A NONPROFIT, TAX DEDUCTIBLE ORGANIZATION P.O. Box 3, Kasota, Minnesota  56050
NEWSLETTER
Vol 24, No. 10	November, 2000

Prairie Dirt

For those of you who haven’t been able to get out to the Prairie, it is quite beautiful. At mid-October there are still a very few purple asters blooming, along with blue harebells! These began to bloom in June and are still in flower here and there in the short-grass prairie remnants. Everything else has gone to seed and straw, painting the hills with ocher, burnt sienna, and deep, rich browns bleaching almost to ivory.

The red-tailed hawks have good hunting as most broadleaf cover is gone. There are still Canada geese and mallards and mergansers, but these have gotten quite shy and restless and every day more are leaving for their southern wintering grounds.

Water levels of the primary settling pond to the east of the Prairie, and the secondary pond between Zones Five and Three, remain very low, although water is pumping in continuously. There hasn’t been any outflow since late Spring or early Summer down the drainage that divides Zone Four from Zones Three and Two. But the small, spring-fed Heart-of-the-Prairie pond has been stable at a somewhat diminished level and has developed a margin of typical wetland reeds. The Beaver Pond is quite high and the springs that feed it from the foot of the bluffs are very strong. Indeed. the nearly record low level of the Minnesota River has exposed a number of vigorous springs below the cliff along the river side of Zone One. I wonder if the drainage has gone below the surface, and if so, I wonder how that will affect the geology and hydrology of the area.

I made an informal survey of the Vetter Site this month. I probably should have contacted Unimin as I was technically trespassing, but it came as a whim when I got to the northern fenceline one fine day. I followed the bluffline of the “panhandle” all the way up to the deep ravine that goes down to the old gravel pit at the end of the township road that goes west from Depottown. There is a corridor a hundred feet or more wide between the nearly vertical drop-off to the woods and backwaters of the riverbottom, and the berm cordoning off the area being mined immediately to the east, and composed of the overburden from the mining. This is the fringe of the area that Unimin has proposed to donate to an expansion of the Prairie Conservation Zone. It’s very desirable, in my opinion. It completes the geological terrace “island” that the Prairie occupies, and there are a couple of nice dolomite anvil stones, one of them quite large, in the undisturbed area. But restoration is going to be very challenging. The area was extensively grazed by cattle right up until the time the mining operation broke ground. I saw no native grasses except some sparse stands of side-oats grama, and native forbs were limited to goldenrod, vervain and such that can be found in any pasture. And of course that is the approximate one-quarter of the tract that is not being stripped of all vegetation by the mining.

The Ravine is more that fifty feet below the bluffs at the River and has in fact been flooded extensively from the River twice this past decade. I estimate it to be about 250 feet across at the narrowest points, and it becomes shallower in relation to the mostly level terraces as it leads away from the River and bends south towards the settling ponds bordering the Prairie. Originally, I believe, the natural overflow drainage from Long Lake through Lowe’s reached the River this way.

North of the Ravine is more pasture dotted with junipers and a few oaks that in less than a half mile gives way to dominately mixed hardwoods as the bluff becomes lower and more broken. This area is supposed to have some archeological and historical attraction as the site of the original Halverson homestead. But as far as I can tell there is virtually no native prairie remaining and there are a number of artificial structures supporting the cattle operation, as well as what appears to be several scraps from grain bins destroyed in the ‘98 Tornado. Whatever its sentimental or geologic attraction, it doesn’t seem to me to offer much in the way of future expansion of the Prairie and can probably be dropped as an issue in the ongoing negotiations with Unimin. If the will or resources to expand in this direction should develop in the future we will have the ability under the first refusal provision to buy it up.

Returning southward some distance from the bluffs, but probably not as far as the section line, I crossed a road and a fenceline just before the land began to drop back into the Ravine and found fairly extensive prairie remnant among scattered junipers. I’m not sure of my orientation and may have been at the township road and crossing into the “4b” area of the panhandle. But I think it was a farm road a coupla hundred feet farther north, which shows on the aerial photo we have of the area.

This area would be worth saving and including in the “panhandle” cession. In fact, the more I think about it, there would be considerable advantages to a boundary and fence on the north fringe of the ravine to create a buffer between the public areas of the Conservation Zone and the active mining on the rest of the Vetter Site. This area, draining directly into the floodplain, is not suitable for mining, but is a corridor for wildlife to and from the River and valuable for that. Adding that area, say, by extending the line in the riverbottom that marks the southern edge of the land “leased by DNR,” to the section line to the east would include these areas, be protected by an existing fenceline and patrollable on an existing road, and would make the donated acreage about 60 acres, compact and manageable.

We hope this will be agreeable to Unimin and we can finalize a new agreement with them in the near future, after kicking various proposals around for a year and a half.

Meanwhile, the financial aspect of our ability to sustain this or any expansion of the Prairie is affected by the loss of our Mankato gambling sites. We closed our gambling at the Caledonia last month after they were denied renewal of their lease by the management of Madison East so the space could be rented to another bar at a higher price. And while engaged in this, we were given notice by Pluto’s Pub that they would switch to another organization at the end of this month. Jon Pluto, when I asked, said he did not have any complaints against our management, but was making a purely business decision based on the offer of more money to switch.

