Kasota Prairie Scientific and Natural Area

Kasota Prairie Scientific and Natural Area (SNA)
Kasota, Le Sueur, MN
45 acres; virgin prairie, wet meadow, oak woodland, and lowland hardwood plant communities

This SNA is just a half mile south of (and should not be confused with) Kasota Prairie (Conservation Area). That location has its own journal post.

Both Kasota Prairie SNA and Kasota Prairie contain some of the few remaining areas in Le Sueur county of tall prairie grasses that are now surrounded by large scale silica mining. For more a little more context on silica mining, see the journal post for Kasota Prairie (Conservation Area).

Park Notes
The land is on an rock terrace 70 feet above the Minnesota River Valley with thin soil only a foot deep. Most of the property lies on the east side of the road and that is all prairie with patches of scrubby bushes. To the west of the road there are some trees.

Prairie flowers on the site include pasque flowers, prairie violets, yellow stargrass, pale-spike lobelia, sunflowers, gentians, rattlesnake master. A list of wildflowers, ferns, grasses, sedges, trees and shrubs can be found on the DNR website (link below).

Horned Larks, Loggerhead Shrikes, Field Sparrows and Upland Sandpipers are found here. A bird checklist is available at the DNR website (link below).

There are no maintained trails or facilities.

I found this book to be really informative and it's available to read online
Two Prairies, One Place; A Historical Geography of the Kasota Prairie by Bob Douglas
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/twopraries/

Visits
Mid-May 2021
We arrived about 12:30 and hiked from the parking area almost to the back end of the property - jogging a little south at one point. We saw Turkey Vultures, American Goldfinch, Eastern Meadowlark and a Field Sparrow was singing incessantly. We also spotted an American Goldfinch. At one point, a larger bird flew over a bit south of us. I got a blurry photo and it looks like it could possibly have been a Peregrine Falcon. Plant life was still in the early stages. We did see Heart-leaf Golden Alexander but not much else was growing yet. Near the SNA we saw a Wild Turkey, Gray Catbird and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Even though there wasn't much growing (and not much insect life), I suspect it presents quite differently in the summer. I would be interested in revisiting it at some point.

We combined our trip to Kasota Prairie SNA with a stop at Kasota Prairie (Conservation Area) (.5 miles north) and Chamberlain Woods SNA (15 miles north).

Mid-August 2021:
We were in the area and wanted to see what the SNA was like in summer. As in all SNAs, there are no maintained trails and the poison ivy was pretty thick near the minimal footpaths. We photographed a few things along the road and headed off to Kasota Prairie Conservation Area just down the road where the trails are mowed. observed: Monarch Butterfly, Common Wood-Nymph Butterfly, Tree Swallows.

Useful links/info
location and parking: Township Road 140, Kasota MN
Access the area on Township Road 140 (367th Ave) from the south since the road terminates on its north end. There is a cluster of signs for the SNA on the east side of the road near the north end of the SNA property. One just pulls off the road near these signs.

Minnesota DNR Webpage
Wildlife Viewing Areas
DNR Bird Checklist for Kasota Prairie SNA
eBird hotspot reports
iNaturalist's Kasota Prairie SNA Open Space page
iNaturalist's Kasota Prairie SNA Point of Interest page

Posted on 15 de maio de 2021, 12:44 AM by mmmiller