“Grand Old Lady of the Prairie"
Florence Cook Roefer (1913-2000) was an early leader in preserving these rock carvings and the surrounding prairie. As the first site manager of Jeffers Petroglyphs, Florence nurtured 33 acres of . . . — — Map (db m140823) HM
This outcropping is an “erosional high”-rock
smoothed off by glaciers.
Continental glaciers advanced and retreated across this region many times in the last million years, before leaving for good about 12,000 years ago. . . . — — Map (db m140824) HM
About 14,000 years ago this landscape was covered with ice.
When the ice melted, an open parkland dotted with black spruce developed. After a period of warming and drying, forests of oak and elm replaced the spruce. People began living . . . — — Map (db m140820) HM
What are those fence posts doing in the middle of the prairie?
They used to mark the edge of a farm field. In 1974 the Minnesota Historical Society planted a few grass varieties on 50 acres of cropland, initiating one of the first . . . — — Map (db m140804) HM
Prairie fires set by lightning or by people were common in this region.
Fortunately, most prairie plants are long-lived perennials with deep, extensive root systems. Their ability to produce vigorous new shoots below the soil's . . . — — Map (db m140822) HM
People hunting game most likely traveled this ridge, which provided a dry route above the lake-dotted prairie for thousands of years.
The earliest inhabitants of this region hunted woolly mammoths and musk-ox. Beginning with the . . . — — Map (db m140821) HM
