EXPANSION of BIRCH ISLAND WOODS
CONSERVATION AREA

The City of Eden Prairie’s acquisition of the 4.04-acre parcel was completed in March 2007 concluding a 5-year long Friends of Birch Island Woods initiative to protect the Birch Island Road parcel from development.  This article presents the rationale for protection of the parcel that FBIW presented to residents, City of Eden Prairie commissions, council and officials and various land protection grant agencies such as the DNR. 

The $830,000 price tag was paid by the City from funds designated for parkland acquisition made available by the successful November 2005 Parks Referendum.  At a time when the Minnesota Legislature and Governor were not adequately supporting State land preservation matching grant programs for cities and counties, the majority of voters in Eden Prairie, when given the opportunity, did support the woods.  Friends of Birch Island Woods subsequently had to re-make the case to City staff and appointed and elected officials to direct referendum money to the woods expansion when other less critical properties were also being presented for acquisition.

An isolated parcel of the woods remains owned by Twin Cities and Western Rail Road and two, smaller, detached parcels are held by the Hennepin County Regional Rail Road Authority.

During the 5-year long effort to expand Birch Island Woods Conservation Area, the only other grass roots based open space initiatives to form in Eden Prairie were Save Bent Creek and the Edenvale Conservation Group.  Both groups are also located in north central Eden Prairie.  Save Bent Creek was formed to keep an 18 hole, links-style golf course from being developed.  The Edenvale Conservation Group was formed in response to the sale of a tax-forfeit parcel of land that along with 20 some other outlots had been designated as open space. The golf course and the outlots remain restricted as open spaces per the Edenvale Planned Unit Development agreements made in the early 1970’s.   Jeff Strate, April 2, 2007  

For “Protecting Publicly-Owned Open Spaces - the Birch Island Woods Example. 1999-2001

POPULATION GROWTH AND OPEN SPACE

Between 2000 and 2004, nearly 130,000 new residents comprising nearly 60,000 new households were counted in the Twin Cities region.

The Metropolitan Council anticipates an increase of around 386,000 residents in its seven-county jurisdiction for the entire current decade and another 612,000 from 2010 to 2030: That translates to another 294,000 new house holds over the following 20 years.

Our marvelous natural quilt of woodlands, farms, lakes, streams and wetlands is being paved over with asphalt, concrete and sod. Although significant patches and corridors survive in the metro region, less than 6% of our native landscapes survive, less than 1% of our hard wood forests remain.

As Eden Prairie’s population increases well beyond 60,000, it also continues to lose large and small tracts of open space to development. Less than a mile from Birch Island Woods, for example, John Anderson’s 44-acre former farm and nature preserve and Al Picha’s 5-acre farm are being developed; the owners of Bent Creek Golf Club have announced their intention of selling their 110-acre course, most likely to a developer.

BIRCH ISLAND WOODS

Birch Island Woods is a 41 acre, hardscrabble swath of forest and wetlands in north-central Eden Prairie which anchors a cluster of historic, environmental, human service and recreational resources. 32 acres of the woods is protected as a City of Eden Prairie conservation area.

Back in the 1970’s, then Park Superintendent Marty Jessen expressed hope that the lands between Indian Chief and Birch Island Roads and around Birch Island Lake to County Road 4 would become City parkland. That began to happen in the 1980’s with the conveyance of a Hennepin County Children’s Camp to Eden Prairie and reference to the woods area in the City’s 1989 Park and Open Space Plan.

In December 2001, after a two and one half year long campaign led by Friends of Birch Island Woods, the City agreed to buy the 32 acres of the woods owned by Hennepin County and manage the land as a conservation area.

BIRCH ISLAND WOODS EXPANSION

Since 2003, the City and Friends of Birch Island Woods (FBIW) have searched for ways and means to fold a 4-acre parcel on Birch Island Road into the conservation area. The two sets of owners of what is sometimes referred to as “the Picha Parcel” have waited patiently but time is running out.

With the approval of Questions #3 in the November 8, 2005 EP Parks referendum, from $800,000 to $1,000,000 became available for park land acquisition. (The dollar amount referred to seems to change.) The prompt acquisition of the Birch Island Road land is extremely important for the realization of the city’s park and trail system, the BIW Conservation Area and the long term well being of the community.

In December 2005, the City resumed its discussions with the property owners who say that they remain willing to sell their land to the City, but can not afford to wait much longer.

A HIGH PRIORITY

The Picha Parcel meets all the tests for the highest ranking on the City of Eden Prairie’s current list of properties that it has identified for acquisition.

Friends of Birch Island Woods, conservation organizations throughout the metro area, community service groups, open space analysts, Eden Prairie voters and thousands of people in the southwest suburbs agree that the property should be added to the conservation area.

