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Attendance at the first Sax-Zim Bog BioBlitz wasn’t what you’d call impressive.
“We started with one person and five leaders,” Sparky Stensaas, Friends of Sax-Zim Bog executive director said.
But like the bog itself, the annual BioBlitz has become one of the biggest attractions among birders and naturalists in America.
“It’s our big summer event,” Stensaas said. “As far as attendance, it’s probably our biggest attendance as far as the public. We usually have 60 to 80 people. Last year, we had 91.”
On Saturday, the BioBlitz marks its 12 year.
The BioBlitz offers the public an opportunity to join the search for and see hundreds of species birds, plants, ferns, mosses, spiders, dragonflies, and butterflies within the bog.
“It’s fun to see just how much life is out there,” Julie Grahn of rural Cook, a longtime BioBlitz attendee said. “You’re learning stuff and seeing new stuff. They don’t just simply look for different species, they educate people.”
To say the bog contains life is an understatement.
More than 3,000 species have been identified including over 600 species of moth, more than 430 plant species, 117 species of ferns and mosses, nearly 130 species of spider, 87 species of dragonfly and damselfly, and 82 species of butterfly.
BioBlitz is kind of like a large scavenger hunt for those who love nature.
“We always get new ones,” Stensaas said of species in the bog. “For example, when we had a guy here who specialized in plant diseases, we got 30 news species for the list. Every year we get some expert that can add to the list.”
On Saturday, 12 experts in different areas will lead field trips.
A family friendly nature hike is noon to 1:30 p.m.
“The people who lead the field trips are very knowledgeable in their areas,” Grahn said. “And there’s people from all over the world that come there. I was out one time with a guy from Germany and one time there was a guy from Japan.”
“We’ve turned it into an educational event,” Stensaas said. “Everybody comes back at 2 p.m., all the leaders share their information about interesting plants, insects and birds and people get to share their highlights.”
Most of the experts and attendees come from Minnesota, Stensaas said.
“They come from southern Minnesota to Canada,” Stensaas said. “They come from the Iron Range, Duluth and Minneapolis. People drive quite a ways to come to this and some people come to it who are on vacation.”
For decades, the bog, from Zim south to nearly Floodwood and from the Toivola swamp east to Stone Lake and Highway 53, was generally considered pretty much swamp land in the middle of nowhere.
However, Friends of Sax-Zim Bog have turned the area into a world-renown nearly 25,000-acre nature preserve.
“The whole idea of the BioBlitz came from the 60s when the rain forest was going to be logged and they didn’t want to lose it forever, so they sent a bunch of scientists down there to catalog lichens, birds, butterflys and everything else you can think of,” Stensaas said.
Development of the Sax-Zim Bog blew up in the mid 2000s as the public became more aware of the area as a winter site for owls looking for food, Stensaas said.
“It was getting more attention due to social media when there was the Great Gray Owl eruption in 2004 and 2005,” Stensaas said. “Digital photography was also taking hold and people were able to take their own pictures.”
The first Sax-Zim Big Winter Bird Festival took off in 2008.
Over the years, a welcome center was built at the bog along with boardwalks and viewing sites.
A Lois King Education Center at the site opened two years ago.
“We’re probably one of the most accessible birding spots in the country for handicapped,” Stensaas said. “You can drive right up to six or seven spots and you can see birds. Our boardwalks are also four feet wide.”
A new boardwalk was just completed, Stensaas said.
As winter approaches, the facility has additional plans.
“We’re just going to keep going,” Stensaas said. “We are going to install a live cam feeder so people can see what’s going on here.”
The Sax-Zim Bog Welcome Center on Owl Avenue is open to the public during the summer season daily from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., June 1 through September 30.
During winter, it’s open daily from 10 a.m to 3 p.m. from early December through mid-March.
Free registration for BioBlitz is at www.saxzim.org under field trips and events.
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