The cities of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks are located on the opposite sides of the Red River, which flows northward into Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba, and then on to Hudson Bay. The Red River Valley is the lake bottom of former glacial Lake Agassiz. It has some of the richest land in the world and thus most of valley is intensely farmed with major crops, including sugar beets, potatoes, small grains, beans and sunflowers.
Our area is situated between the prairie and pothole region of North Dakota to the west, and the lakes and forests of Minnesota to the east. As a result, several species of the eastern deciduous forest are near the western limit of their range. Yet we also enjoy at least occasionally such western species as American Avocet, California Gull, Say’s Phoebe, and Sprague’s Pipit. A belt of saline grasslands and wetlands west of Grand Forks that includes Kellys Slough N.W.R. is widely known as a great place to see waterfowl and shorebirds.
Local birders think of the woodlands along the Red River as a migratory corridor for raptors and songbirds that traverses the former prairie now converted to farmland. This corridor can now be experienced within the Greenway of the Red River. Away from the Red River, farmsteads and shelterbelts have sprung up since the late 1800s, now providing habitat for both migrants and nesters.
To learn more, please explore this website using the links to the left of the page.
For a map of the Grand Forks/East Grand Forks area, click here.
Our area is situated between the prairie and pothole region of North Dakota to the west, and the lakes and forests of Minnesota to the east. As a result, several species of the eastern deciduous forest are near the western limit of their range. Yet we also enjoy at least occasionally such western species as American Avocet, California Gull, Say’s Phoebe, and Sprague’s Pipit. A belt of saline grasslands and wetlands west of Grand Forks that includes Kellys Slough N.W.R. is widely known as a great place to see waterfowl and shorebirds.
Local birders think of the woodlands along the Red River as a migratory corridor for raptors and songbirds that traverses the former prairie now converted to farmland. This corridor can now be experienced within the Greenway of the Red River. Away from the Red River, farmsteads and shelterbelts have sprung up since the late 1800s, now providing habitat for both migrants and nesters.
To learn more, please explore this website using the links to the left of the page.
For a map of the Grand Forks/East Grand Forks area, click here.