MAY 27, 2008
SPRING GARLIC MUSTARD AND BUCKTHORN PROJECTS
A number of invasive species removal projects this spring in the conservation area and elsewhere have been coordinated or organized by Friends of Birch Island Woods. 18 volunteers organized by Junior Vince Travato through Eden Prairie High School’s Students Learning in Communities office braved high winds and snow flurries for a buckthorn pull in Birch Island Woods on April 26. City Forestry Technician Jeff Cordes and native plant and invasive expert Sandy McCartney of Minnetonka headed this year’s Buckthorn Boot Camp on Wednesday May 7.

Wooddale Church dispatched a busload of volunteers to pull buckthorn and garlic mustard on Saturday May 17 and neighbors organized by the Shipp Family from Wedgeway Court (on the east side of Bent Creek Golf Course) pulled buck and garlic in the same area on Sunday May 18. Eagle Scout candidate Kory Kautz ran garlic mustard pulls in the woods on May 10, 11, 24 and 25. All volunteer projects are pre-approved by the Eden Prairie Parks Manager and lead by experienced or trained buckthorn and garlic mustard pull veterans.

FBIW buckthorn basher Jeff Strate helped organize and publicize a buckthorn pull at Edina’s complex of golf courses at Braemar on Saturday April 19. Braemar Men’s Club’s Marty Friede coordinated the golf course side of the event that welcomed members of the Edina High School golf team, volunteers from 4 different suburbs and 5 of Mr. Strate’s Edina High graduating class. An estimated 40 volunteers showed up to remove a large thicket. The FBIW weed wrench loaner program was put to good use at Pax Christie Catholic Community by a Troop 342 Eagle Scout candidate on Saturday May 10 and is new being taken advantage of by people who have taken BIW workshops or volunteered on pulls.

May 20, 2009
BIRCH ISLAND LAKE LEVEL ON THE RISE
While on a photo shoot for an upcoming article in Eden Prairie Magazine on the restoration of Birch Island Lake, Nine Mile Creek Watershed District Coordinator Kevin Bigalke and Friends of Birch Island Woods President Jeff Strate noted a rise in the lake level. Their informal observations were made at the beach at Eden Wood on May 20. Mr. Bigalke surmised that the dock would have to be moved further up the beach this summer to avoid being covered by water. Under ground waters are being routed from areas near the Crosstown Highway to the lake by a 1-foot diameter pipe that has been bored under a wetland to the lake. The re-directed flow approximates the historic, underground flow that was mistakenly shut off when the highway’s road base was constructed in the late 1980s.

FBIW Secretary reports that native trees have been planted in BI Park where a contractor had bulldozed trees for the construction of a new rainwater infiltration pond and system along Eden Prairie Road. Among the trees are oaks, maples, and ironwoods native to Minnesota. (See next news items for more information.)

March 17, 2008
WATER RESUMES FLOWING INTO BIRCH ISLAND LAKE AND WETLAND
For the first time since being cut off in the late 1980s, a flow of subsurface water that had naturally flowed into Birch Island Lake and an associated wetland has beginning to be restored. Birch Island Lake levels have ranged from 7 to 9 feet below their normal altitude for two decades. The natural flow originated from an area just west of Eden Prairie Road near what was then the marshy, spring-irrigated, southwest corner of the campus of the Glen Lake Tuberculosis Sanitarium and Oak Terrace Nursing Home. But that flow was altered by the construction of the road bed for the base of the Crosstown Highway along the south side of the sanitarium-nursing home complex during a time of drought. The dry years reduced the levels of a number of area lakes. When normal rain and snow falls returned, the levels of those lakes, except Birch Island Lake, rose to normal levels. The new aggregate fill and other materials used for the base of the new highway, according to recent Nine Mile Creek Watershed District studies, seems to have captured and redirected the subsurface water flow away from the Birch Island Lake.

1 Collection tile pipes were installed along the Crosstown Hwy
2 A one foot diameter pipe was bored beneath the wetland to carry subsurface water from the highway to Birch Island Lake.
3. The pipe outlet formed this small pool on the lake basin.
4. Storm water retention and treatment pond in Birch Island Park.

As of early March this year, that flow (at least some of it) is being collected by a system of collection tile pipes and underground bored pipe to the wetland and lake. That work is being accomplished by Rachel Contracting, LLC., an excavation company based in Osseo that specializes in environmental work. Nine Mile Creek WD Administrator Kevin Bigalke said told FBIW President Jeff Strate that he has had to alert Friendship Venture’s to move the dock high up the beach to accommodate the rising waters this spring and summer.

Nine Mile Creek Watershed District is also redirecting more rain water runoff from nearby neighborhoods to Birch Island Lake. That runoff will be cleaned of lawn care chemicals and other pollutants in a new infiltration pond in Birch Island Park just south of its new entrance on Eden Prairie Road and a reconditioned rainwater collection pond between Edenvale Boulevard and Leslie Lane. The City Parks department has also committed to construct some form of rainwater or infiltration swale to clean water flowing from the new Eden Prairie Road entry road and parking lot in Birch Island Park.

FEBRUARY 3, 2008
BIRCH ISLAND LAKE PROJECT MOVES FORWARD
Nine Mile Creek Watershed District Administrator Kevin Bigalke reported to Friends of Birch Island Woods on February 1st, that the district’s contractor will soon begin excavating the new storm water pond along Eden Prairie Road. The contractor will be starting the directional, underground, boring work to install a tile
system that will capture underground water along the Crosstown Highway to restore the water level in Birch Island Lake. That water was unintentionally diverted during the late 1980s when a trench was excavated and then filled with aggregate to form a stable roadbed for the Crosstown Highway.

Mr. Bigalke reports that the District’s engineering consultant, Barr Engineering, Inc., will post full-time staff at the site to supervise the excavation work needed for the lake level restoration project until it is well underway. For related stories please see earlier news items below. People with questions about the project can call Mr. Bigalke at 952-835-2078

February 3, 2008
FRIENDS OF BIRCH ISLAND WOODS OFFICIALLY ADOPTS INDIAN CHIEF ROAD AND BIRCH ISLAND ROAD
In January, Friends of Birch Island Woods officially adopted Birch Island and Indian Chief Roads. As a participant in the City of Eden Prairie’s Adopt-A-Street program, the FBIW organization is committed to pick up litter along Birch Island Road and Indian Chief Road twice a year. Both streets border BIW Conservation Area. Although FBIW volunteers and area residents have regularly picked-up litter, reported illegal dumpings and participated in the City’s Parks April Clean Up Day for the past eight years, the “adoption papers” provide a kind of official stamp of recognition of FBIW’s commitment of service.

Individuals, families and organizations throughout town can join the ongoing Adopt-A-Street program with a call to the city’s Street Maintenance office at 952-949-8533.

Among the participants in the citywide Adopt-A-Street Program are Susan Anderson, David Beyer, Sherry Black, Cody Candland, Patti Jew. Linda & Dana Kloeckner, Kimberly Miller, Deb & Michael Speckman, Arbor Glen Homeowners Association, Boy Scout Troop 479, Boy Scout Troop 342, E.P. Lion's Club, E.P. Noon Rotary Club, GE Capital Fleet Services and Spoon Ridge Helping Hands.

FEB 3, 2008
BIRCH ISLAND WOODS SUPPORTERS REP. MARIA RUUD, JOHN HELLAND AND TV’S “MINNESOTA BOUND” GET ENVIRONMENTAL AWARDS
Birch Island Woods supporters, State Representative Maria Ruud (DFL) of Minnetonka and retired MN House of Representatives environmental policy analyst and researcher John Helland of Edina have been honored for their significant contributions to Minnesota’s environmental health. Also, KARE-11’s Ron Schara host of "Minnesota Bound," has been honored for the series' 2006 story on the effort to save Birch Island Woods.

Ms. Ruud (whose district includes Birch Island Woods) and Mr. Helland each won the Conservation Leadership Award from the Conservation Minnesota Voter Center, a non-partisan organization that tracks environmental voting in the Minnesota Legislature.

In a January 2008 press release, Conservation Minnesota said “the 2007 state legislative session was one of the best in the state’s history at a time of gridlock on other issues.” Among the recipients this year are State Reps. Bill Hilty (DFL-Finlayson), Dennis Ozment (R-Rosemount) and Maria Ruud (DFL-Minnetonka).
“ While partisanship prevailed on many issues in the 2007 Legislature, these conservation leaders helped transcend those divides to get things done for our Great Outdoors,” said Voter Center Executive Director Paul Austin. “We want all Minnesotans to be aware of their historic work.”

The 2007 Minnesota legislative session committed to provide 27.5% of Minnesota’s electricity from renewable sources by 2025; reduce Minnesota’s global warming pollution 80% by 2050; protect Lake Superior from water diversion to other states and countries; create an affordable, convenient statewide electronics recycling program; institute stronger protections for Minnesota’s dwindling wetlands and work toward a constitutional amendment that allows voters to designate nearly $300 million annually for conservation and cultural heritage funding.

In a news release, Conservation Minnesota said of Mr. Helland: “It would be difficult to find a conservation or environment policy in Minnesota over the last three decades that John Helland has not had an integral role in shaping. He served as the primary research staff for the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee for over 35 years until his retirement in late 2007. His role as the nonpartisan legislative analyst specializing in environment and natural resource issues has been critical in ensuring sound and a workable environment policy.

During 2000 and 2001, Mr. Helland helped Representative Tom Workman, FBIW leader Jeff Strate and others understand the process of drafting bills which could provide State funding for the acquisition of the woods or provide the City of Eden Prairie with more time to negotiate with Hennepin County for acquisition of the woods.

Conservation Minnesota said of Representative Ruud: “Rep. Ruud passionately fought to ensure that Minnesota will do its part to reduce harmful global warming pollution,” said Conservation Minnesota. “She authored the Global Warming Mitigation Act and stood up to powerful interest groups and their efforts to weaken the bill.” Representative Ruud is currently authoring a capital improvement bonding bill for Eden Wood Center (see earlier news items).

Ron Schara’s “Minnesota Bound” television magazine (seen locally on KARE 11_TV) won an Excellence-in-Craft award in the “Outdoor Ethics/Take Pride in America” category for its 2006 story on Birch Island Woods. The segment originally aired before the City acquired an additional 4 acres for the conservation area. During repeats of the story this January, Ron Schara said that since the story first aired, Eden Prairie voters had approved that the money be raised to save the additional land. The honor came from the Outdoors Writers Association of America and was co-sponsored by Ducks Unlimited and Izaak Walton League of America

January 20, 2008
BUCKTHORN MEETS CHAINSAW IN MINNETONKA’S PURGATORY PARK
Large swaths of Minnetonka’s Purgatory Park are being liberated from colonies of buckthorn and honeysuckle this winter with chain saws. Purgatoy Park (located just east of Highway 101 between Excelsior Boulevard and the Crosstown Highway), like Edenbrook Conservation Area in Eden Prairie, is choked with thickets of buckthorn. Note: A branch of Purgatory Creek flows through both natural areas.

