Big Bog State Recreation Area

Big Bog State Recreation Area, a recent addition to the Minnesota state park system, is located on Minnesota State Highway 72, north of Waskish, Minnesota. It covers 9,459 acres (38.3 km²), primarily swamps, bogs, and upland islands.The park was started by local grassroots efforts in 2002, it became a state recreation area and officially opened in June 2006. Common trees include tamarack, tag alder, cedar, diamond willow, black and white spruce, jackpine, and ash and black ash with paper birch, popple or quaking aspen, white and red pines in the uplands. There are numerous rare plants, including carnivorous sundews and pitcher plants. Animals include bald eagles, wolves, black bears, white-tailed deer, and moose.The Big Bog is composed mostly of wetlands and is larger than the state of Rhode Island. The name had shown up previously in maps, such as by the National Geographic Society. The greater Big Bog region stretches from Jackpine forests north of Upper Red Lake in Beltrami County, Minnesota and Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota to the communities along U.S. Route 71 leading to International Falls (Mizpah, Gemmell, Margie, Big Falls, and Littlefork) in Koochiching County, Minnesota. It is also almost entirely unpopulated, except for the town of Waskish along Highway 72.

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