It may be that another gambling management could make the site earn enough to pay more than we have in rent and salaries, and if we watch we may learn a few tricks. Or the new leaseholders, the Lake Washington Improvement group, make learn an unpleasant lesson of their own. But Jon is certainly within his rights to make the change, and after nearly four years and more than a quarter million dollars in deposits, we have no reason to complain. But we have, once again, lost about half our prospective income due to circumstances beyond our control. We may have the opportunity to pick up another site in Mankato if the management of Caledonia is able to open another bar as they hope to do. They wish to remain with us if we can come up with a suitable deal. Until that time, however, it is doubtful that any of our long-standipng support for Mankato charities will be continued. With the Athletic Scholarship Fund on hiatus and the Rugby Club being sponsored by Pluto, the effect will be on matching KMSU’s membership pledges, and the underwriting of their Blues Performance Series. Under our commitment to retain seventy percent of profits for SKP projects, and the requirements of local ordinance and other considerations, there will be very little left to divert from our Kasota and St. Peter operations to support these, and maybe not much justification for doing so in any case. This will have to be decided by the members in open meeting. So you see, it is important for you all to attend and take part in meetings, beginning with our Fourth Quarter Funding Meeting on Thursday, November 9, 2000, at eight p.m.

Minutes of the October 5, 2000, Membership Meeting:

SKP’ers Get Picky

Ditch pick-up day for whatever crew shows up to maintain the SKP 3-mile stretch is always a look at the underbelly of the human beast. After a few times on the detail, we tend to draw some (very unscientific) conclusions, such as that Mountain Dew and Miller beer drinkers, Marlboro smokers, and McDonald’s patrons, are the worst litterers. (Examine your consciences).

We, kids and adults, also see aspects of wildlife (or wildeath), that we don’t ever see up close: skulls, teeth intact, that none of us can identify; whole skeletons of raccoons, pheasants, and deer; a painted turtle,“mummified”, with legs, tail and head intact; rabbits, voles and moles scurrying out of our path.

Besides the trash you would expect to find in ditches, we have come across some very unexpected finds: this day yielded Britney Spear’s CD “Hit Me Baby One More Time”, a mattress, a CURVES AHEAD road sign, and paperboard and bubble-wrap packing from a large, no, huge dildo--specifically “The Big Boss”, with three speeds and heater option. My nephew who found this prize, commented, “Someone paid $22.95 for this?!”

Porn is regularly discarded, along with bottles and fast-food wrappers. There are videos, magazines...bags of magazines. Along with single gloves and single shoes, another regular find is pop bottles full of urine. Believe me, there is no mistaking this.

Some of the treasures we have removed from our roadsides are: a ratchet set, other assorted tools, a bait bucket, a porcelain figurine, a railroad spike.

In the non-treasure category: a nephew picked up a wad of newspaper and out fell two pairs of soiled Fruit of the Looms (he is still with us on pickup, despite that experience); 36 corrugated CD shipping boxes, one every so many yards; an engine; many empty fifths of Grande Canadian, again, every so many yards; lots of packaging from over-the-counter-stay-awake-to-drive-drugs; tires; lumber; tin; insulation, plastic,wrap and bags.

The stuff we find is perplexing:(did this guy change his undies on the move? Why were there two pairs? did he anticipate...?); disgusting (I was taught in the 60’s not to litter?how can people still be throwing their waste out of windows in 2000?!!); amusing (the guy(s) who had to unload the porn before getting home); amazing (is peeing in a bottle a skill all males learn at some time in their life? Certainly assuming this is a male behavior); and disheartening (at least half of the tossed litter is recyclable: aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles, tin and cardboard).

The outing is also fun!!: the discoveries, good and bad, working with new/familiar volunteers, kids and fogies, novices and veterans ? AND the final reward : choice of the menu, chicken strips, burgers, cheese sticks, etc...Oh, I almost forgot the mention pizza!

This year we overwhelmed Mel at the Blue Moon. He was tending bar and manning the kitchen...solo. There were eleven of us. Sorry Mel! The finale is a great incentive and a fulfilling ending. Best of all is the feeling of accomplishment when we drive back down Old 5 and see all of our work in black bags, ready to be removed.

JOIN US NEXT SPRING!

Pictured above: (Back, L to R) Eric Steinmetz, Ian Maertens, Nolan Nimps, Hayden Maertens, John Rogers, Jeana Rogers (Front, L to R) Judy Cooper , Aaron Kisor, Everett Idso, Jared Maertens, Joanne Nimps. (Not Pictured: Bob Idso...he’s taking the picture!)

Sunday, Nov. 5, 2000
At the Blue Moon, Kasota
3:30pm Board Meeting

2000-2001 SKP Board of Directors
Eric Steinmetz, President
Judy Cooper, VIce President
Mark Halverson, Treadurer
Bob Idso, Secretary
Joyce Eaton
Karen Larson
Jim Tracy