Prairie Restorations, Inc. workers, under direction of the City of Minnetonka, are clearing colonies of buckthorn in wooded and prairie areas along Purgatory Park’s main trails. A large colony of honeysuckle northwest of the central wetland and a thick mantle of young and old buckthorn on the steep-sided oak ridge are getting extra attention to enable ironwood, black cherry, hackberry and other native trees and plants to again thrive in the area. The thick mantle of buckthorn developed from a decades-old bed of seed hidden in the duff that has sprouted and grown since a buckthorn removal in 2001.

A bird thicket near the parking lot on the Excelsior Boulevard side that has already received restoration attention by volunteers (working with Natural Resources Restoration Specialist Janet Larson) is also being worked on by Prairie Restorations.

“Controlling buckthorn and honeysuckle requires more than cutting them down and painting herbicide on the stumps,” says Birch Island Woods buckthorn organizer Jeff Strate. “Ms. Larson and the contractor are clearly aware of the dynamics of Purgatory’s ecosystem,” and take into account what will happen to the cleared areas.” Ms. Larson is slated to lead the FBIW buckthorn control and habitat restoration seminar at Eden Prairie City Hall on February 21.

Click here for a fuller discussion of the Purgatory Park buckthorn project prepared by Ms. Larson for Minnetonka residents.

January 16, 2008
CLEAR CUT AREA IN BIRCH ISLAND PARK TO BE REPLANTED
A grading contractor doing work commissioned by the Nine Mile Creek Watershed District that is being overseen by Barr Engineering will be required to restore an area in Birch Island Park that was not supposed to be cleared of trees or graded.

The non-permitted felling of trees near the site of a new rainwater runoff collection pond just east of Eden Prairie Road (south of the new parking area) was noted by area residents including Friends of Birch Island Woods Secretary Vicky Miller. Ms. Miller reported the encroachment to Parks Commissioner Geri Napuck who alerted City Parks Manger Stu Fox about the incident.

The pond construction is part of a larger project to improve the water and raise the levels of Birch Island Lake. Nine Mile Creek WD is also performing lake improvement projects at the northwest and southwest basins of Anderson Lakes and Bryant Lake.

Ms. Miller subsequently monitored a discussion of the matter during the January 7th Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission meeting. Ms. Napuck, the commission’s vice chair (who is also a Friends of BIW board member), put the issue on the panel’s agenda.

Ms. Miller reports, that Mr. Fox told the commission that the contractor, Rachel Construction, had indeed done work outside the scope of the project and will be required to restore the damage. Ms. Miller also reports that Parks Commissioner Joan Oko asked Mr. Fox what the city should be doing to make sure that non-permitted construction work is prevented in the future.

The current incident is the second major non-permitted construction work to occur in Birch Island Park in the past 14 months. In 2006 non-permitted grading and non-permitted renovation work was performed on the dormitory of the Glen Lake Children’s Camp in the Eden Wood section of the Park. The historic camp is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The restoration work resumed after all parties involved crafted a way of proceeding that would remedy any damages and would comply with regulations.

Ms. Miller wrote the FBIW board regarding the tree-cutting hat she is disappointed that the City has not been more diligent in making sure that construction contractors are fully aware of what they can and cannot do on city parklands; a sentiment shared by increasing numbers of taxpayers.

City Preservation Specialist John Gertz, who inspected the new pond site at least twice, notified Friends of BIW by email via Jeff Strate on January 8, 2008 that nearby archaeological sites had not been disturbed.

Nine Mile Creek WD Administrator Kevin Bigalke, in an email to Friends of BIW via Ms. Miller on January 10, 2008, confirmed that the contractor will be required to restore the trees that were not necessary to remove for the purposes of the project and that the plants used to restore the area will be native plant species.

November 30, 2007
CITY OF EP REQUESTS $6.2 MILLION IN STATE BONDING FOR EDEN WOOD; SENATE COMMITTEE VISITS RETREAT FOR SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN AND HISTORIC CAMP.

State Senator Keith Langseth (DFL-Glyndon) led a degation of the Senate’s Capital Investment Committee to Eden Wood on November 30. City Manager Scott Neal, Friendship Venture’s George Ann Rumsey and Ed Stracke and others were on hand to welcome the group. The City of Eden Prairie is seeking $6.21 million in State bonding assistance to improve the Eden Wood Center that includes the historic Glen Lake Children’s Camp. In short order, the gathering was treated to a lively and informative summary of the needs and hopes for the City park facility by Mr. Neal and shown the master plan for the site by designer Jeff Schoenbauer of Brauer & Associates.

The City is seeking $6,210,000 from the State for a project that is projected to cost $7,970,000. The balance would be paid by Eden Prairie ($1,060,000) and Friendship Ventures ($700,000). The project would boost the over night capacity of Eden Wood to 100 special needs children and continue the renovation of historic structures in compliance with State Historical Office directives.

Three families with special needs children who use Eden Wood provided emotionally moving support for the good work provided at Eden Wood that serves families from around the state. John Gertz, the City’s preservation specialist took the group on a brief van tour of the campus to conclude the visit.

By the end of the day the committee had visited 29 sites in the metro area in just four days. They’ve already taken five tours in greater Minnesota and slated to take another tour of the metro area before the beginning of the 2008 Legislative session in February.

Also attending were Gary Stevens (EP Lions), Roger Person and Jeff Strate (Friends of BIW), Council Member Kathy Nelson, and Parks Division head Jay Lothammer and Parks Manager Stu Fox.

For more information click here for a pdf file of the City’s request for State bonding help for Eden Wood.

September 30, 2007
BIRCH ISLAND LAKE PROJECT TO BEGIN,
ANDERSON LAKES PROJECT TO START IN AUGUST 2008
Nine Mile Creek Watershed District Administrator Kevin Bigalke says that the projects to raise the level of Birch Island Lake to its normal levels (about 8 feet higher than they have been since the late 1980s) and to improve the quality of its water will most likely begin this November or December. The project also involves the construction of a new rainwater runoff treatment pond in Birch Island Park near Eden Road as well as improvements to an existing runoff pond along Edenvale Boulevard (near Lesley Lane) and one skirted by Hwy 62, Eden Prairie Road and Glen Lake Blvd. The new pond in Birch Island Park will be located a bit to the south of the new entry and parking lot and east of the road and a new City Parks trail. That trail will connect to the trail along the Crosstown Highway. (See earlier news stories for more information.)

The project to control curly leaf pond weed by temporarily emptying Northwest and Southwest Anderson Lakes has been given the green light by the Nine Mile Creek Watershed District Board of Managers, the Three Rivers Park District, the City of Eden Prairie and, as required by law, other property owners on the lakes. The District and the City has hoped to begin the project this fall but decided to postpone the drawdown of the two lakes until August 2008.

Click here to read Lyn Jerde’s full account in the Sun Current Newspapers.

September 8, 2007
SIERRA CLUB VOLUNTEER ACTIVISTS SEE BI WOODS AND EDENVALE
The North Star Chapter of the Sierra Club came to Birch Island Woods Conservation Area to thank and further inspire its top volunteers and donors to continue to carry with the mission of the nation’s premier environmental organization.

“We've selected Birch Island Woods,” said Sierra Club State Director Scott Elkins, because it is a prime example of a successful, citizen-led effort to protect a high-quality area of natural land in an area where growth pressures are very strong.”

Friends of Birch Island Woods President Jeff Strate talked about the community-wide campaign to acquire Birch Island Woods for a City of Eden Prairie Conservation Area. On a short walk from Eden Wood Lodge to Glen Lake Children’s Camp Strate talked about the renovation of the nationally historic camp and the restoration of Birch Island Lake.

Sierra Club trek leader Tom Baltutis (left front row in the photo) took the Sierrans on a hike into the conservation area pointing out areas where Sierrans have worked with other groups to clear buckthorn and some of the conservations natural features.

The Sierra Club and Friends of Birch Island Woods (FBIW) have come together over the past seven years for a variety of projects. FBIW hosted a segment of the Sierra Club’s 2000 Tour-de-Sprawl bike caravan from Hopkins to Birch Island Woods, Seminary Fen and Chaska, FBIW hosted a Sierra Club organized, regional conference on open space at Eden Wood in 2001, The Sierra Club worked with FBIW and local legislators to craft bills and amendments intended to help the City of Eden Prairie acquire the county portion of the woods during the 2000-2001 State Legislative Session; The Sierra Club nominated FBIW for the McKnight Foundation/Embrace Open Space Campaign’s Champion of Open Space Award in 2003 (FBIW won the honor); The Sierra Club was one of the co-sponsors of “Birch Island Woods Buckthorn Busting Day in 2005.

Jul 12, 2007
SAVE BENT CREEK ADVOCATE SAYS SUPREME COURT DECISION BODES WELL FOR FUTURE OF EDEN PRAIRIE GOLF COURSE
A Save Bent Creek advocate says that the July 12, 2007 Minnesota Supreme Court ruling regarding the Carriage Hills Golf Course in Eagan bodes well for the Eden Prairie golf course. Owners of the Bent Creek property (just south of Birch Island Woods) have wanted to develop approximately half of their property but the City of Eden Prairie and numbers of residents and members have opposed development. All parties have been closely tracking the Carriage Hills Golf Course situation in Eagan.

The owners of 18 hole Carriage Hills layout have also wanted to develop their land, but the City of Eagan wants the property to remain open space. The issue had peculated up to the Minnesota Supreme Court which, after clarifying certain legal issues, is now sending it back to District Court to determine if, under Minnesota law, continued use of the property as a golf course is a “reasonable use of the property” and whether holding or selling the property for investment purposes is a “reasonable use.”

In a July 12, 2007 email letter to Friends of the Eagan Core Greenway, Eagan open space advocate John Ward explained that the Supreme Court says that the City of Egan has a rational basis for declining a request by the Carriage Hills owner to amend its comprehensive plan to enable development of the golf course. Mr. Ward says that The Supreme Court also ruled that the City of Eagan will have to compensate the property owner if the city’s denial of the requested comprehensive plan amendment leaves the owner without any reasonable use of the property and that the city may be forced to acquire the property through eminent domain if it wants to keep it as open space.

Save Bent Creek advocate Steve Cheleznik says that the Minnesota Supreme Court's decision reaffirmed the right of Cities to reasonably control land uses and development consistent with their Guide Plans as long as they have a rational basis for their actions.

Mr. Cheleznik believes that in light of the unique history of the Edenvale Planned Unit Development (which includes Bent Creek), the City of Eden Prairie has a more than sufficient, rational basis to justify all of its previous actions that have rejected requests made by Bent Creek owners to rezone the course for development. He thinks that the City of Eden Prairie is in a stronger position than the City of Eagan regarding their somewhat parallel situations.

See earlier news items on Bent Creek for more background.

Click here for Mr. Cheleznik’s full comments on the ruling and the official court summary.

July 10,2007
CITY TO SEEK STATE HELP FOR EDEN WOOD
Eden Prairie City Manager Scott Neal Eden has announced that the City and Friendship Ventures, Inc. have teamed-up to seek state bonding money, a long process that could start this summer.

