Birch Island Woods
STATUS: 32 ACRES PROTECTED, 4 ACRES ENDANGERED
Map to Birch Island Woods
Birch Island Woods, a 41-acre swath of forest and wetlands in north-central Eden Prairie, anchors a cluster of historic, environmental, human service, and recreational resources at the southern end of a green corridor that extends into Minnetonka. A lengthy citizen campaign led to a December 2001 agreement by Eden Prairie to buy 32 acres of the woods from Hennepin County for a city conservation area.
In 1999, 37 acres of Birch Island Woods claimed by Hennepin County were classified as "surplus" (unneeded for county purposes) and ordered "disposed."
The Friends of Birch Island Woods and the Sierra Club's campaign to protect 32 acres of the woods once owned by Hennepin County succeeded after 2-1/2 years of education and advocacy. Hennepin County was planning to sell the Woods to a developer, but the Friends' strong partnership with the City of Eden Prairie was a key factor in the county agreeing to sell the Woods to the City for $600,000 plus interest over a multi-year contract. Four acres of the Birch Island Woods remain endangered as one to two landowner groups are interested in selling the land to developers, which would have hemmed in the remaining woodland and blocked access from one of the primary roads bordering the Woods.
HOW TO GET THERE
By the Southwest Regional Bicycle Trail: Bike riders can get to Birch Island Woods district via the South Branch of the Southwest Regional LRT Trail, which links Minneapolis, St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka, Eden Prairie, and Chanhassen. At the Edenvale Boulevard crossing, one-half mile south of the Crosstown (Highway 62), you'll connect to the perimeter streets edging the woods and a trail through the conservation area.
By car: Take the Crosstown (Highway 62) 3/4 mile west of Interstate 494 to the first stoplight after Baker Road. Turn left (south) onto the service road. Forty yards later, turn right onto Indian Chief Road and the Eden Wood Center, or continue under the railroad bridge where you will find two unpaved parking areas.
DESCRIPTION
Birch Island Woods has year-round interest
photo: Jeff Strate
Birch Island Woods is the only woods left in Eden Prairie not hemmed in by houses, and the only one that can still be fully seen from public streets. Although it is the city's smallest conservation area, it is the keystone of a much larger, urban-bound corridor of open space resources. The conservation area is a wilderness-like complex of wetlands, knolls, and hills covered with a mix of aspen, basswood, boxelder, cottonwood, elm, ironwood, maple, a variety of oaks and a few pines, willows, and tamarack. Disease has greatly reduced the birch population, and European buckthorn and garlic mustard are encroaching into sections of the woods.
Wilderness landscape describes the adjacent Birch Island Park, which includes an isthmus separating Birch Island Lake from a wetland, archaeological sites, and the Eden Wood Center, a year-round retreat for children with special needs. Eden Wood, which is leased from the City and operated by Friendship Ventures, Inc., includes a conference center, the historic Holasek House, and the Glen Lake Children's Camp, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The camp was part of the former Glen Lake Tuberculosis Sanitarium located 1/4 mile to the north in Minnetonka. The sanitarium's successor, the Twin Oaks Nursing Home, was demolished in the early 1990s for the Glen Lake Golf Center. The six-acre Picha Heritage Farm on Birch Island Road next to the woods raises raspberries, vegetables, and greenhouse flowers and is planning to operate as a living history farm. However, a five-acre farm to the east was sold for residential development in November 2003.
The major components of the green corridor north of the Crosstown Highway in Minnetonka include most of the Glen Lake Golf Course, the Hennepin County Home school with its horse ranch and lake shore, and the tamarack wetlands between Glen Lake and the Southwest Regional Bike Trail.
WHAT YOU CAN DO AT BIRCH ISLAND WOODS
Birch Island Friends volunteer early
in the campaign to save the Woods.
photo: Jeff Strate
The Birch Island Woods Conservation Area is open for hiking, bird watching, and limited bicycling and ski touring. The sanctuary's half-mile-long main trail (an 1880s railroad bed) passes above wetlands and by heavily wooded knolls and hills. A loop trail and a hill with a view of Birch Island Lake and Park can be found along the way. Visitors can also hike or bike along the woods' perimeter roads and the track along a railroad right-ofway to take full measure of the district's rural appeal.
The Picha Heritage Farm, Friends of Birch Island Woods, and others host tours and sponsor b u c k t h o r n removal and nature study workshops in the woods and park. Eden Wood's special needs campers and other guests regularly use trails in the conservation area for relaxation, confidence-building exercises, and field trips. National Audubon Society members have identified more than 65 bird species including pileated woodpeckers, loons, great blue herons, bald eagles, bluebirds, and wild turkeys. Deer, fox, coyote, beaver, muskrat, and other animals are found in the area.
THREAT AND RESPONSE
Two parcels of Birch Island Woods remain privately owned and unprotected. One of the two parcels, a four-acre privately owned section near the Picha Heritage Farm, began facing intense development pressure. One set of the parcel's co-owners, who are developing a nearby five-acre farm, want to sell the four acres to a developer; the other set of owners, who own and operate the Picha Heritage Farm, want the four acres folded into the conservation area.
If the parcel is developed, the woods will be fragmented, highly valued viewsheds will be ruined, a hiking trail planned for the conservation area will be negatively affected, and the century-old Picha Heritage Farm could be taxed out of existence.
CURRENT SITUATION
Birch Island Woods
in late autumn
photo: Jeff Strate
The City of Eden Prairie has had plans to add the property to the conservation area since the completion of its Park and Open Space System Plan in 2002. In early 2004, the City reached an agreement with both sets of the four-acre parcel landowners to option the land for $800,000 until September. The City is planning a May 2004 referendum of which $1 million dollars would be allocated to purchase this acreage and other remnant woodlands in Eden Prairie. Other funding sources being considered include DNR land acquisition grants and donations from the private sector. Although the cost of the four-acre parcel is $800,000, this price is a fraction of what the city hopes to spend on recreational infrastructure over the next few years. The challenge for the Friends of Birch Island Woods and allied groups is to make sure that the city and the public appreciate the importance of the four-acre parcel to the future well-being of the woods and its associated resources so they will protect it.
IF YOU WANT TO GET INVOLVED
To learn more about expanding the Birch Island Woods Conservation Area, contact:
Jeff Strate
Friends of Birch Island Woods
952-949-8980
www.fbiw.org
To develop or participate in a Birch Island Woods area stewardship or buckthorn removal program, contact Friends of Birch Island Woods or City Hall:
Stuart Fox
Natural Resources and Parks Manager
Eden Prairie
952-949-8445
City of Eden Prairie website:
www.edenprairie.org
The Embrace Open Space campaign has more information on Birch Island Woods on its other treasures page, as well as other open space treasures around the Twin Cities.