2024-2025 Winter Field Trips, Education Programs, and Speakers

We are excited for yet another field trip season in the Sax-Zim Bog! This winter, our field trip schedule expands the use of the Lois King Education Center! Field Trip attendance is free for members (those who have donated $25 or more within the past year). If you are interested in membership, the $25 fee covers membership and free entry to any field trip or program in a 12-month period!

Friday Afternoon Speaker programs do not require registration. Minnesota Master Naturalist field trips require registration through the Minnesota Master Naturalist online portal.

To give everyone better expectations of rigor for each field trip, we have included relative activity levels for each field trip this season. The approximate ratings are as follows:

Field Trip Activity Level Ratings

1- Easy (travel over even terrain on roadways/boardwalks or limited hiking up to ½ mile total)

2- Moderate (travel over even or uneven terrain, dry to wet conditions, or hiking over ½ mile total)

3- Average (travel over even or uneven terrain, hiking off trail possible, or hiking up to 1 mile total)

4- Difficult (travel primarily over uneven terrain, wet conditions, or hiking over 1 mile total)

5-Strenuous (mostly off trail with travel primarily over uneven and wet terrain or hiking up to 2 miles)

If you have any questions about any of the field trips listed, field trip registration process, questions about the accessibility of a field trip, or feedback on our activity rating scale please contact Head Naturalist Clinton Dexter-Nienhaus via email at naturalist@saxzim.org.

Friday, December 20

The Day Before Winter

Presented by Dave Benson, co-founder of Friends of Sax-Zim Bog, Naturalist, and Author

12:00- 1:30 pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 1

Our first Friday Afternoon speaker of the season will be a great introduction to our season, in more ways than one! On the day before the winter solstice, learn how animals and plants prepare for the extremes of winter, including

– How one small group of birds managed to survive winter in the bog.

– Twelve kinds of trees and shrubs that thrive in the bog winter—you won’t believe #6!

– The seven successful strategies for responding to cold, wind, snow, ice, and drought.

– The three most painful mistakes Bigfoot made trying to survive winter in the bog.

– Are you struggling to survive winter in the bog? Try this!

Just in time for the shortest day of the year, learn ways to enhance your experience of the Sax-Zim Bog in winter.

Naturalist and writer Dave Benson is a co-founder of the Friends of Sax-Zim Bog. He is a former naturalist at Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory and several state parks in Minnesota and Wisconsin, including Gooseberry Falls, Jay Cooke, and Pattison. He has been guiding and teaching about birds for 35 years. You can read his nature writing at northernnaturalist.substack.com

Saturday, December 21

A re-Introduction to the Sax-Zim Bog!

10:00 am- 12:00 pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 1

It has been a few years since the first Introduction to the Sax-Zim Bog talk given by Head Naturalist Clinton during our first Winter Webinar Series in December of 2020! There have been some significant changes in the region during that time, so why not reintroduce the Sax-Zim Bog to everyone! This will be less of a field trip and more of an extended presentation on some of the changes in our region and organization. If you have never visited the Sax-Zim Bog, or if you are curious to see all that has changed in the last few years, this might be the talk for you!

Sunday, December 22

Master Naturalist Advanced Training: Tracking and Animal Sign

Registration now open!

Head over to the Minnesota Master Naturalist’s Website for registration: ADV: Tracking and Animal Sign

Saturday, December 28 and Sunday, December 29

Winter Birding Field Trips

8:00 am- 2:00 pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 1-2

Warbler Wednesdays are a fixture for summer birding, but we don’t have a counterpart to winter birding… until now! Join us this winter for a couple of winter birding field trips. The intention of these field trips is to give you an introduction on how to approach birding in the Sax-Zim Bog in the winter months. We will not be targeting owls, but will take a look at any we come across. This is a good field trip to attend, especially if you hope to learn more about how to approach winter birding in the vast Sax-Zim Bog.

Saturday, December 28 Field Trip: Full!!

To be added to the cancellation list for the December 28 Field Trip, please contact Head Naturalist Clinton at naturalist@saxzim.org.

