Conservation Land in Tallgrass Aspen Parklands Grows

Nature Conservancy acquires 863 acres adjacent to Wallace C. Dayton Conservation and Wildlife Area

Minneapolis, MN—October 24, 2005—Less than 1 percent remains of the tallgrass prairie that covered most of the western and southern parts of Minnesota before European settlement. Today, The Nature Conservancy ensured 863 acres of it will remain permanently protected for future generations when the conservation organization purchased the Kittson County property. The property is adjacent to the 9,748-acre Wallace C. Dayton Conservation and Wildlife Area and is open to the public for a wide variety of uses, including hunting, hiking and bird watching.

“This project ensures a small portion of our native tallgrass prairie is conserved for future generations to experience,” said Ron Nargang, State Director of The Nature Conservancy in Minnesota. “The opportunity to expand the conservation land around the Wallace C. Dayton Conservation and Wildlife Area protects habitat for wide-ranging animals and ensures public recreational access for hunting and hiking.”

The property, located in extreme northwestern Minnesota, lies in the heart of the Tallgrass Aspen Parklands and features open native grasslands, extensive wetlands, and a series of meadows.

The Tallgrass Aspen Parklands, which spans more than 2 million acres in northwestern Minnesota and southeastern Manitoba, is a vast, open, unspoiled landscape of big bluestem and Indian grass prairies, quaking aspen and balsam poplar forests and wetlands. Vital populations of moose, black bears, gray wolves, sharp-tailed grouse and sandhill cranes live in this region and elk have begun to repopulate the area. A number of grassland bird species, many of which are declining elsewhere in the Great Plains, make their home in this landscape: grebes, yellow rails, sharp tailed sparrows, marbled godwits and Wilson's phalaropes. A number of rare plants find refuge here, including western prairie fringed orchids and white lady’s slippers

“The Tallgrass Aspen Parklands is the only site in the entire Great Plains that still provides habitat for elk, wolves, moose and black bear,” said Nargang. “It is truly one of Minnesota’s little-known jewels.”

While the Tallgrass Aspen Parkland remains an intact, functioning ecosystem, fire suppression and alterations in water flow have threatened its grasslands and animals. With the help of partners, including private landowners and many public agencies on both side of the border, the Conservancy conducts prairie and wetland restoration and prescribed burning to enhance the grasslands.