Today was one of those really special days. I was able to bird & ‘wander’ the TCAAP grounds for 4 hours. The property is amazing and could be a real treasure to Ramsey County and the Twin Cities Metropolitan area.
The Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (TCAAP), a four square mile (2,370 acres) area, is a federal facility Superfund site which is located in Arden Hills, Minnesota, within the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area. Approximately 1,700 acres on TCAAP consist of significant natural resources, including 188 acres of forest, 120 acres of glacial kame, 338 acres of prairie complex, the 560-acre Marsden Lake wetland, the 12-acre Sunfish Lake, and ¾ of a mile stretch of Rice Creek. The Minnesota DNR, the Audubon Society, the University of Minnesota, and other local organizations have volunteered expertise and time for wildlife management at TCAAP. Projects include prairie restoration, a bluebird recovery program, a wood duck nesting program, walleye rearing in Sunfish Lake, and deer herd management. After the reintroduction of trumpeter swans to Marsden Lake, TCAAP became the first Ramsey County site in 150 years where new swans were born. One can see bluebirds, wood ducks, swans, and white tailed deer on TCAAP, as well as red fox and one of Minnesota’s threatened species, the Blanding Turtle whose species and habitat are both protected under TCAAP’s Wildlife Management Program. MORE BACKGROUND on TCAAP
More pictures of the property are posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/bnwilson6624/DayTCAAP#.
