Day Five: The Wobegone Trail to Dave Jacobon's Place

10-14-09

I woke up early today so that I could get to Dave Jacobson's prairie preserve by mid afternoon. First though, I jumped on my bike and followed Theo to the solar array area on campus.

Right now it's just a field of tubes and support structures, but by the end of November, it will be the largest solar array in Minnesota by four times! Theo and I got there at just the right moment and happened to run into a worker who was happy to talk about his pride in building the solar photovoltaic collection facility. He excitedly introduced us to the manager, who was proud to have his construction company, MA Mortenson, working on the project. He thinks that this is a trend, and that soon other colleges will also rise to the challenge of becoming more energy efficient.

Then Theo and I hit the trail. The Lake Wobegone trail is beautiful and the weather was warmer (than it had been at least!). I travelled through prairie and farmland and beautiful natural spaces, crossing through many towns along my way and meeting many interesting people.

I had a good conversation in Spanish with a couple of guys working at the local turkey stuffing plant. They thought that this year has been better than average for crops, but were concerned about long term environmental changes.

I stopped in at Charlie's Cafe in Freeport and had the best breakfast food for lunch I think I've ever had at a restaurant. Mel, my server, was excited to find out about the bike trek and wrote a note in the book that I'll be taking to Copenhagen. Thank you Mel!

I biked through Sauk Centre and north to Dave Jacobson's farm turned prairie land, and I got there in the nick of time. Right after I pulled my bike into the garage it began raining after a completely dry ride.

Dave brought me on a tour of his land in his jeep and explained why he had decided to take the farm that had been in his family since 1885 and return it to the native prairie savannah it had once been. Starting in 1992, he began to transfer the cropland to native land, doing research with the help of the DNR to find out where the original ponds and plants had been. Then, over the course of more than a decade, he reconstructed six ecosystems in what is possibly the most biodiverse restoration project ever to occur in Minnesota.