Upcoming Interpretive Programming

Fort Ridgely State Park Program - July 1, 2022

Archery in the Park - 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 pm The sport of shooting arrows has been around for thousands of years. First humans used archery as a way to hunt animals and later as a way to compete against each other. Archery is an activity that people from all walks of life and almost every size and ability can participate and have fun. This program covers the basics of archery (safety, proper care of the equipment and how to use a bow). Participants will be able to practice their new skills. Need to be 8 years or older. Meet at the Upper Picnic Area.

Fort Ridgely State Park Program - July 1, 2022

Beaver Ecology - 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm We will learn what makes this animal special and show off some its unique characteristics by dressing one lucky person up as a beaver. This aquatic mammal spends a great amount of time in the water and has the ability to change the environment around it. As the largest rodent in North America, the beaver has had a major effect on the continent's history. The program will also cover the ecology of beavers and some of its physical adaptations. One lucky person will get to dress like a beaver! Meet at the Lower Picnic Shelter in the primitive campground.

Fort Ridgely State Park (July 9, 2022) Bird Watching Walk 10:00 a.m. - Join Bix Baker, amateur naturalist for Fort Ridgely, for a bird watching walk at 10am. The woods and prairies at Fort Ridgely are a haven for a wide variety of bird species. A bird checklist will be given to each participant to check off what they see. Cameras (with good zoom) and binoculars are suggested but not required. Fun birds that we may see and/or hear are various woodpeckers, catbirds, various types of sparrows, redstarts, orioles, scarlet tanagers, indigo buntings, warblers, etc. Experienced birders are encouraged to come and help the less experienced and kids to develop a joy of watching and identifying birds. Meet at the chalet parking lot.

Fort Ridgely State Park (July 9, 2022) Pollinator Walk 2:00pm - Join Bix Baker, amateur naturalist for Fort Ridgely, for a pollinator walk. We will be looking for pollinators like butterflies, moths, bees and flower flies while they are pollinating wildflowers, bushes and trees in the park. There may still be some hackberry emperor butterflies. They are all over the park as I write this close to the summer solstice. We will most likely see monarchs (various types of milkweed will be in full bloom), possibly swallowtails and an assortment of other moths and butterflies. Bumblebees, honeybees and many smaller native bees should be easy to find. Meet in the parking lot by the cemetery.

Fort Ridgely State Park Program - July 30, 2022

Archery in the Park - 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 pm The sport of shooting arrows has been around for thousands of years. First humans used archery as a way to hunt animals and later as a way to compete against each other. Archery is an activity that people from all walks of life and almost every size and ability can participate and have fun. This program covers the basics of archery (safety, proper care of the equipment and how to use a bow). Participants will be able to practice their new skills. Need to be 8 years or older. Meet at the Upper Picnic Area.

Fort Ridgely State Park Program - July 30, 2022

Digital Photography - 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 pm Photography is a great way to take some memories home with you after your visit to a state park. Participants will get a chance to learn how to use a digital camera and shoot photos of what interests them. Digital cameras are provided and everyone will be able to print one photo to take with them. Pre-registration is required by sending an email to scott.kudelka@state.mn.us

Fort Ridgely State Park Program - July 30, 2022

Wild Edibles - 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 pm People eat wild edibles for a number of reasons including as a legitimate way of economizing their food costs, as an excellent source of vitamins and minerals, and in rare situations they can be essential for survival. We will talk about some of the more recognizable plants growing in the area like the common dandelion which can be used in salads or even as a coffee-like beverage. Meet at the Lower Picnic Shelter in the primitive campground.

Butterflies in the Park

For the past several weeks there have been lots of the little butterfly pictured below everywhere in the park. This is especially true in the wooded areas of the park including the campgrounds. This is not surprising since its host plant is the hackberry tree. It is called the hackberry emperor. The pictures below show it from several different angles. As you can see it often lands on clothing and even will crawl up on your finger!

A beautiful butterfly, that my wife and I have seen several times and in several places in the park as we have been walking, is the red-spotted admiral. Its color is different below the wings and above the wings as you can see in the pictures below with its wings open and closed.

Little butterflies called hairstreak butterflies are all over the park right now pollinating many flowers. They are about the size of your finger tips. This week I have seen lots of them on many flowers, especially milkweeds. Look at how thick they are on the butterfly weed in the picture below.

I send in photos to an online site called iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/bibaker) and sent several pictures of these butterflies. An expert there said that there were 3 species of hairstreak in my pictures. They are all pictured below.

