Cherry Grove Blind Valley SNA
About • Location • Activities • Ecology
About |
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Overview |
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Cherry Grove Blind Valley SNA is just south of Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park. It is bordered to the north by the Cherry Grove State Wildlife Management Area. Just across the road (193rd Avenue) from the parking spot is the privately owned Minnesota Karst Preserve, Goliath’s Cave section. The protected feature of this SNA is the underground cave system, which connects to caves in Forestville State Park. Access to the gated cave system for qualified spelunkers requires written permission. The only above-ground feature mentioned by the Minnesota DNR on their Web page for this SNA are “sinkholes filled with scrub trees.” The non-wooded portion of the site was an agricultural meadow and was until recently mowed every summer. It is now (2018) a prairie reconstruction. |
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History |
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Management |
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Invasive buckthorn removal is an ongoing project. |
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Comments |
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Location |
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Maps |
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Printable Map(s) with GPS coordinates |
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Size |
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40 acres |
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Parking |
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N43 34.914, W92 15.851 |
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Driving Directions |
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| Fillmore County | ||||||
| Southeast Minnesota | ||||||
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 | Paleozoic Plateau |
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| Ecological Subsection | Rochester Plateau |
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| Land Type Association | Stewartville 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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Prairie reconstruction, oak forest, sinkholes, cave, sinking streams, and a blind valley. |
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Periodic Flooding
During and after a heavy rain, the low areas, including most of the wooded portion, may be covered in water. The water flows into sinkholes and soon disappears underground.
Visitor Photos |
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MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos |
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Parking |
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Oak Forest |
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Mowed Meadow |
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Blind Valley |
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Sinkhole |
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Cave Entrance |
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Sinking Streams |
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Cherry Grove WMA |
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Minnesota Karst Preserve |
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Slideshows |
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| Cherry Grove Blind Valley SNA minnesota_snas |
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About
Deep in karst country, the only above-ground clues to Goliath Cave in Cherry Grove Blind Valley SNA are sinkholes filled with scrub trees. Below ground, this huge cave system has at least four cave entrances, numerous connecting sinkholes, several disappearing streams, and extremely rare speleothem formations (secondary mineral deposits caused by water evaporation in a cave) with iron pyrite. |
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Visitor Videos |
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Other Videos |
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_02.jpg "bur oak (var. macrocarpa)")
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