Helen Allison Savanna SNA (East Bethel, Minnesota)

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86 Acres. Helen Allison Savanna was named for Helen Allison Irvine, "Minnesota's grass lady," who wrote a text on the 180 grasses of Minnesota. This SNA lies within the Anoka sand plain, providing an excellent example of sand dune plant succession, with blowouts and dunes in various stages of stabilization by pioneer species. Community types found on the site include oak sand savanna, dry prairie with bur oak and pin oak, thickets of willow and aspen, and sedge marshes in scattered depressions. Trees and shrubs characteristic of a savannah are found here: pin oak, bur oak, American hazelnut, choke cherry, willow, and quaking aspen. Other savanna species include lead plant, smooth sumac, slender willow, steeple bush, aster, and goldenrod. Look on the dunes for pioneer sand plants such as sea-beach needle grass and hairy panic grass. Sedge meadows contain tussocks of Hayden's sedge, along with marsh fern and blue-joint grass. Other rare plant species occurring here include long-bearded hawkweed, rhombic-petaled evening primrose, and tall nut-rush. Prime times to visit are when the pasque flowers bloom in the spring and when the prairie grasses are at their finest in late summer.