IF THE 4-ACRE PARCEL IS NOT ACQUIRED

• Trees will be clear cut from the property for new town houses
• The ecosystem of the woods will be fragmented and reduced in size and function
• Two major trails will be pressed in by town houses
• Trail access from the southwest could be cut off
• Natural and scenic settings for hikers, runners, dog walkers will be degraded
• Several possible sites for a public parking lot would be eliminated. NOTE: A parking lot site on the northeast side of the conservation area has community and FBIW support
• The view shed along Birch Island Road and a trail alignment would be ruined
• The future of the 104-year old Picha Heritage Farm would be put in harm’s way
• The City of Eden Prairie will likely be required to return federal LAWCON grant money if it sells the site of the Cummins-Grill House in Staring Lake Park. The 4-acre Birch Island Road parcel qualifies to make up for the sale of the Staring Lake property that was acquired with LAWCON funds.

  NOTE: Much of the land for Birch Island Road from was donated to the City by Harry Picha, whose son Terry operates the Picha Heritage Farm.
  

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES

The cost of the 4-acre parcel will most likely exceed $820,000 which reflects the 2005 market rate for this kind of property. Open space acquisition in Eden Prairie must focus on parcels that are part of larger swaths of open space, host or support a unique array of environmental, recreational or historic features and functions and are under immediate threat of development - the 4-acre parcel meets these tests. The City of Wayzata, for example, recently paid $320,000 per acre to protect a big woods remnant wedged between Highway 12 and Wayzata Boulevard. The asking price for a half-acre privately-owned parcel within Riley Lake Park is $420,000 ($840,000 per acre).

THE DOLLAR FACTOR

A framework for evaluating the economic value of open space in the metro region has been prepared by Paul A. Anton of Wilder Research for Embrace Open Space, a consortium of public agencies and non-profit organizations founded by the McKnight Foundation. “The Economic Value of Open Space: Implications for Land Use Decisions” (October 2005*) advises that if cities, counties and townships wish to evaluate the financial implications of protecting an open space, they need to consider the effect of conserving the land on (a) local property values and therefore (b) future property tax revenues; (c) moneys saved by not having to provide an undeveloped area with the full menu of city, public safety and school district services and (d) moneys that will not be needed for additional storm water management.

To consider only an initial cash outlay and debt service and “sacrificed” tax revenues from an open space if it had been put on the tax rolls as a line item in a spreadsheet, is simplistic and misleading in projecting the economic value of, say, a woodland.

Data from studies of property values of homes near various kinds of open spaces and trails in the Twin Cities and elsewhere suggests that larger, natural forested areas in urban areas like Birch Island Woods, have stronger positive impacts on the property values located near them than those located near trails, athletic fields or other kinds of open spaces. A study in Portland, Oregon showed that that value increase can be as high as 20 percent (but normally lower) and that the effect seems to extend much further from the large, wooded park than other kinds of open space.

The report suggests that the effect of open space on property values, and hence on property taxes, can be large enough to have significant financial implications. The additional future tax revenues generated by residential properties near an open space may be sufficient to pay the debt service on funds borrowed to acquire and/or develop a park. A more common situation is that the additional future tax revenues will offset a portion of the apparent costs of preserving and maintaining a particular open space amenity.

So, if only an economic perspective is applied, the acquisition of the 4-acre parcel to be part of the larger conservation area and an even larger and extensive green corridor would most likely stimulate higher property values in neighborhoods south, southeast and west of the woods -- and thereby generate more revenue for the city.

Again, the Picha Parcel meets all the tests for the very highest rank on the City’s list of potential land acquisitions.

HOW THE BI WOODS FITS INTO THE COMMUNITY

Respecting Eden Prairie's Scenic Character

If the BIW Conservation Area is not expanded, tightly packed houses or town homes would replace ALL of the trees seen in the background along Birch Island Road. The photo on the right shows what Birch Island Road WILL will look like if the City does not buy the 4-acre parcel. The new homes pictured were shoe-horned in along the boundary of Riley Creek Conservation Area in SW Eden Prairie.

Birch Island Woods is the only large woods left in Eden Prairie that is not hemmed-in on any of its boundaries by houses or noisy highways. The woods is the only significant forested area in town that citizens can fully see from public streets and trails; it should not become a view enjoyed only by a few people through their bay windows.

Natural features

The BIW Conservation Area is a compact but wilderness-like complex of wetlands, slopes and hills hosting a mix of aspen, basswood, box elder, cottonwood, elm, ironwood, maple, a variety of oaks and a few pines, willows and tamarack. Years ago, disease greatly reduced the birch population. European buckthorn and garlic mustard are encroaching into some sections of the woods but native woodland plants, shrubs and herbs can be found everywhere. National Audubon Society members have identified more than 65 bird species including pileated woodpeckers, loons, great blue herons, bald eagles, blue birds and wild turkeys in the Birch Island area. Deer, fox, coyote, beaver, muskrat and other animals are found in the area.