The intent is to make additional improvements to the Eden Wood facility in Birch Island Park next to Birch Island Woods. The Center (including the Glen Lake Children’s Camp that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is leased to Friendship Ventures for $1 dollar a year. The Annandale-based, non-profit agency operates the facility for people with special needs and as a conference center and retreat for the general public. In mid-June the historic, 1925 dorm of the GL Children’s Camp reopened to accept this summer’s special needs campers. Renovation work on the dorm had been red-tagged last fall when it was discovered by City officials that non-permitted grading and non-permitted removal of protected siding from the building had occurred. Renovation of nearby Birch Hall, which is also listed on the National Register, is expected to begin this fall. (See related news items below.)

Eden Prairie Parks Director Jay Lotthammer has told FBIW President Jeff Strate that Brauer and Associates, a land use and planning consultant has been hired to work with the City and Friendship Ventures and to develop a master plan for Eden Wood. Friends of Birch Island Woods, The Eden Prairie Lions and The Eden Prairie History Society will be among the community groups invited to help develop a master plan for the facility. The first of several preliminary meetings is expected to occur in late August.

The Eden Prairie News reported that Friendship Ventures and the City feel that a number of existing buildings at Eden Wood are substandard and need to be replaced or upgraded. The City says that it will be seeking around $6,210,000 in state boning money that would go to land acquisition, landscaping, lake access, design costs, construction of buildings and upgrades to buildings, utilities and the parking lot. That amount may be reduced or increased depending upon what makes the new master plan.

Because Eden Wood mostly provides benefits to non-Eden Prairie residents, Mr. Neal, the EP News reported, feels that a request for state bonding help in this matter has much merit.

Click here for Leah Shaffer’s July 5th, 2007 story in the Eden Prairie News

June 10,2007
THE TIMES AND SIGNS, THEY ARE A CHANGING FOR NORTHERN EP PARKS, LAKES AND TRAILS

THE SIGNS THEY ARE A CHANGING, PART I
After 6 years and 7 months at the intersection of Edenvale Boulevard and Indian Chief Road, the “Save Birch Island Woods” sign was retired by Jeff and Alex Strate on Memorial Day, May 28. The sign had been put up in 2000 just a few days before the September 24, Sierra Club Tour-de-Sprawl came to the woods to learn about the Friends of Birch Island Woods’ campaign to save the area from development. Back then, Strate and Steve Yasgar took a piece of donated plywood, painted it forest green and covered it with professionally prepared white vinyl lettering. When 80 some Tour-de-sprawl bike riders turned off the regional trail for their visit, they saw the new sign.

“The fun, ironic twist about the ‘Save Birch Island Woods’ sign is that we bolted it to anchor posts that had been used for a Hennepin County “Land For Sale” sign back in 1998 and 1999,” says Strate. Note: The City agreed to buy the county land in December 2001 but finalization of its purchase of 4.04 acres of private land for the conservation area was just completed this March. Since there was no longer any need for the sign, it was removed and is being refashioned by neighborhood kids into a skateboard ramp.

THE SIGNS THEY ARE A CHANGING, PART II
Three Rivers Park District has installed new directional signs and informational kiosks at various points along the SW Regional Bike Trail including the trail’s intersection with Edenvale Boulevard near the woods. The kiosks will feature a large aerial photograph and identify local features. The directional sign at Edenvale, however, will be getting replacement directional panels for the ones that wrongly point to “Birch Island Park” and “Forest Hills Park.” Neither park is accessible from Edenvale Boulevard.

June 10, 2007
CHANGING TIMES FOR LOCAL PARKS, LAKES AND TRAILS
Major improvements to Forest Hills Park, Edenvale Park and Birch Island Park are underway. The Community Center will remain open during its expansion. The temporary entry and parking lot are on the EP High School side of the ice arenas. Questions about the works-in-progress should be directed to Parks Manager Stu Fox at 952-949-8300.

COOL WATERS: Nine Mile Creek Watershed District’s approved projects to restore Birch Island Lake levels and to provide the stressed lake with effective rain water runoff treatment ponds will be put out for bid to private contractors over the summer. The work is now slated to begin in the fall or winter. Round Lake was re-opened on June 9th after being closed for three summers due to cloudy waters cased by nutrient rich runoff from surrounding neighborhoods and high levels of fecal coliform caused by geese. The two problems have been fixed. Note: Check the Eden Prairie News and Eden Prairie Sun Current for details.

TRAILS: Eagle Scout candidate Sam McCotter, who organized a large buckthorn pull in the woods last fall, returned with his team of volunteers in May to add fresh woodchips to the central trail loop in BIW Conservation Area. The new interpretative nature trail at Eden Wood that starts near the lodge is beginning its first full summer. The City Parks Division has opened up a circuit of trails in the Westgate Conservation Area which can be reached south of Valley View Road at the ends of Bittersweet Drive and Ontario Boulevard. The construction of the new city trail on Eden Prairie Road from Purgatory Creek north to the Crosstown Highway and Birch Island Park will begin this summer.

June 10, 2007
TWIN CITIES & WESTERN RAILROAD DISCUSSES FUTURE USE OF ITS TRACKS FOR COMMUTER RAIL SERVICE
The only railroad that passes through Eden Prairie says that the portion of its route from Minneapolis to Chaska has potential for commuter rail service. On May 31, 2007 the Chaska Herald reported that Twin Cities and Western Railroad had met with the Carver County Board of Commissioners as part of a series of informational meetings it has been holding in Carver County regarding the potential use of its of its right-of-way for commuter service. TC&W RR, reportedly, would be interested in leasing its system to some yet-to-be-formed commuter rail operating entity.

The Glencoe-based railroad company owns its own right-of-way from about the Highway 62 overpass to Appleton, the old Milwaukee Road’s mainline for its celebrated Hiawatha passenger service to Seattle and Tacoma. The Soo Line, which was acquired by the Canadian Pacific RR, operated trains on the route before the TC &W RR bought the right of way in 1999.

The only Eden Prairie business that currently uses TC&W RR is Midwest Asphalt which receives crushed rock aggregate from western Minnesota. Lyman Lumber in that wedge of Chanassen southwest of EP’s Twilight Trail and Dell RoaD is served by a TC&W RR spur. The railroad company carries mostly coal, grains (corn, wheat, barley), soybeans, sugar beet pulp, pellets, lumber and other forest products, canned vegetables, edible beans, molasses, DDGs, fertilizers, crushed rock and agricultural machinery.

Last year 2 to 4 trains per day (except Sundays) passed through Eden Prairie between Birch Island Woods Conservation Area and Eden Wood-Birch Island Lake, The railroad also skirts Duck Lake, EP High School athletic fields and several neighborhoods.

Railroad officials say that use of the line for commuter rail would need advanced planning at both the municipal and regional levels but that most of the infrastructure and land for double tracks is already in place.

Several years ago, the Met Council and Hennepin County decided to invest in studies and funding for transportation in the southwest suburbs towards light rail transit and buses.

The May 21, 2002 Birch Island Woods Conservation Area Management Plan recommended that the City acquire a use easement for the large hill between the conservation area and the tracks that is owned by the railroad company. Former parks director Bob Lambert has said that the hill (which is part of Birch Island Woods but not owned by the City) should be managed as part of the conservation area to prevent erosion and improve wildlife habitat and trail access to overlooks to the conservation area and Birch Island Lake from the crest of the hill.

For more information on LRT and public transit in the SW suburbs visit: http://www.southwesttransitway.org/

For the TC&W RR website visit http://www.tcwr.net/

To read the Chaska Herald article on commuter rail, click here.

MAY 28, 2007
2007 PLANT SALE IS A SUCCESS: NEW VARIETY OF TOMATO AND RASPBERRIES TO BE SOLD AT MPLS FARMERS MARKET

With hundreds and hundreds of customers, more than 80 volunteers and great summer-like weather, the sixth edition of the Birch Island Woods Plant Sale at the Picha Heritage Farm became the best ever. The addition of 4 acres of land to the City’s Birch Island Woods Conservation Area in March provided this year’s benefit with a satisfying sense that much had been accomplished over the years.

As a result, the Picha Family has donated $3500.00 to the Birch Island Woods Fund. Moneys in the fund will be directed towards future, City-approved conservation projects in the woods and related programs and events.

“We had thought that we were fully prepared for the opening weekend,” said FBIW President Jeff Strate, “but we were nearly overwhelmed with the large crowds and thank the Eden Prairie Police, John Justen and Alex Strate, who on very short notice, directed traffic during the busiest times.”

Terry Picha’s new hybrid tomato, the “TP-14” sold out on Saturday May 11th, the second afternoon of the sale. The new variety had been written about in the Star Tribune’s home and Garden section the previous Wednesday and Picha was totally surprised by the demand and will stock more for the 2008 plant sale.

The Pichas will be selling the ripened TP-14 tomatoes at the Minneapolis Farmers Market beginning July 10th at Stalls #221 and #223. Home grown raspberries will be available at the farmers market about July 4th.

This year’s plant sale began last fall when the Picha family chose the seed, shrub and tree stock and continued midwinter as Terry, Kathy and Robb Picha began nurturing greenhouse seedlings into ready-for-the-garden flowers, herbs, annuals and vegetables. On Earth Day weekend in April, volunteers, including groups from Eden Prairie High School and Wooddale Church, potted bare-root trees and shrubs for the sale. Three weeks later others distributed flyers and posters, put up directional signs and during the sale welcomed patrons to the farm and loaded their plants into vehicles.

Friends of Birch Island Woods thanks Eden Prairie High School’s Students Learning in Community program, Master Gardeners Mona Inman and Judy Karasch, beekeeper Dewey Hassig, sign makers Dave Hamre and Tom Mittelstadt and especially plant sale organizer Vicky Miller. FBIW also thanks the City’s parks division for loaning plant racks to help customers stack their choices.

April 21, 2007
BIRCH ISLAND WOODS OTHER EP PARKS & TRAILS SMILE ON EARTH DAY WEEKEND.
Nearly 70 volunteers showed up in the woods area, the Saturday morning before Earth Day, to pot shrubs and trees at the Picha Heritage Farm, pick up litter and trash along area roads and trails and pull buckthorn in the conservation area.

Volunteer buckthorn pullers from Woodale Church were greeted by buck veterans Bill Satterness, Lisa Rolf and Jeff Strate for short buckthorn pulling primer.  The parents and their kids worked with Strate to clear an area near he center of the conservation area.

Meanwhile other Woodale Church volunteers and Eden Prairie High School volunteers joined neighborhood folks to pick up litter and trash on Birch Island Road, Indian Chief Road, Edenvale Boulevard and the trails.   Others helped pot trees and shrubs at the Picha Heritage Farm with the Picha Family.  These will be sold during the Birch Island Woods Plant Sale at the farm from May 11th through May 20th.

