4.0. PRSR 01-08-1997 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Our Natural Heritage • "A Vision of Elk River" Can you imagine the past when a resident of this area could sit below a hugh oak tree on the edge of a small open expanse and watch an elk wander across the horizon at dusk? While the sun has set on that dream, there is still another sunset in the horizon. Today only 4.5% of land which is a good representation of our natural heritage is left in Elk River. Fortunately our very thoughtful city council has incorporated .75% of the 4.5% as part of its city park system. Truly, this is a noble effort which will be appreciated by our future generations. (This information was obtained by the 1993 Minnesota County Biological Survey and more recent evaluation of the naturally significant sites found in our city.) However, I and many others are concerned about the future of the small fragment of our naturally significant property. In the expanse of the last 200 years 95% of all of the natural landscape has been lost in our city. We have know reached the point where we must make a critical decision as to how much of our natural landscape we should leave for future generations to observe, study and ponder the past like a good book or movie. • We have reached the final crossroads, and we must act now to save the last fragments of our natural heritage for the future. In the last 2 years, 15% of the natural significant landscape left in our city was destroyed. If this trend were to continue, all remaining natural vegetation would be lost within the next 15 years, except for the property we are preserving within our wonderful city park, Woodland Trails. Woodland Trails makes up .75% of all the natural landscape which once existed in Elk River. If anything where to happen to even a small portion of Woodland Trails we would quickly slip to a figure of .5%. A very tiny piece of the original pie. After talking with many, hundreds of people in our community, I feel that we definitely should take additional steps to preserve our natural heritage. Most people that I have talked to feel that a city should preserve at least 5% of the natural landscape for future generations. For Elk River this is approximately 1,000 acres. Sounds scary; however, we, the people of Elk River, can achieve this goal because the property is still available. However, we are at the crossroads. There is no turning back and the clock will not slow down. We as a community must respond or we will lose our last chances at preserving our natural heritage for future generations. Keep in mind the net result of these preservation activities would be a greati social and economical boost for our city. Example: If you were looking for a site for a corporate headquarters, would you select a place which has a beautiful park system? Present research has proven conclusively that the most valuable and desired pieces of property are found in communities with good parks and trails. Communities with parks and trails do not suffer from depreciating land values even after 100 years. •