- Chippewa National Forest
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Chippewa National Forest IUCN Category VI (Managed Resource Protected Area)
Location Itasca / Cass / Beltrami counties, Minnesota, USA Nearest city Cass Lake, MN Coordinates 47°20′26″N 94°12′24″W / 47.34056°N 94.20667°WCoordinates: 47°20′26″N 94°12′24″W / 47.34056°N 94.20667°W Area 1,600,000 acres (6,500 km2) Established 1908 Governing body U.S. Forest Service 
Location of the Chippewa National Forest
Chippewa National Forest is a National Forest located in northcentral Minnesota, United States, in the counties of Itasca, Cass, and Beltrami. Forest headquarters are located in Cass Lake, Minnesota. There are local ranger district offices in Blackduck, Deer River, and Walker.
Contents
History and geography
The forest covers 1,600,000 acres (6,500 km2). Water is abundant, with over 1,300 lakes (including Leech Lake), 923 miles (1,485 km) of rivers and streams, and 400,000 acres (1,600 km2) of wetlands.[1]
The forest was established as the Minnesota Forest Reserve on June 27, 1902, with passage of the Morris Act.[2] Although this act mainly addressed the disposition of unallotted lands on Ojibwe indian reservations in Minnesota, 200,000 acres (810 km2) of the Chippewas of the Mississippi, Cass Lake, Leech Lake, and Winnibigoshish Indian Reservations were designated as a Forest Reserve. The Reserve was re-established as the Minnesota National Forest on May 23, 1908.[3] The forest's name was changed in 1928 in honor of the Chippewa Indians from whose land the forest was created. Approximately 75 percent of the forest's land is within the Leech Lake Indian Reservation.
Fauna and flora
Aspen, birch, pine, balsam fir and maple blanket the forest. Old growth forest such as the Lost Forty section of the CNF is valuable for wildlife, including bald eagle, several species of hawk and woodpecker, red squirrel, weasel and numerous other species. In the 1960s the bald eagle population in the forest was only 12 nesting pairs.[4] Since then the population has rebounded and the bald eagle population of the Chippewa National Forest is one of the highest density in the lower forty eight states at 150 nesting pairs.[5]
The Lost Forty
The forest contains an area known as the "Lost Forty"; this area, actually 144 acres (0.58 km2), was accidentally mapped as part of Coddington lake when the original maps of the region were laid out in 1882.[6] As a result of this mapping error, the Lost Forty was never logged. This area has become some of the oldest forest in the state, with some trees over 350 years old. Less than two percent of Minnesota's forested land today is old growth, never logged forest. These unique qualities offer an abundance of outdoor recreational opportunities all year long. Inside the forest the Cut Foot Sioux Trail runs along the North-South U.S Continental Divide.
See also
References
- ^ http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/chippewa/about/forest_facts/index.php Accessed 18 July 2006
- ^ 32 Stat., 400
- ^ 35 Stat., 268
- ^ http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/chippewa/recreation/wildlife_viewing/ Accessed 18 July 2006
- ^ http://www.conservationfund.org/?article=2775&back=true Accessed 18 July 2006
- ^ http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/chippewa/recreation/documents/lostforty.pdf Lost forty history and info Retrieved 18 July 2006
External links
Categories:- IUCN Category VI
- Protected areas of Beltrami County, Minnesota
- Protected areas of Cass County, Minnesota
- Protected areas of Itasca County, Minnesota
- National Forests of Minnesota
- Protected areas established in 1908
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