Here are three very interesting moths that I have seen recently at Fort Ridgely. The first 2 are little white moths about the size of the hairstreaks. While they are flying the look like they are white all over and just like many plain white moths. When they land their unique wing patterns are evident if you look closely. The plume moth is one of a whole family of moths called plume moths that look like a cross when landed. We saw this one on the last pollinator walk I lead in early June. The second is a haploa moth and there again is a whole family of different haploa moths with different geometric patterns on their wings. The third is a bigger hummingbird type moth called a sphinx moth.

Flowers in the Park

Wild flowers that are blooming are constantly changing in Fort Ridgely Park. As one starts blooming another is finishing blooming. Each year I try to remember which one should be in flower at this time as I walk through the park. One that was all over many of the prairie areas of the park in early June was golden Alexander. I planted some in several flower beds near our house last year and they were full of flowers this year.

Prairie or wild roses are in many parts of the prairie at Fort Ridgely. They don't have as many petals as cultured roses but the smell is strong and as you can see a variety of pollinators visit them for nectar and pollen. Both prairie roses and golden Alexander are mostly done blooming now.

Two other interesting but short lived flowers of the prairie are breadroot and spiderwort. The breadroot on the left's full name is breadroot scurf pea. It is sometimes called prairie turnip. It has a starchy root that is edible and was a stable food of the plains Indians. The spiderwort pictured is longbracht or prairie spiderwort. Both were blooming earlier in June near the overlook straight west of the cemetery parking lot.

For a while when I was looking for pollinators these two not well known flowers were the only ones I saw them on. They are motherwort, a member of the mint family but not a native of Minnesota, and false gromwell. Honeybees are often buzzing around and pollinating motherwort. The picture below is a closeup of the stem and flowers with both a honeybee and bumblebee on it, False gromwell has hairy leaves, stems and flowers. The flowers are unique, hanging down in bunches as you can see in the picture.

Two other unique flowers are beardtongue and larkspur. Beardtongue bloomed in early June and is now forming seeds where the flowers were. Larkspurs have been blooming for the last week or so and are winding down. Hot weather may have shortened the time of blooming for both of these flowers.

Milkweeds are dominating the landscape in many parts of Fort Ridgely. Butterfly weed came first with its bright orange flowers but now the balls of pink flowers on common milkweed are opening and as you could see above in the butterfly section, many pollinators are visiting them. I am not going to include more pictures here of either milkweed.

A prairie plant that all people in our area should know about is leadplant. This member of the pea family is well suited for dry years, like this one, in the prairie. Its roots often go down 6-8 feet looking for moisture. My yard is very brown and dry right now. The grass normally planted in yards seldomly has roots that go down more than several inches. That is why landscapers can bring in rolls of sod to get a yard going. Once the upper few inches of soil is dried out our lawn grass goes into a dormant state until we get rain. Leadplant and many other prairie plants (including prairie grasses) can withstand a very dry summer and a burn of the landscape due to these deep roots. The area north of the museum and historical site was burned last year. Now there are huge areas with lots of leadplant and it is thriving even in this dry year.

Itchy plants to avoid!!

Three plants, that are prevalent across the park right now, should be avoided at all cost. They are poison ivy, nettles (of 2 kinds) and cow parsnip. My wife got a really bad exposure to poison ivy one fall She had blisters that oozed fluid an needed to be on prednisone for quite a while to get over it. She will not go off trails and id very careful not to go to areas where I have seen poison ivy. The picture below shows what it looks like. " Leaves of 3, let it be!" is a good motto to remember. Virginia creeper looks like it but has leaves of 4 or 5. Its leaves are often shiny like this too.

Nettles are one of the dominant plants in the understory of the woods areas of the park right now. They have little prickles on leaves and stems of the plant. When these get into your skin they cause irritation and make you to itch in exposed areas. There are two main types of nettles in the park. One is stinging nettles. It is not a native plant but it is worldwide now in its domain. It has longer, darker and rougher leaves than wood nettles. Wood nettles is native to America and Minnesota. Its leaves are rounder and wider than stinging nettles and often lighter in color. It has similar small prickles that irritate your skin. Native Americans used nettles for various medicines and some native plant enthusiasts make tea and a very healthy spinach like dish with nettles. I am not so brave to try to do such things. I have had too many negative experiences with the itch!

Cow parsnip is a very large plant. It has huge leaves and often has a huge white umbel flowers. The one in the picture below is one of the tallest I have seen. The cluster of flowers on the top of the often long stem is called an umbel and many other members of the carrot family have similar but not as big umbels. The thing that sets cow parsnip aside is not just its size, but some of the chemicals in its stem. They cause a rash on skin but they are photosensitive meaning that they need ultraviolet light to activate them and cause the rash. Native Americans knew this but knew how to peel off the outside of the stem and eat its inside like celery. I think I will buy mine in the grocery store! Do not touch these plants. There are many around the park, mainly in the woods or along the edge of the woods.