Connie Cox: Must be Something in The Water

Connie Cox is a Naturalist at Itasca State Park, one of the most visited and oldest parks in Minnesota. In our conversation, Connie shares her life-stories and love for the Mississippi Headwaters.

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Season 1: Episode#1- Connie Cox

Host: Rebecca Dallinger 

This is Stories of the Land Connect. And I'm your host, Rebecca Dallinger. We will hear from diverse people and communities of the Northern and Northwest Minnesota's rural landscape. This is where the prairie meets the pines, the headwaters of the Mississippi flows, where the hardwoods and the Tamarack trees meet. This is a place of many rivers, lakes, and watersheds. 

This is home.

Connie Cox loves to tell a good story. She's a naturalist with the Itasca State Park, a park that's one of the most visited and oldest state parks in Minnesota, with 32,000 acres, and includes more than 100 lakes. In our conversation she shared her experiences and connection to this Northern area.

Connie Cox
My name is Connie Cox. I'm the lead interpretive naturalist at Itasca State Park, which is where the beginning of the Mississippi River starts. And my home is actually just North of the park. I live on a high glacial ridge that looks down on the Mississippi River.

Host: Rebecca Dallinger
How long have you lived where you lived?

Connie Cox
Oh my gosh. Let me think here. I wasn't thinking there would be math. Sorry. I have lived at my current home for 23 years and I have been a naturalist at Itasca State Park for 25. But I did start my childhood living near the Mississippi River in the center part of Minnesota in Stearns County area.

Host: Rebecca Dallinger
Do you have a story or a memory that first connected you to the land and someplace that you feel really close to?

Connie Cox
Well, probably where I grew up in Stearns County. It's kind of Garrison Keillor's Wobegon country, it's very rolling landscape shaped by glaciers, there are many small lakes. And with that, you would have a lot of slews and ponds. And as a little girl, my mother and father had gotten a small piece of land on my grandpa's property, on his farm, and in the area was a small slew.

Some of my fondest memories of the land was living on that one and a half acres with its little woodlot and running down to the local slew. A lot of times I would just sit down in amongst the cat tails and listen to the birds. My favorite were the yellow headed black birds as they would call, and the red wing black birds, and the ducks. And of course, waiting in the slew and then getting out and having to pick those bloodsuckers out from between your toes. And most girls probably would say, "That it's so disgusting." But I absolutely just loved immersing myself in nature ever since I can remember.

Host: Rebecca Dallinger
Did that come from anybody? Did anybody pass that forward from... Did you have a family member or somebody that was significant to you that taught you about why that was important?

Connie Cox
My mother always says, "You had to have gotten that from your father." My father passed away when I was one and a half years old and I was the youngest of five. And my father loved camping, he loved the outdoors, he loved hunting. He actually would bring the family up to Itasca State Park in a homemade camper and they would go camping. My mom always said, "You, of all the children, take after your father the most, even though you knew him the least, your love of exploring the outdoors, and getting in the dirt, and the muck and rescuing animals..." Well, my dad wouldn't necessarily rescue them, but I'd be saving chipmunks from cats, neighborhood cats, and birds that would smash into windows, and looking at the flowers. And even though my mother also liked that she kind of preferred gardening and more domesticated outdoors, but like I said, it must be genetic or something in the water.

Host: Rebecca Dallinger 
How long have you worked as a naturalist?

Connie Cox
Oh my gosh. I started as a naturalist in 1987 and right out of college. Gosh, how many years is that now? I'm getting old, 33 years of my life I've been a naturalist, and I could not think of anything else. I was inspired to be a naturalist by television, believe it or not. And now I'm really dating myself. I used to watch Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. Yes. And Jim Fowler was the guy who would do all the work. And I can't remember the host, but I wanted to be like Jim Fowler. I wanted to go, and cage the tiger, and tranquilize it, and then study it. And I wanted to not have a boa constrictor strangle me, but I still wanted to go and experience nature. I mean, to me, that is one of the most amazing things is to be out in this greater world with all these other living entities and feel their spirits.

 And so, when I went to college I thought I created the degree known as being a naturalist, little did I know you could actually go to a college and get that. But I focused on biology and wildlife management. My calling was more for the education side and sharing the joy of nature with others. My first job was actually written on the smallest post-it note you can buy. I think those are only like a two-inch by a one and a half inch post-it note. Wrote my classes on there, I got a job up on the North shore of Lake Superior. Talk about another amazing area in the state of Minnesota by this huge body of water. I've always being by the water, and that was a whole different experience. And just immersing that love of nature, but sharing the stories with the general public. I just found that was the niche for me.

