State guide

Minnesota Nature Guide

Minnesota sits at a great ecological crossroads, where the eastern hardwood forest, the northern boreal North Woods, and the western tallgrass prairie all meet. That convergence — plus more than 10,000 lakes and the cold continental climate of USDA zones 3a through 5b — gives the state a sharp, dramatic nature calendar: a long hard winter, a late and explosive spring after April ice-out, a brief intense summer, and a spectacular fall color season that sweeps south from the Canadian border in late September.