Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary

 

 

About

Ownership

City of St. Paul logo

 

Links

City of St. Paul

Lower Phalen Creek Project

National Park Service: Mississippi National River and Recreation Area

Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary on Facebook

 

Overview

Representative Bruce Vento was well-known as a champion for environmental causes in Minnesota and across the nation. During his tenure in Congress, he was chairman of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands for ten years, overseeing the enactment of 300 laws. After his death in 2000, several places in the Metro area were established in his honor: the Vento View Overlook near Cherokee Park, the Bruce Vento Regional Trail in Maplewood and St. Paul, which then leads down through Swede Hollow to the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary. The 27-acre sanctuary is located just east of downtown St. Paul, tucked in between the railroad tracks along Warner Road and the bluffs below Mounds Park. One cave, called Wakan Tipi (Spirit House), was a significant site for the Native Americans living in the area. In 1853, the North Star Brewery was built here, and they used one of the caves to store beer. Starting in the 1880’s, the area became a railroad and industrial area, later becoming largely abandoned in the 1970’s. In 2001, a coalition of St. Paul residents, neighborhood groups, and the City of St. Paul started work on purchasing the land, and in 2005 it became an official park open to the public. There is an ongoing effort to restore the land’s ecology and native plant communities, though reminders of the industrial history have been left in place. The sanctuary has also become a significant location for birdwatching and for educational opportunities.

— Kirk Nelson

 

History

 

 

Management

Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary is part of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MNRRA) is a 72-mile, 53,775 acre corridor along the Mississippi River. It stretches in the north from Weigh Station Highway Park on US Highway 10 in Ramsey to the Dakota County/Goodhue County border in the south. MNRRA, pronounced “minnra”, is a partnership park, a new and unique kind of national park. St. Anthony Falls Visitor Center and the 29-acre Coldwater Spring are the only parcels of land within the MNRRA owned by The National Park Service.

 

Comments

 

Location

Size

27 acres

 

Driving Directions

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  Area and County
    County   Ramsey County
    Region   Metro Area

Parking

265 Commercial Street
Saint Paul, MN

There is a parking lot at the north end of the park on Positively 4th St. wit room for 14 cars.

Positively 4th St. Parking Lot
N44 57.201, W93 4.502

Additional parking is available at the nearby Indian Mounds Regional Park.

Indian Mounds Regional Park Parking Lot
N44 57.032, W93 4.109

 

Hours

Sunrise - 11 p.m.

 

Fees

No fee

 

Maps

Park Map (PDF)

Activities

Hiking

Nature photography

Birdwatching

 

Hiking Trails

1.0 mile loop with several interconnecting trails

 

Hunting

No hunting

Ecology

Ecological Classification

  Ecological Classification
Ecological Province Ecological Province  

Eastern Broadleaf Forest Province

 
Ecological Section Ecological Section  

Minnesota & NE Iowa Morainal

 
Ecological Subsection Ecological Subsection  

St. Paul-Baldwin Plains and Moraines

 
Land Type Association    

Pig's Eye Alluvial Plain

 
         

Native Plant Communities*

 

Not mapped (10/11/2021)

 
* Source: The Minnesota Biological Survey, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Ecological Resources    
     

Natural Features

   

Sandstone and limestone bluffs, cave, wetlands, stormwater ponds, oak savanna and prairie restorations, and an educational bee apiary

 

 

 

 

Visitor Photos
 

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Kirk Nelson

Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary   Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary

Signs

 

Entrance

     
Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary   Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary

Trail

 

White-tail deer

     
Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary   Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary

Educational Apiary

 

Honey bees

     

Interpretative markers

   
Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary   Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary
     
Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary   Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary

Interpretive sign

 

Outdoor Classroom

     
Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary   Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary

Concrete railroad pad

  Pond
     
Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary   Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary

Brewery Cave

  View of Downtown St. Paul
MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos
 
   

 

   

 

 

Camera

Slideshows

Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary • Fall 2019
Friends of the Mississippi River (FMR)

Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary • Fall 2019

Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary
C

Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary

 

slideshow

Visitor Videos
 

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Other Videos

A Video Tour Bruce of the Vento Nature Sanctuary
Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary Tour - (1) Welcome

LowerPhalenCreek

About

Published on Jan 27, 2011

Eight more videos of this tour can be seen at http://www.lowerphalencreek.org/media/

Flowers of the Railyard
Bridget Fitzgerald

About

Published on Jun 13, 2018

railyard = Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary

Bruce Vento Sanctuary Minnesota
Artid Chah

About

Published on Mar 1, 2018

Short clip of a little sanctuary here in Minnesota.
I recorded everything with my GoPro Hero 5 Black.

I don't own this song or the audio.
Song: Kiiara- Feels (Jai Wolf Remix)

Clearing Buckthorn at Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary
founghawj

About

Published on Aug 24, 2017

Quadcopter on Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary
Denis Foo Kune

About

Published on Oct 18, 2014

 

Camcorder

Visitor Sightings
 

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Simply email us at info@MinnesotaSeasons.com.

Kirk Nelson

Birds

Green Heron (Butorides virescens)   Green Heron

Mammals

whitetail deer (Odocoileus virginianus)   whitetail deer
MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings

Visits

None

Birds

eBird Field Checklist

     

 

 

Binoculars

 

Created: 8/24/2019

Last Updated:

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