St. Francis River (Minnesota)

Saint Francis River within the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge (2007)

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The Saint Francis River is a 115- km long tributary of the Elk River in eastern Minnesota in the United States. About the Elk River it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River and drains an area that was previously covered mostly by hardwood and softwood plants and consists of a flat to undulating ground moraine by.

The Saint Francis River rises in the Alberta Township in northeastern Benton County and flows generally southward passing through the eastern part of the county to Foley. This opens up a small tributary, known as West Branch St. Francis River. Once in the north of Sherburne County, the river turns east and flows later south and southwest. By the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge and the Sand Dunes State Forest It flows into the Big Lake Township in the south of Sherburne counties in the Elk River, about two kilometers north of the town of Big Lake.

History and nature protection

For more than ten thousand years ago, people lived in the valley of Saint Francis River. Settlements of the North American Indians in the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge date back until about the year 1300. More recently, the area was settled during the 1870s under the homestead law.

Originally, the basin of the Saint Francis River is one of the richest game areas in Minnesota where, thanks to the large number of smaller lakes and floodplains in the vicinity of the river, and the surrounding Vergation with wild rice and other wetland plants large amounts of wild ducks, muskrats, beavers and mink a good living had. The surrounding high banks were habitat for elk, bison and gray wolves. By the middle of the 20th century, various factors have greatly reduced the value of the habitat for animals and plants. Wetlands were drained by drainage ditches that were built in the 1920s to increase the agricultural area. During the early 1940s penetrated carps in the lakes and rivers of the region. Their feeding behavior led to an overturning of the existing vegetation, which was important for the abundance of wildlife in the water. In addition, the original oak savannas have been converted to agricultural land or residential areas. In 1965, the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge was established to try to restore the restoration of the original habitats for wild animals at the St. Francis River.

Weblink

• Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge: History ( English)