Red[headed Woodpecker] in the face about Nerstrand Big Woods State Park

Hello and welcome to Birding Accessibly!

Learn more about Red-Headed Woodpeckers by visiting the National Audobon website.

Hello and welcome back to Birding Accessibly! First-time reader to the blog? Check out our first blog post Birding Accessibly in a Nut[hatch] to learn what we’re all about!

We’ve reached November now, which means it’s National American Indian Heritage Month (also called “Native American Heritage Month” and “National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month”)!

Why am I bringing up Nation American Indian Heritage Month in a blog about Birding accessibly you may ask? Great question! And one that has a very simple answer: because the places that I go Birding at are all on Native Land.

Birding and really anything you do in the great outdoors, whether that be hiking, skiing, canoeing, and so forth all happen on the lands of the Indigenous people that lived here long before a lot of our ancestors arrived or were forcibly brought here. Because all of the research that goes into this blog is done outside on Native Land, I wanted to include a Land Acknowledgement in this posting. I want others to know what a Land Acknowledgement is so they can both be informed and perhaps consider creating their own to use in future publications or presentations.

Birdability themselves (the inspiration for this blog) recognizes the Native Land that their work is being done on as well, which can be found on their Inclusion and Diversity Statement.

Birding Accessibly in Minnesota’s
Land Acknowledgement:

Birding Accessibly in Minnesota acknowledges the land and the tribal nations whose land this research and project are being completed on. Birding Accessibly in Minnesota recognizes that we are on Dakota land. We recognize the Native Nations of this region who have called this place home over thousands of years including the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe), Lakota, Nakota, Ho-Chunk, and Cheyenne. We acknowledge the ongoing colonialism and the legacies of violence, displacement, migration, and settlement that foreground the formation of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities and as such St. Cloud State University, the university in which this project is being completed as a student under. Birding Accessibly in Minnesota also recognizes the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 and therefore does not participate in or support the illegal collection of bird feathers.

Because this project is something I am completing for SCSU, which falls under the umbrella of the Minnesota State system, I have for the most part used a section of the Land Acknowledgement found on the Equity 2030 webpage of the system office’s website. I in no way own this Land Acknowledgement and recognize that this was created by our Minnesota State Equity 2030 Chancellor’s Fellows.

Additionally, I have added a note about the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 out of respect for the protection of our migratory bird species and the Indigenous Nations who use their feathers throughout their art, regalia, and other daily uses.

For those interested, I could not find a Land Acknowledgment on the actual State of Minnesota’s website representing the state as a whole, but I did find the MN Department of Agriculture’s Land Acknowledgement, which includes additional information and detail.

On the topic of Minnesota, let’s get to reviewing one of its many beautiful parks!

NERSTRAND BIG WOODS – NERSTRAND, MN – STATE PARK

A sampling of the Big Woods of Nerstrand Big Woods State Park!

After reviewing a city and regional park, I wanted to make sure I got one State park in before the end of the semester. I played around with a lot of state parks to visit, and Nerstrand caught my eye. Being that we are in the fall season, I wanted to travel South to make sure it was warm enough for my old legs to traverse about (weather can drastically affect some of us with accessibility challenges).

Nerstrand Big Woods State Park is nestled in the south-eastern part of Minnesota and is home to a beautiful maple-basswood forest. It’s known for its spectacular wildflower viewing in the spring and is home to the dwarf trout lily, which according to the DNR website for the park, is a federally-listed endangered wildflower. There is also a beautiful waterfall called Hidden Falls, which if you can make the trek, is quite the sight to see.

Because I have limited mobility with my legs, I choose the Big Woods Trail, which according to the trail highlights section of the map and guide, was the only one listed as “mostly flat” with packed dirt as the trail surface.

I have chosen to go over three of the many access considerations Birdability recommends throughout my reviews: Parking, Trail Surfaces, and Slope.

PARKING

When I first pulled into the park we stopped by the Visitor Center. The parking near the center was not great, but they did have one handicapped accessible parking spot nearby (not van accessible though). When asking where the Big Woods Trail was located, we were directed to park in a different area in order to access the trail. It was a short drive but as we were pulling up I realized that there was no accessible parking here. Only dirt/gravel spaces with no lines. It wasn’t terribly busy at the park so I was able to park in the lot closer to where our trail starts. If the lot was full though, you would have to park quite a distance down and then traverse back up the rocky road to cross over to the trail.

