St. Croix River Bluffs Habitat Restoration

This land was acquired in 2020 by Washington County Parks.  In spring 2021, old agricultural fields were tractor disc'd to prepare the soil for an oats cover crop and then another smother crop of sunflowers. In late fall, the new shortgrass prairie was seeded.  The first year, the prairie did not look like much but the second year - yipee!  Flowers and grasses were thriving as well as pollinators and birds who came to forage and nest.  Our volunteers hand weeded sections that were out competed with thistle, and we over seeded with more native forbs.