Wabasha

Weaver Dunes Unit:
N44 15.490
W91 55.949

Kellogg-Weaver Unit:
N44 16.548
W91 56.484

1,004 acres

Rolling sand dunes; dry prairie, oak savanna

None

Minnesota DNR

Nature Conservancy

Kellogg-Weaver Dunes Scientific and Natural Area consists of two unconnected sections on a terrace above the Mississippi River. It hosts many species that are on Minnesota’s Endangered, Threatened, or Special Concern lists. The 592-acre section to the south is owned by the Nature Conservancy. The McCarthy Lake WMA is adjacent to both sections, east of Wabasha County Road 84. Weaver Bottoms is four miles south on US Highway 61.

Loggerhead shrike, a Minnesota threatened species, has been spotted here.

Two insect species with protected status in Minnesota are found here:

Threatened – Ottoe skipper (Hesperia ottoe)

Special concern – regal fritillary (Speyeria idalia)

Plains pocket mouse (Perognathus flavescens), a Minnesota special concern species, can be found here.

Several plant species with protected status in Minnesota are found here:

Endangered – rough-seeded fameflower (Talinum rugospermum)

Special concern – yellow-fruited sedge (Carex annectens), seaside three-awn (Aristida tuberculosa), purple sand-grass (Triplasis purpurea), woolly beachheather (Hudsonia tomentosa), clasping milkweed (Asclepias amplexicaulis), longbract wild indigo (Baptisia bracteata var. leucophaea), goat’s rue (Tephrosia virginiana), cliff goldenrod (Solidago sciaphila)

In mid-summer, rough-seeded fameflower blooms daily after 4:30 p.m. for only three hours.

Minnesota DNR Plant List

Two reptile species with protected status in Minnesota are found here:

Threatened – Blanding’s turtle (Emydoidea blandingii)

Special concern – gopher snake (Pituophis catenifer)

This area hosts one of the largest populations of the Blanding’s turtle. In June, females migrate to here to lay their eggs, and in August the hatchlings return to the wetlands.