Last week, the Minnesota Chapter of The Nature Conservancy closed on the option to purchase nearly 25,000 acres, one-third of which is tallgrass prairie. The property, outside of Crookston, harbors sandhill cranes and dozens of other waterfowl and upland bird species. The project is being billed as the "largest northern tallgrass prairie restoration opportunity in history", and is home to a diversity of species from moose to butterflies. Several prairie-dependent plants also reside on the site, including the federally threatened western prairie fringed orchid.
Less than one percent of Minnesota's native prairie still exists today--left from 15 million acres in pre-settlement times. "This is certainly one of the largest prairie reconstructions in the country, and important because it links together more than a dozen state and federal lands, as well as the Conservancy's existing 1,650-acre Pembina Trail Scientific and Natural Area", added McKim.

The Glacial Ridge property is known locally as "Tilden Farms", and was purchased from a Missouri-based group of investors. The Conservancy had been interested in the property since the late 1970's.

In the short term, most of the property will be leased for ranching, agriculture or aggregate mining while the Conservancy works to develop compatible management and prairie reconstruction strategies with surrounding landowners. A number of tracts will be enrolled in the federal wetland reserve program, and others may be placed under conservation easement. It is hoped that the property may become part of a national wildlife refuge within the decade.

"Glacial Ridge is historic both in size and dollars spent, but more importantly, it represents the Conservancy's long-term commitment to a place", said Ron Nargang, project leader for the Conservancy. "This is a preserve that will be restored for plants, animals and communities--both the human and natural ones."

Multiple partners will play a role in determining the stewardship of Glacial Ridge-including local citizens, public and private landowners, and other conservation and sporting groups (like Ducks Unlimited and the Minnesota Waterfowl Association). But ultimately, it will be The Nature Conservancy that takes leadership for any long-term plans on the property, with the protection of the site's plants and animals as its foremost priority.

Brian Winter, director of science and stewardship for the Conservancy in northwest Minnesota, said that the major threats to prairie lands - fragmentation and fire suppression - would be addressed at this site. "If we do our job right, it will be a place where our grandchildren may again witness bison grazing in the tall grass, as they did more than a century ago -- a place we can restore and manage so that nature can thrive along with the citizens and visitors here."