ECOLOGIAL RESTORATION
ER
AT CEDAR LAKE POINT BEACH (AND BEYOND)
2022 kind of blew by like a snowdrift in a winter storm. What was once there and seemed like a barrier to getting somewhere disappeared, only to reappear somewhere else. Those appearances and reappearances are sometimes real and tangible. And sometimes they are just what's in your mind. There's great satisfaction in all of the buckthorn that was shucked, plucked and chucked at Cedar Lake Point Beach this year. But after walking around Cedar this morning, I stopped and visited with a guy taking photos of the morning's hoarfrost and nature and our role as humans in our environment, we stood amidst the thickest and most mature of buckthorn forests at the north east shoreline of the lake.
It connected me with the sense of delight in being reminded of our Minneapolis Park Board Commissioner reporting in her newsletter about securing the $67,062 in SWLRT easement fees for natural resources projects at Cedar Lake. The funds can be used for habitat restorations after buckthorn removal. And those funds can go a long way. But standing it the literal thick of it, surrounded by a dense forest of buckthorn, how I wish some resources might be able to be used to get the first step of work started, eradicating buckthorn all the way around Cedar Lake. I'll spare the effort of going through a "best of" citing of events or memories from 2022. My memory doesn't work well enough to compile such a list. But to me, the concept of biodiversity just keeps getting repeated in practically everything I see and think about from 2022. Last week's The New York Times Magazine article "Post-Normal" by David Wallace-Wells cited figures that made the problem of human civilization stripping the planet of its biological complexity. Habitat destruction and overexploitation are the primary threats to biodiversity. Vertebrate populations have declined on average by about 69 percent since 1970. As many as a million animal and plant species face the threat of extinction. Some 50 percent of all insect species have died off since 1970. Only 3 percent of global ecosystems remain intact. Our biodiversity is shrinking. But our efforts are helping to grow biodiversity in this small area. Clearing of buckthorn at Cedar Lake Point Beach is a step in the restoration process. Planting new plants and seeds is another step. We did new plantings in two of the three Demonstration Areas. It's important to now protect those planted areas to nurture early growth. I've noticed some footsteps through Demonstration Area C, the about one acre patch between the parking lot and the wooded walking path down the hill to the east. I'm trying to stack some sticks to inform people to not walk through there. I know it doesn't take much time for initial paths become formalized over time. So if you see anyone in that area, please feel welcome to infirm them that this is a protected area that we're hoping to protect even over the winter. (The signs ordered from the Park Board are apparently still in the works.) Thanks for you hep with this. And a heads up. We are hoping to do a burning of brush this winter. Managed by the park board, this will be a great opportunity to clear much of the brush cuttings that have stacked up over the past coupe years of cutting. More on that as it gets scheduled. I think it could be a pretty fun opportunity to the interested to gather. Best wishes to all of you in 2023. A new year, new set of seasons for us to experience, enjoy and embrace nature as a part of our living in city that values wonderful park system whose foundation is a healthy biodiverse natural environment.
0 Comments
|
Archives
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. |