The Emma Lee Shantyboat and Backwater Explorer

12/05/2025

The incredible turtle!

04/23/2023

Nature’s “Clean up on Aisle 3” crew!

The Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)

02/22/2023

See this quite often out on the river islands - good stuff to learn and identify!

It is Invasive Species Awareness Week, so we wanted to answer one of the questions we get the most often: "How can I identify ?"

This handy illustration shows 4 of the key ID points to look out for. Namely:

1) The short thorn found between the twig tips.
2) Flaky or bumpy bark with orange inner tissue.
3) Glossy, egg-shaped leaves with toothed edges.
4) Dark, round berries that appear from summer into fall.

To learn more about why buckthorn is so harmful to Minnesota's native plants, wildlife and ecosystems: https://fmr.org/updates/conservation/buckthorn-how-can-shrub-be-so-harmful

02/11/2023

European buckthorn is a tall understory shrub brought to North America in the early 1800s as an ornamental shrub. But this woody plant escaped from yards and landscaped areas long ago, spreading rapidly in forests and other natural areas ever since.

11/18/2022

Interesting!

11/01/2022

The mighty Mississippi!

09/21/2022

08/15/2022

The North American river otter (Lontra canadensis) is one of the great recovery success stories in the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. The river otter population had been severely reduced due to overhunting and water pollution starting in the early 1800s, however, coordinated efforts to reduce pollution, manage hunting, and restore habit starting in the 1980s has helped the otters to recover spectacularly.

These days, we're fortunate to have numerous groups of these playful mammals living year-round in our park. Like their neighbors the beaver (Castor canadensis), otters are avid civil engineers and shape their environment to make their homes and help harvest their preferred prey of fish and marine invertebrates. Although they prefer fish and invertebrates, river otters aren't picky predators and will also hunt birds, reptiles, insects, amphibians, or other mammals like muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus).

River otters are very social creatures and usually live in matriarchal family groups of a dozen or more individuals. They are active all year, hunt in coordinated groups, share dens, and perform grooming of other group members. Otters communicate using scent-marking and an extensive vocabulary of chitters, chirps, and whistles.

You can learn more about the otters in our park and how we study them here:

https://www.nps.gov/miss/learn/nature/otters.htm

Have you seen or heard river otters in the park? Tell us about it in the comments!



Photo Credit: Adams, Keenan, USFWS

07/29/2022

Lots of mayflies this year so far!

The life cycle of a mayfly starts out as a larva that resides on river or lake bottoms.  After 3 months to 2 years, depending on the species, they emerge as winged adults and fly in swarms to mate. Once they emerge, they only live for a few minutes to a few days (again, species dependent). 

07/02/2022

As always, if you plan to be out and about on the water this weekend, please remember to avoid the Restricted Areas 600' above and 150' below all dams. Dam safety is a shared responsibility. Know your risk, know your role, and be prepared to take action if necessary.

06/30/2022

Do you look at the trees as you walk by? If you do, the gap in the bark of this cottonwood tree at Coldwater Spring may have caught your attention. You might have walked closer to look up at the other side of the trunk where you saw that this crack goes all the way to the top of the tree. You also might have looked at the ground to see pieces of bark scattered away from the trunk. So what happened?

This is an example of what happens when a tree is struck by lightning. Being one of the tallest trees in our park means having the greatest chance of being zapped during a thunderstorm. The tree became the conductor that lead the lightning into the ground where it dissipated. While the lightning bolt itself doesn't have a temperature, anything that resists the flow of electrical charge will be rapidly heated up as the lightning passes through it. The temperature of the air as lightning passes through it can reach 50,000 degrees, which is 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun.

Once the lightning enters the tree it vaporizes the water flowing through the sapwood underneath the bark. This creates an explosion of steam that damages the tree. Depending on the conditions and the size of the tree, this can cause the entire tree to explode or it can blast a strip of bark off of the tree. In the case of this tree, a strip of bark was blown off and the fragments where found on the ground spreading out from the location of the lightning strike. This is fortunate for the tree because, while it now is vulnerable to disease or insects, it has a chance to heal and continue growing. The bark will grow back, but the story of this lightning strike will be left as a mark for those who know to look for it.

If you are wise you will listen to the story that this cottonwood is telling us. When thunderstorms approach you should head inside for safety. Wait 30 minutes after the last time you hear thunder before you head back out. If you can't get into a building a car works too, just make sure you aren't touching any electrical components or metal surfaces. In the event you are unable to make it inside before a storm hits, keep moving towards shelter. Avoid tall objects, open fields, bodies of water, and hill tops or ridges. Do not lie flat on the ground. If you are in a group, spread out so that you have at least 100 feet between each of you to minimize the number of people that might be hit.

Of course, the best thing you can do to protect yourself from lightning is to check the forecast before you go outside. If there's a threat for storms, don't go somewhere that takes you away from shelter.