This area is characterized by wild, beautiful rivers, including the Rum, St. Croix, Kettle, and the Snake. It also includes Lake Mille Lacs, one of Minnesota’s largest lakes well known for its abundant fishing.
The St. Croix River – a Wild & Scenic River and National Scenic Riverway – is a major migratory corridor for waterbirds, and birds like the bald eagle, sandhill crane, osprey, and trumpeter swan call it home. Lake Mille Lacs also features the nation’s smallest National Wildlife Refuge, which is nonetheless important as breeding grounds for the common tern.
Minnesota Land Trust, Washington County, and Science Museum of Minnesota permanently protect St. Croix Watershed Research Station Land At the Science Museum of Minnesota’s St. Croix Watershed Research Station, groundwater bubbles up to the surface through a “boiling sand spring.” Native plant communities like cold-water wetlands, oak forests and restored prairie harbor a large number [...]
Partnership Preserves 460 Acres of Forest, Prairie and Wetland Habitat It’s a 54-year-old gift that keeps on giving. Osprey Wilds Environmental Learning Center, located on Grindstone Lake in Sandstone, Minn., started its life as a 535-acre gift from Marguerite Schwyzer in 1968. On January 25, 2022, Osprey Wilds and the Minnesota Land Trust completed a [...]
Situated in Morrison County, Minnesota, within the Minnesota Land Trust’s Rum River & St. Croix River conservation program area approximately 15 miles from Mille Lacs Lake, this 552-acre protected property features rolling terrain with a mix of grasslands, forest, and wetlands. In addition to the bison herd that grazes on various herbaceous grasses and forbs [...]
As the population in Pine County has continued to grow, some concerned landowners are working hard to protect the county’s important natural lands and waters from expanding development. Dave Odendahl is one such landowner. Dave grew up on the family farm, eventually taking it over and working the fields himself. And now, as he hangs [...]
