prairie. Settlers recorded that the only trees were on Lake Shetek's islands, which were protected from wildfires. They were not protected from the settlers, however, and were soon harvested. Ecological succession has converted the old fields mostly to northern hardwood forest composed of oak, hackberry, basswood, elm, and ash trees. Restoration ecology efforts are being made to return park grasslands to native prairie. The secondary forest on Loon Island was heavily impacted in the 1970s when Dutch elm disease decimated the American and red elms. The mossy trunks and stumps of dead elms still litter the island, providing shelter and nutrients to the ecosystem. Fauna Mammals found in the park include white-tailed deer, foxes, minks, beavers, fox squirrels, muskrats, groundhogs, and coyotes. The park's combination of lake, woods, and marshes at the head of the Des Moines River flyway attracts a wide variety of bird life. Waterfowl include ducks, herons, coots, grebes, and white pelicans, and many species breed in the area. Among the woodland birds are flycatchers, sparrows, thrushes, vireos, many species of warbler, and blue-gray gnatcatchers. Marsh birds include lesser yellowlegs, spotted sandpipers, Wilson's snipes, and upland sandpipers. The park's two major geographic features are both named after birds. "Shetek" is derived from the Ojibwe language word for pelican. Loon Island is a misnomer, however; the large diving birds seen by the pioneers were double-crested cormorants, not common loons. In the 1910s locals blamed the cormorants for depleting Lake Shetek's fish population and organized a hunt to extirpate them. Due to the hunt and ongoing human disturbance, the species is only seen on Lake Shetek during migration and no longer breeds there. None of the park's small lakes or marshes support a year-round fish population. Cultural history The earliest humans around Lake Shetek were likely following the bison that came there to drink. Archaeologists identify the first permanent inhabitants as members of the Great Oasis culture. Two burial mounds were identified in a 1973 archaeological survey. By the beginning of the historical period, the area was in the territory of the Dakota people. White explorers documented the area in the 1830s and 40s: George Catlin, Joseph Nicollet, Philander Prescott, and John C. Frémont. The first settler arrived on the east shore of Lake Shetek in 1856. Lake Shetek Massacre By 1862 about half a dozen families had formed a small settlement along the eastern shore of Lake Shetek,