MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnehaha Falls is a Minnesota landmark.
"This is a high profile site. Minnehaha Falls gets thousands of visitors," said Ron Bowen of Prairie Restorations, Inc.
And because of its notoriety, it's one of a few lucky places getting some much needed natural renovation work... But it's not easy work.
"These slopes are way too steep for any machinery. This has all been handwork. Climbing on the slopes with ropes. If you would have been here maybe in 1850 you'd see a distinct difference between this side of the creek, the glen we call it and that side of the glen. This side where the sun hits it gets hot and warm would have been much more prairie like, savannah: scattered oak trees like the ones back here," explained Bowen.
Prairie along with oak savannah, literally the transition from woods to prairie has all but vanished from the Minnesota landscape since settlement.
"These box elders and buckthorn that have come in have taken the savannah character out. What happens is they shade the ground so much that the ground vegetation loses out then you have a lot of erosion issues," added Bowen.
"We are concerned about the diversity of species that are lost when you have a plant like buckthorn that comes into a woodland and takes over, crowds out the native vegetation, changes the food base for birds," said Bowen.
Planting of native plants will occur this spring and summer. This project is just one little part of helping to restore Minnesota's native habitats.
"This is the tip of a very big iceberg," said Bowen.
(Copyright 2011 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)