Upcoming Phenology Walks & Field Trips

Wednesday, July 29, 7 to 8:30 pm (approx) Phenology Walk at French Regional Park Led by WMC member Galen Erickson
In person: at French Regional Park, Plymouth

Due to a Rainy forecast for Thursday, this walk has been moved to Wednesday! 

French Regional Park in Plymouth is named after the first commissioner of Three Rivers Park District, Clifton French. The concept he pioneered was to have large, 1,000- to 2,000-acre parks in the system that were 80 percent natural and only 20 percent (or less) with any sort of man-made impact. Many of these regional parks are also connected by corridors with trails and broad natural buffers. Many species require a larger natural environment to survive and the Three Rivers Park system makes this possible. This also makes these parks especially interesting to Master Naturalists.

One of the features of French Park is that there are two "tiers" of trails. There are broader mowed paths and also single-track paths. French Park has lakeshore on Medicine Lake as well as several large wetlands. It's not unusual to see deer, turkey, muskrats, beaver, etc. Like many larger area parks, this is also a glacial terminal moraine area, so there are some hills--from quite steep to very gentle. Galen has walked every trail in French many times. We'll discuss a route when we meet. 

Please RSVP if you plan to attend; Galen will then send specifics on where to meet. Friends and family are welcome! (right click link to copy email address)

Thursday August 20, 11:30 am to 1:30 pm (approx) Visit Belwin Conservancy's Bison Herd! 

In person: at 15551 Division Street, Afton

Every year, between mid-May and late September, a herd of bison lives on Belwin's restored prairie. For free, you can park at the viewing area and climb the platform to get a glimpse at these beautiful creatures. Bring your binoculars — they roam on 130 acres and are masters at blending into the prairie flora. Or, for a donation of $50 or more, you can take a private ride on the Bison Buggy right into the field.
We're hoping to put together a group of eight or more Master Nats to take a buggy ride into the prairie. Alternatively, we could simply meet as a group at the viewing platform and try our luck, then take a hike on Belwin's adjacent Tallgrass trails. Or a combination of both! 

• Sign up here if you'd like to ride the Bison Buggy ($50 donation)

• Sign up here if you'd like to look for the bison from the viewing platform and then take a hike together (free)

We need RSVPs for the Bison Buggy by Friday (July 31); we need 8 people to make it a go. If there's more interest than that we'll have two buggy excursions back to back; one group can hike while the other is on the buggy.

Belwin Conservancy is up to lots of cool things, and this is a great opportunity to support them! 

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These are in person events