Congratulations on accepting the adventure of exploring the City of Blaine’s Open Spaces! The City of Blaine has over 650 acres of open space in 7 locations: • Blaine Wetland Sanctuary • Lochness Park • Hidden Ponds • Oak Savannah • Kane Meadows • Pioneer Park • Laddie Lake We challenge you to explore these natural areas and discover the unique features of each one. When you have completed your passport, turn it in to the Parks and Recreation office to be entered into a drawing for an exploration kit!
Preserving open space means fresh air, abundant wildlife, and happy kids! • Open space helps combat air pollution and curtail climate change. Trees and other vegetation on conserved land not only remove air pollutants which are harmful to human health and overall environmental quality, but also serve as carbon sequesters to help combat climate change. • Natural open space plays a crucial role in protecting and enhancing water quality. • Open spaces provide children with the opportunity to explore, engage and learn experientially. • Preserved natural open spaces protect the habitats that local wildlife needs to survive and thrive. • Open space provides the public with inexpensive places to get outside and connect to nature which is not only good for our physical and mental health, but is an established driver for our economy. • Open space increases property values. • Open space serves to preserve the special places that define our communities --- without it, our community would not look or feel the same.
Post your photos on social media! #BlaineWetlandSanctuary #BWSBlooms #BWSWildlife
Blaine Wetland Sanctuary 11980 Lexington Avenue Blaine, MN 55449 Lat, Long 45°11’14.15”N 93°09’56.055”W
This site contains over 500 acres of rich fen, poor fen, wet meadow, and upland. A boardwalk extends from Lexington Ave through both wetland and upland habitats to connect to East Lake Park. You will find bluejoint grass, sphagnum moss, marsh fern, dwarf raspberry, and the rare lance-leaved violet. On the uplands, you will find oak and aspen trees.
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Hidden Ponds 11465 Polk Street NE Blaine, MN 55449 Lat, Long 45°10’43.124”N 93°14’40.572”W
Hidden Ponds is a 14 acre park with woodland and prairie habitats. You will find aspen, boxelder, and cottonwood trees, elderberry, alternate-leaved dogwood, hazelnut, nannyberry, and black cherry. Data: Date Visited: Time:
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Kane Meadows 2946 Rice Creek Parkway NE Blaine, MN 55449 Lat, Long 45°7’56.028”N 93°11’42.857”W
Kane Meadows is a 64 acre site with prairie, wet prairie, wet meadow, woodland, and open water habitats. There are 2.5 miles of trails meandering through the site. You will find cottonwood, paper birch, and willow trees, black eyed susan, prairie grass, marsh milkweed, tubercled rein orchid, and rough blazingstar.
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Laddie Lake 1051 87th Avenue NE Blaine, MN 55449 Lat, Long 45°7’43.666”N 93°14’36.031”W
Laddie Lake is a 15 acre park featuring open water, woodland, prairie, and marsh habitats. You will find bloodroot, marsh marigold, coneflower, butterfly milkweed, big bluestem, wild geranium, wild columbine, black eyed susan, rough blazing star and much more! Data: Date Visited: Time:
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Lochness Park 11121 Lexington Avenue Blaine, MN 55449 Lat, Long 45°10’17.38”N 93°9’46.403”W
Lochness is a 90 acre park with woodland, marsh, prairie, and wet meadow habitats. The park has 2 miles of trails, a dock, a man made lake, and disc golf course. You will find oak, birch, and aspen trees, large leaf aster, gray dogwood, bird’s foot trefoil, lake sedge, raspberry, and sensitive fern.
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Oak Savannah Naples Circle, North of 117th Blaine, MN 55449 Lat, Long 45°11’04.6”N 93°11’12.6”W
Oak Savannah is a 7 acre forest dominated by red and white oak. You will also find aspen and interrupted fern.
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Pioneer Park 2491 125th Avenue Blaine, MN 55449 Lat, Long 45°11’56.643”N 93°12’23.006”W
Pioneer Park is a 100 acre site with 2 miles of trails. Habitats include rich fen, poor fen, and forest. You will find quaking aspen, green ash, and American elm. Rare species are also found here such as cross-leaved milkwort, lance-leaved violet, purple gerardia, and twisted yellow-eyed grass.
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HABITAT GLOSSARY Prairie is a grassland that occurs in this region. Savanna is predominantly an open grassland, similar to a prairie, with intermittent tree cover. Woodland is predominantly wooded, but there are still many grasses and sedges on the ground preventing the area from becoming a forest. Forest is well wooded with multiple layers of woody plants, including a canopy of tall trees, sub-canopy, shrubs, and a ground layer. Swamp is a wetland community that has trees or shrubs as the dominant cover. Wet meadows are wetlands that are open and dominated by grasses and sedges. Fen is a wetland that has peat soil and is fed primarily by groundwater. Fens are characterized by their vegetation, which survives in the unique chemical makeup of the water. Poor fens are fed by water with very low nutrient content and tend to have a lot of sphagnum moss. Rich fens are fed by water that is rich in minerals and nutrients and sphagnum is present but not abundant. Marsh is a wetland with standing water and emergent vegetation. The water is generally no deeper than 3 feet for long periods. SPECIES GLOSSARY ALTERNATE LEAVED DOGWOOD
BLACK EYED SUSAN
CONEFLOWER
BIG BLUESTEM
BLOODROOT
COTTONWOOD TREE
BIRDSFOOT TREFOIL
BLUEJOINT GRASS
CROSS-LEAVED MILKWORT
BLACK CHERRY
BUTTERFLY MILKWEED
DWARF RASPBERRY
ELDERBERRY TREE
MARSH MARIGOLD
SPHAGNUM MOSS
GRAY DOGWOOD SHRUB
MARSH MILKWEED
TUBERCLED REIN ORCHID
GREEN ASH
NANNYBERRY
TWISTED YELLOW-EYE0 GRASS
HAZELNUT TREE
PAPER BIRCH
WHITE OAK
INTERRUPTED FERN
PURPLE GERARDIA
WILD COLUMBINE
LAKE SEDGE
QUAKING ASPEN
WILD GERANIUM
LANCE-LEAVED VIOLET
RED OAK
WILLOW
LARGE LEAF ASTER
ROUGH BLAZING STAR
MARSH FERN
SENSITIVE FERN
CONGRATULATIONS! You completed the challenge! Complete the form and turn it in to the Blaine Parks and Recreation Department by July 1, 2018 to be entered in a drawing for an explorer pack! Name: Address: Email: Phone: Tell us about your experience in Blaine’s open spaces: Blaine Parks and Recreation 10801 Town Square Drive Blaine, MN 55449 recreation@blainemn.gov 763-785-6164 www.blaineparks.com
Post your photos on social media! #BlaineWetlandSanctuary #BWSBlooms #BWSWildlife