Worthy entrance
By Shane Frederick
Free Press Staff Writer
KASOTA — From the rebuilt stone wall at the entrance to the Kasota Prairie, Bob Idso can see the past and the future of the land.
Bob Idso, president of Save the Kasota Prairie, visits the prairie every week or two.
John Cross photo, courtesy of the Mankato Free Press.
The past includes virgin and restored portions of the plains that once covered a third of Minnesota.
The future includes perhaps expanding the prairie's 240 acres and incorporating it into the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
As for the present ...
"This is a nice entrance," said Idso, president of the Save the Kasota Prairie organization. "This is a nice place for people to arrive to and know why we're here."
The prairie was set aside as a preserved prairie ecosystem in 1984.
The Kasota stone wall was originally constructed about 10 years ago, but weather, frost and vandalism eroded its original lime-based mortar to rubble.
"We said, 'Let's fix it right,'" Idso said. "It was just falling apart, just a mess. We were afraid it was going to be ruined."
The wall is almost complete, just in time for Save the Kasota Prairie's annual meeting and potluck supper, which will be held at 6 p.m. today at the Kasota Park shelter house in Kasota.
Save the Kasota Prairie members, guests and supporters are welcome to attend tonight's meeting.
Idso said he expects some members will venture out to the prairie, check out the new entrance and maybe walk the path that is mowed through the prairie for hiking in the summer and groomed for cross-country skiing in the winter.
The entrance includes the original stone pedestal with a map of the prairie - including roads and watershed carved on top.
"It should have an entrance that's worthy of the prairie," Idso said.
Funds from charitable gambling paid for the wall restoration, as well as a barbed-wire fence that encloses the rest of the park.
The organization is now out of the charitable gambling business, Idso said, but it still has dreams for the future, including the acquisition of 70 acres of land and the tie-in with the refuge.