Potting Party coordinator Vicky Miller reported that the plant potting was completed in only one hour and fifteen minutes.  “That’s a record,” she noted.  “In years past the potting has taken more than two hours.”  The event has operated with frost hardened garden soil, steady rain and gloomy April skies.  But with temperatures in the upper sixties and no rain, conditions for Saturday’s three events couldn’t have been better.  As usual, Friends of Birch Island Woods had plenty of ice cold root beer and drinking water for the participants.

But the Woods was just part of the Earth Day weekend action in Eden Prairie.  City Forestry division head Jeff Cordes said by phone on Sunday that more than 24 groups had picked up litter in 15 parks and conservations areas plus Eden Prairie Road south from Pioneer Trail.   Other groups focused on the Staring Lake and Smetana Lake trails.  Mr. Cordes said that Saturday’s event was the biggest turnout for Parks Clean Up Day in recent years.

March 24, 2007
AFTER 29 YEARS, EP PARKS DIRECTOR BOB LAMBERT RETIRES
Eden Prairie Parks Director Bob Lambert retires on Friday March 30th after nearly three decades on the job. He recently told the Eden Prairie News that when he first came to Eden Prairie, the city only had 4 incomplete parks. With land acquisitions enabled by gifted and tax forfeited parcels, land dedications required of developers and a few outright purchases, Eden Prairie now boasts more than 52 parks, conservation areas and other open spaces. With the passage of 3 out of the 4 referendum questions in November 2005 and other monies, the City’s trail system plan has recently or will soon be constructed or improved in Edenbrook and Lower Purgatory Conservation Areas, Purgatory Recreation Area and Staring Lake and along Eden Prairie Road near Birch Island Park. Although the Lambert Family lived for many years lived across the street from one of the City’s premier gems, Staring Lake Park, they now reside on the family farm just west of Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota.

In a Friday March 23rd news release the City of Eden Prairie announced that Jay Lotthammer, the Parks Director of Brooklyn Park, a large suburb northwest of Minneapolis, will replace the legendary Lambert.

Bob Lambert spent his last Eden Prairie City Council meeting and a workshop on March 20th, engaged in final deliberations over the cost of a bundle of parks projects headlined by the renovation of the Eden Prairie Community Center with a new hockey rink. Also included in the passage is a new baseball field with a grandstand and new parking areas near Round Lake and upgraded access to and parking for Birch Island Park. After a year of what the Eden Prairie Sun Current noted was ongoing “sticker shock” in the process of determing the final bill for the projects, the Parks Commission recommended and the City Council authorized spending as much as $15.585 million. $6.5 million would be provided by the 2005 parks referendum, $1 million from the EP Hockey Association and other amounts from cash park fees, revenue bonds and the EP Baseball Association.

The community center renovation had long been a priority of Mr. Lambert who had postponed his retirement until the community center improvements were launched with approved bids. Mayor Young and the Council provided that authorization for the lion’s share of the projects. And a week and half earlier, the City and the Picha families closed on the $830,000 sale of 4.04 acres of land to successfully conclude a five-year, difficult initiative to expand the city’s smallest conservation area. (See news item below)

Although the Community Center will be remembered as the most important item of Mr. Lambert’s last council meeting – the EP Hockey Association presented Mayor Young with an oversized check for $1 million dollars for the new ice rink – a hearing on the draft of an Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) had drawn a trio of community leaders to the council chambers who were well known to Mr. Lambert.

Mike Boland, Jeff Strate and Dean Edstrom were among those who had come to orally comment on the adequacy of an environmental review-in-progress of six possible new road routes south of Riley Creek between Dell Road and Eden Prairie Road. Mr. Boland an environmental and education advocate who championed the unsuccessful 2004 parks referendum; Mr. Strate of Friends of Birch Island Woods and other land conservation groups and former Council Member Edstrom and Rotarian had for years been independently engaged with Mr. Lambert on a variety of issues. And now they were weighing in on, if not agreeing, on an environmental review report that would affect development patterns between the Minnesota River bluffs and the steep-sided Riley Creek corridor. The corridor, an impressive component of the Eden Prairie park and trail system that Mr. Lambert and citizens had stitched together over three decades includes a rare big woods in the Riley Creek Conservation Area, the lower, spring-fed reach of the creek, Fredrick Miller Spring and the Prairie Bluff Conservation Area.

Mr. Strate concluded his comments on the EAW by holding up the cover of the 1993 “Natural Community Survey” to which he had just referenced. He noted that the first time he had met Bob Lambert was the first time that he himself had attended a council meeting. That 1993 session approved the survey as the basis for a 1994 land preservation referendum. After the meeting, said Strate, the two introduced themselves and Lambert gave Strate a copy of the report. Mr. Strate mused that now, 14 years later, he was referring to data from the same survey that Mr. Lambert had used to support the acquisition of the Riley Creek big woods and corridor. There may not be any poetry in this, surmised Strate, but it is something to note. Mr. Strate then thanked Mr. Lambert for being a great parks director.

For more on Bob Lambert check out the on-line and print editions of the Eden Prairie Sun Current and the Eden Prairie News.

Click here to read Lyn Jerde’s, 12/6/06 EP Sun Current Article on Mr. Lambert’s initial retirement announcement

March 15, 2007
RENOVATION ON GLEN LAKE CHILDREN’S CAMP RESUMES
The’s City Preservation Specialist John Gertz and local papers, report that Friendship Ventures, the City and the State Historic Preservation Office have worked out procedures to repair damage to the Glen Lake Children’s Camp dormitory during renovation work last summer. That work was red tagged by the City in September but has resumed under the direction of an Eden Prairie based project manager and closer monitoring by the city. The dorm should be ready for special needs campers this summer; repair work on non-permitted landscaping and renovation work on nearby Birch Hall would come later. The camp is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (See related news stories and public documents below).

March 10, 2007
CITY ACQUIRES 4 ADDITIONAL ACRES FOR BIRCH ISLAND WOODS CONSERVATION AREA

A five-year long initiative to add a 4.04-acre parcel of land to the Birch Island Woods Conservation Area came to a successful conclusion in a downtown Minneapolis bank on Friday March 9, 2007. The City’s purchase of the remnant of an old farmstead that had been owned by two branches of the Picha family was completed, signed and closed. Terry Picha, one of the co-owners in attendance at the Friday closing, said that he had a “bitter-sweet” perspective on the transaction the following morning when he drove up to the small farm that he and his family will continue to operate. That farm sits on a hill overlooking Birch Island Road and the land that was sold; land that is mostly wooded but had hosted a farm house, outbuildings an apple orchard, livestock and memories. “We’ve owned that property for a long time, for my whole life,” he said, “and now the City owns it. But it will be part of the conservation area and that is the best use of that land.”

The City’s portion of the Birch Island Woods complex now totals about 36 acres. Approximately 5 isolated acres of the woods are owned by Twin City and Western Railroad and a detached parcel east of Indian Chief Road and another south of Edenvale Boulevard are owned by the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority.

The $830,000 the city has paid for the parcel is mostly coming from money made available by voters for park land purchases from the November 2005 Eden Prairie Parks Referendum.

“This has been a long, difficult and unpredictable journey for the parties involved,” said FBIW President Jeff Strate. “But we all hung in there and made it work.” The 5-year long effort to save the Birch Island Road parcel he from development he has been telling people depended equally on the patience of the landowners, the work of Friends of Birch Island Woods and a city which kept its focus.

Failed attempts to get DNR matching grants and the May 2004 parks referendum passed; a lapsed purchase option and little hope of adapting the parcel for compatible horticultural uses were discouraging. But with voter approval to, among other things, acquire land in Eden Prairie’s November 2005 parks referendum, prospects for City ownership of the parcel began to brighten.

But the going remained slow as the City Parks Commission and staff and the City Council engaged in the process of identifying and ranking all of the City’s land acquisition needs for its parks, open space and trail system plan. The “Picha Parcel,” as it became known, competed with other parcels but remained at the top of the list. On January 18, 2006, the City Council authorized Parks Director Bob Lambert to begin negotiations with the Pichas for their Birch Island Road property. Over the next 13 months, the critical and complex minutia of any land transaction involving multiple owners and a public entity slowly progressed toward the January 9th closing.

The protection of the parcel from development will prevent ecological fragmentation of the woods, keep the BIW complex the only forested area in town that is not hemmed in on any side by houses and enable Terry and Kathy Picha to continue operating their small, 104-year old farm. It was understood that if large homes or town houses had been built on the parcel across the street from the farm that special assessments on the farm and possible objection by new residents to having a farm in their neighborhood would make it difficult for the farm to continue. The Picha family grows wholesale and retail flowers, raspberries, tomatoes and other vegetables.

“In making a solid case for expanding the conservation area, we were also making a case to keep a pocket of old Minnesota alive and well in Eden Prairie,” said Strate.

February 21, 2007
EDEN PRAIRIE CITY COUNCIL RE-ZONES ITS GOLF COURSES AS “GOLF COURSES5

As expected, Eden Prairie Mayor Phil Young and the City Council unanimously approved the rezoning of Eden Prairie’s four golf courses from the “quasi-public open space” designation to the new “golf course” zoning category. The February 20th vote had been delayed two weeks to provide the City attorney time to introduce all pertinent documents related to the Bent Creek Course into the public record. Some of the owners of the Bent Creek property through their legal representatives have been opposing the action and have said that it would most likely prompt legal actions lesley use and agreements pertaining to the golf course since 1968.

Applause generated by attendant Save Bent Creek activists greeted the approval of the first reading and, moments later, the second reading.

Regardless of the guide plan and zoning change, the owners of Bent Creek Golf Course still retain the right to bring a development plan for their property to the city.

In a letter published by the Eden Prairie Sun Current and Eden Prairie News, Marcus Johnson, writing on behalf of the Friends of Birch Island Woods, thanked Save Bent Creek and the current and previous Eden Prairie City Councils for defending again the Edenvale Planned Unit Development Agreement with due diligence.

Click here to access public documents and articles on Bent Creek issues through our archive.

February 17, 2007
RENOVATION OF HISTORIC GLEN LAKE CHILDREN’S CAMP COULD CONTINUE -- BUT WITH MUCH MORE OVERSIGHT
Renovation of the Glen Lake Children’s Camp at Eden Wood can continue but with much more oversight. That was the direction the EP City Council decided to take during its February 6, 2007 meeting. That decision was preceded by a 90-minute long “workshop” attended by state and city officials and Ed Stracke one of the top executives of Friendship Ventures. The 1925 camp is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is all that remains of the Glen Lake Tuberculosis Sanitarium, in its day one of the top three TB treatment and research centers in the county. The Sanitarium/Terrace Oaks Nursing Home complex was demolished in 1991 for the Glen Lake Golf and Practice Center.

The purpose of the workshop was to lay the facts out on the table regarding restoration work that had been red-tagged and stopped in September. A plan for the renovation work to the camp’s dormitory and dining hall was approved by the City and the Minnesota State Historical Office and agreed to by Friendship Ventures before the work began early last summer. Friendship Ventures leases Eden Wood (which includes the Children’s Camp) from the City of Eden Prairie and has wanted to upgrade the two buildings for the kids and adults with special needs for whom it runs programs.

