has anyone contacted Soil and Water Conservation Services or Natural Resources Conservation District within the county? Try going thru USDA and Farm Services Administration. If you find the right person within one of these offices you may find a resource. Charlene Nelson, retired farmer from Grant County MN
On Apr 10, 2014, at 9:37 PM, Chad Heins <oduna...@yahoo.com> wrote: > I regret to inform all of you that a significant portion > Hey birders, > > I regret to inform all of you that a significant portion of the area I call > the Kasota Prairie in southwestern Le Sueur County has been lost to > development. The beautiful pasture on the south side of 468th St/TR140 west > of CR21/Dodd Rd is no more and that road for all intensive purposes does not > exist either. The Kasota SNA is still there and the Unimin Prairie on the > northwest corner of that road are still there, but access from CR21 now > occurs south of there by going west on 480th Street from CR21, then by going > north on 367th Avenue. > > That pasture will always bring back memories of nesting Loggerhead Shrikes, > Henslow's Sparrows, and Upland Sandpipers. Meadowlarks seemed to alternate > which species occupied that section and sometimes it was both species at > once. The joined a chorus of Bobolinks, Dickcissels, Eastern Kingbirds, > Grasshopper Sparrows, Field Sparrows, Clay-colored Sparrows, and occasionally > Savannah Sparrows. Many a big day has trolled through that area to pick up > prairie-nesters that concentrated in that area. > > It is my understanding that Unimin owns much of the mineral rights in that > area and continues to buy out landowners. I believe fracking sand is what > they are after and their plan for the area stretches out decades into the > future. The Kasota SNA may end up being an island surrounded by lands in > various levels of reclamation/restoration at some point down the road. > > I can't help but feel I let us all down on this one. I'm sorry I found out > about it too late to do anything. I took my students out to the Unimin > Prairie for a walk- around today and the dramatic change to the landscape in > that area is scarring in more ways than one. If you get a chance, take a > look at some aerial photographs on Google Earth and you'll see how large a > pasture area this is/was. > > On a side note...some of the prairie species listed above can still be found > along 480th Street's south side (Upland Sandpiper, Grasshopper Sparrow, > Eastern Meadowlark), but sometimes they are very distant and over the > hill/out of sight. > > Happy birding! > > Chad Heins > Mankato > > "But ask the animals and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and > they will tell you; Which of all these does not know that the hand of the > Lord has done this?" --Job 12:7, 9 > > ---- > Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html > ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
