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Forest History Center Highlights Natural History with Annual Lecture Series
Expert guest lecturers will share unique perspectives on Minnesota’s north woods
For immediate release
Dated: December 15, 2025
Contacts:
Location: Forest History Center
GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. (December 15, 2025) – The Forest History Center’s annual Winter Lecture Series returns this January with six talks from guest speakers examining a range of topics surrounding the natural history of Minnesota’s north woods.
The Winter Lecture Series will take place every two weeks on Saturday, beginning on January 3, 2026, and concluding on March 14, 2026. These two-hour lectures will include discussions of lumberjacks, nature writing, the fur trade, and more.
Each event will begin at 1 pm at the Forest History Center, located at 2609 County Road 76, Grand Rapids, MN 55744. The events are free with MNHS membership, or included in the cost of regular site admission.
The History of Minnesota's Forests, January 3, 2026
Retired natural resources instructor and forest manager Brad Jones will provide perspective on how changing management practices over the past several centuries have shaped the forest we have today.
Reclaiming Minnesota's Mined Lands, January 17, 2026
Author Pete Kero will talk about how innovations in mine land management have led to resource conservation, community betterment, ecological restoration, and improvements in the social license to operate.
Memory in the Woods: Inventing the Nostalgic Lumberjack, January 31, 2026
Writer, speaker, and historian Willa Hammitt Brown will expose the forces, both local and national, that built our communal memory of the north woods jacks - and ask us to question where our ideas of the past come from.
Helen Hoover: The Life of One of Minnesota's Beloved Nature Writers, February 14, 2026
Former Minnesota Historical Society board president David Hakensen will give a presentation on the life of beloved nature writer Helen Hoover, following her journey from Chicago to the north woods and beyond.
The Fur Trade in Minnesota: From 1680 to 1900, February 28, 2026
Author Mark Sage will discuss the French Canadian voyageurs who paddled vast waterways, the Native communities they partnered with, and how the thriving Minnesota fur trade shaped the region’s history.
Makoce kin Mitakuye: The Land is My Relative, March 14, 2026
From her rich collection of prose, poetry, and recipes, author Teresa Peterson will share how she found refuge from the struggle to reconcile her Christianity and Dakota spirituality, discovering solace and ceremony in communing with the Earth.
More information about winter lectures and other events at the Forest History Center is available at mnhs.org/foresthistory. If interested in covering any of these programs, please contact Nick Jungheim.
About the Minnesota Historical Society
The Minnesota Historical Society is a non-profit educational and cultural institution established in 1849. MNHS collects, preserves, and tells the story of Minnesota’s past through museum exhibits, libraries and collections, historic sites, educational programs, and book publishing. Using the power of history to transform lives, MNHS preserves our past, shares our state’s stories, and connects people with history.
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