In September 2006, the project was “red-tagged” and halted when City and State officials discovered that work on the dorm included unauthorized landscaping, unauthorized construction of a new foundation and unauthorized removal of exterior siding and window materials. EP Building Inspector Kevin Schmeig said during the afternoon meeting that the work had also preceded without necessary building permits and that the work was not in conformance with submitted plans. It was also known that a required Nine Mile Creek Watershed District permit was never requested.

Representatives from the State and City told City Council members that the agreed to plan that had not been followed could, with some adjustments, be accomplished and that it could be possible to fix the damage.

By the end of the workshop, the consensus was that Friendship Ventures (meaning the organization’s executive leadership) was correct in saying that it should have done a much better job of managing the project. All parties during the afternoon session agreed to work more carefully and closely so that the camp can again serve Friendship Ventures’ clientele and are in compliance with the lease and the historic standards set for the camp.

Some, however, wondered why Friendship Venture’s executive leadership had recruited a number of its clientele and local benefactors including the Eden Prairie Lions to lobby council members with emails.

Prior to the February 6th workshop, as word of the emerging lobbying effort spread, an effort to put the Glen Lake Children’s’ Camp in perspective and to clarify what had gone wrong was taken up independently by members of relevant city commissions including the Parks Commission, the Heritage Preservation Commission and the Human Rights and Diversity Commission as well as members of the Eden Prairie and Minnetonka Historical Societies and Friends of Birch Island Woods. In a letter to the City, The Friends of BIW urged the city to determine why the damage had been caused and to seek a fair remedy. FBIW applauds and has promoted the exemplary human service programs of Friendship Ventures at Eden Wood as well as the historical integrity of the old camp.

“This situation is not about old buildings verses people with disabilities” said EP Lion and FBIW volunteer Tommy Johnson. “It’s about a tenant who broke a lease agreement with the City and that has absolutely nothing to with the special needs campers and their families. “No one is against disabled kids,” he said, “but there was an agreed to plan that would have served those kids.”

Click here for the City’s Feb 2, 2007 summary on the renovation of the Glen Lake Children’s Camp

The pdf formatted memorandum covers agreements pertaining to, improvements to, plans for and work accomplished at Eden Wood from 1995 to the present.

Jan 23, 2007
THE STATUS OF THE HISTORIC GLEN LAKE CHILDREN’S CAMP AT EDEN WOOD (DAMAGED BY RENOVATION WORK) WILL BE DISCUSSED BY THE EP CITY COUNCIL

The historic Glen Lake Children’s Camp in Eden Prairie that was damaged by un-permitted renovation work last summer, sets the stage for a February 6th informational meeting at Eden Prairie City Hall.

In his January 16th report to the City Council, Mayor Phil Young requested that City staff prepare a brief on Eden Wood and agreements between the City and Friendship Ventures, Inc. for review during a City Council workshop on February 6th. Part of the City-owned facility includes the Glen Lake Children’s Camp which during a renovation project last summer was altered and damaged without approvals or permits. The camp is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Mayor Young stated that his request was prompted by a letter to him from Friendship Ventures which asked the City to consider altering the historic designation of the camp to facilitate its mission. The private, non-profit agency operates year-round, outdoors-oriented programs for children and adults with mental and physical disabilities at Eden Wood and at camps near Annandale and McGregor.

In response to Mr. Young’s request, Council member Sherry Butcher said that she had concerns about having the Council consider a request by an organization [Friendship Ventures] that had allowed destruction of Eden Prairie park property and committed serious violations of its contract with the City to protect and re-use the site. In response to Ms. Butcher, the Mayor said that the council needed to be updated on the Eden Wood situation and that the February 6th meeting would provide information and address the issues “

BACKGROUND: The Annandale-based agency has leased Eden Wood from the City since 1995 for no cost but is responsible for the upkeep of the facility and its 7.5-acre site which blends into wilderness-like Birch Island Park. Special needs programs, an associated travel service and outdoors team building programs (for the general public) operate at Eden Wood. Some Friendship Ventures staff live on site at the 1882 Holasek House. Eden Wood’s winterized cabins and conference center are available to the general public on a rental basis: community service, professional, educational, church and craft groups regularly hold meetings or retreats at Eden Wood. Friends of Birch Island Woods stages most of its buckthorn and open space seminars and hiking events there. With its historic structures and rustic, “up north” setting, Eden Wood is considered, by those who know about it, to be “Eden Prairie’s best kept secret.”

Eden Wood (6350 Indian Chief Road) lies east of Birch Island Park adjacent to Twin Cities & Western Railroad track and Birch Island Woods Conservation Area. The Glen Lake Children’s Camp was constructed in 1925 as an adjunct of the Glen Lake Tuberculosis Sanitarium. The camp’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places is in part due to it being emblematic of an important phase of the nation’s health and medical care history. Of the scores of camps like it that were built throughout the country during the first half of the 20th century, only the camp in Eden Prairie and one in New England are still standing. Glen Lake Children’s Camp (which is actually situated on Birch Island Lake) is all that remains of the nationally respected sanitarium that was located on a campus that now embraces Glen Lake Golf Course nearby in Minnetonka.

In the mid 1990’s, when Friendship Ventures took an interest in running programs at Eden Wood, it had wanted to demolish two of the original camp buildings - Birch Hall (dining) and a small garage - to make room for a proposed 15,000 square foot building. Because of the camp’s 1999 listing on the National Register of Historic Places, Friendship Ventures agreed (but not readily) to comply with the National Register standards that were set up to protect the camp’s architectural integrity. About the same time, private donations - spearheaded by the Lions Club of Eden Prairie - provided Eden Wood with a modern conference center closer to Indian Chief Road. Eden Wood was also connected to water and sewer by the City.

More recently, Friendship Ventures executives, their architect and the City, under advisement of the State Historical Preservation Office, began planning for the refitting of Birch Hall and the camp’s original dormitory so that they could better accommodate the intensive care required by campers with disabilities and yet retain their historic, architectural integrity.

(Note: In the year 2000, substandard roofing was replaced and structural repairs performed and roof deck insulation installed on the dorm. That $61,400 project was funded by a matching grant from the State that was administered through the Minnesota Historical Society and was compliant with National Register standards.)

Planning for the new, sensitive renovation work on Birch Hall and the dorm moved forward and the City Council authorized Friendship Ventures to seek a $79,300 State preservation matching grant for the makeover. By the spring of 2006, all seemed in order. The grant had been awarded, but was just part of an enormously successful Friendship Ventures fund raising effort which was said to be in the $800,000 to $1 million dollar range in pledged services, donated skilled labor, materials and contributions. On January 29th, Friendship Ventures’ Ed Stracke, reported that in-kind labor and materials given to the project so far are valued at about $150,000.

The Glen Lake Children’s Camp dorm and its surroundings looked like this several years ago. The 1925 camp is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Alleged, un-authorized construction work on the dorm during the summer of 2006 is being reviewed by the City of Eden Prairie.

On May 5, 2006 Friendship Ventures held a ground-breaking ceremony for the renovation project. All seemed well. Four months later, no one was smiling.

While at Eden Wood on September 7th, City Manager Scott Neal, Heritage Preservation Specialist John Gertz, Council Member Sherry Butcher and Minnesota Historical Society Architect Mark Buechel unexpectedly witnessed the unauthorized and un-approved removal of window and siding material from the dormitory. They also saw again un-approved landscape grading and a walkway around the dorm.

Since October, officials have known that most of the renovation work at the Children’s Camp was done without necessary City and Nine Mile Creek Watershed District permits and say that an order to save re-useable window and siding materials was not properly tended too resulting in the loss of some re-useable material.

In a letter dated October 12, 2006 to the Friendship Venture’s architect for the Camp project (who Eden Prairie officials say is not a party to the violations), Mr. Buechel writes, “The majority of the work done to date does not follow the approved plans and scope of work. The majority of the work performed to date not only fails to meet the [U.S.] Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for rehabilitation, but also has seriously compromised the integrity of the building jeopardizing not only its contribution to the site but the entire National Register Listing of the property.”

In a January 29, 2007 email to Friends of Birch Island Woods President Jeff Strate Mr. Stracke wrote: “When the project [renovation work at the camp] is completed the two main structures on the outside will look more like they did in 1925 when they were originally constructed and they will be remodeled in a way that will help preserve them for another 80 years. But most important the structures will be fully functional and accessible for a group of people who have special medical needs which is why they were built in the first place."

LOOKING FOR A REMEDY: City officials and representatives of Friendship Ventures have had several discussions regarding the damage and about possible remedies prior to the November election. The February 6th workshop, involving the entire city council, pertinent commission chairs and staff and representatives of Friendship Ventures, will be the first meeting on Glen Lake Children’s Camp issues this year.

Vist the “Events” section of this website for meeting information

Click here for a history and photos on Glen Lake Children’s Camp

Click here for information on Eden Wood and Friendship Ventures

Jan 20, 2007
EP’S GUIDE PLAN IS UPDATED TO PROVIDE CLARITY FOR ZONING OF GOLF COURSES

On Tuesday January 16th, the Eden Prairie City Council approved a guide plan change affecting Bent Creek, Glen Lake, Olympic Hills and Bearpath golf courses. On January 30th, the City Council is expected designate each golf layout as being within the newly created “golf course zone” classification enabled by the guide plan change. The new classification provides golf courses with clearer land use parameters than their earlier “quasi-public open space” classification. The new “golf course” zoning classification unambiguously spells out that golf courses are restricted to golf and such passive recreational activities as tennis, croquet, lawn bowling, cross country skiing and ice-skating.

Birch Island Woods is located between Glen Lake and Bent Creek Golf Courses, about 300 feet south of the former and 900 feet north of the latter

In the future, if owners of Eden Prairie golf courses want to develop their properties, they’ll have a clearer path to follow with their proposals. They’d need to petition the city for a guide plan and a zoning change, which is pretty much what they’ve had to do all along. The difference now is that neither the city, residents or developers will have to bump about in the fog of the un-precise meaning of the “quasi-public open space” label. There never was a statutory “quasi-public open space” zone and the City, with the blessing of the Metropolitan Council, is remedying the inconsistency.

The major owners of Bent Creek Golf Course, however, through the voice of Bruce Malkerson, one of their legal representatives, claims that requiring Bent Creek to remain a golf course "encumbers" the land with a forced designation of open space, and condemns them to what the owners claim is a money-losing enterprise. Bent Creek owners want to sell the 105-acre links style golf course for development. Save Bent Creek organizers Steve Chelesnick, Victoria Rolf and others disagreed with a number of Mr. Malkerson’s claims. Mr. Malkerson purported that the “rezoning” of Bent Creek would be illegal and would prompt legal action against the city. For Lyn Jerde’s Eden Prairie Sun Current account of the Jan 16th hearing click here.

