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ts rugged terrain harbors old oak forest, wildflowers, springs, prairie, and limestone outcroppings above the Mississippi River. Home to several rare plants and animals, as well as waterfowl, turkey, deer, coyotes, and fox, the 1,300-acre Pine Bend Natural Area also provides critical habitat for millions of songbirds and waterfowl that migrate via the Mississippi River flyway each year. Ecologists consider the area one of the biggest and most diverse native ecosystems left in the seven-county metro region.
In the last days of 2002, a coalition including the Minnesota Department of Natural Resource's (DNR) Metro Greenways program, Friends of the Mississippi River (FMR) and the Trust for Public Land (TPL) finalized acquisition of the 168-acre Pine Bend Bluffs Scientific and Natural Area, protecting a swath from Highway 52 to the Mississippi River in Inver Grove Heights. Scientific and Natural Areas (SNAs) are provided the highest level of state protection and are open to the public for activities such as birding, wildlife watching, viewing wildflowers, hiking, education, and scientific research.
Further parcels of significant habitat may be added to the Pine Bend Bluffs SNA pending the availability of funds and willing landowners. Most of the roughly 1,300-acre Pine Bend Bluffs complex is privately owned, with Flint Hills Resources (formerly Koch Petroleum) owning much of the surrounding area as a buffer to their petroleum refinery operations. In recent years, a number of organizations, including FMR, Great River Greening, and DNR, have been working with Flint Hills to develop natural resource management plans that would better maintain and enhance the area's ecological values. Much of the area is in need of ongoing management work to eliminate exotic species such as buckthorn and to restore disturbed areas to native vegetation. In 2003, FMR received a $202,000 gift from a former owner of one of the parcels included in the SNA to help fund this restoration work.
With the passage in fall 2002 of Dakota County's $20 million Farmland and Natural Area Referendum, additional funds may be available for protection of Pine Bend Bluffs' unique features through conservation easements or outright acquisition.
About the photographs
In conjunction with this campaign, we invited 10 Minnesotan photographers to photograph each of our Twin Cities Treasures. This page includes low-resolution images of the Pine Bend Bluffs area by Chris Faust, who also received McKnight Artist Fellowships for photography in 1989, 1992, and 1997.
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