 |
| Plants along the Ethno-botanical Garden Trail. |
 |
| Ethno-botanical Garden Trail map, courtesy Voyageurs NPS. |
The looping 0.25-mile Ethno-botanical Garden Trail runs through an Ojibwe encampment and the plants the Indians relied upon before European-Americans settled northern Minnesota. The trail was created just a few years ago, and though short, is packed with a lot of experiences.
To reach the trailhead, from International Falls take Minn. Hwy. 11 east. Turn onto County Road 96 and follow the signs to the Rainy Lake Visitor Center. Park there.
The trail leaves from the center’s south side. Rock cairns mark the way through the garden.
During the early 1990s, equipment dredging the boat basin brought non-native, invasive red canary grass into the area. The grass quickly overran the field between the boat basin and visitor center.
Then, during the early 2010s, volunteers from a variety of organizations worked together to plant a one-acre garden with native vegetation, almost all of which were vital to the Ojibwe Indian culture for food, medicine, ceremonies, and raw materials. To accomplish this, native seeds were collected from across the park, nurtured in the park's greenhouse, then transplanted in the garden.
Among the plants you can see there include: serviceberry and pin cherry, both of which blossom in spring; sweet fern, wild rose, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries in summer; golden yellow birch, aspen, reddish brown oak, and red maples in autumn; and red osier dogwood shrubs that contrast with the green of pines, firs and cedars in winter.
Plant markers set throughout the garden list the plant's name in English and Ojibwe.
The plants weren’t just important to the Ojibwe but to the local ecosystem. Bees, for example, can be seen pollinating blossoms such as the native milkweed, a plant that monarch butterflies depend upon for survival.
At the heart of the trail is an Ojibwe Indian camp. You can step into a lodge called a waaginogaan, in which young, flexible birch poles are tied together with basswood roots for a frame and then birch bark is layered in for siding.
The camp includes a central fire ring like the Ojibwe used for communal cooking, meals and ceremonies. Sometimes volunteers manning the site cook traditional bannock, or fry bread, over the fire. You usually can also see freshly picked herbs hung to dry and fish nets stretched for drying and repair.
Each park visitor can pick up to a gallon of berries per day in the garden. A Junior Ranger Garden Explorer Book also is available for kids. The trail can be snowshoed in winter.
Learn more about the park’s day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park guidebook.
