6/4/22 – It’s official folks! Summer has arrived here at Sawbill. Daytime temperatures are in the mid to upper sixties and the recent thunderstorms created a verdant landscape for visitors and residents to enjoy. The warmer weather has also coincided with the return of our favorite summertime friends, the black flies. Despite their unwelcome arrival, we are thoroughly enjoying the buds on the trees, young plants, and beautiful wildflowers that are starting to spring up. The water is also warming up, leaving all of us hopeful for comfortable swimming in the near future!

Crewmember Katie and Sawbillian-turned-campground host Jesse went for a quick foraging trip late last week, keeping their eyes out for ramps and morels in the maple forests down the trail. Though they returned empty handed, they did see some other notable species during their frolic through the woods. Spring Beauties (Claytonia virginica), lilies-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis), and wild violets (Viola sororia) speckle the floor of the Superior National Forest.

Additional species will continue to pop up throughout the spring and summer here, so keep your plant ID books ready and your eyes peeled! What kind of new growth have you noticed in your neighborhood this year? – Katie