Moose Mountain

Today two other women and I volunteered with the Minnesota DNR to pull buckthorn at the Moose Mountain SNA (scientific natural area). I was curious where Moose Mountain was. I have driven by this area on seven bridges road without noticing the little parking lot. We had to hike 30 minutes up hill to get to the spot to pull the buckthorn. Much of our walk was under the powerlines. This SNA is special because the great fires in 1918 that came north from Hinkley burned half of this mountain but did not descend down the eastern slope. Fires prefer to go uphill and not down hill.

Nice view of the Lester River valley. We heard and saw red eyed vireos, ovenbirds and ravens. We saw one garter snake, a wood frog, and three toads. The buckthorn had been attacked before. This time we were hand pulling knee high buckthorn plants that grew sideways out of a root. Some came out easy and some were obstinate.

I found a horse shoe half buried. I pulled it out. There were spikes on the shoe so I think this might have been the shoe on a horse that was hauling logs in the winter.

After hiking and pulling buckthorn for 3 hours we were sweaty, tired, and picking wood ticks off of our clothes. We made a difference though. I have never pulled buckthorn in an area that had so little buckthorn. I enjoyed being with people who can identify nearly any plant in the forest.