The land surrounding the Pine Needles cabin on the St. Croix River in Marine on St. Croix and the Tanglewood Nature Preserve have been permanently protected through conservation easements.
The protection of the 130 acres of forest and riverfront land now means the Science Museum of Minnesota’s entire 300-acre St. Croix Watershed Research Station has been conserved, completing a long-standing museum goal, said Alison Rempel Brown, the museum’s president and CEO.
The easements cover Tanglewood Nature Preserve, which holds 103 acres of woodland and oak savanna, and Pine Needles, with its 27 acres of old-growth forest along the St. Croix River. The Minnesota Land Trust and Washington County are paying the Science Museum in exchange for the conservation easements.
The permanent protection of the land is “one of the most significant conservation achievements” in the museum’s history, Rempel Brown said.
“This land has supported scientific research and inspired generations of artists, and now it will continue to do that work forever,” she said. “We’re grateful to the Minnesota Land Trust and Washington County for a partnership that made this possible.”
The cabin at Pine Needles, previously owned by historian James Taylor Dunn, is the home of the Science Museum’s Artist at Pine Needles Residency program, which has hosted more than 80 artists over the past 24 years.