Lena, a 14-year-old Canada lynx, at her enclosure Feb. 15 at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley. As the northern boreal forest goes, so goes the lynx.
David Joles, Star Tribune, Star Tribune
Lena, a 14-year-old Canada lynx, at her enclosure Feb. 15 at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley. As the northern boreal forest goes, so goes the lynx.

How you can help Minnesota's most endangered animals and plants

October 14, 2022
Across the state, people are taking measures to save vulnerable species at risk of extinction. Here's what you can do.
These 50 animals and plants have disappeared from Minnesota

These 50 animals and plants have disappeared from Minnesota

September 3, 2022
Scientists know the actual number of extirpated species is much larger, but we don't have a full picture of what species have lived here.
Lynx scat that researchers and developers collect in Minnesota is being used to develop a species recovery plan. There are only 100 to 300 lynx in the
Vanishing North: Part 9

How to save the lynx from extinction? It starts with poop

December 23, 2022
Two decades after they were declared a threatened species, Canada lynx still need a recovery plan. Their poop, which researchers and volunteers collect in Minnesota, could be crucial in preservation efforts.
Tamarack trees are among the toughest things to ever grow in Minnesota. But now the eastern larch beetle is threatening their survival.
Vanishing North, Part 8

After coexisting for millennia, beetles now eating away Minnesota's tamarack trees

December 9, 2022
Tamaracks were once the most common trees across Minnesota, but climate change has made them vulnerable to the eastern larch beetle's voracious appetite.
The wild turkey population hasn’t just recovered — it’s exploded. They’ve done so well that now some question whether there’s still enough s
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From nearly extinct to occasional nuisance, the fall and rise of Minnesota's wild turkeys

November 19, 2022
Once nearly extinct, the wild turkey has become one of the United States' biggest conservation success stories. Flocks in Minnesota are now so comfortable that they verge on becoming a nuisance.
The outlandish-looking paddlefish once ranged across much of the U.S. The gentle river giants now exist only around the Mississippi and a handful of t

This otherworldly fish in Minn. survived the fall of the dinosaurs — but is struggling now

November 4, 2022
Paddlefish have survived in Minnesota for 125 million years, but dams and pollution threaten the silent, toothless river giants of the Mississippi and its tributaries.
Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge in northern Minnesota is one of the few major breeding grounds for the golden-winged warblers, which migrate thousand
Vanishing North: Part 5

The fate of a rare songbird depends on Minnesota's forests

October 28, 2022
Minnesota's forests are one of the few significant breeding grounds left for the golden-winged warbler. Now the question is whether conservationists can manage trees and shrubs in a way that will allow the birds' population to grow.
Local
October 14, 2022
The imperiled goblin fern emerges from the forest floor in northern Minnesota's Chippewa National Forest. Invasive earthworms are a major threat to th

Ravenous earthworms are destroying a ghostly fern and endangering Minnesota forests

Minnesota's Chippewa National Forest is home to most of the world's population of goblin ferns. But time may be running out for the ancient ferns as surrounding forest floors are destroyed by a voracious invader: Earthworms.
Science
October 7, 2022
A Poweshiek skipperling butterfly sits on a black-eyed Susan after being released in a central Michigan wetland. The once common prairie butterflies a

This butterfly disappeared from Minnesota. Biologists now fight to save the last few in the world

Beginning in the early 2000s, the Poweshiek skipperling population suddenly cratered in Minnesota, for reasons that aren't yet fully clear. Researchers at the Minnesota Zoo are part of a last-ditch effort to stop the species from dying out.
Science
September 16, 2022
Prairie chickens used to roam widely across Minnesota but were decimated by development and farming. Here, prairie chickens perform their spring matin

Its habitat decimated, this charismatic Minnesota bird is dancing on the edge of oblivion

Minnesota's prairie chickens were once so abundant their flocks cast shadows on the ground. But like so many other species, they're dying out.
September 3, 2022
Researchers and volunteers dig up and move rare bristle-berries sitting in the path of a highway expansion in Blaine.

6th mass extinction is underway in Minn. — but squads of defenders are fighting back

The list of species at risk of statewide extinction grows ever longer. But these vulnerable plants and animals have defenders: In Blaine, scientists and volunteers mobilized to rescue a patch of rare bristle-berries from road construction.