ECOLOGIAL RESTORATION
ER
AT CEDAR LAKE POINT BEACH (AND BEYOND)
The seasons are changing right before us. But some days they seem to go forward. The next day it may feel like days are going backwards. As I write this post, we have a few inches of snow in the forecast. While some of the last days when the grounds are frozen solid, some initial work on gathering the files of dead limbs and brush began. Most of it is Buckthorn that was cut and piled in the interior of the peninsula over the past two to three years. This work will continue, but as much as we're itching to keep clearing the area, I've learned that we really need to take a break during early spring. Over the next few weeks, maybe as long as until mid-May this year, we just need to be patient and let nature do its thing. I'm gathering some information to explain what nature is actively doing while we stay out of its way. A naturalist friend is forwarding some information to help me write something up. I wanted to write it on my own, but I found little apparent information to help me understand and then explain the nature's spring awakening. Maybe I'm not so good at doing Google searches, or maybe this information is like the shy little critters we're trying to protect, too closely held for the mere pedestrian level nature researcher. Meanwhile, it will be fun to actively observe new signs of life coming to surface. Yesterday, a patch of moss revealed itself on the north bank of Ridge Trail.
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On the fist day of spring, the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board Natural Resources ad Volunteer Coordinator staff delivered on our request for some signs me me to place in "Demonstration Area C", the area just down from the parking lot where last autumn we planted native seeds. We want to protect an area where seeds were laid on top of the first fall of snow on November 14, 2022. The seeds cover the almost acre area and include native rye, grasses and sedge from rural Minnesota and Iowa counties. The 3-Year Plan Following this past winter's process where the seeds slowly settled into the prepared soils, we will follow 3-year information and instructions. They read as follows. What to expect: First year of growth of native vegetation is minimal. Routine cutting (to a height of 6-8 inches) of the site helps to provide light to the soil surface and young native seedlings. The provided cover crop will offer much of the above ground growth of year 1. Consider cutting with a weed whip once vegetation is 2 feet tall or if small flowering plants appear in the weeks following the seeding.
During the second year of establishment, native species tend to appear slowly and may remain small in stature. Vegetation maintenance is crucial during these early years to outcompete weedy vegetation, keep watching for undesirable weeds.
By the third growing season, most native species are maturing and can begin to compete with non-desirable, weedy, vegetation. It is during the third year that the true diversity of the planting area will become obvious, and various blooms can be noted throughout the growing season.
Just transcribing the information gives me a spring in my step! Hope it lifts your spirits too!
No Focus on a Mound of NeedOn the north shore of Cedar Lake sits a high ground commonly referred to as "The Mound." It has been enjoyed for years as an overlook to Cedar Lake where park visitors would stop for a few minutes on their walk through the woods, or plan as a spot to meet, fire up a little campfire, enjoy some beverages. Some trail organized runs like the Loppet's would include running up the wooden stairs as a part of the course. Today, it's an eroding slope. Unusable. Dangerous, especially if you happen to tumble on any of a number of spike nails still protruding. It's an eyesore. And a park liability. A liability as opposed to an asset that is. I've learned that the Park Board can't be sued so if someone does trip and injure themselves on one of those spikes, apparently the park is not liable? It would seem obvious that this troubled area would be acknowledged and addressed in the Cedar-Isles Plan. If the reconassance field trips to assess the natural areas somehow missed it, surely the planners would have heard what the local residents told them. This is a problem and it needs to be fixed. "If it ain't working, don't fix it."That seems to be the motto of the Cedar-Isles Plan. Despite local neighbors repeated pleas to not build new things, and first address existing problems and fix what we've got, the latest version of the draft Plan introduced yet another new development project at Cedar Lake's South Beach, now referred to as "FOCUS AREA A". As Mary Pattock writes in the February 2023 Hill and Lake Press, "it was shocking to see that at the last minute Park Board staff added Cedar Lake South Beach as a new 'focus area' with the new proposed amenities." This Focus Area was not a part of the "preferred design concept" last presented to the public in June 2023. The Plan ignores elements of an existing plan and adds new amenities never reviewed. Regrettably, this seems to be the most consistent theme of the draft Cedar-Isles Plan. Build more stuff. Overlook what needs fixing. It's what happens when there isn't a strategic framework to help to set priorities address needs before niceties. It will continue to happen unless the Plan is amended to include language that explicitly states needs and priorities. The public still has until Friday to comment on the Plan. Here's the link.
