Northwoods Experience: Itasca State Park Nature Programs Focusing on Fall

With school officially starting across Minnesota, we are one step closer to autumn. Itasca State Park is currently hosting nature programs to teach those interested about how the fall season impacts the plants and animals inside the park.

Some of those programs include walks through one of the many trails in the park, and there was even a fun activity for the kids in the form of a forest scavenger hunt.

“We went on a walk in the park. As we walked along, we were looking for signs of fall from both plants and animals,” explained Sandra Lichter, an Itasca State Park Naturalist. “There’s a lot of great adaptations that animals and plants have to get them through the wintertime. You really start to notice or think about some of those things in the fall.”

Throughout these programs, participants can learn how certain animals like the red squirrel in the trees high above prepare for the harsh winters by storing pine cones in certain locations. Visitors can also find out how the plants on the forest floor adjust to the changing seasons.

“So plants are doing a lot of different things right now,” said Lichter. “The plants on the forest floor are starting to yellow. They’re getting to the end of their lifespan for the season. But then the plants themselves are starting to change the colors as we get less and less sunlight produced as we go into the fall.”

And with that, the luscious green that covers Itasca State Park now will soon be blanketed with the colors of autumn.

“There’s changes every single week,” Lichter added. “The leaves, just to see just a little bit of color every week, it’s changing every week. Sometimes I’ll go out and do some of the same hikes week after week just to see what the differences are. We haven’t seen tons of it. We’re starting to see a few random maples starting to show their color as we continue to go through the month of September. Each week it’s going to be more and more as more plants start to transition.”

Soon, Itasca State Park visitors will get a chance to tour the Lakeside Museum as well as join naturalists on a hike discussing the life cycle of trees. Programs are currently planned through the 21st of September. A list of upcoming events can be found at the DNR website.