East River Group
Explore, enjoy and protect the planet
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East River Group |
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Explore, enjoy and protect the planet |
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East River Group Sierra Club Tours Blood Run On Saturday, September 8, Ed Raventon, the Park Naturalist for the Blood Run Nature Area, led a tour of Sierra Club members and friends on a tour of South Dakota's newest nature center which is located only eight miles southeast of Sioux Falls. Ed laid out the long range master plan for the park and the challenges the park faces in accomplishing the master plan. Invasive species of trees, shrubs and grasses need to be controlled and removed if possible. Old fence lines need to be removed, and farm trash dumps cleaned up. Additional land parcels purchases also need to be be bought in order to complete the park master plan. The park was designated a National Monument in 1970 and is being developed with private and public funds. The location was a crossroads for Native America civilizations for hundreds of years, and was the trading center for the Oneota culture. Villages, burial grounds, and refuse pits, have been located within the park and many more exist on private land. The park contains native oak savanna forest. Ed pointed out that many of the trees in the forest are over 150 years old. The primary tree is bur oak, with red elm trees, hackberry trees, box elders, willow, wild plum, and cotton woods spread throughout the park. The park has a number of good stands of native prairie grasses, however, these grasses are competing with smooth brome grass through the park, Next spring the park plans on replanting native grasses on current cropland within the park to help restore cropped acres to a natural prairie setting. Ed would also like to burn off some areas of invasive grasses and restore native grasses where possible. Volunteers are needed to help develop the park. The East River Group has been helping in removing old fence lines. The Sierra Club will also provide and install Blue Bird houses in the park on Saturday, September 29. If you would like to help, please call East River Chairperson, Dana Loseke, at 605-338-2383 to volunteer. |
Future Events & Volunteer Opportunities for Sierra Club Members and Friends September
October
November
East River Group officers: Dana Loseke, Chair Michelle Loseke, Secretary Keith Block, Treasurer Deb McIntyre, Membership email address: eastrivergroupsierraclub@gmail.com |
