Mill District Artist Kathleen Franzen Featured in Book Illustrating Minnesota's Threatened Boreal Forest

Mill District resident Kathleen Franzen is one of 10 Minnesota botanical artists featured in Art on the Edge of the Boreal Forest: Alternative Futures for the trees, birds and insects, a science and art book including articles by Lee Frelich, Ph.D., director of The Center of Forest Ecology at the University and Gerald J. Niemi, Ph.D. and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biology, University of Minnesota-Duluth.

The book includes 83 renditions of original art. In addition to Kathleen, the Minnesota botanical artists include Vicki Barth, Wendy Brockman, Marj Davis, Nancy Gehrig, Debra Greenblatt, Julie Martinez, Mary Anne O'Malley, Kathy Reeves, and Bruce Wilson. Their work highlights specific aspects of 10 trees of the boreal forest identified by Lee Frelich that are undergoing slow and silent but significant change due to disturbances caused by fire, invasive insects and stressful climate conditions.

Threatened birds of the boreal forest were identified by Gerald J. Niemi. Insects associated with the trees of the boreal forest were identified by Jana Albers, DNR Forest Health Specialist. 

Art on the Edge of the Boreal Forest is available online from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target and BookBaby. Sales proceeds go to The Center of Forest Ecology and Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Duluth.