Migiziwazison cares for 20 acres in Grant, Minnesota, approximately 30 minutes from downtown Minneapolis. We are fortunate to hold space in an area that currently has 10-acre minimums and a lot of connecting wetlands, which makes fostering biodiversity far easier than being the lone “wild” parcel in a suburban area.
We hope to add to the parcels under our care, but in different environments to the north and south, if resources permit, to provide an even greater variety of natural resources to our partners and participants in the study, restoration, protection and sustainable use of the land.
Each area within these 20 acres has a distinctive character (thanks to the glacier that paused here a few tens of thousand years ago). From perpetually wet to semi-wet swamps and meadows, to a large hill of sand, to coniferous and hardwood stands of trees, to an open tall grass prairie, we are blessed with places that can support an incredibly diverse set of plant and animal life. The soils range from thick black loam to sand to red clay. Former farmland drainage has been allowed to fill in, creating a more natural ebb and flow of surface water throughout the year.
Within each zone, we have been fighting invasive species, eliminating plants brought here for agricultural purposes that are not native to Minnesota, propagating traditional Indigenous food and medicine plants and trees, and creating habitats for small to large animals, to support a more healthy and natural balance of the winged and four-legged relatives who reside here. We also restrict any human activity on portions of the land, particularly and in certain areas at specific times of the year, reserving those places as purely the home of whelping foxes, nesting turtles or birds, or favored sleeping spots for deer, turkeys, and coyotes.