 Today so many more people live in a urban setting. They didn't have the opportunities like I did to grow up necessarily in a rural area and your around nature all the time and to freely wander, like I was able to, and to share those stories, and overcome some of their fears. Has been a joy, and I have lived in that area and the Northeast part of Minnesota on the Gunflint Trail near the Boundary Waters area and Lake Superior area for almost eight years before moving to Itasca State Park.

Host: Rebecca Dallinger
Is there a specific story of the water or a memory that you'd like to talk about, either from your work as a naturalist or with people?

Connie Cox:
There's just so many stories about the water, but I think it's just hard for me to pick any one story.

Yeah. One of them I like.... but maybe two…. 

One is when I got married, of course, I have to tell the story because working at the headwaters of the Mississippi River, my husband, he was taking the forestry classes here many years ago, and he said, when we met and he goes, "Little would I know that I would take forestry lessons at Itasca State Park at the biological station. Then I would get a job doing forestry in the area, and I would meet a naturalist from Itasca, we would get married, and move up and buy a property right on the Mississippi at the headwaters."

When we got married, the day after our actual wedding, we brought my family who were visiting from out of state to the headwaters. Before I knew it, my husband scooped me up in his arms and carried me across the rocks because he said, "We need to bless our wedding and our marriage." And so he carried me across in his arms and people were applauding as they said, "Yeah, they just got married." But when we got to the other side, I said, "Well, marriages are two way streets and I need to also bless our marriage." And I'm not strong enough to carry him in my arms, especially on the rocks. So I said, "Jump on my back." And I waded through the river with him on my back.

 And it was quite symbolic because for many people that is a very important place in our nation, and in our world, is the beginning of the Mississippi River. And we have a lot of people who come to get a little bottle of water to take home for blessing their marriages, or blessing a baptism, or honoring someone at a funeral. We've just been truly blessed, and I don't know if it's because we have complimentary personalities or if it is partly because of, again, the water. I'm going to say, it's part of the Mississippi.

Host: Rebecca Dallinger 
How do you think connecting to nature, or the woods, or water, or the slews can heal or make change?

Connie Cox:
To me I believe there really is healing in nature. It allows you to calm yourself and calm your mind and to center. And maybe because I love nature so much I just focus on that more. It does help you to get away from the busy-ness of our lives and technology. And just that the commitment we feel we're obligated to uphold by, "I got to go to job. I got my job. I've got to go home. I've got to do laundry. I've got to..." All these tasks, but then when you sit down for a moment in nature and just observe it, you see the most basic of survival happening from a simple flower blooming to produce pollen, to hope that an insect will pollinate it, and then to produce it's seeds, to animals giving birth and trying to bring their young up and survive to repeat that cycle.

 They're not tied up with the internet. They're not tied up with social media, they're just in their basic survival, and being out doors and just centering myself on the energy around me is very fulfilling. A lot of times I like to walk barefoot because I feel I need to touch the earth, I feel I need to have that energy come through me and feel the grass on my feet, or the gravel on my feet, and to just be quiet and listen to the sounds of the frogs and the birds and what are they doing and how they're interacting. And to just sometimes focus with my eyes and look, like I said, sometimes at the small things like the little flowers and the beauty they provide and to smell the smells.

Connie Cox:
For example, last night, my husband and I went for a walk down our road. All of a sudden we just got this burst, it was just the most amazing rich sweet honey smell. And we're looking around going, "What is it?" And it was the cherry blossoms on the wild cherries as they were starting to flower. The birds that were in there, I said, we saw this bird right near that area, and we were like, "What are those?" And here they're Cedar waxwings, which I felt was a blessing because you so seldom see Cedar waxwings, and it was almost like their spirit came to enrich my spirit and my husband's spirit. And as we were walking, the sun was starting to set down a little bit. And all of a sudden we hear the funny call of the tree frogs, which little kids like it when you kind of vibrate your lips real quickly and you kind of make a sound, is the sound of the tree frogs.

 And we saw something else. I can't recall what it was, but we were just so blessed by nature sharing itself with us. And when we got home, we had been kind of tired from the day and we just felt recharged, re-energized, but also very grateful for the simple things that we have in our lives that enrich it. And I think that's kind of a healing power that nature can have for all of us.

Host: Rebecca Dallinger 
You said you had two stories too. You told the one story of... There was another story that was important to you? 