There was also not a great way to get from the parking lot to the trail, you had to cross the main road and there were lots of large sticks on the sides where one is expected to walk or use their wheelchair safely. In the image to the left, the red line on top starts at the parking lot and then weaves down about a quarter-mile to the trail start. I did not find this parking lot or the walk to the trail to be very accessible, especially if you are someone who uses a manual wheelchair or white cane.

TRAIL SURFACES

I initially chose this trail because it was marked as being mostly flat and with packed dirt as the trail surface. In order to get to this trail, you have to traverse a section of the Maple trail loop first. Maple trail was covered in dirt, grass, packed rocks, and big loose rocks and was overall not fun to walk on (I lost my balance twice). Once I got to the start of the Big Woods trail, it seemed to be just packed dirt as mentioned on the map.

This trail was a 1 mile, one-way trail. I got about halfway through the trail and had to turn around. What started off as a decent hike turned into a pretty uncomfortable game of “can I keep my balance here or not?”.

After a while, the trail turned into the same type of hike as the Maple trail that I walked through initially. There were long sections of the trail that were covered in large, loose rock piles. Some of these had been embedded in the dirt and grass on the trail, but a lot of them were free-roaming, waiting to be kicked or tripped on (by a semi-unaware me). Paired with the wonkiness of the slope on the trail (which we’ll get to), walking on this trail surface left me out of breath and with sore knees and hips. Thankfully this trail had benches set up every quarter-mile, so I was able to take some respite before turning around.

   All hail the savior of my relatively uncomfortable hike: Ye Olde Bench.

SLOPE

Unlike the previous two parks I reviewed, the Big Woods trail at Nerstrand didn’t have any intense up or down slopes. It did, unfortunately, suffer from inconsistent slopes at almost every section of the trail. Now, I knew going in that this trail was just “mostly flat” so I did expect a slope here or there. What I didn’t expect was that this trail had that down-up-down groove that is often produced by cars or other four-wheel motor vehicles almost the entire way (I later read that this trail is used as a snowmobile trail during the winter, thus the trail shape and slope).

It wasn’t a huge slope necessarily but paired with the loose rocks and a surprising number of large branches blocking the path, it made for a harder hike. This could also cause problems for folks using a wheelchair who need the slope to be at least mostly consistent for balance and also for folks using a white cane who cannot always see how the slope changes in front of them.

 

 

 

RATING & CONCLUSION

Overall, I give Nerstrand Big Woods State Park a 2 out of 5 Chickadees for accessibility:

(Again based on those three access considerations, there are many more to look at.)

While I did give this State park a lower rating, it isn’t a ding against the history or natural beauty of the park. There are other trails in this park that I’m sure provide beautiful views and perhaps even awesome birding locations – they just aren’t accessible to everyone out there. I wanted to highlight how a trail that seemed decently accessible on paper ended up being a challenge for me. Most of the time I am able to walk around without the assistance of my cane or trekking poles, but even though I was having a good day, this trail (which was recommended by the Park Ranger on duty as being relatively accessible) proved difficult and that can leave one feeling disillusioned.

I hope that this overview has helped to inform you or remind you of the challenges that are faced by a large portion of the population, not just indoors but also in the great outdoors. If you are interested in learning more about the movement, please check out Birdability’s website or give their Twitter or other social media a follow! If you are interested in submitting your own reviews of parks to be published, visit their Birdability map hosted on Audubon.

With that, I’d like to call back to a portion of Birdability’s vision, remember that:

“Birding truly is for everybody and every body!”

An adult Red-headed Woodpecker, peeking over the side of a large tree in Nerstrand Big Woods State Park. On a side note, this was the first time I have ever come across one of these birds, as their population is on the decline. So it was quite exciting to be able to find one while researching for this blog!

Chickadee photo attribution: https://depositphotos.com/category/art-objects.html
Native American Heritage Month graphic is my own. Use freely – no attribution needed.
All other photos are mine, please ask before using.