How The Environment Has Shaped the State

From Sustenance to Leisure on Minnesota Land

Expert Essay: Associate professor of history Michael J. Lansing, published in Environmental History as well as Ethics, Place, and Environment, highlights the many ways people have made use of Minnesota's flora and fauna over time and reviews the state's more recent efforts at conservation.

Common Loon

A migratory diver of the loon family, the common loon (Gavia immer) has been important to people living in the Great Lakes region for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Its striking calls and black-and-white summer plumage have made it an emblem of Minnesota, where more of the birds live than in any other state except Alaska. The loon became Minnesota’s state bird in 1961.

MN90: Minnesota’s State Bird

It isn’t a Minnesota summer without the sound of a loon coming off the lake. Producer Britt Aamodt wonders, “What are all those sounds the loon makes, and what do they mean?”

Minnesota Loon Restoration Project map

Minnesota Loon Restoration Project map

Map highlighting the eight counties where Minnesota’s Loon Restoration Project is taking place, 2024. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Loons with a perch

Loons with a perch

Two loons with a perch on Upper Hay Lake near Pequot Lakes, Minnesota. Photograph by Anita Ritenour, August 25, 2018. CC BY 2.0

Loon in the Boundary Waters

Loon in the Boundary Waters

A loon in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness inside Minnesota. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Albert Maruggi, January 15, 2018. CC BY 3.0

A loon with a chick on its back

A loon with a chick on its back

A common loon (Gavia Immer) with a chick on its back, ca. 2010.

Loon emerging from water

Loon emerging from water

A common loon emerging from water in Morro Bay, California, November 25, 2007. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Mike Baird. CC BY 2.0

Minnesota DNR Loon sign

Minnesota DNR Loon sign

Minnesota DNR (Department of Natural Resources) loon nesting sign, ca. 1988.

Loon postcard

Loon postcard

Loon postcard, ca. 1980.

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