Friday, January 3

Introducing the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Peatland Resilience Initiative

Presented by Meredith Cornett, MN DNR Peatland Resilience Project Planner

12:00- 1:30 pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 1

With more peatlands than any other state in the US outside Alaska, Minnesota has a role to
play in sustaining and restoring peatlands as part of a multifaceted climate mitigation strategy.
Recognizing the power of peatlands as important carbon reserves, the 2023 Minnesota Legislature
created the Peatland Protection and Restoration Demonstration Project as a new endeavor for the
MNDNR. We will dive into the main components of this project and discuss the potential for scaling up
peatland restoration on state-lands with new federal funds from the Inflation Reduction Act. The
discussion will conclude with an exploration of networking and collaborative opportunities to bolster
peatland resilience at the local, state, national and global level.

Meredith Cornett is MNDNR’s Peatland Resilience Project Planner, a role she has held since January. During her decades-long career with The Nature Conservancy, Cornett served in leadership roles
including a long run as Director of Science and, more recently, as Climate Change Director. Prior to
beginning her new position, she worked with the University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation
Partnership (MCAP) to develop the new Weather Ready climate extension program and continues to
serve on MCAP’s Advisory Board. Cornett enjoys working with students and faculty on applied research
and maintains an adjunct appointment in the Conservation Sciences Graduate Program at the University
of Minnesota. She lives with her family in Fredenberg Township, where they harvest sunlight, tend
beehives, protect pine seedlings from deer browsing, and coexist with human and other neighbors.

Learn more about the Peatland Resilience Project here: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/wetlands/peatland-resilience-initiative.html

Saturday, January 4

FOSZB Snowshoe Hike: McDavitt Recreation Area

9:00- 1:00pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 4

Snowshoes are a great way to continue being active during the winter season and are a great way to explore hard to get to locations in the Bog. Join us for the first snowshoe hike of the season to a new location for snowshoeing: McDavitt Recreation Area! This field trip will explore the kettle bog and trails at “Zim Rec.” Snowshoes are required for this field trip and can be borrowed from the Welcome Center by emailing Head Naturalist Clinton at naturalist@saxzim.org to reserve a pair or two.

Sunday, January 5

Snow Ecology: Understanding the winter and importance of snow

9:00- 1:00pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 1-2

Minnesotans have a couple of very interesting quirks. We love to talk about the weather and we love to complain about the weather! In a state as dynamic as ours, how much do we actually know about the season that has become such a huge part of our cultural identity? Is winter really that important? Does snow cover matter? This field trip will serve as a good introduction to everything snow! Join us for this interesting foray into the winter wonderland around us.

Sunday, January 12

Tracking and Animal Sign Field Trip

9:00- 1:00pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 2-3

Winter offers a lot of opportunities in our area to find and interpret animal sign! Many mammal species are hard to see in the Sax-Zim Bog, but their sign is all around us. This field trip will work to hone your skills finding, interpreting, and documenting animal tracks and sign. Do you need practice determining if you are looking at a dog or wolf track? What is the difference between Black-backed Woodpecker and Pileated Woodpecker sign? This field trip will hope to answer these questions and more while investigating the roadsides and trails around the Welcome Center and beyond. Snowshoes will be helpful during this field trip, but are not required. If you wish to use a pair from the Welcome Center, please email Head Naturalist Clinton at naturalist@saxzim.org to reserve a pair or two!

Friday, January 17

Bold North: A Year in Wild Minnesota

Presented by Benji Inniger, Composer, Photographer, and Musician

12:00- 1:30 pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 1

For our third Friday Speaker, we are excited to be hosting a film!

Bold North is a short documentary film exploring the wilds of Minnesota. Accompanied by an original full orchestral score recorded by the Budapest Scoring Orchestra, Bold North accentuates the beauty, drama, and magnificence of the wildlife, landscapes, and vast natural diversity that can be found within The Star of the North. The film includes over 60 locations throughout Minnesota including the Sax-Zim Bog.

Benji Inniger is a nationally award-winning composer, sound designer, recording engineer, musician, director, and photographer from Mankato, Minnesota. He has composed music for the Mankato Symphony Orchestra, Mankato Area Youth Symphony Orchestra, Film Score Fest, The Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, Trinity Repertory Company, and Storycorps for National Public Radio. Benji also works as a video game composer and sound designer, Associate Professor of Theatre and Music at Bethany Lutheran College, Director of Operations for the Mankato Symphony Orchestra, and formerly Executive Director of ProMusica Minnesota. He received his Master of Fine Arts from Minnesota State University, Mankato in 2010.

