Lanesboro, Minn., learning center acquires prized piece of forest

LANESBORO, MINN. – Thanks to a final fundraising push, an environmental learning center just north of this scenic southeast Minnesota town will soon take full control of a prized 151-acre tract of bluff-country forest along the Root River.

It's a big step for the Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center, a longtime force for outdoors education where some 20,000 visitors a year come to study local wildlife and practice back-to-the-land skills like beekeeping, weaving, hunting and orienteering.

The new land will nearly triple the acreage under the center's control and give it access to nearly a mile of Root River shoreline for educational programming and fishing, said Eagle Bluff's Executive Director Joe Deden.

The private owners of the land agreed to sell it to the center in three installments totalling $858,000. The first payment was made in 2016; the final payment is due in January, and the last dollars needed to make that payment arrived two weeks ago thanks to a $100,000 gift from the Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation of St. Paul.

Some 39 donors in all were behind the center's purchase, according to the Eagle Bluff annual report.

Deden, a University of Minnesota forestry student who first offered classes out of his Red Wing home 40 years ago, said he's eager to draw junior high and high school-aged students to the new land, dubbed "The Point," for hunting and fishing, as well as educational programming on prairies, wildlife and forestry.

Fans of Eagle Bluff have long known about its role as one of six environmental learning centers in the state. It's the only one in southeastern Minnesota, showcasing the starkly beautiful topography of the Driftless Area.

"That's a big deal, getting kids exposed to the environment," said Heegaard.

A birder, Heegaard went to Eagle Bluff this year for his first turkey hunt, taking advantage of the center's other role as a place for adult learning.

Heegaard eventually bagged a tom after two days of effort and help from Deden, he said.

"It was a lesson in the patience of letting nature happen," he said.

Deden said he's looking forward to restoring the new land to its native state. It's a mix of hardwood forest and prairie. A survey of the tract found 121 prairie species such as little bluestem and Indian grass, as well as lizards and 21 varieties of butterflies.

The land came with an A-frame cabin and a 19th-century settler's cabin. Volunteers from the Rochester Lowe's store helped restore the A-frame this past summer.

An outdoor fireplace behind the cabin was built in memory of Ben Stanek, a two-year staff member at Eagle Bluff who died this year. The teaching and gathering space built in his name was dedicated last month in a ceremony attended by Stanek's family and friends.

Deden, who plans to retire this coming spring, said he's thrilled Eagle Bluff acquired the land before someone else bought it for development.

"We're trying to preserve the ecological landscape," he said.

@_mattmckinney • 612-673-7329