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Ex <br />c <br />e <br />l <br />s <br />i <br />o <br />r <br />- <br />M <br />i <br />n <br />n <br />e <br />t <br />o <br />n <br />k <br />a <br /> <br />H <br />i <br />s <br />t <br />o <br />r <br />i <br />c <br />a <br />l <br /> <br />S <br />o <br />c <br />i <br />e <br />t <br />y <br />Throughout Big Island Nature Park you’ll see remnants of <br />the maple and basswood forest that once covered these hills. <br />Many of these trees are more than 140 years old. Among <br />the island’s mature, craggy trees are seedlings and saplings <br />gradually filling in the woods where lawns once grew. <br />The Trees of Big Island <br />LAKE <br />MINNETONKA <br />LANDING <br />STAIRS <br />BIG <br />ISLAND <br />N <br />S <br />E W <br />YOU AREHERE <br />ROLLERCOASTER <br />AMUSEMENTSBUILDINGS <br />MUSICCASINO <br />WATERTOWER <br />BATHROOM <br />BATHROOM <br />PICNICKITCHEN <br />PICNICKITCHEN <br />DOCKS <br />BOATHOUSE <br />ICE HOUSEMEN’SDORMITORY <br />WOMEN’SDORMITORY DANCEPAVILION <br />MYSTICCHUTE <br />For generations, Dakota people gathered among the island’s <br />old-growth sugar maples to tap trees and boil sap for sugar. <br />Their spring visits to the island were marked by the change from <br />ice to open water. This 1840s image is likely a scene from what <br />is now Nicollet Island in Minneapolis. <br />More than 1,000 tons of cord wood were cut from the future <br />site of the Big Island Park, clearing the hardwood forest into <br />a “sylvan dale,” with perfectly spaced trees and rolling lawns <br />in between. <br />Big Island Park <br />1906–1911 <br />Big Island Veterans Camp <br />1921–2003 <br />1921 Big Island Veterans Camp opens2021 <br />1906 Big Island Park opens2008 Big Island Nature Park opens <br />Se <br />t <br />h <br /> <br />E <br />a <br />s <br />t <br />m <br />a <br />n <br />, <br /> <br />In <br />d <br />i <br />a <br />n <br /> <br />S <br />u <br />g <br />a <br />r <br /> <br />C <br />a <br />m <br />p <br />, <br />L <br />i <br />b <br />r <br />a <br />r <br />y <br /> <br />o <br />f <br /> <br />C <br />o <br />n <br />g <br />r <br />e <br />s <br />s <br />This tree core (actual size) was taken <br />from a sugar maple here in the park. <br />Each ring marks a year in the life of <br />a tree that started growing in the <br />1870s. This community of sugar <br />maples provides a living thread back <br />through history and into the future. <br />Coring study provided by the University of Minnesota, Department of Forest Resources.