St. Croix Valley

St. Croix Valley

Photo Credit: John Arthur

About Our Chapter


St. Croix Chapter is located in an area that at one time included large dry prairies. Today there are small oak savanna remnants that still contain some uncommon plants associated with those historic prairies. Our chapter works on a few of these, visits others to appreciate what is left, and educates folks on fire-dependent ecosystems.

The St. Croix chapter covers Pierce, Polk and St. Croix counties in Wisconsin, and Washington county in Minnesota. We invite you to join us!

The people, the sites we manage, the work we do

“Lost Prairie” in River Hills Park (work day 11JAN2025)

This small prairie was discovered years ago by Wayne H.  It has been ignored over the years.  As is typical with unmanaged prairies/savannas, buckthorn and cedar trees have grown up, shading the prairie plants.

We are well on our way to uncovering the overgrown prairie/savanna at this location. The long term goal is to create a pollinator corridor connecting Rocky Branch Prairie to the south and Foster Conservation Area to the north. With the invasion of River Hills Park (RHP) by non-native buckthorn and honeysuckle, there is very little remaining habitat for plants that provide resources (pollen and nectar) for pollinators in RHP.

BOARD REPRESENTATIVE

Peter Fritz

Email
Call: (612) 449-3176

CHAPTER CONTACT

Evanne Hunt

Email
Call: 715-381-1291

BOARD REPRESENTATIVE

 

Peter Fritz

Email
Call: 715-381-1291

CHAPTER CONTACT

 

Evanne Hunt

Email
Call: 715-381-1291

    

At the location we worked at on Saturday, there are couple of very large bur oaks whose growth form (large, spreading branches near ground level) suggests that they were growing in open prairie during their early years.

The fact that there were a number of red cedars at the location also suggests that this was prairie, as they only get established in open vegetation, i.e., prairie.

Red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is a native invasive tree that will take over prairies if fires are not frequent enough to keep them out.  Lots of branches near the ground indicate that the cedars established when the vegetation was much more open. This coming summer, we will survey the plants to see what comes up now that the canopy is again open.

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