ITASCA STATE PARK, MINN. – Lake Itasca is almost as wild now as it was 193 years ago, when it was named by an explorer from Michigan seeking the true source of the Mississippi River.
Some of the red pines that were young then still live there now, towering above the thin wind-bent reeds of wild rice near the shore. Even from the center of the lake, the water smells like those pines, as though the lake has been steeped in their fresh needles. From that scene, it would be impossible to tell Itasca is becoming less healthy.
But it is…