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Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve

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Cedar Bog Lake

Cedar Bog Lake. Photograph by Caitlin Barale Potter, June 23, 2017.

Dr. William S. Cooper, head of the botany department at the University of Minnesota, urged a newly formed committee of the Minnesota Academy of Science to purchase part of the Anoka Sand Plain in 1937. The Cedar Creek Forest was a bit of natural Minnesota worthy of active protection from disturbance, he believed. He and others would help establish and protect what became the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, about thirty miles north of the Twin Cities.

Named for the creek flowing through it to the Rum River, the Cedar Creek Forest contains lakes, bogs, sedge meadows, marsh, mixed pine and hardwood forests, savanna, prairie, and small farm fields. The retreat of the last glacier about 11,000 years ago created a diverse landscape where three biomes meet: prairie, coniferous forests, and deciduous forests.

The area is rich in human history. Native people have lived in and traveled through it for thousands of years. The Dakota and Ojibwe fought a battle at nearby Bethel in Isanti County in 1857. Soldiers from Fort Snelling scavenged the forest and cut down white pine for firewood in the 1820s and 1830s.

Much of the area was later sold to the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad Company. Although farming was difficult, early settler-colonists planted rutabagas, wheat, and potatoes in the area. Marsh, swamps, and open water were drained for haymaking and the grazing of dairy animals.

Scientists began surveying Cedar Creek Forest’s plants, animals, and geology by the late 1920s. Raymond Lindeman’s influential research from 1936 to 1941 at Cedar Bog Lake was encouraged by Dr. Cooper and launched the field of ecosystem science. His work on the flow of energy through food webs proved it was possible to measure the relationships that connect organisms to each other and to their environment.

The Minnesota Academy of Science initially purchased 160 acres of the forest, including Cedar Bog Lake, the site of Lindeman’s research. Private citizens also helped. Local resident Cora Corniea invited academy members to her cabin to see the area. She had researched tax-forfeit tracts and would purchase 600 acres herself, most of which she later gifted to the university.

The Academy of Science suggested the university take ownership of its holdings in 1940. The university then created a joint agreement on best-use policies and practices with the academy. Representatives from the university, Carleton and Macalester Colleges, and Saint John’s University formed a first advisory committee, with the goal of fostering cross-discipline collaboration at the forest. The University of Minnesota Graduate School would administer the effort.

Metro-area development after World War II moved the university to seek funds to acquire and protect more of the forest. It was helped by a significant grant from the Max C. Fleischmann Foundation of Nevada in 1954. Large-scale ecosystem research at Cedar Creek expanded within the forest’s approximately 5,400 acres.

By 1960, research included studies of small mammals, the energy of plant communities, and deposits of pollen in peat bogs. Eleven Minnesota colleges and universities held classes, organized field trips, or conducted specialized studies at Cedar Creek. Dozens of scientific papers on reserve-related subjects were published. Hundreds of local, state, national, and international guests visited.

Over the next fifty years, Cedar Creek continued to lead in the field of ecology. The use of radio telemetry to track animals automatically was pioneered at there. Controlled burning of abandoned farm fields and oak savanna remains one of the longest-running fire experiments in the world. World-famous long-term experiments in biodiversity, local ecosystem succession, and climate change are ongoing at the site. Citizen-science initiatives, including the Red-Headed Woodpecker Recovery Project, provide opportunities for the community to contribute to scientific research.

Cedar Creek has earned national recognition and is part of multiple worldwide science and research networks. Jobs and training opportunities for hundreds of young professionals have been created. In 2017 the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve celebrated seventy-five years of conservation, research, and education. Scientists, students at all levels, teachers, and the public at large come to Cedar Creek for birding, animal monitoring, citizen-science festivals, book clubs, and biology classes. They gather to look at ferns, stars, wetlands, and other curiosities, and to do world-class ecosystem research.

