Wirth Park
Pinch Flat News is reporting the following item on their website:
Some disturbing info just in from Gentle Stove:
"The Mpls Park & Rec approved their 2008 budget last night, which included an addition of a yearly fee for anyone who rides off-road at Theo Wirth.
WCCO's website has this story for the 100th anniversary of the Wildflower Garden. Jeanette Trompeter reports:
(WCCO) Minneapolis It's no secret the Twin Cities has one of the best parks systems around but many don't know that it also boasts the oldest public wildflower garden in the country.
Within the 759 acres that is Theodore Wirth Regional Park, there is a chunk of land worth checking out. It's a place where over a lunch hour people can tune out the hum of the city, and tune in to the peace and quiet.
"This woodland area is probably the largest area in the garden and it's full of the wonder spring ephemerals that people seek out right about now and woodland wildflowers," said curator Susan Wilkins.
Welcome to the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden. Butler was a school teacher in Minneapolis from about 1874 to 1911.
Read the entire story on the WCCO website.
Minneapolis resident Laura Wade writes, in part:
"I see and use, as do my neighbors, the great gift that was set aside for all of us in our amazing park system so many years ago.
But this year, there is something different. There is no wildlife. No deer, fox, owls, pileated woodpeckers, wild turkeys, indigo buntings, or occasional bald eagle or coyote. The ever-increasing skate-ski trails and the daily maintenance they require have had a profound effect on our once-abundant wildlife.
Since the Loppet ski race began five years ago, the south end of the park has been bulldozed to accommodate ski racers for one weekend a year. Cutting down 100-year-old trees and destroying native habitat for a two-day event is not what Loring and Wirth had in mind when they set aside this land to be maintained as a wilderness retreat within city limits."
See the full letter on the Star Tribune website.
