Welcome to the Wildflower Sanctuary

Welcome to the Wildflower Sanctuary. Site History. Hedstrom Lumber Mill , This 6 acre site, bounded by the Gunflint Trail, County Road 60, and the Devil Track River, was home to the Hedstrom Lumber mill and office from 1914 to 1994. The 4 acre eastern portion, once boulder filled and rough, was gradually leveled, filled with crushed rock, and completely covered by buildings, storage sheds and roads. The photo above shows the original steam powered sawmill from the 1920s. The aerial shot below from the 1980's, shows the site completely covered. As the mill grew, it gradually moved to the current site north of the river by the 1990s. The final storage building on the old mill site was removed in 2014., A Sanctuary is Born and Reborn , The idea of a Wild Flower Sanctuary on the 2 acre western portion of the site was suggested by Lucille Hedstrom Walker in 1958. The Grand Marais Garden Club accepted the offer to use these 2 acres in 1959. The land was relatively pristine and had never been used for sawmill operations., Over time, weeds and bushes returned, paths were overgrown, some flowers disappeared, and few people knew about the Sanctuary. Mary Storland and others, inspired by the blooming of the Lady Slippers, set about restoring the Wildflower Sanctuary in 1979. A dedicated group from the Garden Club maintained the sanctuary into the early 1990s., By the 2000's, the Sanctuary was strewn with dead and dying trees. Although many of the original plants remained, the trails were difficult to traverse. The area was logged and cleared by Hedstrom Lumber Company in 2009 at the Garden Club's request. The Gunflint Greenup Committee planted pines and maple trees and identified the surviving plants and trails., Follow the Devil Track Wildflower Sanctuary page on Facebook., Restoring to a Natural State , Chris and Anne Hegg purchased the property in 2013 and began reestablishing the Wildflower Sanctuary and restoring the 4 acre mill site to a more natural state. The two areas offer a start contrast in plants and wildflowers. The old mill site, almost completely barren in the 1980s, gradually filled in with a mix of native, non-native and invasive plants. We allow the beautiful and popular lupine field (non-native) to remain. We have planted hundreds of pine, spruce, cedar and tamarack seedlings to help nature in the slow process of reclaiming this former industrial site., A parking area was added. In 2014 we added the beautiful Riverbank Trail from the County 60 bridge to the fire hydrant. This trail is noteworthy for its stands of Black Ash, many ferns, rare Black Hawthorn, and other native streamside vegetation. In 2015 the Norquist Rain Garden was added to protect the river from runoff and provide a wide array of pollinator friendly flowers. Locally made benches were added near the rain garden and in the sanctuary in 2016. The trails in the Wildflower Sanctuary have been expanded and are re-chipped every year. We continue to add and identify plants throughout the site. Weeded and trail maintenance are ongoing., In 2016 we built our home, a white pine timber frame building finished inside and out with current Hedstrom Lumber products. Please respect our privacy.