any hungry birds.
On June 1, 2020, the Superior National Forest opened overnight camping in a limited number of developed campgrounds. This was in alignment with Minnesota Governor’s announcement on May 20, 2020, that allow campgrounds to re-open starting June 1 under the Stay Safe Phase of the Reopening Society Plan.
Visitors should remember that outhouse facilities and water systems are not open at closed campgrounds or other closed recreation areas and trailheads and boat launches. So do not plan your trip to utilize those areas or amenities. Before your trip, we recommend visiting www.fs.usda.gov/ main/superior/home for a full list of open areas and up-to-date information on re-openings.
There is some truck traffic out on Forest roads. While there are currently no active timber harvest operations on the Gunflint District, there may be limited hauling on the Sunfish Lake Road and Greenwood Road. Operations will begin shortly off of the Murmur Creek Road and off of Cook County 6. The Tofte District will see hauling on the 4 Mile Grade, The Grade, Cook County 27 and Cook County 8. In addition to timber operations, we do have some gravel hauling along sections of The Grade from Crescent Lake to Two Island Lake. Gravel trucks are also traveling from pits on the Clara Lake Road and Bally Creek Road. Both of these are narrow single lane roads, so people should drive cautiously.
So far, mosquito numbers are low, and the black flies seem to be dropping in numbers, so this is an excellent week to get out into the woods and do some exploring. Have fun in the Forest and on the lakes!
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