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Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve. BioCon: Biodiversity, CO2, and Nitrogen.
http://www.cedarcreek.umn.edu/research/experiments/e141

Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve. Biodiversity II: Effects of Plant Biodiversity on Population and Ecosystem Processes.
http://www.cedarcreek.umn.edu/research/experiments/e120

Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve. Education and Community Engagement at Cedar Creek.
http://www.cedarcreek.umn.edu/educationoutreach

Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve. Prescribed Burning. https://www.cedarcreek.umn.edu/conservation/prescribed-burning

Cedar Creek Natural History Area, Program Reports: University of Minnesota. Vols. 1 and 2. Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve Library, 1954–1987.

Hodson, A. C. History of Cedar Creek Natural History Area. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Field Biology Occasional Papers, #2, 1985.

Hoffman, William. “The Tallgrass Prairie: Raymond Lindeman, A Minnesota Bog Lake, and the Birth of Ecosystems Ecology.” In Conservation on the Northern Plains: New Perspectives, edited by Anthony J. Amato, 1–31. [Sioux Falls, SD]: Center for Western Studies, Augustana University, 2017.
http://mbbnet.umn.edu/hoff/Lindeman-Hoffman2017.pdf

Long-Term Ecological Research Network. Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve.
http://www.lternet.edu/sites/cdr

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Anoka Sand Plain Subsection.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/ecs/222Mc

National Natural Landmark Program (NNLP). Cedar Creek Natural History Area―Allison Savanna.
http://www.nps.gov/subjects/nnlandmarks/state.htm?Site=CECR-MN

Pierce, Richard L. "Vegetation Cover Types and Land Use History of Cedar Creek." Master’s thesis, University of Minnesota, 1954.

Red-headed Woodpecker Recovery.
http://www.redheadrecovery.org

Schwartz, George M., and George A. Thiel. Minnesota’s Rocks and Waters: A Geological Story. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1973.

Sterner, Robert W. Raymond Laurel Lindeman and the Tropic Dynamic Viewpoint.
St. Paul: University of Minnesota (Association for the Science of Limnology and Oceanography), 2012.

Ukura Kuechle, Carolyn. Animal Tracking Signals: Stories of the Development of Radio Telemetry in Minnesota. St. Cloud: North Star Press, 2009.

Related Images

Cedar Bog Lake
Cedar Bog Lake
Aerial view of the BigBio project inside Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve.
Aerial view of the BigBio project inside Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve.
Aerial view of BioCON, a free carbon experiment investigating the effects of global change on ecosystems, in Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve.
Aerial view of BioCON, a free carbon experiment investigating the effects of global change on ecosystems, in Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve.
Citizen scientists at work at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve
Citizen scientists at work at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve
Red-headed woodpecker with geolocator backpack in Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve.
Red-headed woodpecker with geolocator backpack in Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve.
Prescribed burn inside Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve
Prescribed burn inside Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve

Turning Point

In 1937, the Minnesota Academy of Science establishes the Committee on the Preservation of Natural Conditions.

Chronology

11,000 years ago

The Anoka Sand Plain forms after the retreat of the last glacier from central North America.

ca. 800 CE–ca. 1850s CE

Indigenous people live and hunt in Cedar Creek Forest.

1856

Settler-colonists begin to arrive in Cedar Creek Forest.

1861

The state of Minnesota grants 694,400 acres of “swamp land” to the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad Company. The tract includes Cedar Creek Forest.

1936

Raymond Lindeman begins to study Cedar Bog Lake—a project he continues until 1941.

1937–1950s

Cora Alta Corniea helps preserve Cedar Creek Forest through land acquisition.

1942

1942 Lindeman publishes his trophic-dynamic bog study. University of Minnesota Regents agree to assume ownership of Cedar Creek Forest.

1954

The Max C. Fleischmann Foundation awards a grant to the University of Minnesota for land acquisition, building, and operations at Cedar Creek Forest.

1975

Cedar Creek Natural History Area is designated a Natural Landmark by the US Park Service.

1993

Dr. David Tilman begins biodiversity experiments at Cedar Creek Natural History Area.

2008

A red-headed woodpecker “citizen science” project begins. The site’s name is changed to Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve.

2016

Participants in a forest biodiversity experiment plant 40,000 trees at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve.

2017

Cedar Creek celebrates seventy-five years of conservation, research, education, and public service.