Cedar Creek Wildlife Survey

Saturday, June 1

9:00 AM - 4:30 PM

2660 Fawn Lake Dr NE, East Bethel, MN 55005

The Spring 2024 Cedar Creek Wildlife Survey is coming up on Saturday, June 1. We hope you can join us.

The Cedar Creek Wildlife Survey is a joint venture between the Minnesota Wildlife Tracking Project and the University of Minnesota's Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve. It is a unique opportunity to improve your tracking skills, connect with nature, and help Cedar Creek scientists learn about the wildlife living on the property. You can read about our Spring 2022 survey here.

The Wildlife Survey is free, but registration is required

Registration will open by May 1

Our Spring Survey will be an all day affair. We will head out in teams to survey the sand roads and trails for animal tracks, then come back in to share our discoveries with one another. Each team will be led by an experienced wildlife tracker who holds a Level III or higher in Track & Sign identification. In past surveys, our teams have identified the tracks and sign of more than 30 species of mammals including gray fox, flying squirrel, and black bear. With the bison enclosure vacant this year, we have a broader range of places we can roam. Who knows what we will find? Here is the schedule for the day:

8:30am Doors open at Lindeman Center

9:00am Program begins: Tracking teams organize to leave for the field

~3:00pm Return from the field for sharing, mapping and debriefing

4:30pm Complete

We look forward to getting out in the field with you.

About Cedar Creek

Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve is a 5,400 acre experimental ecological reserve operated by the University of Minnesota. It is located in East Bethel, about 35 miles north of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Cedar Creek lies at the boundary between prairie and forest. It is a mosaic of uplands dominated by oak savanna, prairie, hardwood forest, pine forests, and abandoned agricultural fields and of lowlands comprised of ash and cedar swamps, acid bogs, marshes, and sedge meadows. The area was first set aside in the early 1940s to be kept in its natural condition for scientific and educational purposes. Much of the land remains pristine, and has never been developed for agriculture. You can learn more at www.cedarcreek.umn.edu

The diverse, pristine habitat supports a wide variety of mammals. Mammals seen on the property over the Reserve's 75 year history include white-tailed jackrabbits, badger, fisher, fox squirrels, porcupine & spotted skunks. Reserve staff and scientists are looking for our help to update their index of mammals. If you are a beginner, the surveys will offer an overview of the diversity of Minnesota Mammals. For the advanced tracker, you might get to try your hand at distinguishing fisher from otter; fox squirrel from grey squirrel; and a variety of tiny mammal tracks. You can take a look at some of what our tracking teams have found on our iNaturalist Project Page, or look read about our past surveys on our blog.

Public access to the Reserve is limited. The Cedar Creek Wildlife Survey program offers you the rare opportunity to explore this exceptional landscape.