Connie Cox:
Well, my husband and I like to be in boats. My husband is a die-hard fisherman and I'm kind of a die-hard fisherman, but I also like observing nature. And then we also have kayaks, oh my gosh, now it just brings back 1,000 stories of being on the water. But one of the most amazing experiences, we were paddling on a small nearby lake. It was in mid-summer. Trumpeter swans were nesting on this lake, and it was probably early August, or late July, and they had their flock of cygnets. There were about six little cygnets. So these swans weren't able to fly yet. I just adore swans, especially being here at Itasca State Park, because for a long time here in Minnesota, there were no swans. They had been extirpated, which means not extinct, but they had been totally removed from the landscape. And there were very few places in the United States that still had swans and they had been reintroduced into the state of Minnesota in the 1970s, 1980s. Itasca was one of those locations and now they have become quite prolific.

 And so that story of success is amazing. And my husband and I just love when we see this beautiful majestic white bird. As we were kayaking on the lake, we saw them in the back bay where it's a little more sheltered and we could see the two adults and we could see the six cygnets. The swans started following along the shoreline, they were nervous of us being in these kayaks and they started honking. And then the one swan started swimming out towards us, and then it would be beating its wings and then it would be calling and it was moving towards us. And as we were watching it, we were like, "We should move on and move away from them." And we're watching this one large swan, then out of the corner of my eye I saw that the swan was distracting us. It was leading us away, and the other swan was leading its cygnets down the shoreline towards some dense cover.

 Connie Cox:
And before you know it, all of a sudden this massive swan that was following us and bugling, lifts off the water and comes flying right at us, and flies right over our heads. Literally the drops of water are dripping off its big paddle feet as it goes over. And we're like, "Oh my god!" We thought we were going to be attacked by a killer swan. And it looped around us in the air two times. Then it flew down the Lake and landed and began calling. And when we looked around after this total shock, it was like, "Where did the adult go with the six cygnets?" And it was a distraction ploy so that they could guide their cygnets away from us. And when you can get that close to nature, it just enriches your day and your experiences. It was just amazing to us. And we still talk about that time when those swans came by.

 But so many times we get experiences like that, and I think people need to slow down and allow nature to show itself. Sometimes when we come out, we're just all wrapped up in ourselves and we're on our phones out when we're so caught up. I think nature can sense that, and we don't always get to experience those things. My life has been full of experiences like that, from moose in wetlands, and then I'm riding my bicycle and all of a sudden the moose come out and start chasing you [inaudible 00:15:19] on your bike, and you're peddling as fast as you can, and then they run back into the swamp. And you're horrified going, "Oh my god, I almost was killed by a moose." But then you afterwards go, "Oh my gosh, I was almost killed by a moose! What an experience. How many people can have these?" And I'm not telling people and I'm not advocating to go track down moose and be tromped by them, but when you're in nature, sometimes it presents itself in some very enriching ways.

Host: Rebecca Dallinger

So in the course of time that you've been a naturalist and you've lived within this area, is there something that you would share... You're sharing all these things already, but is there a motto or something else you would share with another person or a child, something that you'd want to pass forward?

Connie Cox:

It's just that importance of protecting what's in our own backyard. It's interesting, the years I've lived in work now at Itasca, the funny thing is the first time I was here I was one and a half years old, bald head, in a stroller, wearing a little pink jumper as my mom and dad are camping. My mom hated it, she goes, "All I do is take care of babies in a crib in the camper." That was my first memory of Itasca because of a photograph. I always say Ponce de León was credited with finding the Fountain of Youth in Florida, but there really wasn't for him a Fountain of Youth. But I say when you watch people at the beginning of the Mississippi River here at Lake Itasca, you really do see this Fountain of Youth. You see this joy expressed in every age of person who comes, where they can dip their toes in the beginning of an amazing river that travels for over 2,300 miles, it transports so much of the grain and agricultural production in our nation to ports all around the world.

And right here in our own backyard in Northern Minnesota, we can come and see it just like the first written histories of it. We have journals from Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, where he talked about being at the headwaters and led here by an Ojibwe guide who led them to the source, and how he said when he reached the North end of the lake and the gentle current tugged his canoe through the rushes, and he went down a gravelly river bed and was pulled down the river. And he discovered that, and people can still experience that here, again, in our own backyard. We can sit in a canoe and be tugged down that river, and we can see what Schoolcraft saw. Places like Itasca that preserve and protect resources to keep them clean for future generations is so important. It's just one of those areas that a lot of people have written it in the log books here at Itasca since probably 1910. It kind of resonates that they say, "We come for the river re we return for the pines and the lakes that contribute to the river and that importance."

 And I have seen people who have been drawn to this river for over 60 years, spouses on a honeymoon, and then their children, and their grandchildren, and great-grandchildren just so they can all experience this sense of youthfulness, this sense of exploration, this sense of wonder. To me what was amazing is when I moved here, there were people who in the state of Minnesota, some of them have never been here. And some of them as closest Park Rapids said, "I've never been up there. I've never seen the headwaters of the Mississippi." And I encourage them because we get people from around the world who view rivers and lakes different.