For more information, check out Benji’s websites here: hearbenji.com and boldnorthfilm.com

Saturday, January 18

Master Naturalist Advanced Training: The Science of Feathers

Registration now open!

Head over to the Minnesota Master Naturalist’s Website for registration: ADV: The Science of Feathers

Sunday, January 19

Winter World of Lichens Field Trip

9:00- 2:00 pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 1-2

Northern Minnesota is home to a diverse lichen community. These species cover nearly 8% of the terrestrial surface of the earth, yet are relatively unknown to most of us. Join us on this trip to get firsthand experience in lichen identification, as well as to learn a few of the more common lichens in our area. We will start our field trip indoors, investigating the Welcome Center Lichen Library and during the trip, we will be making small collections of lichens for the Welcome Center Lichen Library! We MAY utilize snowshoes for this Field Trip (email Head Naturalist Clinton at naturalist@saxzim.org to reserve a pair or two).

Sunday, January 25

Winter Tree ID

9:00- 1:00pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 1-2

Tree Identification can be important in understanding forest type and age and especially useful when finding birds! But, can trees and shrubs be identified in the winter without their leaves? You bet! This field trip will take place in two parts. First, we will talk about Minnesota’s forests, their history, and what trees and forest types are found in the Sax-Zim Bog inside the Lois King Education Center. Following this initial talk, we will investigate some winter tree and shrub branches indoors before heading out to the Welcome Center Trails to work on ID of trees in the field. Join us for this revamped version of one of our first winter field trip topics!

Sunday, January 26

Bird Anatomy and Artifacts

10:00- 2:00 pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 1

Sometimes birds have negative interactions with human-made infrastructure. Those birds often times get found by folks who take them to science museums, collections at Universities, or seek out nature centers to utilize those birds for education purposes. Over the years, we have been able to collect feathers, wings and feet, skulls, nests, and professional mounts from a number of species under our education permit and now have a space to share those items with you all! If you have ever wanted to learn about birds through their feather adaptations or skulls, this program is for you! Our time will be spent in the Lois King Education Center investigating the bird artifacts collection at the Welcome Center.

Friday, January 31

The Stokes Guide to Finches of the United States and Canada

Presented by Matthew Young, co-Author of The Stokes Guide to Finches of the US and Canada, President and founder of the Finch Research Network

12:00- 1:30 pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 1

We are excited to welcome back Matthew Young for a finch talk in the Sax-Zim Bog! It seems like yesterday, Matthew shared his love of finches with us and that love has turned into a book! This presentation will be a combination of an introduction to the new Stokes Guide to Finches of the United States and Canada, as well as a book signing! If you have not picked up a copy of this book yet, this would be a great event to attend!

Matthew Young is the President and Founder of the Finch Research Network, as well as co-author of the new Stokes Guide to Finches. Matt has been observing and enjoying nature since a very young age. He’s lived in Central New York for 26+ years and it was during this time when he really started studying everything from birds to orchids, and bogs and fens. Beyond birds, herps and wetlands, he’s the Founder and President of the Native Orchid Conservation Network and co-author describing a new species of orchid, Spiranthes sheviakii, and has published several papers about the Red Crossbill vocal complex including describing a new call type Type 12.

Saturday, February 1

Skull Study

9:00 am- 12:00 pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 1

Bones can tell us a lot about an animal, from what it eats, to how it moves, even how it might defend itself from predators! Skulls are especially useful when trying to learn more about how an animal does what it does. Join us for an exploration of the collection of skulls at the Welcome Center to learn a little more about some of the animals in the Northwoods!

Sunday, February 2

FOSZB Snowshoe Hike: Great Gray Peatland part 1

9:00- 2:00pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 4

Snowshoes are a great way to continue being active during the winter season and are a great way to explore hard to get to locations in the Bog. Join us for a snowshoe hike, exploring bits and pieces of the massive new FOSZB Property: Great Gray Peatland! The trip will be a great way to explore a hard to reach area, while learning about the boreal forest and more! Snowshoes are required for this field trip and can be borrowed from the Welcome Center by emailing Head Naturalist Clinton at naturalist@saxzim.org to reserve a pair or two.

Saturday, February 8

Bird Anatomy and Artifacts

10:00- 2:00 pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 1

Sunday, February 9

Master Naturalist Advanced Training: Winter Bog Ecology

Registration now open!

