Celebrating Wilderness
There is pleasure in the pathless woods, There is rapture on the lonely shore – Lord Byron
A blue jay balanced on the thin branch of a birch tree and watched intently as a belted kingfisher skimmed over the bay. A beaver, pushing silvery bubbles with its nose, cut through the calm surface leaving a trailing V in its wake. A doe and her fawn wandered down a rocky slope to wade in the water, feeding on lily pads and delicious grasses while nearby a stately great blue heron stalked its evening meal.
High over the pine-spruce forest, a bald eagle soared majestically, circling on invisible thermals and in the distance, the mournful wail of a pair of loons flowed from the silence as if by magic.
It’s not hard to understand why thousands of tourists choose the Lake of the Woods area in which to vacation or visit. As we travel our highways, back roads, forest paths or waterways, it is hard to believe that the beauty we cherish is the direct result of the brutal and gargantuan forces that shaped our continent and subsequently determined our flora and fauna.
The hills of our terrain can hardly be termed ‘mountains’ but in eons past that is exactly what many of them were. In the beginning the continent builders spewed volcanic ash and rock while colliding geological plates pushed mountain ranges into the air that would have made our present Rocky Mountains look puny by comparison. Mountain ranges came and went over the billions of years as the patient and persuasive powers of erosion wore them away. If in one year an area of the earth rose a simple millimetre (a millimeter’s size is about the thickness of a dime) the change incurred over a million years would be ten kilometres or six miles. The human mind can hardly comprehend the effects of the vastness of time particularly when we are dealing with eons.
The most recent determinant of our present day topography and bio-geography was the Pleistocene Period which is noted for a series of four different glacial events it produced that spanned many millions of years. Less than 10,000 years ago the Lake of the Woods area was completely covered with a blanket of ice that ranged from 1.6 to 3.2 km (1 to 2 miles) thick. And, as it is with ice, it moved, squeezed from the bottom of the ice sheets by the immense weight above it. Mountains were ground to rubble, huge pieces of rock broke off and moved along, their edges smoothed by the abrasive sandpaper. The glaciers acted like snowploughs depositing piles and furrows of rubble, gravel and sand. Every living thing in the path of the ice either fled or was destroyed.
The glaciers melted over many thousands of years and the withdrawal of these ice masses affected the land as much as the expansion. Massive flooding was produced as the mean temperature of the earth increased. By the time these colossal bulldozers had retreated the terrain was biologically barren, devoid of any life form. Lake of the Woods was under an enormous body of water that came to known as Lake Agassiz that covered an area larger than the present Great Lakes.
Only after the lake waters receded did terrestrial life have a chance to reestablish itself. First came the lichens, mosses and other tundra plants, living, dying, decomposing, and enriching the almost sterile substrate so that eventually other plants could take root. It is estimated that the plant life moved north at an average of 80 km (50 miles) a century. Animal life followed these pioneer plants, seeking new habitat in response to population pressures further south. A warming trend resulted in even greater colonization and then 7000 years ago things began to cool off resulting in the climate, plant and animal life we have today.
The flora and fauna that thrive in the Lake of the Woods area, like all life forms, have adapted to a specific habitat, a home where basic needs are met: climate, food, water, shelter from predators and space to live and grow. To appreciate our nature at its best, bring along a pair of binoculars, a guidebook or two, and as you encounter different habitats you will soon learn what plants and wildlife you are likely to see.
Traveling the waterways, cruising the roadways or flying over the Shield terrain reinforces the wildness that we call home. There is so little of the Lake of the Woods area that is populated by humans or developed, we are humbled by its rugged majesty and entreat others to share in its beauty.
By Phil Burke
