Help us protect the Mississippi River and preserve the Mississippi Dunes property as a public nature preserve for generations to enjoy.

Take action to support protecting this property by signing this petition!

What is the Mississippi Dunes?

The Mississippi Dunes is a 185-acre property located on Mooers Lake, a lake connected to the Mississippi River, immediately adjacent to the 237-acre Grey Cloud Dunes Scientific and Natural area. It features incredible, sweeping views of historic Grey Cloud Island and the Mississippi River valley, 3000 feet of Mississippi River shoreline and incredible ecological, historic and cultural resources. The property features beautiful natural landscapes of oak savannah, prairie and natural sand dunes, serving as a haven for a high diversity of wildlife including many endangered and threatened species. The property is a recognized critical habitat and provides a natural buffer for the river from the city above.

What is the concern?

• Out-of-State Private Developers want to build a gated, high-density development in a pristine natural area along the Mississippi River. The Cottage Grove City Council has already rezoned the Mississippi Dunes property to allow for single family homes to be built on it. The new owner of the property has contracted with Pulte Homes and is requesting that the City Council rezone the property again to allow for medium and high density housing (townhomes and apartment buildings). An environmental review is unlikely to be requested by the city and would not automatically be required by any governing body! 
• Putting any housing on this property would be a travesty and would have extremely negative impacts on Mississippi River water quality, habitat and wildlife, viewshed, traffic and noise, and most of all, it would destroy a pristine area and incredible city resource unique to any along the Mississippi River - see below for the details of these impacts.
• There is a much better option that benefits everyone - a public, nature-based park. Ever since the Mississippi Dunes property became available, the Friends of the Mississippi River (FMR) has worked toward a solution to protect the entire property as public open space. FMR has been bringing together parties that could help purchase, restore and own as much public space as possible at Mississippi Dunes.

There is a place for housing and infrastructure in a city, but the Mississippi Dunes is not that place. Mississippi Dunes is a pristine piece of property perfectly set up to be transitioned to a public park with public trails and river access for generations to enjoy. It holds significant ecological, historical and cultural value to the residents of this area and to many statewide. It is overwhelmingly clear that the Mississippi Dunes property serves its highest and best use as a natural park space for all to enjoy.

This property would give the public an opportunity for extremely unique, natural Mississippi River access that cannot be found in any other part of the Twin Cities metropolitan area. It can offer four season outdoor recreation and educational opportunities, uninterrupted natural views in immediate proximity to the state's largest metropolitan area, a nature-based experience appealing to any age group without the interruption of unnatural infrastructure, and a chance to see and personally experience the native wildlife and habitat so critical to the river and its unique and threatened ecosystem.  

 

~~Why You Should Take Action to Protect the Mississippi Dunes from Development~~

ECONOMICS

1. Costs of private housing development 
   • If housing was built, curb, gutter, roads and street lights would need to be put in and paid for by the citizens of Cottage Grove, which would be an enormous cost due to the remote location and tumultuous topography of the property
   • Creating a public park at Mississippi Dunes would require very little investment and maintenance costs would be low as the trails are already in place, a road and parking are already in place, and there are private parties interested in fixing and leasing the buildings
   • Remediation costs and dangers (there are significant costs to disturbing this soil as it is a historical dumping area with likely significant soil pollution; there is also danger to neighboring groundwater wells and the Mississippi River if tampering of the soil takes place)
2. A park can provide income for the City of Cottage Grove
   • The City could lease existing buildings - SISU, an environmental school is interested in locating their school on the property (more schools are needed in the area) and the outbuildings could be leased to an interested landscape restoration company
   • Buildings could also be rented to the public for special events
   • The City could offer equipment and gear rental for seasonal outdoor recreation
3. Purchasing and maintaining the land through partnerships  
   • There is money available for public purchase through several different public and non-profit groups (already identified and ready to purchase) and the owner could still receive a fair price without resorting to building housing
4. Attracting residents to the area and increasing housing values
   • The value of properties near park lands is much higher than the values of homes and homes in cities that do not offer outdoor amenities. Cottage Grove has nothing like this currently to offer its residents.
   • Millennials are largest group of home buyers and they value green spaces and wish to preserve and protect our natural resources – they look for nature-based experiences and native park spaces. With over 36,000 residents, it would be a huge oversight and a complete misstep of the city to not take full advantage of this opportunity that many more upscale communities use to attract homebuyers. Minnesotans want to have access to water, and the City of Cottage Grove cannot offer that today, but if they created a public park at Mississippi Dunes, they could.
5. Safety concerns if the property was developed
   • Building homes on this property is concerning as a railroad dissects the property, bringing noise and safety concerns
   • The current road could not support the vehicle traffic of an entire development with high density housing and would need to be completely reconstructed and expanded, costing the tax payers significant money
   • Tampering with the soil through the property development process puts neighboring groundwater at risk, could result in severe Mississippi River contamination, and contamination of the groundwater of homes nearby and downstream (this is caused by the loss of trees, soil disturbance and the nature of sand dune soil). This property is especially risky due to its status as a historic toxic dumping grounds, its soil profile and its history as a golf course. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture published a notice to the public about this issue in 2015, which can be found here: Golf Course Contamination from Pesticide Use (state.mn.us). Recently, the City of Saint Paul has been tasked with paying for significant remediation of a golf course to develop it into housing due to fungicide and fertilizer soil contamination; this project is known as the Hillcrest Golf Course project.

