Pin Oak Prairie SNA
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183 Acres Located from Chatfield 4 miles SW on Co Rd 5, then .05 mile S on gravel road. Park just past bridge over the Middle Branch Root River, on E side of road. Fillmore County Twp 104N Rng 12W Sec 24 Type: Prairie Grasslands ECS Subsection: Blufflands |
Description:
Pin Oak Prairie is nestled in the blufflands of southeastern Minnesota, along the Middle Branch of the Root River. There are three distinct natural communities on this natural area. Near the river is a botanically diverse wet meadow -- extremely rare in the blufflands. It exhibits dune topography with pools grading into distinct vegetation zones. Plants here include cat-tails, lake sedge, cordgrass, arrowhead, marsh milkweed, and Culver's root. Further up-slope look for the dry, barrens prairie. The dry prairie here originated on sand eroded by large volumes of meltwater from previous glacial periods. Grasses include prairie dropseed, little bluestem and porcupine grass. Still further up the slope explore oak forest. The forest was probably once a more open brushland, dominated by northern pin oak, whose growth would have been greatly reduced by fires. Like many open brushlands, with the absence of fire, the trees quickly formed a closed canopy and are forests today.
