Outdoors

DNR urges caution over holiday weekend as boating’s popularity rises in Minnesota
With interest in boating on the rise during the COVID-19 pandemic, state safety officials are advising people to use caution while spending time on Minnesota lakes over the Labor Day weekend. 
Meeting friends this Labor Day weekend? Here's 5 ways to stay COVID-safe
With hundreds of new infections each day, public health officials are again sounding the alarm ahead of the Labor Day weekend. State infectious disease director Kris Ehresmann shared a few tips for how to socialize safely in the pandemic.
Another COVID-19 ripple effect: Many meat processors booked up through deer season
As the fall hunting season prepares to ramp up this month, some local butchers and meat markets might have to turn their game customers away. Many processors are already operating at full capacity — a ripple effect of COVID-19 closures at major pork and beef processors this spring.
'We had to get out': Despite the risks, business is booming at national parks
Visits to Yellowstone National Park are higher than last year as Americans look to escape their pandemic confines. Their business is welcome relief, despite worries they'll also bring coronavirus.
Perseid meteor shower peaks after midnight. NASA says it's 'one of the best'
The light of the moon will reduce the visibility of some fainter meteors, but NASA says it's still worth staying up late — or rising very very early on Wednesday — to see "nature's fireworks."
Parks in nonwhite areas are half the size of ones in majority-white areas, study says
Amid high temperatures and a pandemic, green spaces are a lifeline. But new data shows parks in low-income and nonwhite areas are smaller and more crowded than those in high-income and white areas.
Red pine shoot moths leaving their mark across much of Minnesota
If you live near red pine trees — and in much of Minnesota, chances are you do — you may have noticed some dead, brown patches in the upper branches this summer. They're proof of a moth outbreak the likes of which the state hasn’t seen in more than 20 years.
The joy and health benefits of gardening
Gardens and plants — both indoors and outdoors — provide both physical rewards in the form of flowers and vegetables and mental ones like wellness. Two guests discuss the joy of gardening, especially during a pandemic.