Forty Acres of Pristine Bog Preserved
Friends of Sax-Zim Bog is proud to announce the purchase of 40 acres of Black Spruce/Tamarack bog in the Sax-Zim Bog. One of our goals is to protect bog tracts for future generations of birders, photographers, and naturalists…and this is step one to that end. This site will be open to all.
It is a square parcel SW of the intersection of CR52 (Arkola Road) and Peary Road (CR755) about 5 miles west of Cotton (see map below).
This will be a great site to hear and see Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Gray Jay, Boreal Chickadee, Blackburnian Warbler, Golden-crowned Kinglet and other breeding bog specialties. In winter Great Gray Owl has been seen here. White-winged Crossbills forage for cones in the tree tops. Snowshoe Hares are confirmed resident. Orchids can also be found in this tract. Black Spruce bog is a climax forest that is able to self perpetuate for centuries.
Access now is only on foot (rubber boots in summer, snowshoes in winter) or you can bird from Peary Road. Park on Peary Road (about 100 feet south of Arkola CR52) and hike in to the west. An all-season bog boardwalk will be added in the future along with a parking area so birders, photographers, school groups, civic groups can easily access and experience the wonders of a bog.
If you visit this site, please email us a list of species you see/hear (birds, butterflies, mammals, wildflowers, amphibians etc). Send observations to sparkystensaas@hotmail.com
Huge thanks to all of you who have donated to Friends of Sax-Zim Bog and Minnesota DNR’s Conservation Partners Legacy (CPL) Grant Program which funded this preservation project.
Map to the Friends of Sax-Zim Bog parcel. It is located about 5 miles west of Cotton, MN on Arkola Rd CR52
History Of The MN DNR CPL Grant
**On November 4, 2008, an amendment was voted on and passed, referred to as the Clean Water, Wildlife, Cultural Heritage and Natural Areas Amendment. Beginning July 1, 2009, until June 30, 2034, the sales and use tax rate shall be increased by three-eighths of one percent on sales and uses taxable under the general state sales and use tax law. As part of the amendment, “33 percent of the receipts shall be deposited in the outdoor heritage fund and may be spent only to restore, protect, and enhance wetlands, prairies, forests, and habitat for fish, game, and wildlife…”; the Lessard- Sams Outdoor Heritage Council was created to oversee this fund. The DNR administers the CPL Grant program within this fund. MN Constitution Article XI, Section 15.