3. FSPT Proposal to City Council_Rasmussen
P.O. Box 251 Scandia, MN 55073
Proposal to Scandia City Council for a Prairie Planting at the former
Rasmussen Property
Overview:
Friends of Scandia Parks and Trails (FSPT) hereby requests permission from the
Scandia City Council to install a small, approximately 0.25 acre, prairie planting at
the City-owned parcel that was the former Rasmussen homesite, located at the
northwest quadrant of 205th St and Olinda Trail.
Background and Rationale:
The Rasmussen property presents an opportunity to meet two objectives for the
City. First, it can serve as a gateway to the city. Located at the turn of the road, it is
prominently seen by motorists and cyclists arriving from the south. The bank of turf
grasses could be readily converted to prairie plants, providing a splash of color to
announce the entry to the city and add a welcoming feature. This would not be a
formal planting, but a more natural prairie-type planting. The vegetation would be
short grasses and an abundance of flowers, designed to provide as much color as
possible during the growing season.
The second objective of the proposal is to provide pollinator habitat. It is now well-
known that pollinator populations worldwide have declined significantly in recent
decades. Pollinators are important for many reasons, not least of which is that they
are vital for the propagation of many of our food crops. In recognition of these facts,
the City of Scandia adopted a Pollinator Resolution in 2016, among the first in the
state to do so, to promote safeguards for pollinators species.
This planting at the former Rasmussen property would be a small “pollinator patch”.
While not large, less than a quarter acre, the site is in close proximity to
Gamelgarden and the native plantings there, and so would benefit that pollinator
population.
Methods and Maintenance:
If approved, FSPT would hire Prairie Restorations, Inc. or otherwise develop plans
for the site preparation and installation work. Methodology would consist of one
season of site preparation from spring to fall 2018: and could include a combination
of herbicide (applied early in the season before bees are active, and subsequent
applications at bee-safe times of day), burning, harrowing, and seeding. FSPT would
also install plants (relocated from the Butterfly garden at Lilleskogen).
Subsequent management would be done the first three growing seasons (2019-
2021), including mowing, spot-spraying weeds, and potentially a prescribed burn in
the third year. Weeds would be prevented from going to seed in any year. After the
three-year establishment process, the planting would be considered complete. FSPT,
however, will continue to monitor it and would spot-treat weeds if needed. The
ultimate result will be a small prairie-type planting, similar to the one-acre planting
the Friends oversaw at Swenson Park (Oren and Olgilvie), which will be in its
second growing season in 2018.
RasmussenPlantingArea 0.2 ac
1:514±
Potential Prairie/Pollinator Planting
Former Rasmussen Property
City of Scandia (drainfield property)
2016 Aerial - MnGeo WMS 0 50 10025
Feet
205th St N