Head over to the Minnesota Master Naturalist’s Website for registration: ADV: Winter Bog Ecology

Friday, February 14

Fate of Minnesota’s Forest Birds: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Presented by Dr. Gerald Niemi, professor emeritus University of Minnesota-Duluth

12:00- 1:30 pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 1

Kicking off February, and our 5th Friday Speaker this winter season, is a culmination of years of research in the Northwoods and a look toward to the future for Minnesota’s forest birds. There are plenty of conservation success stories and positive trends in populations of some species, but there are a wide variety of species that need our conservation attention in the boreal forest and beyond. This talk will shed light on the precarious (or positive!) future of some of the 150+ nesting species of Minnesota’s forest birds.

Dr. Gerald Niemi is a retired Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota-Duluth (UMD). He
was formerly Professor of Biology and Director of the Center for Water and the Environment at
the Natural Resources Research Institute at UMD. He received his Ph.D. in Biology at Florida
State University in 1983 and was a Fulbright scholar in Finland in 1981. He has published over
165 peer-reviewed papers and over 130 technical reports and popular articles. His research has
focused on birds, Great Lakes ecosystems, conservation, climate change, ecotoxicology, and
sustainability in the use of natural resources.

Saturday, February 15

Corvid Ecology Field Trip

9:00 am- 2:00 pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 1-2

The family Corvidae includes crows, ravens, magpies, jays, treepies, ground-jays, and more! This group of birds is found all over the world, from the tropics to the high arctic, and most habitats in between. In northern Minnesota, this group of birds is one a few that can be found all year round. Because they are found year-round, there are lots of opportunities to observe these birds in your backyard, local park, or here in the Sax-Zim Bog. This field trip will be a mix of indoor learning and outdoor observation to explore this amazing group of birds!

Sunday, February 16

Winter Through a Hand Lens

10:00- 3:00 pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 1-2

Hand lenses are a great way to investigate something up close and personal! Naturalists tend to have a hand lens in their bags, whether or not they use them, as a good way to take a closer look at a subject. In the winter there are still things to look at: snowflakes, insect tunnels in wood, lichens, tree rings… the list goes on! Join us for a field trip, which will focus (literally!) on looking at things closely! Please bring a hand lens, and if you do not have one, we have a limited number to use at the Welcome Center (email Head Naturalist Clinton at naturalist@saxzim.org to reserve).

Saturday, February 22

Winter Season Mini-BioBlitz!

9:00- 2:00 pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 2-3

It is no secret that much of the biodiversity seen in the greater Sax-Zim Bog region is observable in the warm weather months. However, there is a very distinct set of creatures that can only be seen (or seen more reliably) during the winter months. Join us on this mini-bioblitz to see what kind of species diversity exists during the winter months in the Sax-Zim Bog! This will be an informal, generalist oriented bioblitz, which will visit FOSZB Properties and beyond. Join us for our second effort to document some winter biodiversity!

Sunday, February 23

FOSZB Snowshoe Hike: Great Gray Peatland part 2

9:00- 2:00pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 4

Friday, February 28

The Voyageurs Wolf Project & The Wolves of Minnesota

Presented by Maeve Rogers, Outreach and Education Specialist for Voyageurs Wolf Project

12:00- 1:30 pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 1

Visitors to the greater Sax-Zim Bog ecosystem have the high hope to see some of the special birds and mammals that call the region home during the winter season and beyond. While birds get a lot of attention, mammals have slowly, but surely, climbed to the tops of visitors lists. Some visitors are lucky enough to have encounters with the wolves that live in our area! To our north, in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem, is one of the most well studied groups of wolves in North America. We are excited to welcome Maeve Rogers to share with us about the Voyageurs Wolf Project and give some great information on their research and improve our understanding of wolves in Minnesota.

Maeve is a wolf researcher who has had experience working with wolves in both Yellowstone and Voyageurs National Park. For the past three years, Maeve has been working as a Wolf Predation and Research Technician in northern Minnesota. Her job entails trapping and GPS-collaring wolves in order to gain valuable locational data that aids the project in studying wolf ecology. The project’s main focus is to better understand the summer ecology of wolves in boreal ecosystems by looking at predation and reproductive behaviors. Recently, Maeve has taken on a new position as Outreach and Education Specialist with the Voyageurs Wolf Project. Beyond her scientific endeavors, Maeve is a mom and children’s book author who is deeply committed to sharing her knowledge and passion for wolves with diverse audiences.

