Carpenter St. Croix Valley Nature Center
About • Location • Activities • Ecology
About |
||
Ownership |
||
|
||
Links |
||
Overview |
||
Carpenter St. Croix Valley Nature Center is a 725-acre private preserve spanning both sides of the St. Croix River. It is free and open to the public. The 425-acre Minnesota “Campus” is in Washington County just northeast of Hastings. The Visitor Center has a number of live animals on display, including a Bald Eagle and a Peregrine Falcon. A number of non-native trees and shrubs around the Visitor Center and parking area will challenge the identification skills of any visiting plant enthusiast. The Minnesota Campus includes areas of grassland, oak savanna, red pine plantation, deciduous forest, and wetland. It also includes three native plant communities. On the east side of St. Croix Trail (County Hwy. 21) there are 5.6 miles of trail, 3.5 miles of them paved, leading across river bluffs, into deep forested ravines, and through floodplain forest bordering the St. Croix River. On the west side of the road about 4 miles of mowed trail wind through a 150-acre restored prairie. Carpenter St. Croix Valley Nature Center is free and open to the public. The Minnesota Campus is open “8:00 am to 4:30 pm excluding Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Years Day.” |
||
History |
||
|
||
Management |
||
|
||
Comments |
||
|
||
Location |
||||
Maps |
||||
Printable Map(s) with GPS coordinates |
||||
Size |
||||
Main Campus (Minnesota): 425 acres Wisconsin Campus: 300 acres |
||||
Parking |
||||
Main Campus (Minnesota) N44 45.911, W92 49.034 |
||||
Hours |
||||
8:00 am to 4:30 pm excluding Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Years Day. |
||||
Fees |
||||
No fee |
||||
Driving Directions |
 |
|||||
| Washington County | ||||||
| Metro Area | ||||||
Activities |
||
Hiking Trails |
||
About 15 miles, 3.5 miles of these paved |
||
Hunting |
||
No hunting |
||
Ecology |
|||||||
Ecological Classification |
 |
||||||
| Ecological Province | Eastern Broadleaf Forest Province |
||||||
| Ecological Section | Minnesota & NE Iowa Morainal |
||||||
| Ecological Subsection | St. Paul-Baldwin Plains and Moraines |
||||||
| Land Type Association | Afton Bedrock Hills Stillwater Alluvial Plain |
||||||
Native Plant Communities* |
|||||||
Red Oak - White Oak - (Sugar Maple) Forest Silver Maple - (Virginia Creeper) Floodplain Forest White Pine - Oak - Sugar Maple Forest |
|||||||
| * Source: The Minnesota Biological Survey, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Ecological Resources | |||||||
Natural Features |
|||||||
|
|||||||
Visitor Photos |
|||||
Share your photo of this destination. |
|||||
| This button not working for you? Simply email us at info@MinnesotaSeasons.com. Attach one or more photos and, if you like, a caption. |
|||||
|
|||||
MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos |
|||||
Park Entrance |
|||||
 |
|||||
River Overlook |
|||||
 |
 |
||||
Red Oak - White Oak - (Sugar Maple) Forest |
|||||
 |
|||||
Silver Maple - (Virginia Creeper) Floodplain Forest |
|||||
 |
 |
||||
Rocky Ravine |
|||||
 |
|||||
Prairie |
|||||
 |
|||||
Restored Prairie |
|||||
 |
 |
||||
Pond |
|||||
 |
|||||
St. Croix River |
|||||
 |
|||||
Slideshows |
||
Visitor Videos |
|||
Share your video of this destination. |
|||
| This button not working for you? Simply email us at info@MinnesotaSeasons.com. Attach a video, a YouTube link, or a cloud storage link. |
|||
Other Videos |
|||
| Take a Hike, Mike! Carpenter Nature Center Take a Hike, Mike! |
|||
About
Published on Sep 4, 2015 I hike to Carpenter Nature Center for bird banding, bird watching, and even turtle feeding! Can you sparrow moment to check out this episode?! Still images of CNC and GoPro footage by Steve Allen. |
|||
| Flint Hills Resources and the Carpenter Nature Center Goff Public |
|||
About
Published on Nov 15, 2013 Flint Hills Resources has supported the Carpenter Nature Center, in Hastings, MN, for more than 15 years. The Carpenter Nature Center has more than 10 miles of hiking trails and an interpretive center, where 7,000-10,000 Minnesota and Wisconsin students visit each year for field trips and hands-on learning experiences. During the field trips, students learn about nature, make maple syrup, trace animal tracks, and watch live animal demonstrations. The programming, which fulfills state science standards, only costs schools a small fee because of sponsors like Flint Hills Resources. The partnership started more than 15 years ago, when Flint Hills donated a building for the center's maple syrup operations. Since then, Flint Hills has supported important Carpenter Nature Center events like the Apple Blossom Races, the annual gala, and academic programming for students from pre-school to high school. |
|||
| Carpenter Nature Center CarpenterNature |
|||
About
Published on Jun 25, 2012 Created on June 25, 2012 using FlipShare. The interns at Carpenter Nature Center created this video as an example of how to work the FlipShare Software. We are looking to upload more podcasts- but we would like to know what people want to see! leave us a comment with what you would like to see. Visit our webpage at www.carpenternaturecenter.org |
|||
| VdPI-NNs7rQ Thomas Bordenave |
|||
About
Published on Apr 9, 2015 Preliminary flyover of Carpenter Nature Center |
|||
| Carpenter Nature Center Peonies CarpenterNature |
|||
About
Published on Jun 10, 2015 Carpenter Nature Center Peonies |
|||
_02.jpg "bur oak (var. macrocarpa)")
_04.jpg "prairie fleabane (var. strigosus)")
Eagles Nest
In 2016 a pair of bald eagles nested on this site.
Created: Last Updated: © MinnesotaSeasons.com. All rights reserved. |