The Lyons State Forest is a state forest

State forest

A state forest is a forest that is administered or protected by some agency of a sovereign state.The precise application of the term varies by jurisdiction...

 located near the city of Staples

Staples, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 3,104 people, 1,278 households, and 732 families residing in the city. The population density was 684.5 people per square mile . There were 1,436 housing units at an average density of 316.7 per square mile...

 in Wadena County

Wadena County, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 13,713 people, 5,426 households, and 3,608 families residing in the county. The population density was 26 people per square mile . There were 6,334 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile...

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

. The forest is managed

Forest management

200px|thumb|right|[[Sustainable development|Sustainable]] forest management carried out by [[Complejo Forestal y Maderero Panguipulli|Complejo Panguipulli]] has contributed to the preservation of the forested landscape around [[Neltume]], a sawmill town in Chile...

 by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is the agency of the U.S. state of Minnesota charged with conserving and managing the state's natural resources. The agency maintains areas such as state parks, state forests, recreational trails, and recreation areas as well as managing minerals,...

.

The forest and surrounding area of the Crow Wing River

Crow Wing River

The Crow Wing River is a tributary of the Mississippi River approximately in length. The river arises in a chain of 11 lakes in southern Hubbard County, Minnesota and flows generally southeast, entering the Mississippi at Crow Wing State Park, northwest of Little Falls, Minnesota. Its name is a...

 valley were originally inhabited by the Eastern Dakota and Ojibwe people. Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an exploration began as a result of the fur trade

Fur trade

The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...

 by the French

Coureur des bois

A coureur des bois or coureur de bois was an independent entrepreneurial French-Canadian woodsman who traveled in New France and the interior of North America. They travelled in the woods to trade various things for fur....

 in the early 18th century, and subsequently the Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 in the 1760s. The old-growth forests were logged

Logging

Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...

 extensively between 1870 and the early 20th century; the lumber

Lumber

Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....

 industry in the area declined rapidly after the depletion of the mature forests. Wildfire

Wildfire

A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...

s historically occurred every 10 to 40 years, which explains the dominance of Jack Pine

Jack Pine

Jack pine is a North American pine with its native range in Canada east of the Rocky Mountains from Northwest Territories to Nova Scotia, and the northeast of the United States from Minnesota to Maine, with the southernmost part of the range just into northwest Indiana...

, Aspen

Aspen

Populus section Populus, of the Populus genus, includes the aspen trees and the white poplar Populus alba. The five typical aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains. The White Poplar, by...

, and Paper Birch

Paper Birch

Betula papyrifera is a species of birch native to northern North America.-Description:...

 in the forest, although stands of Eastern White and Red Pine also occur. The topographical features

Topography

Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...

 of the forest, such as terminal moraine

Terminal moraine

A terminal moraine, also called end moraine, is a moraine that forms at the end of the glacier called the snout.Terminal moraines mark the maximum advance of the glacier. An end moraine is at the present boundary of the glacier....

s, outwash plains, till plain

Till plain

A till plain is an extensive flat plain of glacial till that forms when a sheet of ice becomes detached from the main body of a glacier and melts in place depositing the sediments it carried. A till plain with irregular topography is referred to as a ground moraine.-See also:*Glacial till plains...

s, and drumlin field

Drumlin field

A drumlin field is a cluster of dozens to hundreds of similarly shaped, sized and oriented drumlins, also called a drumlin swarm. Drumlins are one type of landform that indicate continental ice sheet glaciation...

s, as well as the sandy loam soil texture

Soil texture

Soil texture is a qualitative classification tool used in both the field and laboratory to determine classes for agricultural soils based on their physical texture. The classes are distinguished in the field by the 'textural feel' which can be further clarified by separating the relative...

, were caused by the Wisconsinan glaciation

Wisconsinan glaciation

The Wisconsin Glacial Episode was the most recent major advance of the North American Laurentide ice sheet. Globally, this advance is known as the last glacial period. The Wisconsin glaciation extended from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago, between the Eemian interglacial and the current...

.

Popular outdoor recreation

Outdoor recreation

Outdoor recreation or outdoor activity is leisure pursuits engaged in outside, especially in natural or semi-natural settings out of town...

al activities are hunting

Hunting

Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...

 and dispersed camping. Trail

Trail

A trail is a path with a rough beaten or dirt/stone surface used for travel. Trails may be for use only by walkers and in some places are the main access route to remote settlements...

s are designated for hiking

Hiking

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

, with 2.3 miles (3.7 km) designated for Class I all-terrain vehicle

All-terrain vehicle

An all-terrain vehicle , also known as a quad, quad bike, three wheeler, or four wheeler, is defined by the American National Standards Institute as a vehicle that travels on low pressure tires, with a seat that is straddled by the operator, along with handlebars for steering control...

 and off-road motorcycling use.