Elmwood Hiking Trail
The undeveloped portion of Elmwood Street between the junction with Auburn and the Welcome to Lanesboro sign off Highway 16 has been cleared and is now open as a hiking trail.
The area has been cleared of invasive buckthorn and honeysuckle and is being restored as an oak savanna prairie under the supervision of the City of Lanesboro, the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and area prairie enthusiasts. The area will be burnt in the Spring as a training activity for the Lanesboro Fire Department. This project was approved at the January, 2023 city council meeting. More information about this project can be found on the City’s website or by scanning the QR code on the sign off Highway 16.
Our thanks to local volunteers who worked to complete this project and to the Carl and Verna Schmidt Foundation of Rochester, MN who provided funding to purchase short grass, pollinator prairie seeds and prairie starter seedlings.
It normally takes three to five years for prairies to re-establish themselves. The Elmwood hiking trail is a great place to walk your dog, do some birding and watch a prairie re-establish itself!
Note: Elmwood Street was once the main access to Lanesboro coming in from the east!
Prairie Restoration
A prairie restoration project of a remnant prairie on the steep slope behind the east Highway 16 “Welcome to Lanesboro” sign was approved at the January 2023 meeting by the Lanesboro City Council. The goal was to remove all existing invasive (buckthorn and honeysuckle), to reseed the slope with a short grass pollinator seed mix (see attachment) and interplant with pollinator prairie plants. Funding for the project was received from the Carl and Verna Schmidt Foundation.
Volunteers cut, piled and burned invasive shrubs and fourteen pickup loads of firewood that was cut from invasive was also removed. Prairie pollinator plants were planted in late May and the prairie seeds were sown in mid-June 2023.
Prairie short grass pollinator seeds were purchased from Shooting Star Native Seeds, Spring Grove, MN. Prairie pollinator plugs/plants were purchased from Prairie Moon Nursery, Winona, MN.
In the future, the Lanesboro Fire Department plans on conducting training controlled burns on the site to control re-emerging invasive and favor the prairie plants.
The City of Lanesboro thanks all who participated in this project.
According to the Fillmore County Biological Survey, The Vegetation of Fillmore County At The tIme Of Public Survey (1853-1854), this parcel was once an oak savanna. The prairie was maintained by occasional fires which the burr and white oaks survived because of their thicker bark. Remnant prairie plants still exist on the site. (Big buestem, Indian grass, Johnson grass, bergamot, mullein in the first year alone. This would all be enhanced by a Spring prairie backfire.)