January 14, 2007
BUZZ WORD SURVEY: “OPEN SPACE” OUT; “NATURAL AREAS” IN
The phrase “open space” may not be the most effective term to use for land conservation initiatives according to a study done for the Embrace Open Space campaign. During the EOS quarterly meeting on Oct. 17th, Tom Horner (of Himle Horner, a public relations firm located in West Bloomington) reported that findings from a survey and focus groups during the summer of 2006 indicate that natural areas are not among the top issues identified by Twin Cities metro area residents. According to the January edition of the EOS’ Monthly News (an email newsletter), the study found that (a) property taxes, quality of schools and cost of health care are at the top of metro area concerns; (2) that protecting natural areas is not a tier one issue; (3) metro residents strongly agree with the value of natural areas; (4) metro area residents are deeply divided on spending taxes to protect existing areas.

The study recommended the following strategies for land conservation initiatives:

1. (1) Bring [open space] issue to people’s backyards
2. Drive communications broad and (selectively) deep
3. General outreach has to be paired with very targeted, focused efforts [identify specific parcels of land to acquire for protection]. The general outreach will win public sentiment; targeted efforts will win referenda and local decisions
4. Use the term “natural areas” because support for it is stronger than for the term “open space.”

January 14, 2007
REGIONAL OPEN SPACE LOSSES MEASURED WITH SATELLITE IMAGERY
A recent University of Minnesota study finds that more than 170,000 acres in the Twin Cities metro area have been converted to urban uses in the last 20 years. Interpreting satellite imagery, researchers Steven Manson and Marvin Bauer that this represents a 38 percent increase in urban land and a significant increase in impervious surfaces. Hard surfaces including paved roads, driveways, sidewalks, parking lots and roof tops in residential, commercials, industrial areas and agricultural areas contribute to the pollution of streams, lakes and wetlands if not treated. The report appears in the Fall 2006 issue of CURA Reporter, publication of the U of M’s Center of Urban and Regional Affairs. To visit CURA’s website click on the following link: http://www.cura.umn.edu/

December 16, 2006
EDEN PRAIRIE LAKES IMPROVEMENT PROJECT
MOVES ON TO FINAL APPROVALS – BIRCH ISLAND LAKE WORK LIKELY TO BEGIN IN SPRING OF 2007.
Work on restoring the natural level of Birch Island Lake will begin during the spring of 2007 says the Nine Mile Creek Watershed District (9MCWD). The District’s Board of Managers held a public hearing chaired by President LuAnn Tolliver on lake improvement projects at Eden Prairie City Hall on Thursday December 7th.

In attendence were a few home owners from the Cardinal Creek neighborhood, Jeff Strate of Friends of Birch Island Woods and EP City Environmental Coordinator Leslie Stovring and Parks Manager Stu Fox.

The normal flow of ground water to Birch Island Lake from the north in Minnetonka was cut off during the late 1980’s when the base for the Crosstown highway was constructed. (See related news stories on this website ).

Barr Engineering consultants said that with the installation of tile pipe along the north side of the Crosstown Highway east of Eden Prairie road, ground water and surface water will be collected and conveyed approximately 1500 feet directly to Birch Island Lake by a 1 foot diameter pipe. That pipe will be bored underneath the large wetland that lies between the lake and the highway.

Construction of a new rainwater detention pond on the west side of Eden Prairie Road north of Kurtz Lane and the upgrade of the existing detention pond between Edenvale Boulevard, Leslie Lane and Doriann Court will also begin. The goal is to fully restore the clarity of Birch Island Lake and its suitability for fishing, swimming and boating.

The Birch Island Lake restoration project is part of a larger package of water improvement initiatives that include reducing the phosphorous levels and algal growth in Birch Island Lake, Bryant Lake and Northwest and Southwest Anderson Lakes.

Click here for more on the lakes project.

December 6, 2006
PROPOSAL FOR NEW LAND USE CATEGORY FOR EP GOLF COURSES MOVES FORWARD
During its December 4th meeting, the Eden Prairie City Council tentatively agreed to a new land use zone called "golf course” but postponed action to re-designate the four Eden Prairie courses as such. For zoning purposes, golf courses in Eden Prairie are identified as “quasi-public.”

The delay in applying the new zoning category to Bent Creek, Glen Lake, Olympic Hills and Beatherpath golf courses will wait until the City gets some perspective on the matter from the Metropolitan Council, the regional land use and planning entity.

Public hearings for the rezoning of the four courses courses had been re-scheduled for Tuesday January 16 - as was the final decision on the adoption of the ordinance creating the "golf course" classification.

Principal owner Sam Hertog’s legal representatives say that he will oppose re-classifying Bent Creek Golf Course into the new zoning designation. Mr. Hertzog’s ownership group wishes to sell Bent Creek for development. The City and various citizen groups contend that Bent Creek must remain a golf course because of Planned Unit Development agreements made in the early 1970’s. In making their case to keeping Bent Creek a golf course over the past year, golf club members and others point out that Mr. Hertzog can still sell the Bent Creek property at a fair market price to those who want to keep it operating as a golf course.

Click here for Lyn Jerde’s Sun Current account of the hearing.

December 1, 2006
RECORD NUMBER OF BUCKTHORN AND GARLIC MUSTARD PROJECTS IN BIRCH ISLAND WOODS THIS YEAR
The removal of buckthorn and garlic mustard in Birch Island Woods increased by several notches in 2006. Thanks to a variety of volunteer groups and individuals coordinated or assisted by experienced Friends of Birch Island Woods pullers, several more acres of buckthorn and garlic mustard were pulled from areas near Indian Chief Road, the main trail and the wood chip path loop near the center of the conservation area, and the Harlan Drive trail. The buckthorn education and pulling season began at the Minnetonka Eco Fair on March 13 with an information table and concluded with a November 11th pull with approximately 30 volunteers from Eden Prairie High School's Key Club.

Groups from Eden Prairie High School, Central Middle School, the International School of Minnesota, Boy Scouts of America, Gustavus Adolphus College and Immanual Lutheran Church were among the organizations that helped this year. Individuals and family groups also contributed to Friends of Birch Island Woods buckthorn and garlic mustard programs. In May garlic mustard was pulled and left on the ground, but as the plant seeded, it was bagged and hauled away. The pulled buckthorn has been piled in specified areas for chipping or for safe burning this winter. The burns will be conducted by City appointed crews working under permit of the EP Fire Marshall.

City Street crews have recently trimmed branches that overhang Birch Island Road, Edenvale Boulevard and Indian Chief Road. The thickets of small trees and buckthorn that press in on the narrow shoulders of Indian Chief Road have leveled to provide better site lines and, apparently, a safer corridor for walkers.

Eagle Scout candidate Sam McCotter is the first to develop a project for the woods in 2007; restoration of wood chip trails. Mr. Cordes is really pleased with the progress and hopes that as many people as possible walk through the conservation area to see the cleared areas.

Nearly twice as many Eden Prairie and Minnetonka homeowners (including a home owners association) borrowed FBIW's weed wrenches to work their own properties. FBIW has the largest number of weed wrench loaners available in the sw suburbs thanks to loaners from Bill Satterness, EP Forestry Jeff Cordes, Janet Larson and Jeff Strate and a donation of three weed wrenches from Karen Rylander.

In reverse chronological order, here's is a list of those who helped fight the harmful, weed tree and the thick battlaions of garlic mustard. Assisting Mr. Strate on one or more of the pulls were FBIW volunteers Tommy Johnson, Bill Satterness, Greg Blakely, Vicky Miller, Beth Gilman, Rochell Eastman, Sue Neilsen, Alex Strate, Larry Peterson and Karen Rylander. Organized groups provided their own leaders under the direction of City Forestry Technician Jeff Cordes or FBIW's Jeff Strate and are mentioned below. Eden Wood center catered the larger pulls.

November 9, 2006
NEW MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEMBERS FOR EP
Council Member Phil Young will be Eden Prairie's new mayor in January. Phil won more votes than Ron Case in a sometimes heated and controversial mayoral race. Both candidates have been good friends of Birch Island Woods have volunteered at the spring plant sale benefit. Phil and his kids have even pulled buckthorn in the woods. Ron has contributed his deep historic knowledge to the Haunted Woods Walk.
Jon Duckstad who served as a volunteer greeter during last May's plant sale and Kathy Nelson a former planning commissioner won the two open places on the city council Gary Stevens came in a close third and may be asking for a re-count. Nina McKay, Jeff Strate, and Larry Piumbroeck followed the lead pack.

Maria Ruud (42A) and Erik Paulsen (42B) won re-election to their respective Minnesota House of Representative districts. David Haan won a vigorous challenge from Carol Bomben for the District 42 Senate Seat.

Friends of Birch Island Woods congratulates our soon to be new elected officials and thanks the other candidates for their active interest in Eden Prairie public service. For more on the election read accounts in the Eden Prairie News and the Eden Prairie Sun Current.

September 27, 2006
JEFF STRATE & 5 OTHERS RUN FOR EP CITY COUNCIL
Open space advocate and FBIW President Jeff Strate is running for the Eden Prairie City Council. Jeff's campaign website is found at http://www.electjeffstrate.com/ Others running for two open positions on the council include Gary Stevens, John Duckman, Kathy Nelson, Nina McKay and Larry Piumbroeck. Ron Case and Phil Young are running for the mayoral position. For more information check the community newspapers or the City of EP website at http://www.edenprairie.org/. Friends of Birch Island Woods does not endorse candidates.

September 27, 2007
BIRCH ISLAND LAKE PROJECTS TO BEGIN
Nine Mile Creek Watershed district could begin a project to restore the level of Birch Island Lake later this winter. The Watershed District will also be upgrading an existing rainwater runoff pond and constructing a new one to remove pollutants from the runoff before it flows into the lake and its associated wetlands. The Birch Island Lake projects are among a suite of lake and creek improvement projects that are slated for a number of Eden Prairie Lakes. Click here to read a full account of the projects in the Eden Prairie News.

September 27, 2006
BIW CONSERVATION AREA EXPANSION: CITY, LAND OWNERS PROCEED.
(This is an update of an August 24th story)

Terry Picha, who heads one of two sets of owners who are selling their 4-acre parcel on Birch Island Road to the City of Eden Prairie, reports that all parties are moving forward with the final process to conclude the sale. An other survey of the property is required and that should be completed by the end of October. The land will be folded into the BIW Conservation Area.

During its August 15 meeting, the Eden Prairie City Council unanimously voted to authorize the Parks staff to move to begin the final negotiations for the purchase of a 4-acre parcel owned by the Picha families. The property will be added to the Birch Island Woods Conservation Area. “Friends of Birch Island Woods and the City have been pursuing this goal for about three years,” said FBIW President Jeff Strate. “This part of our journey has been like a roller coaster ride, one that occasionally stalled,” he said. "The Picha families have been patient and, over the long haul, the Parks Commission, City Council and staff have kept on the track."

According to EP Parks Director Bob Lambert, who spoke at the Council Meeting, the price for the property will be around the $830,000 mark; that's about where it was a year ago. A new appraisal for the property will be completed soon but it is anticipated by Mr. Lambert and one of the owners that the new appraisal will be similar to the previous appraisal.

