Restoration roundup
Map of restoration area
15 acres of trees were cleared to restore a 50-acre prairie at Hastings Sand Coulee
Large brush pile in an oak savanna unit at Gateway North Open space.
Sunset as seen through the cleared savanna unit above the bluff prairie. This would not have been possible one month earlier!
A dramatic difference at Gores WMA, with the buckthorn cleared area in the foreground, and a wall of brush behind.
Gores WMA transformed after brush removal. A very large sugar maple shown here, with spreading branched showing how it matured in an open landscape.
Several Indian burial mounds are now visible, thought to be 1,000 to 3,000 years old, from the Woodland Period.
A limestone ledge at Hastings SNA was barely visible prior to exotic brush removal.
After exotic brush removal, the landforms at Hastings SNA are clearly visible from the road.
Volunteers pose in front of their quarry cut brush hauled out of Hastings SNA.
High school volunteers install native plants at the Mounds Park overlook.
FMR began restoration projects at five new sites this year Gores Pool WMA Freitag Unit in Hastings, Gateway North Open Space in Cottage Grove, Hastings SNA, Hastings Sand Coulee SNA north unit, and Mounds Park in St. Paul (see map). Each of these presented interesting and exciting new challenges and opportunities.
At Gores WMA, the first phase of restoring the 300-acre Freitag unit, begun in 2010, is nearing completion, and we began the second phase this summer, with funding from the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Fund. The first step was removing very dense, very large, old-growth buckthorn from about 30 acres, a long and grueling process that took several months. The resulting landscape was shockingly altered, revealing large, scattered, beautiful oak and maple trees, a very open understory, and, amazingly, several Native Indian burial mounds that are believed to be from the latter part of the Woodland Period, about 1,000-3,000 years ago. While these have been studied in the past, they have been completely hidden by the dense brush for over a decade. Work will continue at this site for several years, as we gradually restore native components to maple-basswood forest, oak forest, savanna, and prairie.
Gateway North Open Space is a 53-acre Cottage Grove Park, located on the bluffs along Hwy 61. Historically dominated by oak savanna, it has been overtaken by a dense cover of brush, primarily non-native species. Impressive views of the Mississippi River valley can be seen from the small remnant bluff prairie, the most significant plant community at the site. In partnership with the City of Cottage Grove, and with funding from a Conservation Partners Legacy grant, FMR began brush removal on about six acres this year, with the goal of restoring oak savanna.
With maple-basswood forest and oak forest on bluffs with steep limestone escarpments, plus floodplain forest, the Vermillion River and marshland habitats, the 60-acre Hastings SNA is a small but diverse site. The woodland wildflower community is wonderfully diverse, but common buckthorn was slowly creeping expanding into the unit. Management of this site was simply a matter of removing the invasive species to allow the native species to thrive. Accomplished this fall, one can now peer deeply into the site to view the limestone cliffs and the dense canopy of the maple-basswood forest. Volunteers helped complete this task with arduous brush-hauling, followed by strenuous pizza-eating!
The north unit of the Hastings Sand Coulee SNA, about 185 acres, was added to the SNA in 2011. In partnership with the SNA program and funded by a Conservation Partners Legacy grant, we began restoration and management this year on 120 acres of the site. 15 acres of planted pine trees were removed to make way for a 50-acre prairie restoration, which was prepped over the summer and seeded in the fall. The restored prairie will serve to buffer the high quality sand-gravel prairie that occupies the valley. Other work included exotic brush removal, control of invasive species, and planting native prairie plants with a group of enthusiastic Hastings High School biology students.
Indian Mounds Park on the east side of St. Paul is a well-known feature, with commanding views of the city and river valley from these high cliffs. In partnership with the St. Paul Parks Department, FMR worked with youth from the Harding High School Earth Club and other community volunteers to revitalize the native plantings at the Plum Street overlook. Over three volunteer events, about 1,800 native (short) shrubs and prairie plants were installed, purchased with funding from the Minnesota Environmental Trust Fund, as approved by Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources. These plantings serve to both stabilize the highly erodible bluffs, and to offer an unimpeded view of the river valley.
Although embarking on new projects and new sites is always exciting, we also continued management and restoration work at an additional 12 sites, some of which are now nearing completion (see sites shown on the map). While a restoration is never really complete, we have been maintaining some of the sites for many years and they are now at the stage of just needing periodic burns or invasive species management. Other sites, such as Pine Bend Bluffs SNA, Flint Hills Resources, and 3Ms Cottage Grove property, are large properties with long-term projects that are continually expanding to encompass new areas. In addition to management activities, we conduct regular vegetation monitoring as well as breeding bird surveys at most sites, to be able to track progress and evaluate changes.
To keep the restoration project cycle going, there is necessary planning that must occur, and in 2012 we developed natural resource management plans for 6 sites (Old Mill Park in Hastings, River Oaks Park in Cottage Grove, Vermillion Linear Park in Hastings, Rock Island Swing Bridge Park in Inver Grove Heights, Cottage Grove Ravine Regional Park (south half), and the South Archery Trail at Dakota Countys Spring Lake Regional Park. Each of these brings yet more wonderful opportunities for enhancing our natural heritage and we look forward to working at these sites in the near future.