Welcome to the Boulder Lake Management Area (BLMA), cooperatively managed by Minnesota Power, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and the St. Louis County Land Department. Please take along this Companion Guide as you walk or ski this interpretive trail. The route takes approximately 45 minutes to complete. All stops along the route are identified on the aerial photograph pictured above. For additional information about the BLMA or volunteer opportunities please call (218) 721-3373.

1 Synchronize Your Timepieces

A human lifetime provides merely a glimpse of the continuous change in our environment. Environmental changes operate in our environment. Environmental changes operate at different scales, from the lifetime of an aspen to the "lifetime" of a glacial ridge (deposition to its final erosion). As you walk this trail, leave your idea of time behind and try to imagine the dynamic processes at work in our environment at their own time scale.

2 Over Hill and Dale

The processes that created the terrain you have just walked (that perhaps caused you to stop to catch your breath) are still in action. The land continues to rise, released from the weight of the glaciers as erosion continues to wear it away. These actions go unnoticed by us since they operate over a much longer scale than our lifetimes.

3 Function Follows Form

The current state of these geologic processes influence biological processes. The forest that you see around you is made up of many patched of different tree species. The location of each of these species within the landscape is determined by the geology of the area. Species such as black ash are found in low wet basins, while species such as red pine like to keep their feet dry on the sandy ridges.

4 The Tortoise and the Hare

Although biologic events operate on a much faster time scale than geologic events, not all biological changes occur at the same rate. Black spruce (in the bog on your right) grow much slower than the aspen around them,due to limited nutrients. Thus, this patch of spruce will remain relatively unchanged as the aspen matures and gives way to other tree species.

5 Forest Construction Zone

Trees do not always grow old gracefully. Disturbances, ranging from the loss of a single tree during a windstorm to the loss of many thousands of trees from fire, often return portions of the forest to a younger age. As these trees are lost, others (not always the same species) vie for the chance to replace them. The forest is continually undergoing changes which result in forest patches of different species and ages shifting across the landscape.

6 Leftovers Again?

This white pine, appears out of place surrounded by the younger aspen and birch. Disturbances, such as fire, do not always result in the complete destruction of the forest. Many trees, like this pine, escape to become part of the new forest. These trees add diversity to the forest and function to reseed the new forest, providing a legacy of the old forest.

7 One Good Burn Deserves Another

Environmental change is dynamic and does not always follow predictable patterns. For example, successive fires burning across the same landscape will follow different paths; some areas will be burned several times, some areas burned only once, and others remain unburned. these changes continually redesign the forest, resulting in unique mosaic of forest patches.

8 Don't Bug Me

Changes to the forest do not always stem from inanimate sources. The paper birch trees you see here are being affected by the actions of parasitic insects. Insects are capable of destroying vast stands of trees, but are often species specific (for example spruce bud worms only defoliate spruce and fir trees). As a result, specific trees within a forest may be lost while other trees live on relatively unaffected.

9 Don't Look Down

the ridge you are now standing on (did you notice?) is another product of our dynamic environment. The winding path of the ridge and the rounded stones of which it is composed suggest its origin; a glacial river. The processed which created this feature are the same as those in action today.

10 Balanced Budget

Historically, environmental changes balanced the components of the landscape. Examples include fires burning forest patches while others grew to maturity, glaciers bulldozing away material and depositing it at other locations, and prairies and forests shifting across this region in response to the prevailing climate. This dynamic balance maintains each feature on the landscape, although its location may change over time.

11 to Each Their Own

The diversity of the landscape created through dynamic changes provides habitat for a wide variety of wildlife. Some species may use a wide range of these habitats, while others may be restricted to one or two specific habitats. Some species may prefer mature habitats and others may need regenerating forests. In a dynamic environment, each species is able to find the habitat they need.

12 Just Browsing

The structure you see here is a deer exclosure. By keeping deer from this area, researchers may compare forest changes with and without the influence of deer. By eating some plants and not eating others, deer, beaver, and other animals bring about change to the environment in which they live.

13 Change in the Weather

Like the geology and biology components of the environment, prevailing weather patterns are also undergoing continuous change. Cooling and warming global temperatures have initiated and interrupted glacial activity in this region. These climatic changes have resulted in prairies, oak savannahs, and boreal forests each occupying this area at on point in the recent past.

14 Timber!

It should come as no surprise that people are also responsible for environmental change. Timber harvesting, mining, development, and even camping and hiking all have some effect upon the environment. Since human-induced changes may take place on a shorter time scale than other environmental changes, we must manage our impacts. Our actions must be managed to preserve the dynamic balance of our environment.

15 The Challenge

Our challenge as natural resource managers is to provide resources in a way that maintains our environment's dynamic balance. Our challenge as consumers is to make sure that our demand for these resources is balanced with the effect of their removal from the environment. We must manage our resources at appropriate time scales and maintain their balance across the landscape.