The City will be using 2005 EP Parks Referendum dollars for the Picha land and will begin final negotiations when the new appraisal is completed.

The initiative to have the purchase of the Picha property serve as a kind of mitigation credit for the anticipated sale or renting of a part of Staring Lake Park will continue on a slower track but could save the City in the range of $250,000. The Staring Lake Park property was purchased with a Federal Land and Water Conservation (LAWCON) grant in the 1970's but the city is hoping to rent or sell the historic Cummins-Grill House which sits on it. If the City does not buy a qualifying piece of land for park purposes to make up for the sale of the Federally funded Staring property, it would have to return the grant money to the Federal government.

Mr. Lambert has told local newspapers and the City Council that the National Parks Service (a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior) has in fact approved the 4-acre Picha property as an appropriate “conversion” land buy for the City to mitigate the sale (or rental) of the Staring property. There are other complications.

This property is the site of the Cummins-Grill House which is on the National Register of Historic Places. In order to keep the house functional and protect its historic integrity with out using tax dollars, the City wants to sell or rent it. With adaptive re-use, the building could be used for a retail or restaurant operation or for offices.

Because of this historic status, the National Parks Service is requiring the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office (SHIPO) to review and approve concept plans for the re-use of the Cummins-Grill house and its property before it will rule on whether the city will be required to return the grant money. Adaptive re-use would involve improvements to the interior of the structure and its yards and gardens as well as a new parking lot and driveway. “Any plan for this,” says Mr. Strate, and I am sure Council Member [Sherry] Butcher would strongly agree, should be compliant with the criteria for keeping Cummins-Grill on the National Register of Historic Places.”

But planning for adaptive re-use, has been complicated by Hennepin County’s plans to widen Pioneer Trail (County Road 1) which fronts the Cummins-Grill land opposite Flying Cloud Airport. In January, it was hoped by the City that everything would have been lined up for both the Birch Island Woods expansion and the Cummins-Grill property by this month. It is now clear that the Staring Lake Park side of the equation will take much longer.

August 16, 2006
BENT CREEK GOLF COURSE AND OTHER OPEN SPACES WILL NOT BE AFFECTED BY THE PLATTING OF AN EDENVALE OUTLOT
Because of questions raised by Friends of Birch Island Woods President Jeff Strate during a City Council public hearing on July 18, a request to plat a .64-acre outlot of open space was continued to the August 1st Council Meeting. During the July 18th hearing, Mr. Strate advised the City Council that it needed to be absolutely sure of any restrictions that could still apply to the Woodland Drive outlot vis-a-vis the Edenvale Planned Unit Development agreements dating to the 1970’s.. Bent Creek Golf Course (which is privately owned) as well as some 20 outlots that have also been in the private ownership of the Edenvale Homeowners Association, remain subject to those agreements. (Note: The City intends to acquire those outlots and manage them for their designated open space purposes and is currentlly reviewing all aspects of the Edenvale PUD vis-avis Bent Creek.)

Mr. Strate said that the Edenvale Conservation Group and Save Bent Creek and the City Council would want to be absolutely clear on the platting request for the Woodland Drive Property given its similar seeming status to Bent Creek and the outlots, the importance of pretecting open space in north central Eden Prairie and the complexity of issues associated with the Edenvale PUD. Council Member Ron Case agreed. City Attorney Ric Rossow said that had not yet had an opportunity to review the platting request and asked for additional time to do so. The hearing for the platting request was continued to August 1st.

During the August 1st portion of the hearing, Mr. Rossow reported (according to un-approved minutes of the hearing) that such development (the platting request for the Woodland outlot) would not negatively impact the City’s position regarding other open areas. Mr. Rossow was quoted as saying that although the outlot was originally dedicated as private open space, the plan [the PUD for Edenvale] changed over time as the development [of Edenvlale] changed from multi-family to single family residences. The presence of additional open space in yards made dedicating the outlot as open space unnecessary.

The Woodland Drive outlot, according to the unapproved minutes, was reclassified in 2001 as vacant residential land and has been taxed as such, and a court order has relieved the covenants of the homeowner’s association. In contrast, the use of the Bent Creek Golf Course area has been stable over time. Distinguishing and material factors separate the two situations, Mr. Rossow is recorded as saying in the unapproved minutes.

July 5. 2006
BENT CREEK GOLF COURSE, REPORTEDLY, WILL REMAIN OPEN FOR THE 2007 SEASON
Bent Creek Golf Club will continue to operate as a private golf club for the 2007 season and perhaps longer according to a July 1 email update sent out by Save Bent Creek co-leader Paula Coomer. Late in 2005, Bent Creek officials said that they were intending to sell the 18-hole, links-style course for development and would shut it down after the 2006 season. (See elated stories below beginning on December 5, 2005.)

In her communication, Ms. Coomer reports that members of the club had recently been sent a letter from Bent Creek General Manager Michelle Russell announcing the reversal of the 2006 closing decision. The letter, says Ms. Coomer, also announced that, subject to financial and business conditions, the course will likely remain open in 2008 and 2009, but that the club house (with bar and restaurant services) will close during the off-season.

“This is great news,” wrote Ms. Coomer to Save Bent Creek volunteers, “however we all must stay involved and make our voices heard. It's easy to take a deep breath now, but we need to make sure that our green space stays as a golf course!”

“Watch-dogging for any attempts to change the City’s Comprehensive Guide Plan that would threaten open space, parks and golf courses and to uphold the PUD Agreement for Bent Creek is of the highest priority for those of us who live in north central Eden Prairie,” commented FBIW President Jeff Strate.

June 12, 2006
BI WOODS EXPANSION WAITS FOR APPROVALS BY TWO STATE AGENCIES TO QUALIFY FOR USE OF FEDERAL LAWCON GRANT FUNDS.
The City of Eden Prairie’s request to transfer federal grant money tied to the Cummins-Grill property in Staring Lake Park to help buy the 4-acre, Picha property for the Birch Island Woods Conservation Area had been progressing slowly. In the 1970’s the National Park Service (NPS) awarded Eden Prairie a Land and Water Conservation (LAWCON) grant to help acquire land which was made part of Staring Lake Park. The City now hopes to sell some of that land and the Cummins-Grill House to private owners but keep it on the National Register of Historic Places. (See related strories below dated January 18 and Febrary 27, 2006),

The City had said that it expected to conclude negotiations with representatives of the 4-acre parcel by early June, but no activity as of this writing is known by us. Eden Prairie Historic Preservation Specialist John Gertz says the the NPS has recommended that the City discuss the request with the State Historic Preservation Office and the MN DNR to resolve any possible issues regarding potential loss of the protection to the Cummins-Grill House and, persumably, its status on the National Register of Historic Places. On June 6, 2006, Mr. Gertz wrote to Friends of Birch Island Woods in an email letter that the City is “currently” scheduling a meeting with SHPO to discuss the impact to the Cummins property, which will result in a Memorandum of Agreement. Mr. Gertz also reported that he felt that the City’s request to “convert” Cummins property for Picha property “will very likely be approved; it's just a matter of going through the process and agreeing on current and future impacts to the Cummins site.” Queries to EP Parks Director Bob Lambert about the matter were not returned the week of June 6, but after the June 12 Birch Island Park neighborhood planning session at City Hall, Mr. Lambert suggested to Jeff Strate that the City appreciates the patience of the Picha families and that moving the purchase forward with or without LAWCON money is called for. The purchase option between the city and the Pichas reportedly expired on June 1.

FBIW Board Member Leslie Cameron, however, did receive email responses from Council Members Ron Case and Phil Young who replied that they still expected the transaction to be successful. Both have announced they will campaign to be Eden Prairie’s next mayor. Nancy Tyra-Lukens has announced she will be retiring from the city’s top elected position in January.

“With or without the LAWCON funds, parks referendum voters said “yes” to acquire open space and there is more than enough on hand,” said FBIW secretary Vicky Miller. “The Picha families have been more than patient, the City must buy the land now.”

(Note: The market value of the 4-acre parcel could be more than $830,000)

June 12, 2006
THE RAISING OF BIRCH ISLAND LAKE LEVELS COULD BEGIN THIS WINTER
Nine Mile Creek Watershed District Engineering Consultant Bob Obermeyer told FBIW President Jeff Strate on Wednesday June 7, 2006 that the preparation work and planning for the restoration of normal Birch Island Lake levels is pretty much on track. Mr. Obermeyer said the actual work could possibly begin next year, possibly during the winter months. The normal levels of the lake fell by 8 feet or more during a draught in the late 1980’s. Other nearby lakes also suffered declining levels at that time but returned to normal in subsequent years. A recent Nine Mile Creek Watershed District Study determined that the construction of the future road bed for Highway 62 during the drought most likely redirected underground waterflow away from the lake which lies about 1200 feet south of the highway. Birch Island Lake levels remained low. The plan calls for redirecting underground waterflow to the lake and once in place will increase the lake’s level by about one foot per year. (Read the August 6, 2005 story for more on the restoration of Birch Island Lake).

June 12, 2006
EDGWOOD MINI-PARK GETS NEW PLAY STRUCTURE
Eden Prairie Parks Department has installed a nifty new play structure and bench at Edgewood Mini-Park on Edenvale Boulevard between Hallmark Drive and Edgewood Drive. The new apparatus includes slides, swings and climbing elements for kids ranging in age from 2 to 12. An old, rotting and unsafe play structure including a slide and tire swing was removed last year. Some internet services like Google Map, identify the small park as “Raven Ridge Park,” but that name was dropped some time ago.

As of June 12 the apron of the newly graded play sit still waits to be sodded. A group of neighborhood residents will soon be requesting that a screen of buckthorn between Edenvale Boulevard and the City trail next to the play area be thinned out so activities in the park can be seen more clearly from the road.

June 13, 2006
NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING SESSION FOR BIRCH ISLAND PARK IMPROVEMENTS
15 residents and a few kids and a reporter from the Eden Prairie News attended the June 12 Birch Island Park neighborhood planning session at City Hall. People weighed in on what they wanted for the park which lies north and west of Birch Island Lake along Eden Prairie Road. Included among the suggested improvements were safer access for pedestrians and cars from Eden Prairie Road, a small playground for kids and a shelter. Requests that any improvements to the park be respectful to nature seemed to garner full support from those attending. Most attendees seemed to agree that a natural Birch Island Park is the most suitable although there was some interest in a volley ball court with a sand playing surface and a tennis court. Parks Director Bob Lambert said that the City would like to also improve bike and hike access from the south and will consider paving the parking lot. A new trail is to be run along Eden Prairie Road to the park and will cross Hennepin County-owned open space to connect with the trail on the south side of the Crosstown Highway. Mr. Lambert and Parks Manager Stuart Fox (who was also in attendance) will review the comments form the meeting and have a concept plan devised for further public comment; that might happen as early as August.

