This post is part of a series highlighting Minnesota Academy of Science history in honor of the 150th Anniversary of our founding.
Red pines in Itasca Wilderness Sanctuary SNA, Image: Hannah Texler, MN DNR
The sun peeks through a grove of towering, old growth pine trees, illuminating a diverse array of native plants and animals. This scene at Itasca Wilderness Sanctuary Scientific and Natural Area is possible in part to the work of the Minnesota Academy of Science (MAS) community in the 1930s.
In 1939, what was then called the Itasca Wilderness Sanctuary was established by agreement between MAS, Minnesota Department of Conservation, and Minnesota State Parks. At the time, MAS held annual fall meetings at Itasca State Park, using the area that became the Itasca Wilderness Sanctuary as an outdoor classroom. The land contained hundreds of acres of old growth (over 100 years old) red and white pine, jackpine, and the only white cedar stand within Itasca State Park.
Itasca Wilderness Sanctuary SNA, Image: Kelly Randall, MN DNR
The purpose of establishing the sanctuary was to protect the forest from logging and intensive recreational activities, and to use it as a natural laboratory. The goal was to have the area “remain unaltered by man” with its “fate determined by natural forces alone and where, through the study of its many plants, animals, soils and waters, man may yet understand and appreciate the life of this region in its primeval condition.” Of course, Indigenous people had been living on and tending this land for millennia prior to the arrival of settler-colonizers, so the landscape was already deeply intertwined with humans.
The establishment of the Itasca Wilderness Sanctuary marked the first designated wilderness area in any Minnesota State Park. In 1965, the Itasca Wilderness Sanctuary was the first place in the state to be designated a National Natural Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior.
In 1983, 1,601 acres of the Itasca Wilderness Sanctuary was designated a state Scientific and Natural Area (SNA), lauded for being the “finest example of Great Lakes Pine Forest in north-central Minnesota.” According to the DNR, the area encompasses 848 acres of designated old-growth forest.
A 1998 inventory of the SNA recorded a 190-year old red pine stand and a 200-year old white pine stand. In addition to the majestic pine stands, the SNA is home to hardwood forest, white cedar swamp, sedge meadow, marsh, springs, fen, two lakes, and several creeks. Ecologists have recorded over 280 native plants in the SNA, including several varieties of lady’s-slipper orchids, Oakes’ pondweed (endangered in the state) as well as cukoo flower and goblin fern (each threatened in the state). The SNA is home to numerous animals, including black bear, bobcat, solitary sandpipers, trumpeter swans, and wolves. In recent years, volunteer site steward Janet Rith-Najarian led documentation of area’s ecology with a wonderfully informative biogeography database on iNaturalist that has contributions from almost 100 community scientists.
Map of the Itasca Wilderness Sanctuary SNA within Itasca State Park, Image: MN DNR
Today, visitors can hike on a short trail through the SNA leading to views of lakes and towering red pines, some of which are over 300 years old. Thanks in part to the foresight of the MAS community in the 1930s, this unique landscape is an ongoing aspect of our state’s beauty.
References
“Itasca State Park Wilderness Sanctuary: Joint Efforts of Academy and State” by John Herhusky, Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science, Volume 44, Number 3
“Itasca Wilderness Area Scientific and Natural Area,” MN DNR, www.dnr.state.mn.us/snas/detail.html?id=sna00958, accessed October 4, 2023
Download the SNA coloring book to learn more about this area and others like it in Minnesota (Itasca Wilderness Sanctuary SNA is featured on page 13)
