Editing Minnesota (section)

=== Flora and fauna ===

{{Main|Natural history of Minnesota}}

Minnesota has four ecological provinces: [[prairie]] parkland, in the southwestern and western parts of the state; the [[Temperate deciduous forest|eastern broadleaf forest]] ([[Big Woods]]) in the southeast, extending in a narrowing strip to the state's northwestern part, where it transitions into [[Tallgrass Aspen Parkland|tallgrass aspen parkland]]; and the northern [[Laurentian Mixed Forest Province|Laurentian mixed forest]], a transitional forest between the northern [[Taiga|boreal forest]] and the broadleaf forests to the south.<ref>[http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/natural_resources/ecs/province.pdf Ecological Provinces] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020104611/http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/natural_resources/ecs/province.pdf |date=October 20, 2017 }}, ''Ecological Classification System'', [[Minnesota Department of Natural Resources]] (1999). Retrieved on May 3, 2008.</ref> These northern forests are a vast wilderness of [[pine]] and [[spruce]] trees mixed with patchy stands of [[birch]] and [[Populus|poplar]].

Much of Minnesota's northern forest has undergone logging, leaving only a few patches of [[old growth forest]] today in areas such as the [[Chippewa National Forest]] and the [[Superior National Forest]], where the [[Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness]] has some {{convert|400000|acres|sigfig=3|abbr=on}} of unlogged land.<ref name="Heinselman">{{cite book | title = The Boundary Waters Wilderness Ecosystem | last = Heinselman | first = Miron | publisher = University of Minnesota Press | location = Minneapolis, Minnesota | year = 1996 |isbn = 978-0-8166-2805-6}}</ref> Although logging continues, regrowth and replanting keep about [[Forest cover by state and territory in the United States|a third of the state forested]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Bewer | first = Tim | title = Moon Handbooks Minnesota | publisher = Avalon Travel Publishing | year = 2004 | edition = First | isbn = 978-1-56691-482-6 | url = https://archive.org/details/minnesota00bewe }}</ref> Nearly all Minnesota's prairies and [[oak savanna]]s have been fragmented by farming, grazing, logging, and suburban development.<ref>{{cite web | title = Upper Midwest forest-savanna transition (NA0415) | website = Terrestrial Ecoregions | publisher = [[World Wildlife Fund]] | year = 2001 | url = http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/na/na0415_full.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20010429031358/http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/na/na0415_full.html | archive-date=April 29, 2001| access-date = September 3, 2012}} (archived from original June 11, 2008).</ref>

While loss of habitat has affected native animals such as the [[American marten|pine marten]], [[elk]], [[Migratory Woodland Caribou|woodland caribou]], and [[American bison|bison]],<ref>Bison disappeared in the mid-19th century; the last bison was reported in southwest Minnesota in 1879. {{cite book|title=Big Game in Minnesota, Technical Bulletin, no. 9|last=Moyle|first=J. B.|publisher=Minnesota Department of Conservation, Division of Game and Fish, Section of Research and Planning|year=1965|page=172}} As referenced in {{cite book|title=Southwestern Minnesota Archaeology|last=Anfinson|first=Scott F.|publisher=[[Minnesota Historical Society]]|location=St. Paul, Minnesota|year=1997|isbn=978-0-87351-355-5|page=20}}</ref> others like [[whitetail deer]] and [[bobcat]] thrive. Minnesota has the nation's largest [[Repopulation of wolves in Midwestern United States|population of timber wolves]] outside Alaska,<ref>[http://www.fws.gov/home/feature/2007/gray_wolf_factsheet.pdf Gray Wolf Factsheet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020104610/https://www.fws.gov/home/feature/2007/gray_wolf_factsheet.pdf |date=October 20, 2017 }}, [[U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service]] (January 2007). Retrieved on May 3, 2008.</ref> and supports healthy populations of [[American black bear|black bears]], [[moose]], and [[gopher]]s. Located on the [[Mississippi Flyway]], Minnesota hosts migratory waterfowl such as [[Goose|geese]] and [[duck]]s, and game birds such as [[grouse]], [[pheasant]]s, and [[Turkey (bird)|turkeys]]. It is home to [[bird of prey|birds of prey]], including the largest number of breeding pairs of [[bald eagle]]s in the lower 48 states as of 2007,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/birds/bald_eagle/report/index.html|title=Center for Biological Diversity|website=www.biologicaldiversity.org|access-date=December 15, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323072614/http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/birds/bald_eagle/report/index.html|archive-date=March 23, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> [[red-tailed Hawk|red-tailed hawks]], and [[snowy owl]]s. [[Hawk Ridge, Duluth|Hawk Ridge]] is one of the premier birdwatching sites in North America. The lakes teem with sport fish such as [[walleye]], [[bass (fish)|bass]], [[muskellunge]], and [[northern pike]], while [[brook trout|brook]], [[brown trout|brown]], and [[rainbow trout]] populate streams in the southeast and northeast.