North Star Blog

Our outings program, led by dedicated staff and volunteers, is helping young and old to have fun, create common bonds, learn about the natural world, and experience personal power. And we’re helping create new environmental stewards all over...

Birding is my favorite spectator sport. It’s free and the players are always on the field; an around-the-clock, action-packed display of visual and auditory virtuosity with stakes that are nothing less than life itself.

I grew up on an organic farm in western Minnesota in the 1980’s, pulling weeds, picking rocks, feeding livestock, and shoveling up after them. I left the farm in the early 90’s. I thought I’d left the farm behind me, but I had just taken a break.

The first time I saw a flutter of butterflies gathered at a muddy puddle it was summertime, and I was working on my uncle’s farm in southern Minnesota. On the edge of a dirty farmyard puddle they seemed to be performing some mysterious ritual that...

The US Forest Service has proposed an amendment to the Forest Act that fails to protect old-growth forests. Instead, it allows these special, big trees to be sent to the mill, and allows agency staff to manage old-growth out of existence - in...