The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is a 1,090,000-acre (4,400 km2) wilderness area within the Superior National Forest in northeastern part of the US state of Minnesota under the administration of the U.S. Forest Service. A mixture of forests, glacial lakes, and streams, the BWCAW's preservation as a primitive wilderness began in the 1900s and culminated in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act of 1978. It is a popular destination for canoeing, hiking, and fishing, and is one of the most visited wildernesses in the United States.
County State-Aid Highway 12 (CSAH 12), also known as the Gunflint Trail, or County Road 12 (CR 12), is a 57-mile (92 km) paved roadway and National Scenic Byway in Cook County, Minnesota, that begins in Grand Marais and ends at Saganaga Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), near the U.S. border with Ontario. It provides access to many of the entry points in the BWCAW.
Lake Vermilion is a shallow freshwater lake in northeastern Minnesota, United States. The Ojibwe originally called the lake Nee-Man-Nee, which means “the evening sun tinting the water a reddish color”. French fur traders translated this to the Latin word Vermilion, which is a red pigment. Lake Vermilion is located between the towns of Tower on the east and Cook on the west, in the heart of Minnesota's Arrowhead Region at Vermilion Iron Range. The area was mined from the late 19th century until the 1960s, and the Soudan Mine operated just south of the lake.
Superior National Forest, part of the United States National Forest system, is located in the Arrowhead Region of the state of Minnesota between the Canada–United States border and the north shore of Lake Superior. The area is part of the greater Boundary Waters region along the border of Minnesota and the Canadian province of Ontario, a historic and important thoroughfare in the fur trading and exploring days of New France and British North America.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is the agency of the U.S. state of Minnesota charged with conserving and managing the state's natural resources. The agency maintains areas such as state parks, state forests, recreational trails, and recreation areas as well as managing minerals, wildlife, and forestry throughout the state. The agency is divided into six divisions - Ecological & Water Resources, Enforcement, Fish & Wildlife, Forestry, Lands & Minerals, and Parks & Trails.
The natural history of Minnesota covers many plant and animal species in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The continental climate and location of Minnesota at the physiographic intersection of the Laurentian and the Interior Plains influences its plant and animal life. Three of North America's biomes converge in Minnesota: prairie grasslands in the southwestern and western parts of the state, the eastern temperate deciduous forests in the east-central and the southeast and the coniferous forest in the north-central and northeast.
Lake Hudson State Recreation Area is a public recreation area located within southwestern Lenawee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly located within Hudson Township with a very small portion extending south into neighboring Medina Township.
The Poplar River is a river in northeastern Minnesota that drains into Lake Superior.
The Temperance River is a 39.2-mile-long (63.1 km) river in northern Minnesota, the United States. It drains into Lake Superior along its north shore just south of Tofte. It flows out of Brule Lake in Cook County generally south towards its mouth within Temperance River State Park. Its name is supposedly a pun on its lack of a sand bar.
Abita Lake is a lake in West Cook, Minnesota, which, at an elevation of 2,040.19 feet (621.85 m) above sea level, is Minnesota's ninth highest named lake. Prior to modern surveys, the lake was once believed to be Minnesota's highest elevation lake.
The Finland State Forest is a state forest located near the unincorporated community of Finland in Lake and Cook counties, Minnesota. Of the over 30,000 acres (12,000 ha), the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources manages a third of the land. The federal United States Forest Service manages roughly a quarter of the total forest acreage, as its boundary overlaps in part with that of Superior National Forest. The remainder is split between Cook and Lake County agencies, and private landowners.
The George Washington State Forest is a state forest located in Itasca, Koochiching, and Saint Louis counties, Minnesota. The forest was established and named after George Washington in 1931, the first President of the United States, to commemorate the bicentennial of his birth. The forest borders the Chippewa National Forest and completely environs the Scenic State Park to the west, and borders the Sturgeon River State Forest and McCarthy Beach State Park to the east. The Taconite State Trail passes through the forest.
The Grand Portage State Forest is a state forest located near the community of Hovland in Cook County, in extreme northeastern Minnesota. The forest encloses Judge C. R. Magney State Park, Swamp River Wildlife Management Area, Hovland Woods Scientific and Natural Area, and Spring Beauty Hardwoods Scientific and Natural Area. It borders the Grand Portage Indian Reservation to the east, the Superior National Forest to the west, and Ontario to the north. The forest is named after the Grand Portage, a historic trade route between the Great Lakes and the Northwest.
The Jeanette State Forest is a state forest located in St. Louis County, Minnesota. The forest is within the limits of the Superior National Forest's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and thus falls under the federal jurisdiction and management of the United States Forest Service.
Brule Lake is a lake in Cook County, Minnesota. It is situated between two long sills in the Superior Upland, causing the lake to be eight times longer east and west than it is north and south. Out of the opposite ends flow the Temperance River and the South Brule, a tributary of the Brule River. Brule Lake was logged heavily in the early 1900s, and the region around it was consumed in 1929 by a logging-related forest fire which bears Brule Lake's name. Now the lake is part of the protected Boundary Waters Canoe Area, a federal wilderness area for which Brule Lake serves as an entrance point.
There are three Manistique Lakes in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The lakes include North Manistique Lake, Big Manistique Lake, and South Manistique Lake. The towns surrounding the lakes are Curtis Township, Germfask, and Helmer. The lakes are known for vacationing and fishing. They are also in close proximity to other natural sights such as the Great Lakes, rivers, and smaller lakes as well as tourist attractions including the Canada–US border, the Soo Locks, Mackinac Island, parks, and museums.
Manymoon Lake is a 24-acre lake in Cook County, Minnesota belonging to the Poplar River watershed. At its deepest point it measures only 6.5 feet deep and has abundant aquatic plant life to a depth of 2.5 feet. Water clarity as of 2008 measured 1.41 meters. The substrate consists of muck and stones of no uniform size. Manymoon lake has neither inlet nor permanent outlet, although an intermittent stream feeds a wetland on the end of the southeastern bay. Nonetheless, Manymoon is located in the sub-watershed dominated by Rice Lake to the north, and water from Manymoon enters into lower portions of the Poplar River through Rice Lake's outflow. Manymoon is accessible through a portage off Rice Lake Road.
Bouder Lake is a 129 acres (52 ha) lake in Cook County, Minnesota which is tributary to the Poplar River. Bouder Lake reaches a maximum depth of 17 feet (5.2 m). Bouder is accessible through a navigable channel leading into Crescent Lake. A fisheries survey turned up populations of walleye, muskellunge, smallmouth bass, yellow perch, and white suckers. An aquatic plants survey found the lake to be home to several species of water marigolds, pondweed, bladderwort, water lily, burreed, sedges, and cattails.
Lichen Lake is a 276-acre lake in Cook County, Minnesota which is tributary to the Poplar River. It sits 1781 feet above sea level. Lichen Lake previously also went by the name Beaver Lake, but was formally affirmed in the present name in 1959 by the United States Board on Geographic Names.
Smoke Lake is a lake in Cook County, Minnesota within Tofte Township. It is within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and the Superior National Forest. The lake can be accessed by a 100 rods (500 m) portage from Sawbill Lake to the west and a 90 rods (450 m) portage from Burnt Lake to the east, which in turn is accessed from Entry Point 39 at Baker Lake through Peterson and Kelly lakes.
