Blaine Preserve SNA
About • Location • Activities • Ecology
About |
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Ownership |
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Links |
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Overview |
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This site consists of two units separated by Lovell Road (County Road 52). It is mostly low wetland with areas of mesic prairie and oak woodland. |
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History |
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Overview |
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Management |
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Comments |
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Location |
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Maps |
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Detail map (MN DNR) |
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Printable Map(s) with GPS coordinates |
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Size |
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63.8 acres |
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Parking |
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Lexington Memorial Park |
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Driving Directions |
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Activities |
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Hiking Trails |
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No maintained trails |
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Hunting |
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No hunting |
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Ecology |
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Ecological Classification |
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| Ecological Province | Eastern Broadleaf Forest Province |
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| Ecological Section | Minnesota & NE Iowa Morainal |
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| Ecological Subsection | Anoka Sand Plain |
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| Land Type Association | Anoka Lake Plain |
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Native Plant Communities* |
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Not mapped (10/11/2021) |
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| * Source: The Minnesota Biological Survey, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Ecological Resources | |||||||
Natural Features |
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Footpaths
This SNA is in a busy suburb and is often visited by local residents. Some parts of the site get a great amount of use and have well-worn footpaths. There is a very well worn footpath beginning 75 yards east of the parking area. It leads north 100 yards then west, through the SNA, to a ball field near the northwest corner of Lexington Memorial Park. Other parts of the SNA are relatively untrammeled, with faint paths used mostly by deer, amateur naturalists, and the site steward.
Visitor Photos |
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MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos |
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Parking |
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Wood Routed Sign |
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Main Trail |
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Other Trails |
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Perennial Stream |
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Wet Prairie |
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Spring |
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Late summer |
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North Unit |
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Slideshows |
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| Blaine Preserve SNA minnesota_snas |
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About
The Blaine Preserve protects 13 rare plants, including four of Minnesota's endangered species. The largest know Minnesota population of cross-leaved milkwort and the second largest Minnesota population of twisted yellow-eyed grass are found on this site. The predominant native plant community that supports most of these plants is a Graminoid Rich Fen, a low-lying wetland characterized by grasses and sedges growing in peat. Blaine Preserve was protected because of the site's outstanding biodiversity significance, and because only remnants of this community type remain in this rapidly developing part of the metropolitan region. |
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Visitor Videos |
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Other Videos |
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| Blaine Preserve Scientific and Natural Area Virtual Hike Minnesota Department of Natural Resources |
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About
Apr 2, 2020 Blaine Preserve SNA is near I-35W in Blaine, and is a site of very high biodiversity. It provides a colorful show of flowers and grass during the growing season, but the prairie blazing star is especially astounding in late July and early August. Find the wild places! |
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_02.jpg "bur oak (var. macrocarpa)")
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