Park Highlight: Zippel Bay State Park
As April showers move across the state, melting the remaining snow and recharging our lakes and streams, it's a great time to reflect on our wonderful water resources in Minnesota! For adventurers who journey up to Zippel Bay State Park in far northern Minnesota, intimate opportunities to experience the waters of the renowned Lake of the Woods await. Visitors will find that exploring the two-mile sand beach and wading far out along the shallow shoreline is similar to visiting an ocean. In fact, the site has been described as a "shallow inland sea" by many park visitors. The 3,000-acre park offers a swimming beach and picnic area on the big lake, drive-in campsites, a group camp, and a marina. The birding and fishing are excellent and in the winter, snowmobilers, ice fishermen (and women!) and cross country skiers find many opportunities to enjoy the cold season.
 The List: Canoe Rentals
Zippel Bay State Park not only houses a marina for visitors to store their boats during their stay -- the park also rents canoes to those who want to explore the two lakes surrounding the site.
Countless Minnesota state parks offer watercraft rentals. You can use the ParkFinder tool to search for parks with rental boats and other equipment, fishing piers and a variety of accommodations.
Examples of other parks with watercraft rentals include:
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Glendalough State Park provides canoe and kayak access to Annie Battle Lake, a 335-acre, non-motorized "Heritage Fishery." Canoe-in campsites and opportunities to explore the park by water on connecting creeks offer unique experiences for visitors.
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Sibley State Park offers swimming, boating, and fishing on Lake Andrew. A canoe route invites adventurers to portage and canoe on Henchien Lake and Swan Lake.
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Myre-Big Island State Park contains the unique 116-acre Big Island surrounded by the 2,600-acre Albert Lea Lake.
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Interstate State Park is located on the beautiful St. Croix River where visitors can canoe the flat-water, kayak through the rapids, or relax on an excursion boat.
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 View the full list of parks with water craft rentals.
Game Time: Outdoors in Every Language
Encourage your family to love the outdoors by exploring a variety of activities and finding some that you enjoy together!
Below is an outdoor action word to share with young children and non-native English speakers to build new literacy skills and to help them understand the joy of connecting with nature.
This month's outdoor action word is "collect." Visit a local park or other public green space where you can access water such as a pond, stream or lake shore. Bring a container for collecting small water critters or other interesting items from the shoreline. Have your child make a list of all the different things you find together. Or use your phone or other camera to photograph your discoveries. When you return home, you can make a nature journal or story using your photos. Make sure to release the creatures back to their home before you leave the site.
An
excerpt from “Let’s Play Outside! 50 Ways to Connect Kids with Nature,” a
project of the 2014
Collaborative Leadership Fellows Program, Rochester, MN.
 Traveler Tip: Check Water Levels Before Paddling
Did you know there are 35 Minnesota state water trails with over 4,500 miles of paddling? Paddling on our lakes and rivers is a great way to get to know the water resources of our state from a different perspective.
To be safe on the water, it is important to check the current water conditions before heading out. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources monitors river stages year-round on all our rivers that host state water trails. You can go online anytime to check the current river levels. One more thing: wear a life jacket!
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 Find more paddling safety tips.
 Discover: Ephemeral Waters
Have you ever noticed in the springtime there are ponds and streams that appear for a short time after the snow has melted and the spring rains come, only to dry up and vanish by mid-summer? These short-lived waters are called ephemeral waters and they provide vital habitat to many species.
A quote from a 1942 article in the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer magazine, "Notes on Natural History; A Spring Pond Comes to Life," stresses the important role that ephemeral waters play in many far-reaching food chains:
"These ponds come to life when the waters of melting snows fill the shallow basins in roadside ditches, golf links or farmers' cornfields. Notice that the ponds have awakened is first given by the trilling choruses of the swamp tree frogs and spring peepers...billions upon billions of other living things, remotely of economic value to man, yet ultimately contributing in some way to his enjoyment of life, have come and gone in the water of the ponds. Minnesota's ten thousand lakes may be very important, but of equal importance in many ways are its ten million ponds. "
Countless species including various macro-invertebrates, salamanders, field mice, shorebirds, songbirds and waterfowl depend on these short-lived waters for food, reproduction and migratory rest stops.
You can observe these ephemeral waters in your own neighborhood or city park. You can also assist nature in this important process of holding back snow melt and rainwater so it can slowly percolate down to the ground water, by constructing a rain garden in your yard.
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Find out more about how to make your own rain garden.
 I Can Fish! Events
Registration for the 2018 I Can!
programs at Minnesota State Parks and Trails is now open!
The I Can! series helps
beginners of all ages learn outdoor skills like fishing, canoeing and camping. Parks provide
all the gear along with friendly instructors who can show you how to use it. The goal is
to make it easy for busy families to discover the fun of spending time outdoors
together.
I Can Fish! is one of the programs offered in the I Can! series. Show your kids the fun of casting into the water and the excitement when
there's a tug on the line! ($7/person,
children under age 12 are free).
Below is a sample of some of the I Can Fish! programs scheduled for summer 2018:
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Check out more programs and events.
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