My pup Ted, a year ago helping with moral support of Buckthorn removal What does the dog photo have to do with biking in the woods? Nothing. I just couldn't capture of the guy on his BMX e-bike on Cedar Lake Point Beach Ridge Trail last month. An electric BMX bike? Really?
But I do want to discuss biking in the woods. To begin, I enjoy biking. I would like to call myself a biker, but I always feel like would come off like I'm a poser. Okay, I am a poser. I just don't want to be a friggin' poster. So I try to stay in my lane. But my road bikes (one of which is attached to a Zwift trainer), my commuter bike (that right now is rigged with a studded rear tire), and my fat bikes (one with studs, the other without), and that my next vacation is a bike trip, might classify me as one who likes biking. And I've got a lot of friends who bike. So I've been thinking about and having conversations with my biking friends bout what they think about the proposed bike lane though East Cedar Woods. Cost-Benefit Analysis After all the previous consideration of the "costs" of adding of a new two-way soft surface bike trail to East Cedar Woods, I spent some time contemplating the "benefits". Who benefits, and what are the benefits? Mountain and Fat Biking: No Value My mountain biking friends, who also include fat bikers, and including a friend of a friend who who sits on the Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists (MORC) board of directors confirmed what I expected. Mountain bikers do not value this area for mountain biking and either know little about this proposed plan nor would they see it something to advocate for. The bike path is so short and non-technical that it offers zero value as a mountain bike trail. Most all mountain bikers who are traveling from south Minneapolis to bike Wirth Trails commute via West Cedar Lake Parkway. Those who live in Kenwood or East Isles use the Cedar Lake Regional Trail. If anything, the pedestrian trails inside the woods are fun to ride. But mountain and fat bikers I know do this with a sense of hesitation. There are one or maybe two No Biking signs posted. But it's not so lear, so there's always a sense of gently riding though with a "let's just get along" and as a biker, I will yield to pedestrians. "There's too many people walking dogs in that area," explained one mountain biker. As a mountain biker and a dog walker (see photo above), I totally agree. If the area was more clearly established and communicated as no biking, such as the woods surrounding Eloise Butler Gardens, I expect responsible bikers would respect and even help communicate these off limits for the sake of getting along. But establishing a trail through the woods creates confusion of what is allowed and what is not, and it's inevitable that those following the formal path with stray into the pedestrian trails, out of curiously and sense exploration. Road Biking: No Value Obviously, the area has no value for road bikers. The regional trails, especially once fully re-opened after LRT construction might be completed, and parkways are primary conduits to accessing the exurban rural roads and bike paths. Street Biking/Commuting: A 1 to 2 Minute Joy Ride That leaves us with street bikers, including commuters. This is a bike contingency that has been replacing car lanes with bike lanes throughout the metro. It's confusing for me to see their plans resulting in plowing down of hundreds of trees, again justified as a way to save the environment. As a bike commuter, I am saddened by the hardline of removing on street parking that hurts street front businesses. I have never experienced more anger from car drivers than now after biking streets for more than 60 years. But this issues is not about street lanes. It's about a two-lane soft surface bike path through a wooded section that has been worked for decades, trying to protect and nurture nature. And for what benefits? The best I can assess is that this bike path is for street bikers is for a joy ride, with is maybe 0.3 miles in length delivers about one- or if your riding really slowly two-minute of recreational biking. This path provides no tangible circulation benefit to street bikers or commuters. There's already a paved Kenilworth Connector Trail within eyesight of this wooded path. This path does not make it safer to go between 21st Street and the Cedar Lake Regional Trail. If I wanted to use the Light Rail to access the area, ride another 0.3 miles to the next stop and cross over there. This path sanctions the area and invites more bikers to infiltrate the woods. Few bikers use this area, but even at its low volume is still very disruptive to the natural environment. What can you do? Please provide your input to the Cedar-Isles Plan by March 10th. |
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March 2024
AuthorI'm Steve Kotvis, volunteer Park Steward for the Minneapolis Cedar Lake Point Beach peninsula who has a newfound love of restoring this natural area and more. I'm learning as I go, and enjoy sharing that with those who have an interest. I'm also a photographer, so the photos in this blog are mine unless otherwise labeled. |