Recreation in the Woods

Birch Island Woods is Eden Prairie’s smallest and most visited conservation area. The Woods features trails for non-strenuous hiking, some biking, long distance running, ski-touring and bird watching. The sanctuary’s half mile-long main trail (an 1880’s railroad bed) passes above wetlands and by heavily wooded hills and slopes. A wood chip trail connects Birch Island Road (at Harlan Drive) to the main trail. Another wood chip trail loops through the north east corner of the sanctuary. A panoramic view of Birch Island Lake and Park can be found from the top of the large hill midway along the main trail.

Accessibility

The woods are directly accessible from the SW Regional Trail and the Edenvale Boulevard Trail by bicycle, and from the Crosstown Highway, Indian Chief Road, Eden Prairie Road, Kurtz Lane and Birch Island Road by car. Parking is currently available along Birch Island Road, pull-offs on Indian Chief Road and (for buckthorn pulls and special events) at Eden Wood. The City is planning to construct a small parking area in the northeast section of the conservation area.

Eden Wood Center

Eden Wood Center has become a popular venue for seminars, small conferences, buckthorn abatement workshops and projects, and service organization meetings. For example the EP Lions, Friends of Birch Island Woods, Torsk Club and others hold meetings there. Eden Wood’s special needs campers and other guests regularly use trails in the park and conservation area for relaxation, confidence building, and nature study hikes. Edina School District students and other groups visit the area each year for outdoors oriented, team-building programs. Both the park and the conservation area benefit from scout and Friends of Birch Island Woods projects.

Friendship Ventures, the non-profit agency which operates Eden Wood, is raising approximately $1 million dollars in private sector donations to modernize a 1925 dormitory and activities hall. The buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As of December 2005, the Minneapolis Building & Construction Trades Council has pledged up to $500,000 in skilled labor and support, EP Lions are seeking to raise $125,000 and the Minnesota Historical Society is awarding $79,300 for improvements. The City of Eden Prairie, which owns the buildings, has upgraded the exteriors of the buildings with grant money.

Picha Heritage Farm

The 104-year old, Picha Heritage Farm on Birch Island Road next to the woods raises raspberries, vegetables and greenhouse flowers. The farm hosts the Birch Island Woods Plant Sale in May and other events such as the Haunted Woods Walk and occasional historic, nature and horticultural tours. The Picha family intends to add living history and Chautauqua features to the farm for the general public, local school districts and visitors to Eden Wood.

Getting away from it all

The woods is one of the keystones of a much larger, urban-bound corridor of open space resources that extends from Edenvale Boulevard north-north-east to Glen Lake and Kinsel Park, Kinsel Road and Mayview Road in Minnetonka. When describing its natural and rural features and when visiting the area, it is easy to forget that it is surrounded by “built-out” residential, commercial, office and industrial areas.

Birch Island Park

Wilderness landscapes and historic settings also characterize neighboring Birch Island Park which includes an isthmus separating Birch Island Lake from a wetland; archaeological sites, and the Eden Wood Center, a year-round retreat for children with special needs. Eden Wood is leased from the City and operated by Friendship Ventures, Inc. and includes a conference center, the historic Holasek House and the Glen Lake Children’s Camp which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Note: Glen Lake Children’s camp was part of the Glen Lake Tuberculosis Sanitarium located 1/4 mile to the north in Minnetonka. The sanitarium’s successor, the Twin Oaks Nursing Home, was demolished in the early 1990’s for the Glen Lake Golf Center. The City has restored the exterior of two of the camp buildings; As of December 2005, Friendship Ventures was in the midst of $1 million fund raising campaign to modernize the interior of the camp’s main buildings.

The Greenway in Minnetonka

The major components of the green corridor north of the Crosstown Highway In Minnetonka include Glen Lake Golf Course, the campus and horse ranch at the Hennepin County Home School, Glen Lake, tamarack stands and wetlands between the lake and the Southwest Regional Bike Trail, Sky Ridge Office Center Nature Sanctuary along the regional trail, a public wooded hill south west of East Glen Moor Road and Kinsle Park near Excelsior Boulevard.

New Urbanism in Glen Lake

A proposed plan, currently going through rounds of review at Minnetonka City Hall, calls for a 3-phase, redevelopment project adding 180 condos, two restaurants and more commercial space near Excelsior Boulevard and Woodland Road and south of Stewart Lane to the lake. The north half of Glenhaven Shopping Center, the row of buildings that includes the Gold Nugget, 2.4-acre open space overlooking the lake and local intersections would be affected.

Birch Island Lake Restoration

During the summer of 2005 the 9 Mile Creek Watershed District and the Eden Prairie City Council gave their respective approvals to move forward to raise the level of Birch Island Lake and improve the water qualities on other lakes in northern and eastern Eden Prairie. Birch Island Lake is approximately 8 feet below its normal levels. More information is available in an August 6, 2005 item in this web site’s news section.)

Follow this link for a free PDF version or a hard copy version of “The Economic Value of Open Space: Implications for Land Use Decisions” by Paul Anton

Follow this link for Protecting Publicly-Owned Open Spaces - the Birch Island Woods Example. 1999-2001