On a sunny Friday in April, the dog and I hiked at Sunfish Lake Park in Lake Elmo and found rue anemone, wood anemone, and an abundance of violets sprinkled on the forest floor. Higher in the trees, two barred owls enjoyed an extended conversation. Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all? I counted 17 painted turtles sharing one long skinny log in the lake, and was excited to see red breasted mergansers and a pair of mallards as well.
“I love sitting on the bench overlooking ‘No Name Lake,’” says Verity Davis, Programs Coordinator for Sally Manzara Nature Center (SMNC), which is located on site at Sunfish Lake Park. “The lake is deep below in a valley and you can see so many changes from one season to the next. Even if I just pause and sit there for a few minutes, it’s really rejuvenating.” Davis often brings groups to the bench and encourages them to stop and observe the woods around them. “It’s a favorite location for many park visitors,” she says.
As Davis and I sit chatting on a picnic bench in the sun, our conversation is briefly interrupted by a small V of sandhill cranes flying overhead. Sunfish Lake Park is somewhat of a mecca for local birds, and Davis says she regularly sees trumpeter swans, eagles, osprey, and wood ducks as well. When I talk with Bayard Godsave, Administrative Director for SMNC, he also enthuses about the birds. “Yesterday when I went to my car, there were two ospreys circling overhead,” he says. Godsave also recounts a memorable incident from a few year ago when he found dozens of eagles along the shoreline at Sunfish Lake, dining on invasive koi that had somehow snuck into the lake.
With nearly 270 acres of high quality deciduous forest, 17 acres of restored prairie, rolling hills with mountain bike and hiking trails, and several small wetlands and lakes, Sunfish Lake Park is considered by many people to be the jewel of the Lake Elmo park system. Though the park was established in 1974, however, it remained a relative secret for many years.
Then, in 2016, Tony Manzara and Connie Kirk began working with Lake Elmo city leaders to establish a nonprofit, community-led nature center that could help more people to visit and enjoy the park. Sally Manzara Nature Center was officially opened in June of 2018, and is named in honor of Tony’s late wife.
Today, SMNC offers a free and welcoming space for local residents and families, as well as unique programs for children and adults.
There are several local groups of adults with disabilities that visit the nature center on a monthly basis, and Davis tells me about a display they created to showcase the artwork made by people in these groups. Davis has also developed numerous science and nature-based programs for preschool kids, homeschool groups, and even high school students.
“A lot of times the older kids get overlooked in nature center programming,” says Godsave. “The programs we offer for them are in-depth and very hands-on.” During upcoming summer programs at SMNC, older students will get the opportunity to build a solar over, practice bird banding, and develop other outdoor skills.
The team at SMNC has also been masterful at engaging volunteers and the local community in caring for the Sunfish Lake forest. To date, the nature center has secured $645,000 in funding from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to remove invasive buckthorn from 120 acres of woods in the park. The nature center contracts with Stantec to oversee this project, but also has a team of volunteers that come out every month on the second Saturday to help cut and clear buckthorn. The volunteers have been working on buckthorn since 2018 and are incredibly consistent says Godsave, “Unless it’s negative 40, they’re even out there in the winter!”
During my visit in April, the Stantec crew was conducting a prescribed burn to manage buckthorn along one of the trails. Meanwhile, volunteers were inside and outside the nature center, building garden plots and setting-up for a weekend program with the Bell Museum.
As Davis finishes telling me about the long list of programs they have planned for the summer – everything from a couples’ star gazing night, to a workshop on tree medicine led by Paul Red Elk – it’s clear to me that there is a place for every creature and every person here in the woods at Sunfish Lake Park.
To learn more about Sunfish Lake Park and programming at Sally Manzara Nature Center, visit sminc-lake-elmo.org. In addition to its youth and public programs, the nature center will also be holding a fundraising banquet on Tue., May 5 at Lake Elmo Inn and Event Center.
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