Forest Service offers weekly naturalist programs

Would you like to know more about loons?  Interested in black bears?  Or does a Saturday morning wildflower walk appeal to you? If so, you’re in luck.  For more than 25 years, the U.S. Forest Service has been partnering with local resorts to bring summer naturalist programs to the North Shore, and now offer 17 different programs weekly, in locations around Cook County.  

 

“We do several different kinds of programs.  We have morning programs which usually tend to be a short hike or exploration. We also have evening campfire programs, which tend to be more of a sit around the campfire and a naturalist presents something along with some activities that the participants can be a part of.”

 

That’s Steve Robertson, District Interpretive Naturalist with the U.S. Forest Service. 

 

“We have some programs which just seem to be perennial favorites and appear every year,” says Robertson. “Things like loon programs, a program on black bear, a program on moose, a program on wolves. Those are the sort of things that seem to be of interest to people all the time. We have two new programs this year that we’ve never done before; one on carnivorous plants in bogs, and one that’s on astronomy and a meteor strike that they recently, within the last couple of years I think, found evidence of an ancient meteor strike that actually, you can see parts of on the Gunflint Trail.”

 

The North Shore Naturalist programs run weekly through Labor Day. More information is available on the Forest Service website, or you can call or stop in at the Grand Marais Area Tourism office.