Saturday, March 1

Tracking and Animal Sign Field Trip

9:00- 1:00pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 2-3

Sunday, March 2

Master Naturalist Advanced Training: Introduction to Minnesota’s Mammals

Registration now open!

Head over to the Minnesota Master Naturalist’s Website for registration: ADV: Introduction to Minnesota’s Mammals

Friday, March 7

Everyone cares about light pollution… They just don’t know it yet!

Presented by Todd Burlet, president Starry Skies North

12:00- 1:30 pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 1

Our final talk of the Friday Afternoon Speaker Series for this winter is just in time for spring migration! The final talk of the winter season will include an introduction to light pollution -what it is and how it’s a growing issue. We will hear about some of the many ways light pollution impacts humans, the earth, and the creatures who share it with us. Finally, we’ll learn of simple things we can do to make a real difference.

Todd Burlet is a Delegate of DarkSky International, president of Starry Skies North, the Minnesota
chapter of DarkSky International, and a member of the American Astronomical Association. Todd is a
retired staff engineer whose 37-year career in the aerospace industry spanned commercial, military, and
space programs. Todd is a lifelong amateur astronomer and photographer, and when he’s not
advocating for dark skies he enjoys canoeing, biking, and scuba diving.

Saturday, March 8

Northern Owls Evening Program

Program- 4:00- 5:00pm, with field trip until 8:00 pm

Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 1-2

Most often, visitors to the Sax-Zim Bog are looking for owls, but do you really know “hoo” owls are? Come and learn a little about some of the owls that can sometimes be found in the Sax-Zim Bog and the surrounding area. Following a short talk, we will caravan looking for some owls at dusk!

Sunday, March 9

Late Winter and Early Spring Insects Field Trip

9:00- 1:00pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center

Activity Rating- 2-3 Throughout the winter, there are a number of insects that are active as the winter air warms during bright, sunny days. Spiders, craneflies, caddisflies, and springtails all can be found wander across the surface of the snow, looking for prey or even to breed during the deep winter months. This final field trip of our winter season hopes to explore the later part of winter to see a few of these interesting critters and learn about how in the world these cold-blooded creatures can survive the frigid north.

Saturday, June 14

Master Naturalists’ Association Workshop: A Naturalist’s Guide to Moths and Moth-watching

Registration now open!

Head over to the Minnesota Naturalists’ Association for more information and registration: A Naturalist’s Guide to Moths and Moth-watching

Winter 2024-2025 Field Trips may be updated through the winter season! Please check back for updates on Winter Webinar dates, Friday Afternoon Speaker topics, and updates on field trip attendance.

Directions to the Friends of Sax-Zim Bog Welcome Center

ADDRESS: The address is Sax-Zim Bog Welcome Center 8793 Owl Avenue, Toivola, MN 55765

[NOTE: THIS IS NOT A MAILING ADDRESS…but put this address into Google Maps or Apple Maps.]

Directions from Cotton, MN on US HWY 53:

*Go West from Cotton on CR52/Arkola for 11 miles

*Turn South (left) on Owl Avenue

*Go 1.75 miles (second curve) to Welcome Center

Directions from Meadowlands, on CR133…

*Go East on CR133 to CR229/29

*Turn North (left) on CR229/29

*Go North to T at Correction Line Rd

*Turn West (left) on Correction Line Rd

*Road curves North and becomes Owl Ave

*Go North on Owl Avenue for 2.5 miles to Welcome Center

Field Trips and Events

2024-2025 Winter Field Trips, Education Programs, and Speakers

Friday, December 20

Saturday, December 21

Sunday, December 22

Saturday, December 28 and Sunday, December 29

Friday, January 3

Saturday, January 4

Sunday, January 5

Sunday, January 12

Friday, January 17

Saturday, January 18

Sunday, January 19

Sunday, January 25

Sunday, January 26

Friday, January 31

Saturday, February 1

Sunday, February 2

Saturday, February 8

Sunday, February 9

Friday, February 14

Saturday, February 15

Sunday, February 16

Saturday, February 22

Sunday, February 23

Friday, February 28

Saturday, March 1

Sunday, March 2

Friday, March 7

Saturday, March 8

Sunday, March 9

Saturday, June 14

Directions to the Friends of Sax-Zim Bog Welcome Center

Newsletter