Outside in MN

No experience required. From Minnesota Public Radio and MPR News, Outside in MN provides timely weather updates, events and how-to guides to prepare you for your next outdoor adventure. Download the app and get outside!

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COVID-19 brings surge of visitors — and some messes — to BWCA
The BWCA and the surrounding Superior National Forest in far northern Minnesota are seeing a surge in visitors this summer. With activities canceled and other trips on hold, vacationers are flocking to the area for the kinds of outdoors getaways that naturally allow for social distancing. That's good news for outfitters. But some of those campers are wreaking havoc.
Another COVID-19 ripple effect: Crowded lakes cause conflict
The effects of COVID-19 are showing up on the lakes of Otter Tail County, where the sheriff’s department water patrol is having a busy summer. With vacations canceled and travel at a minimum, people are staying close to home — and more boats on the water have meant more complaints about noise, and trespassing on private beaches.
Bird watching in your backyard: What to listen for
Spring is coming, and even if you can’t enjoy your favorite warm-weather activities because of stay-at-home orders, there’s plenty to explore at home. That’s where our feathered friends come in.
Backyard nature: A child's first encounter with a baby bunny
Kristin Schwarze and her daughter Clare have spent most of their time indoors or in their Shoreview yard since the coronavirus pandemic hit Minnesota. But their family isolation was interrupted over the weekend when they found a baby cottontail rabbit.
Minnesota’s stay-at-home order encourages getting outside, but how far away?
Outdoor activities like fishing, hiking and biking are explicitly allowed under Minnesota’s stay-at-home order. But that order also limits nonessential travel. So, just how far can people travel to get outside?
Audio postcard: Searching for early spring wildflowers
This year’s first bloom report comes to us from a stretch of prairie in Cannon Falls, Minn, where wildflower hunters Kelly Povo and Phyllis Root went looking for tiny purple pasqueflowers, an early sign of spring.