What happens when a landscape gets wild again? Bloomington’s Nine Mile Creek restoration is making room for native plants, healthy trees and a greater variety of wildlife.
Natural Resources Specialist Wade Yunker said the restored oak savanna at Parker’s Picnic Area, 10401 Columbus Road, offers a glimpse of what is possible. Once covered by buckthorn, the hillside now supports native grasses and vegetation that help stabilize the slope. Prescribed burns and ongoing buckthorn management also help restore natural processes that historically kept these ecosystems in balance.
The lessons from Parker’s help guide restoration along the Nine Mile Creek corridor, where a larger landscape includes a mosaic of habitats, rolling hills and knolls and diverse plant communities.
“Nature isn’t just one thing,” Yunker says. “There’s a vast variety of species. It’s all connected.”
Bloomington residents Heidi and Dan Niziolek have seen the benefits of restoration firsthand and support the City’s work. They know restoration takes time. After restoring a pond near their home, they started Bloomington Neighbors Nurturing Nature to encourage others to care for natural spaces.
“It’s going to feel a little different for a while,” Heidi said. “But what you’re going to gain is so much better.”
Visit blm.mn/oaks to view an Instagram reel featuring Natural Resources Specialist Wade Yunker.
