Published Wednesday, May 3, 2000

Immigrants learn civics and English

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a big forest in a big county called Hennepin. People built houses and buildings in the forest so they could have places to live and work.

A small part of that forest, in a city called Eden Prairie, still exists. It is called BirchIsland Woods. Jeff Strate, an environmental advocate, wants to help the city raise $1.2 million to buy the woods from Hennepin County to make it a nature preserve.

He took a walk through BirchIsland Woods on Tuesday to give a group of 80 new immigrants from 16 countries a lesson in English, along with a little American civics. He said he hoped they would like the woods and help to save them.

Most of the group had limited use of English.

Therefore he told his story simply, almost as a fairy tale.

It went like this:

''See this map," said Strate of Eden Prairie. "This is a large county called Hennepin County. This is Eden Prairie. We are in Eden Prairie. People in Eden Prairie want the woods to be for the animals and the people and the trees. We want to protect these woods."

Salah Soliman of Eden Prairie wanted to know why. He came to the United States two months ago from Cairo.

"Why?" Strate said. "America used to be all wilderness. Many of you come from countries that are very old, and they still have forests. But not many forests are left in the city. Not many forests are left in Hennepin County."

Soliman appreciated the beauty.

"I like it very, very good," he said. "It's nice."

The group saw a farm, walked down a trail, visited a pond.

The scenery reminded Suad Samatar of Eden Prairie of the times when she walked in the woods in her native Somalia. She smiled as she took it all in.

"We are lucky this is in our city," she said. "It's a good place to visit."

Strate continued his story while the group drank lemonade.

He said the big government, the county, owns the forest. The smaller government, the city, wants to buy it.

"The big government wants to sell it for $1.2 million," Strate said. "The little government says 'not so much money.' But if the little government can't pay all the money, the big government is going to sell it to someone who has the money and will put homes on it.

"Many trees would die. Many animals would die. People would not walk through the woods. My children would not walk through the woods. It will be very, very sad."

Pedro Lares of Jordan, who is from Mexico, wanted to know what Americans can do about such things.

"In America, the people really own the land that the government owns," Strate said. "When you become citizens, you will own the land, too. Then we tell the big government what we don't like. We write letters. We make phone calls. We write e-mail letters. We try to be nice."

Vladimir Melnichuk of Eden Prairie wanted to help write letters. He said it would be a good place for him to ski, as he did in Ukraine.

Many of the English learners said they were going to write when they returned to their classroom at the South Hennepin Adults Programs in Education (SHAPE). The program serves Eden Prairie, Richfield, Edina and Bloomington.

Rita Krocak, the Richfield SHAPE coordinator, wanted the students to understand more about their environment while learning English.

"I wanted them to see what they have in their community," she said. "We want to save this land and want them to know they can help save this land from development."

Krocak, a member of Friends of BirchIsland Woods, has been contacting legislators, Eden Prairie officials and Hennepin County commissioners.

"If these immigrants feel strongly about it, they can write letters, too," she said. "I don't know if they could do anything like this in their own country."

County Commissioner Randy Johnson said that because of the interest that Strate and others have shown, the county has not put the property up for sale. Eden Prairie has until December to come up with a plan to raise the money, he said.

"It's surplus property for the county that's not needed for any legal county function," he said. "Our policy is to first offer surplus property to the local city for its appraised value. If the city doesn't want to buy it, we put it on the open market."

Johnson was impressed that the woods were being used as a classroom.

"It's a total shock to new Americans how property and other decisions are made in this country," he said. "It's good that our new residents learn as early as possible about where they are living."

Reproduced here by permission