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Located near Hanover, Minnesota, on the Crow River, Crow-Hassan Park Reserve is a bit of a road trip from the cities. It is home to the oldest and largest restored prairie in the Twin Cities. This park is mainly wilderness with restored prairie, miles of trails and campsites. Group campsites accommodate horses. Wildlife to watch for include deer, fox, coyotes, trumpeter swans, hawks, and bald eagles.

Wildlife in Crow-Hassan Park Reserve

Trumpeter Swans

In 1966, Three Rivers Park District initiated the Trumpeter Swan Reintroduction Project and in 1968, to support this program, the Trumpeter Swan Society was formed. Starting with a single pair of swans, the program now accounts for over 12,000 birds. Trumpeter swans build nests and raise their young at this and other parks throughout the area. When visiting, Three Rivers requests visitors to respect these Swan and their surrounding habitat. Please follow the ordinances of the park, remain on designated trails, avoid close proximity to the birds, and do not feed them.

Beavers

If you would like to spot a beaver, Three Rivers recommends waiting patiently near Prairie Lake suggests in the early mornings or late evening hours. Learn more here.

Pollinators

As part of the Three Rivers Park District’s initiative to restore natural areas to provide habitat for pollinators, it has restored more than 1,500 acres of prairie and over 3,000 acres of forest using a diversity of native wildflowers, grasses and trees. While these efforts have attracted many species of pollinators to the various parks, including Crow-Hassan, they would like to see more species find these natural areas and become well established. To that end, Three Rivers has introduced two new project sat Crow-Hassan Park Reserve:

1. The Introduction of Regal Fritillaries. These large, colorful prairie butterflies require a large prairie area. The Regal Fritillary caterpillar only feed on prairie violets, which Three Rivers has provided by planting 10,000 violet plants over the last four years. However, because they can only fly one to two miles from where they hatch, they have not been able to establish naturally in the park. To help establish these butterflies, the park released them in the late summer of 2016 and surveyed populations in 2017. The 2017 numbers were healthy and the park is optimistic from early observations that the 2018 numbers are higher.
2. Bumblebee Monitoring. The park district has been monitoring bumblebee diversity and numbers in its parks and have verified over a dozen species, including the federally listed Rusty Patch Bumblebee. While surveys can gather information on which species are found in each park, they do not tell us where the bees nest or how far they fly. To monitor this activity, Three Rivers will be placing tiny (0.02 gr) radios on the bumblebees to learn more about their movements. Each radios will only last between eight and twelve days, but will provide a large amount of information during that period. 

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