About Our Group

Our mission

To appreciate and promote native plants and plant communities through shared field exploration, community education, and advocacy

Learning & Identification

Upcoming Events

Previous Field Trips & Workshops

Recent posts

Arrowhead Native Plant Explorers began in spring of 2021 with a small group of ‘plant nerds’ who wanted to explore our plants and plant communities together. Since then, ANPE has grown to over 60 members and reaches over 200 people through our mailing list. Great new ideas keep coming from our board AND our members. Come with questions, ideas, or just to listen and review the past year together. We have been so grateful for all of you who have built this curious and inquisitive community with us.

Endangered Hemlock in MN 11.18.2025

Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) trees are considered endangered in Minnesota, but just across the border in Wisconsin, they are rather common. Scattered individuals and historical populations in Minnesota paint a puzzling picture of where and how they exist here. Join ANPE to learn more about these interesting conifers and the work that has been done to confirm their presence here within the state.

On a cold, dark, damp night nine days before Halloween dead bodies were piled up at Hartley Nature Center. No one called the police. Not even detective Benoit Blanc. Instead, those souls who gathered round the bodies each claimed a few of them. Nobody seemed the least disturbed, though some seemed afraid of damaging them. Likely that was because the bodies were plants that had been carefully pressed between sheets of newspaper, destined for the UMD herbarium....

We have over 200 plants to mount, so we can definitely use your help! At the same time, we’ll learn about the Hawk Ridge Floral Project and the incredible importance of herbarium specimens. We’ll show you all you need to know to mount plant specimens. You can also just sit back and enjoy the presentation without the hand’s on work.

Written by: Kelly Beaster Each of us has our own stories about plants that are special to us or experiences that were shaped by plants. On a warm, calm evening, the ANPE crew gathered along the St. Louis River at Chamber’s Grove to hear about one individual’s personal relationship with plants that shaped her life and spurred reflection upon our own relationships with plants....

Written by: Kelly Beaster Miller Creek runs through a small gorge that cut through the bedrock. Nestled into the Duluth hillside with Lake Superior College to the east and the Lincoln Park community and St. Louis River Estuary downstream, Miller Creek meanders and cascads over bedrock and gravel. This section of Miller Creek has been stewarded by Glenn Merrick, recently retired biology professor for LSC, since 1999....

Written by: Ethan Perry This year’s plant foray, an annual collecting event hosted by ANPE, had a new twist. In addition to providing plant specimens for the UMD Olga Lakela herbarium teaching collection, it also contributed to efforts by the Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory to nominate the park for additionalprotection under the Duluth Natural Areas Program. Led by Paul Hlina, who also led last year’s foray at Lester River, we met at the first Hawk Ridge overlook under smoky skies....

Minnesota Bumble Bee Atlas: Hartley Nature Center Field Day!