Contacts: Trevor Russell, Land Use Organizer, 612-659-9124
Sharell Benson, Land Use Campaign Co-Chair, 651-216-0132
Imperiled Chanhassen Open Space Highlights Sierra Club's New Green Guide
Chanhassen - The Sierra Club unveiled the "Citizen's Guide To Endangered Green Space" at a press conference today in Chanhassen.
The Guide, now in its second edition, highlights special open spaces and natural areas across the Twin Cities in danger of being lost to urban sprawl and development. It also provides information about the natural history of these places, how the public can visit them, details about the threats they face, and ways people can get involved in their protection.
"We're excited to be able to highlight these wonderful open spaces while they still exist." said Frank Jossi, co-chair of the Sierra Club's Land Use Campaign. "This guide is a must for Minnesotans interested in visiting our most special places before they're lost."
One such green space - Chanhassen's Seminary Fen - is considered one of the finest remaining wetlands in the state. An agreement to purchase an important 160-acre parcel of the property for conservation was recently rejected by the landowners.
The land could be lost to development as soon as the end of February. The Sierra Club and community groups have struggled for years to raise more than $2 million to buy the fen. The recent collapse of the purchase agreement is a blow to those efforts.
"A place like the Seminary Fen is incredibly valuable as a natural resource and community asset," notes Sharon Stephens, a Sierra Club volunteer. "It's also one of the few remaining undeveloped parcels in Chanhassen. Leaving it in a natural state has been a priority of Chanhassen's citizens and public officials, as well as the state."
The 88-page Citizens Guide features several other "endangered" green spaces in the metropolitan area, among them Springbrook Nature Center and Rum River Nature Area in Anoka County; The Big Woods in Wayzata, and River's Edge in St. Paul Park. The guide also covers "compromised" land where open space remains but development has occurred, such as Seidl's Lake Park in South St. Paul and Riley Creek Conservation Area in Eden Prairie.
Other areas featured in the guide include Chub Lake in Dakota County and the St. Croix River Valley.
"The Guide is more than an inventory of at-risk lands," added Sharell Benson, a Sierra Club volunteer who led the Endangered Green Space project. "We also tell the story of people - citizens groups and local residents - who've fought to save some wonderful parks and open spaces.
The guide showcases citizens who worked to preserve Birch Island Woods, Hiawatha Oak Preserve and Eagan Core Greenway. Funded by the McKnight Foundation, the guide also offers tips on conserving land and profiles people who have championed open space.
"Seminary Fen is one battle we thought we had won," Benson adds, "but with development pressures in the Twin Cities and rising land prices its been tough to save open space. We lose hundreds of acres a month in the metropolitan region to development. The Green Guide attempts to show the best of what's left and offers a rationale for saving them. We'll be a richer metropolitan area if we are able to preserve these places for future generations."