2002 Natural Resources Management

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The topography, soils, and pattern of streams, lakes and wetlands that resulted from glacial activity greatly influenced the pattern of vegetation that developed later in Roseville. Plant communities such as oak savannas and prairies thrived in the sandy, well- drained soils and nearly level topography of the city's uplands, while prairie wetlands occupied low swales and depressions. Immediately after the glaciers melted, spruce trees and tundra plants developed around the margins of the glaciers, followed by pine barrens and forests with a bracken fern understory. As the climate of the region warmed about 9,000 years ago, pines began to decline, and prairie herbs increased, along with elm and oak forests. The climate continued to warm until about 7,000 years ago, when midgrass prairie reached its maximum extent in Minnesota, and covered most of the Twin Cities region, including Roseville. Prairie, oak woodlands and brushlands, and oak forests dominated the Region until about 3,500 years ago, when the climate became cooler and moister. Oaks, with their resilience and hardiness became the first tree species to pioneer back into the prairie. They gradually became more common and formed savannas and woodlands that were interspersed with tallgrass and wet prairies. About 300 years ago, the climate became dramatically more moist and cool, and forests of elm, sugar maple, and basswood developed in eastern Minnesota. With prairies, wetlands, and oak savannas present, the major patterns of vegetation in the north Roseville area at the time of European settlement were then in place. Native Americans. Ideas about the history of Native Americans and their influence on the local landscape are still evolving. Native Americans have probably inhabited and hunted in the area for more than 10,000 years. While their impacts were not as great as those of European settlers, Native Americans used a wide variety of plants and animals for food, and altered vegetation patterns for cultivation and by setting fire to broad expanses of landscape. The Native Americans (and European fur traders) used fire to hunt game, create desired game habitat, to clear the landscape for travel, communication and defense, and to obtain firewood. While some fires in the region occurred naturally, fires set by Native Americans occurred far more frequently. Historic records indicate that portions of the upper Midwest may have been burned annually. Prairies and savannas communities that were common to Roseville are fire- dependent and the human use of fire played a critical role in sustaining this landscape. City of Roseville 10 Parks Natural Resource Management