About
Situated on an extensive rock terrace 70 feet above the Minnesota River Valley, the Kasota Prairie is named for its view, the word kasota from the Dakota language meaning "a cleared place." When the Glacial River Warren originally carved the Minnesota River valley, the flooded river covered this terrace. Today, prairie, wet meadow, oak woodland, and lowland hardwood plant communities thrive in the thin soils, only 12 inches deep here.
Shrubby patches of wild plum, wolfberry, and narrow-leaved meadowsweet provide habitat for open-country birds such as horned larks and upland sandpipers. The increasingly rare loggerhead shrike (MN-threatened) has been documented here as well.
The palette of wildflower color ranges from the first pasque flowers and prairie violets in early spring, on to summer's yellow stargrass, pale-spike lobelia, and sunflowers, deepening with the last gentians in October. Look for rattlesnake master, actually a member of the parsley family, which marks the northern extent of its range right here at Kasota Prairie SNA.
This important prairie site is now part of a large prairie complex on adjacent lands, but the coming years are expected to bring big changes to the area, most notably a frac-sand mine operating within 200' feet of the SNA on three sides. The impacts of this operation on the natural features of the SNA remain to be seen.