Buying Chisago County land to save St. Croix River

FRANCONIA, MINN. - Time stopped long ago in these deep woods, where the rotting lumber of a hunter's tree stand looks as old as the tree itself. Here, on a ravine-laced patch of land on the bluffs above the St. Croix River, deer wander the trails and wild turkeys bobble through the undergrowth.

"There aren't many places like this left," said Becca Nash, who as project manager for the Trust for Public Land (TPL) made sure that these 38 acres near Franconia, in southern Chisago County, will remain a place of undisturbed beauty.

The TPL's purchase of this private land is the latest move to head off development along the St. Croix's fragile ecosystem. Fresh off the recent news that Minnesota's "wild and scenic" river is considered endangered, the TPL and other conservation-minded agencies have waged a quiet battle to save native land before an improved economy renews interest in building houses and roads with river views.

Piece by small piece, conservationists are building a cushion of protection along the St. Croix. While the Franconia purchase isn't big, it's strategically placed along one of the most picturesque stretches of the river.

Farther south along the river, in Denmark Township, the TPL has reached a preliminary agreement on a 120-acre plot of land that's mostly prairie but still essential to the river's protection.

"It's becoming more and more difficult to reduce some of the damage that could be done," said Nash, reflecting on the metro area's push eastward into Washington County. "If action isn't taken soon, it will be too late."

The county, which stretches along the St. Croix for more than 40 miles on its entire eastern border, expects to add 140,000 more residents by 2030. Four distinct population centers have emerged in recent years: Woodbury/Oakdale/Lake Elmo, Cottage Grove/St. Paul Park, Forest Lake/Hugo, and Stillwater/Oak Park Heights/Bayport.

In 1968, Sen. Walter Mondale included the river in the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, but this spring a national advocacy organization named the river one of the nation's 10 most endangered. Two years ago the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency placed the river on its list of impaired waters because of runoff pollution from a growing number of roofs, streets, parking lots and other manufactured surfaces.

Conservation groups have a renewed interest in saving land along the St. Croix because of the declining water quality and because some landowners have managed to build big houses on the river, contrary to the wild and scenic designation, said Rick Gauger, executive director of the West Wisconsin Land Trust.

"People love this resource but you can love it to death," Nash said. "Everyone wants their own little corner of it."

A place of quiet beauty

One day last week Nash walked over a bed of orange pine needles, consulting a topography map to find her way through the Franconia property. Farther to the east, where the sun filtered through banks of green leaves, the land broke into promontories high above stream beds that feed the St. Croix.

The Franconia purchase, closed June 4 in a $385,000 deal with two brothers in Wisconsin who wanted to remain anonymous, was the second TPL deal along the river south of Taylors Falls. A year ago the TPL bought a larger tract northeast of the latest site and hopes someday to also buy the land between the two areas. The TPL filled a broker role, selling both tracts to the DNR for long-term management.

Preserving the land will help protect the St. Croix and the streams that drain into it from the property, Nash said.

The TPL and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources worked on the purchase for months, considering it a prime example of land that could fall to a bulldozer's blade if the owners sold to a developer. Instead, the land will remain in its native state for people who enjoy birds, wildlife, wildflowers and hiking. The new stewards also envision the land as an outdoor laboratory for education and scientific research.

Many owners who sell their land for conservation prize the idea of leaving it unblemished for future generations to enjoy.

"The nice thing about selling for conservation is that you can still go back and visit it," Nash said. "When you sell for development, you're saying goodbye."

Kevin Giles • 612-673-4432