The look is different. Swimming is different. Navigation is turned on its head. Smells are different. A low water year makes for a new experience altogether. Many systems are wrecked, but others are much improved. There are things you cannot do, and other opportunities you would not get in a normal year. For example, you will not like the litter that is likely to appear in shallow water everywhere, but you may appreciate the relative ease of cleaning up your shoreline.

If you enjoy traveling to the remote backwaters and swamps, this is not your year. Whole landscapes are rendered inaccessible (to all but the most intrepid) by low water. Moose and other shy, lowland creatures must enjoy the reduced human traffic of a low water summer.

One wonders what such a season is like for water creatures. Traffic would be terrible (the normal number of fish, in far less space). There will be collisions. Groups who would not ordinarily interact would be thrown together in new and unplanned ways. For those who profit from traffic and proximity, business would be very good (the snapping turtle would be able to pick and choose among prey she might never see under normal conditions). Others, accustomed to open spaces, would spend the entire season in a state of terror.

In the slowly drying marshes and bogs, there will be vast death and destruction. The passing of wetland species creates opportunities for plants that thrive in drier conditions, and they will begin encroachment. The new conditions might be gone in one short seasonóor might persist for years.

A low-water year is a time to take a slower approach to travel, and to be safe about rocks rather than sorry. It is a year of reduced energy, slower growth, lesser expectations. It can be a time to clean up around the edges.

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Forest Lake Times
P.O. Box 218
880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
Fax 651-464-4605