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outdoors and recreation, hallock mn

Tucked away in the Northwest corner of Minnesota just 20 miles from the Canadian border, is tiny town with expansive views. In Hallock, there’s room to create anything you want.

Hallock’s Unique Habitat

During the last Ice Age, most of Minnesota was covered in glaciers. Glaciers are the primary reason that Minnesota’s land looks the way it does. A large ice sheet slowly melted, forming a massive lake, now referred to as Glacial Lake Agassiz. This lake was so substantial that it covered portions of Minnesota, Ontario, North Dakota and Saskatchewan. The shoreline of the lake can still be observed today by looking for beach or gravel ridges along a generally flat terrain.

As the large lake drained, rivers and streams carved the ground into what is now known as the Red River Valley. The Valley was once the river bottom of Lake
Agassiz and is why the land is very flat. The Red River of the North is the primary source of water drainage in the area and flows to the Hudson Bay in Canada
through a series of other lakes and rivers.

There are four biomes (area of similar plants and animals) in Minnesota: Tallgrass Aspen Parkland, Prairie Grassland, Coniferous Forest and Deciduous Forest. Hallock is within the Aspen Parkland and Prairie Grassland. Prairie grassland is typically the most fertile land for agriculture. The deposits from the glaciers that once covered the area are what makes this soil so rich and why farming is so plentiful here. The Tallgrass Aspen Parkland in northwest Minnesota is unique in the United States. The Aspen Parkland region represents the edge between the grassland and forest. This overlap is caused by the aspen growing across the prairie, but getting beaten back by fires. Minnesota is the only source of aspen parkland in the United States. Deciduous Forest is an area with a mixture of evergreens and broad-leafed trees. Deciduous forest once covered more of Minnesota before the land was cleared by Minnesota’s settlers for agriculture. Coniferous Forest is composed primarily of cone-bearing, needle-leaved, or scale- leaved evergreen trees. Coniferous forests are adapted to colder climate.

OUR ABUDANT NATURAL RESOURCES

Hallock offers abundant access to the outdoors. Wildlife and night-sky
viewing, snowmobiling, cross country skiing, boating, canoeing, kayaking, hunting, fishing and birding are popular activities.

Northern Lights & Skyscapes

Photo Credit: Megan Sugden Photography
Hallock enjoys wide open vistas for capturing both sunrises and sunsets, as well as skies free from light pollution for stargazing and catching the Northern Lights. The Northern Lights are caused by storms on the sun. When these random storms occur, they send magnetically charged particles in many directions and some fall to Earth. As they enter the Earth’s atmosphere, they light up in beautiful displays of color.

Wildlife

Photo Credit: Wilebski Evergreen Acres
The area is home to river otter, prairie skink, timber wolf, bald eagle, red tailed hawk, trumpeter swan, badger, gray fox, striped skunk, and others. Minnesota’s largest elk herd is nearby. Whitetail deer are abundant.

Pollinator Garden

Photo Credit: Wilebski Evergreen Acres
Hallock’s pollinator garden in Centennial Park was planted in 2018 with a variety of plants that attract beneficial pollinators. Food production and farming rely on healthy native pollinators like bees, wasps, ants, and butterflies.

Hunting

Photo Credit: Wilebski Evergreen Acres

Prairies, bogs, and forests – and the intersection of these habitats – make it possible for
many different species to thrive here. Common hunts include ruffed and sharp-tailed
grouse, waterfowl, black bear, elk and whitetail deer.

Fishing

Photo Courtesy: Kittson County Historical Society
Walleye, northern pike, muskellunge, lake sturgeon, and catfish are plentiful in area rivers and lakes. The Red River is one of the best places to go catfishing in Minnesota.

Sharp-tailed Grouse Mating

Photo Credit: Wilebski Evergreen Acres

Grouse mating season is typically April through May. Male grouse perform special
dances or “leks” to show off for females. The competition takes place at sunrise. You
can watch the mating dance from a viewing blind near Hallock [check with Lake
Bronson State Park for more info].

Birding

Day Trips
Photo Credit: Kittson County Enterprise
Kittson County is classified as an IBA (Important Bird Area), with at least 262 species of birds calling it home. The area draws sandhill cranes, great blue herons, sharp-tailed grouse, upland sandpipers, long-eared and northern saw-whet owls, and a variety of woodpeckers, warblers, sparrows and finches. Northwestern Minnesota is located along several migratory bird flyways, including the Mississippi Flyway and the Central Flyway. Consequently, millions of birds fly over the region each year as they migrate with the changing seasons. As the birds migrate, they look for places to rest, find food, or breed. The Hallock area is one of the most popular breeding grounds in the country.
Map credit: North Dakota Game and Fish Department.