June 4, 2006
$1 MILLION RENOVATION OF HISTORIC GLEN LAKE CHILDREN’S CAMP AT EDEN WOOD PROGRESSES

The Wednesday May 3rd ground breaking ceremony for the renovation of historic Glen Lake Children’s Camp marked the midpoint of a carefully thought out effort to preserve a nugget of health care history and renovate it for current users - children with special needs. The 1925 camp is all that remains of the Glen Lake Tuberculosis Sanitarium that had been operated by Hennepin County when fresh air and sunshine were thought to have curative effects on patients. Of the hundreds tuberculosis camps that were built nationwide, only Glen Lake Children’s Camp survived demolition to continue to serve children.

The old camp’s dining hall and dormitory are being refitted to comply with modern health care standards and building codes in a way which will protect their listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The total cost of the renovation is estimated to be in the $800,000 to $1,000,000 range

The camp is now part of Eden Wood Center, a rustic and larger, year-round. outdoors oriented retreat serving special needs campers as well as team-building programs for local schools and other organizations who can rent cabins or the full-service conference center. Eden Wood is operated by Friendship Ventures which leases the site from the City of Eden Prairie.

.The Minneapolis Building and Construction Trades Council is donating approximately $400,000 in labor and materials; the Eden Prairie Lions and the International Lions, the Minnesota Historical Society and others have made major commitments to help fund the balance of the work.

See the November 28, 2005 news story on Eden Wood below for more information.

Click here for Karla Wennerstroms May 10, Eden Prairie News story on the renovation.

May 15, 2006
BIRCH ISLAND WOODS PLANT SALE OPENING: SOAKED AND SPLENDED
As winds and rain from the northeast drenched the Twin Cities metro region during the weekend, the Birch Island Woods Plant Sale had a splendid opening. Customers began showing up three hours before the gates officially "opened" at 4 pm on Friday. By 4:30 pm, for short periods of time, the closest cars could park to the greenhouse was on Birch Island Road. People hustled up to the farm in pelting rain intent on getting their gardens in gear. Plant sale volunteers Jeff Strate and EP Council Member Phil Young carted wood chips to their station near an information table when not carrying plants for customers. "They're remembering our farm, the woods and what they can get here," said Terry Picha, whose family grows the annuals and vegetables in the farm's greenhouses. Mr. Picha was delighted by the steady turn out which lasted through Sunday. Among those helping over the weekend were EP Council Member Sherry Butcher, School Board Member Carol Bomben and FBIW Secretary Vicky Miller. EP Council Member Ron Case, community leader Cathy Case and other local notables stopped by to buy plants and meet friends.

Charlie Benck was among 18 volunteers who assisted with the event over the weekend; he and his dad Ed worked the Sunday morning shift, loading containerized trees and shrubs and plants into cars and pickups and passing on information about the woods and the farm.

This year's plant sale features All America Selections hybrid annuals and vegetables, a large selection of heirloom tomatoes, a drawing for two spring gift baskets and buckthorn information. The sale's greenhouse is restocked each day. On Saturday May 20, a face painting artist will visit the sale. Click here for more information.

May 8, 2006
BUCKTHORN PULL IN BIRCH ISLAND WOODS SPEARHEADED BY
EDEN PRAIRIE CENTRAL MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER.
The biggest buckthorn pull in Eden Prairie buck busting history involved some 400 students pulling the invasive shrub-tree from the wooded hill next to Central Middle School. That event was spearheaded by CMS science teacher Sue Nielson. That November 5, 2005 pull, will likely become a legend among the growing world of buck combatants.

The Birch Island Woods buckthorn pull on Saturday May 15 was a smaller affair, but was none-the-less an enormous success. Blessed with a perfect spring morning and serenaded by a few woodpeckers and spring peepers (frogs) 24 of Nielson’s energetic and dedicated students donated several hours of hard labor. A number of parents and an assortment of other volunteers topped the participation number off at about 38.

Working in platoons equipped with Weed Wrenches and shovels, the pullers uprooted younger buck saplings and shrubs and knocked down and uprooted buckthorn trees as high as 17 feet. They worked in an area that has been targeted by the City’s forestry division for buckthorn clearance. That area is just south of and overlooks Indian Chief Road and stretches from the railroad tracks to the trail head area.

Some of the pullers also uprooted garlic mustard, an herbaceous invasive plant that can also choke out native plants and herbs. Garlic mustard is the only woodland plant that has a white flower at this time of the year; event leaders wanted to control it in the target area before the plant forms seeds. Assisting in the event were FBIW buckthorn volunteers Rochelle Eastman, Greg Blakely, Georgia Majerus, Larry Peterson, Jeff Strate and woodland restoration professional Janet Larson.

Visit the garlic mustard and buckthorn sections of this web site for more information.

May 8, 2006
BIRCH ISLAND PARK TO GET IMPROVEMENTS
With moneys available from the November 2005 Eden Prairie parks referendum, the City Council has agreed to authorize the Department of Parks Recreation and Natural resources to begin the process of planning for improvements for Birch Island Park.

The main entrance to the 28.3-acre park is located on the east side of Eden Prairie Road just south of Highway 62 and stretches eastward along an isthmus-that separates Birch Island Lake to the south and a large wetland to the north-to the Eden Wood retreat which is part of the park. Birch Island Woods is located east of the lake and with the park, the lake, the wetlands, Eden Wood and the Picha Heritage Farm forms an unexpected pocket of rural and wilderness-like settings. Last summer, Eden Prairie Magazine named Birch Island Park one of the best get-away-from-it-all places with in which to take a hike without leaving town.

Any improvements to Birch Island Park would presumably occur near the Eden Prairie Road access and parking area and will consider the ideas of residents who live south and west of the Park and others. Citizen input, says Parks Director Bob Lambert, would be the first phase in the planning process. Birch Island Park arguably has the most difficult and dangerous car, bike and pedestrian access of any of Eden Prairie’s parks.

With construction of a new 8-foot wide trail along Eden Prairie Road north from Duck Lake Trail to the Minnetonka Boundary and perhaps a related connector trail from the park to the trail that skirts the south side of Highway 62, it is anticipated that use of Birch Island Park will increase. If residents tell the city that they want improvements, if a plan for such improvements is approved, Mr. Lambert recommends that the improvements be put up for bid with projects in other parks later this year for construction in 2007.

Last summer, the Nine Mile Creek Watershed District began the process of planning for the restoration of the levels of Birch Island Lake and the construction of a pond to clean rainwater run-off from adjacent neighborhoods (see The August 8, 2005 story below).

April 23, 2006
EARTH DAY 2006 REGAINS ITS LUSTER
Mother Nature smiled broadly on Sunday April 23 as Earth Day Week concluded with a resounding success in Eden Prairie. The global warming forum which drew an estimated 900 people to St. Andrew Lutheran Church had been sparked by EP Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens and sponsored by St. Andrew Lutheran Church, Congregations Caring for Creation (CCC), Minnesotans for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ME3) and St. Andrew Lutheran Church with support from Friends of Birch Island Woods. It was, some said, the biggest single Earth Day Event in Eden Prairie since the beginning of Earth Day fetes in the early 1970’s.

The crowd came to hear polar explorer Will Steger and WCCO meteorologist Paul Douglas talk about global climate change. Joining them were the Mayor, J. Drake Hamilton (ME3), Alycia Ashburn (CCC) and a number of environmental groups which had set up displays in a nearby community room. The forum’s message: immediate reduction of green house gas emissions must happen now and must happen world wide.

On Earth Day itself (April 22), 14 groups participated in the City of EP's Parks Clean Up Day tending to parks, conservation areas and roads through out town. Friends of Birch Island Woods gathered 42 people (including kids) to pot trees and shrubs at the Picha Farm in preparation for the Birch Island Woods Plant Sale. 14 additional FBIW volunteers picked up litter in and around the woods and along Edenvale Blvd and along the SW Regional Trail. Eden Prairie-based Writers Rising Up hosted a gathering at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum with celebrated national authors Carol Bly and Bill Holm. The writers group is associated with the Elizabeth Fry Ellet Interpretative Trail project in the Richard T. Anderson Conservation Area in the south west corner of Eden Prairie.

Friends of Birch Island Woods announced the winners of its April litter pick up and Picha Farm Potting Party drawing for BIW Plant Sale Gift Certificates: $100 Gift Certificate- Curt Connaughty; $25 Gift Certificates- Jarell Larson-Mallo, Peg McKenney, Kevin Berg All volunteers received Birch Island Woods buttons

March 24, 2006
EP ADOPTS INTERUM MORITORIUM ON GOLF COURSE DEVELOPMENT
The City of Eden Prairie is providing itself up to a year to clarify its position regarding “public” and “quasi-public” land zoned as “rural” and currently being used for golf courses before it will consider development proposals for these types of open space. The interim ordinance which implements the moratorium was approved unanimously by the City Council during its March 21st meeting and affects Bent Creek, Olympic Hills and Bearpath Golf Courses. The portion of Glen Lake Golf Course which lies in Eden Prairie next to Eden Wood and Birch Island Woods (Holes 8 and 9) is designated in both the City’s Comprehensive Guide Plan and zoning as “public” and does not present any classification inconsistencies which needed tending to. For Lyn Jerde’s EP Sun Current story on the moratorium click here.

March 09, 2006
MORE OFFERS REPORTED FOR PURCHASE OF BENT CREEK GOLF CLUB
Referencing a news release from, "Mission Creek Co.," The March 9, 2006 edition of the Eden Prairie News reports that four offers to purchase the Bent Creek Golf Club are being evaluated by Mission Creek which is representing the golf course owners who intend to sell the 106-acre operation. The weekly newspaper says that the press release also said that two other offers were rejected for incompleteness. At least one of the offers is said to be fashioned in a way to keep the 18-hole course on Valley View Drive for golfing. See the February 27, 2006 story below for another report. Click here for the full Eden Prairie News story.

February 27, 2006
FUNDING SOURCE FOR BI WOODS PURCHASE
The City of Eden Prairie intends to re-direct funds awarded it in the 1970’s by the National Park Service to acquire land for Staring Lake Park for the expansion of Birch Island Woods Conservation Area. The funding scenario, which had been considered in November 2004, was re-introduced to the City Council by Parks Director Bob Lambert during its February 21 meeting. In order to set in motion options to lease and maintain the historic Cummins Grill House in Staring Lake Park, the city would have to either return the federal funds that helped the city buy the Cummins Grill homestead or “convert” those funds for similar purposes elsewhere. The 4.04 acre parcel of land owned by the Picha families that the city wants to add to the Birch Island Woods Conservation Area, according to Mr. Lambert, embraces those purposes.

If approvals are obtained from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the National Parks Service and the State Historic Preservation Office, a portion of the cost of the “Picha parcel” would come from the federal LAWCON grant that was originally designated years ago to buy additional land for Staring Lake Park. The balance of the cost for the BI Woods addition would come from other sources including funds approved by voters in the November 2005 Park Referendum.

LAWCON (“Land and Water Conservation Fund”) grants - called LWCF grants by the National Park Service - are appropriated by congress and administered by the National Park Service through state departments of natural resources. Since 1965, 40,000 projects in 98% of the nation’s counties have received more than $3.6 billion in “LAWCON” grants. In the idiom of the National P