MDS Summer Gathering 2025 details

Join us at Itasca State Park August 8-10, 2025 for our long-awaited summer gathering!

Gathering details

Two participation options- full weekend or field trip only.

Full weekend

• Arrive Friday, August 8
• Day-long field trip Saturday, August 9
• Two options: light (mobility-sensitive) & moderate (off-trail & uneven ground)
• Depart Sunday, August 10
• Lodging: shared cabins at the Itasca Biological Station and Laboratories in Itasca State Park
• due to limited space and to keep costs down, we cannot guarantee private rooms
• each participant will have their own bed & can request cabinmates (names &/or gender)
• See the station's website for general information on dining and lodging and life at the station, including what to bring.
• Dining: Itasca Biological Station dining hall. Includes:
• Friday dinner
• Saturday packed lunch
• Saturday dinner
• Sunday brunch
• Transportation:
• Participants encouraged to carpool
• Caravan to the field trip sites

Field trip only

• Arrive Saturday, August 9
• Day-long field trip (8:45am-4:30pm)
• Two options: light (mobility-sensitive) & moderate (off-trail & uneven ground)
• Bring your own lunch & snacks
• Station facilities & amenities only available to those lodging at Itasca Biological Station

Schedule:

• Friday 
• 2-4pm pre-gathering NatSci public event
• 3-6pm Arrive and settle into cabins
• 6pm Dinner in dining hall

• 7pm Campfire & Station/MDS Welcome with Emily Schilling & Kurt Mead

• Saturday
• Breakfast on your own
• 8:00am Dining hall to make your lunch 
• 8:45am gather outside of cabin 70  [day registrants join here]
• 9am depart for field trip
• 4:30pm arrive back at the station [day registrants depart here]
• 5pm Dinner in dining hall
• 6:30pm gather to share what we found in a classroom, setup with scopes

• 8pm Campfire

• Sunday
• 9am Station store open
• 10am Brunch in dining hall

• 11am Depart [cabins must be vacated by 11am]

Registration & cost

• Register using this form.
• Full weekend: $100+* donation (covers dining, lodging, & space use at the Itasca station)
• Field trip only: $30+ donation
• A MN State Park permit is required for Itasca State Park and is not included in the above costs.

*Thanks to the generosity of MDS members and other donors, we are able to offer this subsidized rate rather than charging our full dining & lodging costs. Additional donations are welcome.

We hope you can join us! If you have questions, please email info@mndragonfly.org.

MDS Summer Gathering 2025: Itasca State Park

 Save the date!  Registration link and more information coming soon.

Please email any questions to info@mndragonfly.org.

Dragonfly Identification Training Workshop 2025

 

We are happy spring has officially sprung!  No news of migrating odes in Minnesota yet, but we're anxiously awaiting those first common green darner and other dragonfly friends.

To help get ready for a busy summer of chasing dragonflies, MDS is hosting a dragonfly ID training event.  We hope you can join us!

Date: Saturday, April 12

Location: Tettegouche State Park

Time: 10 am – 3 pm

Cost: $20 per person/$10 for active MDS members

Space is limited to 25 participants; pre-registration required.

Register Here!

Training led by MDS Board Members:

•  Kurt Mead - MDS Founder, Naturalist, and Author of Dragonflies of the Northwoods

•  Jeff Fischer - Photographer, Webmaster, and Past President of the Wisconsin Dragonfly Society

For more information or if you have questions, please email info@mndragonfly.org.

  Tettegouche State Park

Click here to Register

For more information contact us at Info@mndragonfly.org