Date: 11/22/25 9:19 pm From: Steve Weston <sweston2g...> Subject: [mou-net] 180th Street Marsh
Here is the latest on what is happening in the vicinity of 180th Street Marsh (aka Marshall's Marsh), the most visited birding location in Dakota County.
A few hundred yards up the hill to the southwest of the marsh is a small aggregate (gravel) pit that is planning to expand. The company that owns the pit has bought the two houses to the north with plans to tear them down and mine the land. These houses are the first two houses on the east side of Fischer Avenue south of 180th Street.
The neighbors are fighting to keep the pit from expanding. Besides being one of the premier birding locations in the region, the marsh ranks as one of the highest quality wetlands in Dakota County. Also, the Hastings school district has bought land on this wetland as an outdoor science laboratory. Is mining a compatible land use with a sensitive, protected wetland habitat that is a host to educational activities just a couple of hundred yards above the marsh? The township board will be meeting this Monday (Nov 24) at 6:30 at 118 Park Avenue South in Vermillion to consider whether there are enough environmental issues to warrant requiring an environmental assessment worksheet (EAW). The second item on the agenda of this special meeting (called with only 3 days notice) is whether to grant the permit for the expansion.
Locals assume that because they have included both items on the agenda that the issue has already been decided and an EAW will not be required. I have heard from contacts I have at Dakota County that they have decided that it is in the hands of the township board to decide what action to take. I have also heard that the DNR and the local watershed people are not inclined to be involved.
I have written a letter to the Township Board requesting a copy of the EAW as a representative of the Minnesota River Valley Audubon Chapter (MRVAC). MRVAC has led field trips to the area with stops at the marsh. We have also invested in the Hastings school district's establishment of the site as a dedicated destination for the study of grassland and marsh habitats.
I will be at the meeting on Monday to address our concerns and I welcome anyone who is concerned about the future of the 180th Street Marsh to join me.
Steve Weston On Quigley Lake in Eagan, MN <sweston2g...>
