Big Bog State Recreation Area has been called Minnesota's last true wilderness. This two-part recreation area includes a northern unit and a southern unit. The 500-square-mile peat bog, the largest in the lower 48 states, is located in the northern unit. A mile-long boardwalk, completed in 2005, enables visitors to get a first-hand look at the unique plant and animal life of this rare resource. The bog, which has long been a source of medicinal plants for the Ojibwe Indians, represented a barrier to European settlers who tried in vain to drain it. Today, many of the native plants, including yellow-eyed grass, bog rush and two kinds of sundews, are on Minnesota's endangered or threatened species list. From orchids to carnivorous plants to rare birds, visitors will see a mixture of fascinating and rare resources. The southern unit includes a campground with 31 campsites (26 electric sites) winterized camper cabins, a sandy beach, picnic grounds, and great fishing.

Wildlife
This largely wilderness area is home to moose, white-tailed deer, black bear, gray wolves, fox, bobcat and other mammals. The bog also provides habitat for more than 300 species of birds. The great gray owl and Connecticut warbler are two species of particular interest that make their home in the Bog. A number of reptiles and amphibians also inhabit the patterned peatlands of the area, including the snapping turtle, gray treefrog, western painted turtle, spotted blood salamander and northern leopard frog.

History
Big Bog State Recreation Area was established in 2000. It was the result of a grassroots e?ort to create a sustainable tourist attraction in Waskish, whose economy was devastated when the Red Lake walleye population crashed in the 1990s.

Geology
The underlying bedrock of Big Bog State Recreation Area is Precambrian (Late Archean) in age, and includes gneiss, amphibolite, undifferentiated granite and metamorphosed mafic to intermediate volcanic and sedimentary rocks. Of particular interest is the sedimentary association of Big Bog's geologic history. The majority of the Northern Unit has a peat sediment association. Ludlow Island is composed of lacustrine sediment deposited from Glacial Lake Agassiz. The Southern Unit rests on lacustrine sediment from Glacial Lake Agassiz as well, and is characterized by beach ridges that have formed over time due to the geologic movement of Upper Red Lake to the west.

Landscape
Plant communities that exist within the boundary of Big Bog State Recreation Area include open sphagnum bog, fen, boreal conifers, boreal hardwoods, conifer swamp forest and hardwood swamp forest. The boreal conifers in the southern unit include a stand of jack pine. Boreal hardwoods in the northern unit include trembling aspen. The stand also includes Balm of Gilead and dogwood shrubs. The conifer swamp forest areas in the northern unit include tamarack and black spruce. In the southern unit, the hardwood swamp forest includes back ash and ground cover of wet grasses and sedges plus a hazel shrub layer.