Caitlin: We love having groups like GSM out for a visit. Let’s plan something! With the size of group you’re talking about, I think we’d want two naturalists so that everyone is able to see, hear and ask questions. I like the idea of starting all together with a brief overview of the reserve, and then breaking up into two groups for tours. With 2-3 hours, we could tour two separate parts of the property. Personally, I would suggest our major experimental area (long-term projects on prairie and forest biodiversity, climate change, nutrient addition, etc.) and a hike to Cedar Bog Lake with more of a focus on natural and scientific history. That combo is a nice mix of the things that make Cedar Creek special and don’t involve TOO much driving around 🙂 Folks would be welcome to stick around after the program and take themselves on a self-guided hike to our volunteer-staffed bison / oak savanna gazebo if they wanted more Cedar Creek time and the program was taking place between May and October!

[DEW] What you describe sounds very good to me. Members of our group do tend to ask many questions. Would you expect that participants will car caravan on your property, following the leaders?

Caitlin: Transportation – yes, we’d need to caravan out to the experimental areas (about 5 mins drive on a mix of pavement and maintained gravel roads) in personal vehicles. The hike leaves on foot from our main parking area. The bison / oak savanna area would be a larger jaunt – about 10 mins of driving, plus a self-guided hike of ~2 miles round trip on dirt and sand trails for those interested.

Caitlin: Our current fee for a custom tour of this type, group size and duration is $350. That covers staff time, room set-up, and access to areas of the property normally off-limits to non-researchers. Do your tour participants usually contribute to these types of fees? If not, and this is out of your budget, please let me know – we can certainly subsidize some or all of the cost so that you’re able to come out. I know that groups like yours often have minimal budgets!

[DEW] A fee of $350 sounds reasonable to me. That would be an individual fee of $10 to $15, depending on our group size, which we would collect from the participants. Getting access to areas normally off-limit to the public also sounds interesting. If members wish to bring kids or grandkids, do you have a minimum recommended age?

Caitlin: Age limits – it’s really up to you. We’ll be walking and talking rather than doing hands-on kid-centric activities, so I would recommend folks leave their elementary-school-aged kids at home. I just think they might get bored in an adult-focused program, and some of the areas that we will be going are not particularly easy to leave from without a guide, should a kiddo have a melt-down. It really depends on the kid though, their interest in and engagement with science, etc. So long as you communicate the overall ‘feel’ of the visit (outdoors at an active science field station rather than in a museum or nature center-type facility, adult-focused walking and talking, science Q+A, limited hands-on activity options, etc.) I don’t mind if folks make their own decisions about who to bring.

Caitlin: The next thing to do would be to pick a date. I’m a bit short-staffed right now, as we’re in the process of recruiting and hiring a replacement for my former role of Education Coordinator (I’m currently doing both that job and my new one as Associate Director). We likely would need to look into either early July, or late August / September to find a weekend that’s open, has staff available, and isn’t in the super buggy time of year! 🙂 Let me know what you’re thinking about and we’ll see what we can make happen!

[DEW] I was hoping for something late spring, but I understand if that is not possible due to staffing issues. As July and August tend to be hot (and I personally will be travelling much of those months), perhaps we should plan for September. Does a Saturday at perhaps 10 AM sound like a good day/time? Afternoon should also be OK. If the weather would turn out to be nasty on the day we select, hopefully we could reschedule.

 Caitlin: I’m really sorry that we can’t make a late spring tour work! May and early June are a nice time for tours, but this year is a serious challenge with staffing as we work to fill and onboard someone into my old ed coordinator role. We are also losing our AmeriCorps member (a fabulous tour guide!) partway through May when she leaves to start a position with the DNR. Given the 1500+ K-12 students slated to visit in May and early June on field trips and other weekend events already scheduled, I just don’t feel like I can tap any other staff members to add this in the short term. Thanks for understanding! September is certainly an option though – would Saturday the 10th from 10am – 1pm work for you? Our bison gazebo will be open and staffed with volunteers until 4pm, so there would be opportunities for self-guided extensions if desired as well.

Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, which is a facility of the U of MN located at 2660 Fawn Lake Drive NE East Bethel, MN (about 45 minutes north of the Cities).