Connie Cox:
I've had people come on tours from Eastern Europe but that lived in the parts of what would be Eastern part of Germany or parts of Russia and other areas where they said their lakes and rivers, some of them are so polluted you can't drink the water, you can't even purify it." And when they stood in the river and they go, "Truly? Could I drink it?" And it's like, "It's pretty clean other than Beaver swimming in it and the potentials of giardia." They just could not fathom how clear and clean it was.

 And one story that really touched my heart because I do tours all the time, one of my more memorable ones was a bus tour and they were senior citizens. And the woman was from the state of Mississippi. Her whole life she looked at the Mississippi River from the coastline along the state of Mississippi where it's huge, big ocean going ships and barges and everything, hauling cargo down. And her dream always had been to come to the beginning of the river. And she finally got on a bus tour and got up here.

Connie Cox:
And she was in her early 80s. And unfortunately she had just had some knee surgery and she could not walk down the little bit of a slope into the river. And she goes, "I'm so close. This is good. I'm close. I got to see where it begins." And I said, "Would you like me to carry some water up to you?" And she goes, "Oh, would you?" And she cupped her hands, and I kept water from the Mississippi River in my hands, and I brought it to her and she washed her face. And I couldn't tell and separate her tears from her eyes or the river water because she goes, "My whole life I've wanted to wash myself in the water from the beginning of the river."

Don't realize the connection people have, well to water, but also to the Mississippi River. Who have had their weddings held right, standing in the Mississippi River because they know the importance of that site, and who begin journeys going down on a canoe trip, doing a solo canoe trip because they're struggling with challenges in their life and they're seeking answers. In the end, they feel that they can find it by centering themselves around the river and focusing on that river and what nature and that river can provide. It is so amazing the healing qualities that river has for a person's spirit and soul. And I just feel very blessed to be able to work here.

 Connie Cox:
And when you're walking on the boardwalk, you will have black and white warblers or golden wing warblers landing within just feet of your face as they're perching on the hazel or the willow, and they're feeding on insects, and they're calling, and you can see their mouths, their beaks open, and their tongue vibrating as they're calling right beside you. With glaciers, helping to form it, and then people using it for their various uses, and then people restoring it so we, once again, can enjoy it and travel down. Harvest wild rice on the first stretches of the river, or fish the river, especially as you get closer to the Magee.

I mean, the story of the river is just, I mean, it says long and as deep as the river, and it just continually flows around you, from the headwaters to the main bridge that crosses it. And if you're barefoot, you can feel that sand and gravel on your feet, can see the small little bullheads swimming, baby snapping turtles. And right now the suckers just got done running. To walk in the river and immerse yourself and see the wildlife and the different plants, it's just amazing. And people take it for granted, it's an amazing story.

Host: Rebecca Dallinger 
It's that whole revealing of when you get started in sharing where the story starts to emerge once you get rolling.

Connie Cox: 
Right.

Host: Rebecca Dallinger 
That's what I think is that I find so interesting, is the back and forth about story is between that really personal, to that historical, to that spiritual. What is the one thing in this time that we are in-- a very historical time in the middle of a pandemic…. what's something that you miss?

Connie Cox:
I do miss telling the stories to our park visitors and hearing their stories. And it's a two-way street. I like sharing the stories, but I also miss hearing their stories. Just seeing the enjoyment people have as they themselves are visiting the river, that's what feeds the soul and the spirit of a naturalist. 

You filled my soul today, Becca.

Host: Rebecca Dallinger 
Good.

Connie Cox:
I needed that. I needed to be naturalist and not just... I love research, but sometimes you just need to be a naturalist and you just need to voice the story. And so thank you for being my audience and letting me feed my soul.

Host: Rebecca Dallinger
Many thanks to everyone who's been part of telling their Stories of the Land Connect. Thank you for the generosity of your time and the beauty of your words. Again, I am your host, Rebecca Dallinger. Special thanks to mentors and podcasters, Shirley Nordrum and Zach Paige. The theme song is by Zach Paige. You can find Zach's podcast, Seed Stories on his North Circle Seed company page.

Rebecca Dallinger:
This series couldn't have been done without the generous support of the University of Minnesota's Weisman Art Museum, and the Itasca Biological Field Station, as well as the generous support of Extension's Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships also known as RSDP. To find out more about sustainability projects in your county, go to extension.umn.edu/regional-partnerships. Thank you.