What are Scientific and Natural Areas?
The Scientific and Natural Areas Program preserves Minnesota's natural heritage (ecological and geological diversity maintained for present and future generations) for scientific study and public understanding.
Characteristics that distinguish Natural Areas include:
- Undisturbed plant communities, such as prairie or peatlands
- Rare or endangered species habitat, such as the sunny rock outcrops needed for the five-lined skink
- Seasonal habitat for bird or animal concentrations, such as herons, egrets and the endangered piping plover
- Natural geologic formations and features, such as eskers and rock outcrops
- Plant communities undergoing succession as a result of natural processes, such as old-growth forests
Goals
- Primary — Ensure that Minnesota's natural heritage is not lost from any ecological region of the state.
- Secondary — Provide compatible nature-based recreation, education and scientific research opportunities.
History
In the mid-1960s concerned citizens urged Minnesota to become one of the first states to create state-owned and managed Natural Areas. In 1965, a 15-member panel of experts in biology and geology called the Commissioner's Natural Heritage Advisory Committee was formed to advise the DNR Commissioner on Natural Areas and to encourage the legislature to establish a program.
State-administered Scientific and Natural Areas were initially authorized by the Minnesota Legislature in 1969 (M.S. 84.033). The first Scientific and Natural Area, Rush Lake Island, was acquired in 1974 to preserve a heron rookery.
In 1980, an incentive for private landowners to preserve their prairies was added to the program. Native Prairie Tax Exemption allows for exempting eligible lands from property taxes.
Natural Areas Registry recognizes public land containing exceptional natural features. Since 1982 the SNA program has developed agreements with land managers for ecological management of these areas.
In 1987, Native Prairie Bank conservation easements on private lands were added to the Scientific and Natural Area Program tool box (M.S. 84.96).
Today, over 160 SNAs and 120 Native Prairie Bank easements form the backbone of protected areas in the Program. These sites represent a diverse set of natural habitats across the state.
Lost 40 SNA
Lost 40 SNA owes its old-growth pine forest to a surveying error that occurred during the Public Land Survey in 1882. As the story goes, the pines were missed by loggers because surveyors mistakenly mapped the area as wetlands around Coddington Lake. The site was re-surveyed and the error corrected in 1960. Shortly after, it was incorporated into Big Fork State Forest and its old trees have since endured.
The crowning feature of this SNA is its nearly 32 acres of designated old-growth white pine – red pine forest. This old-growth forest is found in two stands, both of which extend beyond the borders of the SNA. The largest of these is 30 acres in size, and extends an additional 18.94 acres on adjoining federally-owned land in the Chippewa National Forest. White pine – red pine forest is ranked as S-2 (imperiled) in the state's conservation ranking of native plant communities, and designated old-growth represents less than 1/4 of 1% of all of Minnesota's forests.
A 2009 study found the oldest individual trees within the SNA to be red pines 230-240 years old. The stand on adjoining land within Chippewa National Forest reportedly originated as early as 1745, and includes the "co-champion red pine" of Minnesota's Native Big Tree Registry, measured at 115" in circumference and 120' high.
Unlike most SNAs, this site features a marked trail that loops through the "Lost 40 Site" which includes the SNA and the adjacent national forest land. Along this upland route, visitors will encounter the old-growth pine forest as well as spruce-fir forest, with views to surrounding lowlands occupied by alder swamp and black spruce bog. Moose Brook, a tributary of the Big Fork River, meanders across the northwest corner of the SNA.
Letterbox Hybrid: The stamp is NOT a trading item. It is part of the letterbox. No ink pad is included due to frozen winters.