Crosby Farm Regional Park
St. Paul, MN
About • Location • Activities • Ecology
About |
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Overview |
At 583 acres Crosby Farm Regional Park is the largest park in the City of St. Paul park system. It sits north of the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. It is near the northern end of a 22 mile continuous track of protected river corridor stretching from Cherokee Regional Park in St. Paul to Valleyfair in Shakopee. Crosby Farm Regional Park provides 6.7 miles of hiking trails through river bottomland. It contains oak forested bluffs, floodplain forest, various wetlands, and two lakes. Four native plant communities are found within its borders. It is frequently flooded in the spring. Crosby Farm Regional Park is part of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MNRRA) is a 72-mile, 53,775 acre corridor along the Mississippi River. It stretches in the north from Weigh Station Highway Park on US Highway 10 in Ramsey to the Dakota County/Goodhue County border in the south. MNRRA, pronounced “minnra”, is a partnership park, a new and unique kind of national park. St. Anthony Falls Visitor Center and Coldwater Spring are the only parcels of land within the MNRRA owned by The National Park Service. |
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Management |
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Location |
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Size |
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583 acres |
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Parking |
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2595 Crosby Farm Rd. N44 53.752, W93 10.401 |
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Sunrise - 11 p.m. |
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No fee |
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Maps |
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Activities |
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Hiking Trail running Biking Mountain biking Horseback riding Picnicking Camping Swimming Boating Canoeing Birding Nature photography Horseshoes Volleyball Geocaching Cross country skiing Skate-skiing Winter hiking Snowshoeing Snowmobiling |
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Trails |
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Hunting and Fishing |
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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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Minnesota & NE Iowa Morainal |
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St. Paul-Baldwin Plains and Moraines |
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| Land Type Association | Pig's Eye Alluvial Plain |
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Native Plant Communities* |
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Sedge Meadow Silver Maple - (Virginia Creeper) Floodplain Forest Spikerush - Bur Reed Marsh (Northern) Willow - Dogwood Shrub Swamp |
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| * Source: The Minnesota Biological Survey, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Ecological Resources | |||||
Natural Features |
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Visitor Photos |
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Kirk Nelson |
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| Crosby Farm Regional Park is also a Partner Site of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. | ||
Except for the traffic noise from the freeway; you would hardly know you are in the heart of the cities. |
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Upper Lake |
Mississippi River | |
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Wood ducks (male and female) and female Hooded Merganser with ducklings |
A floating boardwalk links a wildlife viewing blind to the fishing pier. Lake Crosby is home to a variety of waterfowl, eagles, beavers, and muskrats. | |
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Trails |
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| Trails | ||
MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos |
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Park sign |
Mississippi River | |
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East parking lot |
West parking lot | |
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Mapped paved trails |
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Mapped paved trails |
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Unmapped natural surface trails |
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Upper Lake |
Crosby Lake | |
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Silver Maple - (Virginia Creeper) Floodplain Forest |
Riverbottom forest | |
Slideshows |
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Visitor Videos |
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Other Videos |
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Crosby Farm Regional Park Oddity |
About
Published on Sep 28, 2012 While geocaching you can discover some unusual and cool places and things. I discover something that caught my eye while hiking and geocaching out in Crosby Farm Regional Park in St Paul, MN. While there is no geocache to be found directly with where this is found, Crosby Park has several geocaches to fill out your geocaching day. Watch out for the blooper at the end! Follow us on: Twitter: Facebook: Google+: Music: Kevin Macleod - http://www.incompetech.com |
Crosby Farm Regional Park - St Paul, MN |
About
Published on Apr 20, 2014 Crosby Farms Regional Park at 736 acres is the largest natural park in the Saint Paul system of parks and it is an important component in a string of parks that protects the biodiversity of the Mississippi River corridor through the Twin Cities. The park protects mostly floodplain forest and adjacent steep, wooded slopes cloaked mostly in oak forest, a scattering of wetlands and small lakes (Crosby Lake and Upper Lake), and the Mississippi River shoreline. |
Video: Treasure Hunters brave cold to hunt for puck |
About
Published on Mar 7, 2013 Day two of the St. Paul Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt lured a few brave hunters to Crosby Farm Regional Park Monday, Jan. 21 on the most frigid day of the year to date. One hunter describes his plan for finding the medallion -- and staying warm. |
The Cave of Crosby Regional Park |
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Published on Oct 19, 2012 While we do try to show us going caching, this was discovered while geocaching around Crosby Regional Park in St Paul, Minnesota. It was just tool cool to not see this cave on video. Video of cache mentioned: Follow us on: Twitter: Facebook: Google+: Intro music: Kevin Macleod - http://www.incompetech.com |
Crosby Lake Regional Park Part 1 |
About
Uploaded on Jun 17, 2010 Me walking around Crosby Lake Regional Park in St Paul, MN |
Visitor Sightings |
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Kirk Nelson |
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Birds |
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Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) |
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Fungi and Lichens |
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| Crown-tipped Coral (Artomyces pyxidatus) |  |
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Mammals |
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Plants |
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bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) Canada anemone (Anemonastrum canadense) prairie spiderwort (Tradescantia occidentalis var. occidentalis) |
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MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings |
Visits |
7/25/2016 |
Amphibians |
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Birds |
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American Black Duck (Anas rubripes) American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) American Robin (Turdus migratorius) Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) Eastern Wood-peewee (Contopus virens) Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) |
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Fishes |
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Fungi and Lichens |
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Insects and Arachnids |
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citrus flatid planthopper (Metcalfa pruinosa) common whitetail (Plathemis lydia) dog day cicada (Neotibicen canicularis) eastern pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) goldenrod bunch gall midge (Rhopalomyia solidaginis) goldenrod soldier beetle (Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus) grape leaf miner moth (Phyllocnistis vitifoliella) great black digger wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus) hackberry nipplegall maker (Pachypsylla celtidismamma) Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) twelve-spotted skimmer (Libellula pulchella) white snakeroot leaf miner (Liriomyza eupatoriella) |
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Mammals |
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Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas Mammals List |
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American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) |
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_04.jpg "prairie fleabane (var. strigosus)")
Reptiles |
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| common garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) |  |
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Created: 6/1/2016 Last Updated: © MinnesotaSeasons.com. All rights reserved. |