6.2 at 1 Camp Cozy Park_NRMP_2023

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6 Friends of the Mississippi River Camp Cozy Park NRMP EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Background This document was drafted by Friends of the Mississippi River (FMR) in 2023 to guide the restoration and management of Camp Cozy Park in Elk River, Minnesota. The property encompasses approximately 48 acres in Elk River, Minnesota and is located on the north bank of the Elk River. Community values around Camp Cozy’s rare native plant communities and location on the Elk River point to preservation and restoration, and this natural resources management plan (NRMP) provides a framework for those goals while also carving out areas that are suitable for park programming. The NRMP is intended to guide management of the natural features of Camp Cozy Park with a focus on restoration and preservation of native plant communities with the goals of improving wildlife habitat and water quality. This focus provides specific recommendations on natural resource management which are complementary to work contemplated by broader Elk River Parks and Recreation Master Planning to be conducted in 2025. Areas of the park that are best suited to future park improvements and programming are carved out of management units where restoration activities are recommended. This separation ensures that future state grant- funded restoration areas will not conflict with future park improvements. The site’s location adjacent to the Elk River and proximity to the confluence of the Elk and Mississippi Rivers may point to a long history of Indigenous use. The vegetation community around the time of the public land survey of Minnesota (1847-1907) was classified as “Oak opening and barrens.” This cover type is most closely associated with today’s oak savannas that feature large, open grown bur oak, and to a lesser extent, white oak, with a grass-dominated herbaceous layer. The open understories of oak barrens persisted with frequent wildfires or human-ignited burning to suppress woody encroachment and favor the growth of food plants, while the oaks’ thick and corky bark provided protection from fire. The property’s more recent documented history includes its use as a private resort and campground in the 1920s (Figure 1). At that time, people regarded Camp Cozy as a technological marvel with its series of canals and flues which allowed canoes to float a circuit down the Elk River and up through the resort; these canals are still visible today 100 years later. After the closure of Camp Cozy during the Great Depression, it reopened in the late 1930s as a bar, dance hall, roller rink and fast-food restaurant. Camp Cozy lived on as a gathering place for Elk River into the 1950s until a portion of the resort burned, and the remainder of the land was sold. (Mike Brubaker, Sherburne History Center)