Something is wrong with Lake Itasca, the source of the Mississippi River
Lake Itasca is almost as wild now as it was 193 years ago, when it was named by an explorer from Michigan seeking the true source of the Mississippi River.
Some of the red pines that were young then still live there now, towering above the thin wind-bent reeds of wild rice near the shore. Even from the center of the lake, the water smells like those pines, as though the lake has been steeped in their fresh needles. From that scene, it would be impossible to tell Itasca is becoming less healthy.
The water clarity in Lake Itasca has been steadily declining for years. Nutrients that can feed harmful algae blooms and turn the water a sickly green are unusually high for a lake of its size and pristine location.
Minnesotans have done everything they can to protect this picturesque lake in an ancient woods from which the country’s great river begins. But Lake Itasca’s chemistry, shallow depth and even its unusual wishbone shape may make it particularly vulnerable. With higher temperatures in northern Minnesota allowing less ice, the lake is receiving more sunlight and a longer growing season.
Extended growing seasons tend to hurt shallow lakes with high amounts of nutrients, lakes like Itasca, said Jim Cotner, a professor and ecologist at the University of Minnesota who has studied Itasca for more than 20 years.
“Caution now would be the best thing,” he said. “We need to keep an eye on it. And we have to make sure that we do not make things any worse.”
