Welcome to the Elizabeth Fries Ellet Interpretive Trail web site.
We are currently fund raising for the web site rebuild. Watch for new updates.

New Email as of 8-13-08 writersrisingup@yahoo.com
We're moving to Chanhassen, MN.
You can still snail mail us at:
16526 West 78th St #163
Eden Prairie, MN 55346

MEET SOME LOCAL CRITTERS
Minnesota Zoomobile at the EFEIT
Saturday, June 21, 2008 10 to 11AM

Write a slithery, slimey, buggy poem and bring it that day...
See the Buggy Poem writable version page with vocab, then create your own poem....
Go to events blog for more information at: http://efeitbirdersblog.blogspot.com/

Come on over and meet the neighbors and learn about the neighborhoods
(2008 Trail information and events)

Grand Opening Dedication Poster August 2, 2007

Thanks to the many city representatives for their support ....

Our appreciation to the city of Eden Prairie, City Manager Scott Neal, former Eden Prairie Parks and Recreation Director Bob Lambert, former Mayor Nancy Tryra Lukens, former council member Ron Case, Stu Fox, Doug Ernst, the Eden Prairie Parks & Recreation Staff and Kathie Case representing the Eden Prairie Historical Society for their support.

Thanks to the many artisans who contributed their talents to the trail project....

Todd Nordquist, Photographer, Sean Jergens, Landscape Architect, Peter, Elizabeth and Doug of Kestrel Design Group, Yago Meyers, Ojibwa Herbalist, Shirley Mah Kooyman, botanist and Educational Coordinator for the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Shelley Getten, artist...


The Elizabeth Fries Ellet Interpretive Trail is supported by the Eden Prairie Parks and Recreation Department and approved by the Eden Prairie Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission on December 1, 2003. On December 16, 2003 the Eden Prairie City Council approved the Elizabeth Fries Ellet Interpretive Trail to be installed at the Richard T. Anderson Conservation Area in Eden Prairie, MN. The Eden Prairie School Board gave their approval to the project in 2005. This was a private project to collect private funds for Interpretive Signage in city parkland. The signs were installed in July of 2007 with a grand opening ceremony August 2 2007.


The Trail in the News

Ellet Interpretive Trail Officially Open, Leah Shaffer, Aug 9, 2007 - Eden Prairie News

Elizabeth Fries Ellet Interpretive Trail is signed, dedicated, Lyn Jerde, Eden Prairie Sun-Current - Thursday, Aug. 9, 2007 -
www.mnSun.com

Signs help explain ecosystem, history -Star Tribune, July 17, 2007

Eden Prairie News: Signs now are planted along trail, by Stuart Sudak -July 19, 2007



Interpretive Trail to Help Visitors Understand the Treasures of Local Wild Lands
as seen in Sierra Club's North Star Journal May-June-July issue.


The City of Eden Prairie, Minnesota owes its name to Elizabeth Fries Ellet, the East Coast writer who visited the area in 1852. In her travelogue book, Summer Rambles in the West, Ellet described the Minnesota River Valley which adjoins the current day City of Eden Prairie, as the garden spot of the territory.

The celebrated valley of the Minnesota River--called St. Pierre by the French, and until recently, St. Peter's—extends in a general direction from west to east, and, with the country along its tributaries, forms the garden spot of the territory.

(Ellet, Summer Rambles in the West, 1853, p. 112)


E.F. Ellet
Library of Congress

Ramblings from the Trail Column as seen in the Eden Prairie News Quarterly

The making of the Elizabeth Fries Ellet Interpretive Trail

New Trail Guide July 2007

Link to city of Eden Prairie's map of RTA location

EFE Trail Map

EFE Aerial Photo Map

RTACA Insect List

RTACA Plant List

RTACA Bird List

History, Art, Photographs, Articles, Letters, Botanical, Animal and Insect Credits

Business, Community and Web Rebuild Sponsors

Sign Sponsors
Minnesota River Entry Interpretive Signage sponsored by the Eden Prairie Lions Club
Settler's Ridge Entry Interpretive Signage sponsored by the Eden Prairie Lions Club
Sedge Meadow Interpretive Signage sponsored by the Eden Prairie Lions Club
Big Woods Interpretive Signage sponsored by the Metropolitan Airports Commission
Prairie Interpretive Signage sponsored by the Metropolitan Airports Commission
Bottomland Forest Interpretive Signage sponsored by the Clark Family of Eden Prairie
Oak Savanna Interpretive Signage sponsored by the Eden Prairie Foundation

Sign sponsors will be included in the Trail Guide which will be available online at www.efeinterpretivetrail.org, at the Eden Prairie City Center, at sponsoring businesses and online at this site.


Artisans of the Trail:

More about the photographer who took the species pictures for EFEIT signs, Allen Blake Sheldon.

Shelley Getten, bird artist for EFEIT posters and trail guide

The EFEIT Signage Project: collaboration of interpretation and design-


Archived Events


TRAIL SPONSOR
WRITERS RISING UP TO DEFEND PLACE, NATURAL HABITAT, WETLANDS

The Elizabeth Fries Ellet Interpretive Trail project is sponsored by Writers Rising Up to Defend Place, Natural Habitat, Wetlands, an Eden Prairie based 501(c) (3) non-profit raising funds for interpretive signage and programs on a public trail in city parkland. Donations are tax deductible. Annual program donations can be sent to the address below.

Make checks out to:
Writers Rising Up
Mail to:
Elizabeth Fries Ellet Interpretive Trail
16526 W. 78th Street #163
Eden Prairie, MN 55346

Contact:

writersrisingup@yahoo.com

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