COMMUNITY BENEFITS

By transitioning Mississippi Dunes into a public, nature-based park, we preserve and provide:

1. Access to natural areas correlate with more successful people – lowers blood pressure, increases overall health, builds memories, leads to more successful people
2. The park could serve as a community event hub – parties, fundraisers, weddings, seasonal festivals, pumpkin carving, spring clean-up, environmental learning
3. Historical value – located just down the river from the historic lime kiln, an easy paddle to Settler’s Island, and across from Grey Cloud Island, a rich, historical home to the Prairie Island Mdewakanton Sioux Indian Community
4. Cultural value – historic Dakota village, high concentration of burial mounds, meteorite impact sites 
5. Outdoor activity - river access for kayaking, paddle boarding, canoeing, fishing, snow shoeing, skiing, biking, walking, running, etc.
6. Amenities, such as equipment rental, experiential learning, marathons, charity events, organized learning, “walks”
7. Education – Allowing the Environmental School to operate on the property would add capacity to the strained system and provide a unique community resource

ECOLOGY

1. Sand dune soil – development will destroy soil health, aquatic resources, will cause runoff and groundwater contamination, and overall significant natural resource degradation
2. Scientific and Natural Area (SNA) Next Door! – SNA’s have no active management, the Mississippi Dunes property would easily transition into walking, biking, hiking and skiing trails, which would also expand natural access for contiguous natural area for wildlife and human enjoyment from the neighboring Grey Cloud Dunes Scientific and Natural Area
3. This property is a:
   • Mississippi River Corridor Critical Area
   • Mississippi National River and Recreation Area National Park – Designated Primary Conservation Area
   • Audubon Society Designated Important Bird Area
4. We need to demand that the City of Cottage Grove protect the Mississippi Dunes or they WILL develop it. The City of Cottage Grove, as the local jurisdiction, has a responsibility to uphold the standards of the Mississippi River Critical Corridor Area. This requires that they maintain zoning and keep an updated comprehensive plan that “protects the corridor’s natural, cultural and scenic resources”. This includes protecting Primary Conservation Areas or PCA’s from development, vegetation removal, and land alteration activities. PCA’s include shore impact zones, bluff impact zones, floodplains, native plant communities, significant existing vegetative stands, cultural and historic properties and more. However, the Cottage Grove City Council have shown a strong intention to push for the entire property to be developed They have already zoned it for residential development and are entertaining discussions on rezoning it for medium and high density housing.
5. Nothing like this property exists anywhere else in the Twin Cities metropolitan area!

This is our one and only chance to protect and preserve this incredible resource for those of us living today and for future generations, and it must be done now, or it will be too late, and it will be gone forever. 

Please sign this petition to tell the City of Cottage Grove that a housing development is not the right choice for the Mississippi Dunes. A public, nature-based park is the right thing to do with this unique, incredible resource.

 

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”

~ American Indian Proverb

 

“Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we cannot eat money.”

~Cree Proverb

 

A note on who we are: We are a large group of concerned residents of Cottage Grove (and some from surrounding communities, such as Minneapolis and Saint Paul) that love this natural area and understand that it must be protected and shared with members of the public. This property should not be sold to the highest bidder for private use and destruction, but saved for all the enjoy! It is an incredibly special area of the river and the only like it from Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico. Help us save it from developers!