Brownsville Bluff SNA


	About

	Ownership


	Links
	Minnesota DNR

	Overview
	Brownsville Bluff Scientific and Natural Area, in Houston County, was designated on January 19, 2016. The 39-acre south section is a wildlife sanctuary that is closed to the public. The site consists of 286 acres bedrock bluff covered with windblown sediment. The eastern-facing slopes are moderately steep to very steep. They have a mature, moderately moist forest of sugar maple, basswood, ironwood, northern red oak, and white oak. The west-facing slopes are less steep. They have a dry to moderately moist mature forest of bur oak, northern pin oak, northern red oak, and paper birch, with some shagbark hickory, white oak, and black walnut. At the top of the bluff there is a prairie that has been used as an agricultural field. It will be restored to prairie and savanna. An access road leads from the parking area (walk around the gate) 0.67 miles to the top of the bluff. A footpath follows the cleared fields on the bluff top to the northern boundary. Another footpath leads east from there to a spectacular overlook at the northeast corner of the SNA, a dizzying 400 feet above the road below.

	History
	This site was designated Brownsville Bluff Scientific and Natural Area on January 19, 2016.

	Management


	Comments


	Location

	Maps


	Printable Map(s) with GPS coordinates


	Size
	286 acres

	Parking
	N43 40.700, W91 16.702


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					Houston County
					Southeast Minnesota


	Activities

	Hiking Trails
	There are no maintained hiking trails. An access road leads from the parking area (walk around the gate) 0.67 miles to the top of the bluff. A footpath follows the cleared fields on the bluff top to the northern boundary. Another footpath leads east from there to an overlook at the northeast corner of the SNA, a dizzying 400 feet above the road below. The Gopherland Trail snowmobile trail passes through the sanctuary portion of the SNA and may be used by snowmobiles when covered with snow.

	Hunting
	Whitetail deer. See Hunting and Trapping Regulations (MN DNR) for details.


	Ecology

	Ecological Classification
	Ecological Province			Eastern Broadleaf Forest Province
	Ecological Section			Paleozoic Plateau
	Ecological Subsection			The Blufflands
	Land Type Association			Brownsville Slopes Caledonia Ridgetops Mississippi River Valley

	Native Plant Communities*
	Not mapped (10/11/2021) Preliminary List Southern Dry-Mesic Oak-Hickory Woodland Southern Mesic Oak-Basswood Forest
	* Source: The Minnesota Biological Survey, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Ecological Resources

	Natural Features
	Oak-hickory woodlands, oak-basswood forest, steep bluffs, old fields, and overlook.

State Forest

This SNA lies within the Richard J. Dorer Memorial Hardwood State Forest.

Sanctuary

The 39-acre south section of this SNA is a wildlife sanctuary. It is closed to the public except to those with a research permit.

Sanctuary


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	Entrance


	Parking




	Access road leads to the top of the bluff


	State Wildlife Sanctuary


	Old field on the bluff top




	Oak Forest


	Overlook

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