Bounty in the Land of Yellow Medicine

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches

This small oil painting of a Field Sparrow is from the Upper Sioux Agency State Park near Granite Falls, Minnesota. I visited this park in 2021, but it is now permanently closed as of February 16, 2024. In a first-ever for the state of Minnesota, ownership of a state park has been transferred to a Native American community, specifically the Dakota people of the Upper Sioux.

Per the Minnesota DNR, “The Upper Sioux Community has a longstanding request to the State of Minnesota that the land at Upper Sioux Agency State Park (USASP) be returned to the Upper Sioux Community, given the extraordinary significance of this land to the tribal community. The land is the site of starvation and death of Dakota people during the summer of 1862, when the U.S. Government failed to provide food promised to the Dakota by treaty. Continuing to operate the land as a recreational use site is inconsistent with this profound history.” 

This particular sparrow was perched on a bur oak, by far the most widespread oak species in Minnesota. Large sunny areas can really make these trees shine in all of their hugeness. Bur oaks are crucial to wildlife, providing homes to birds, animals and a large number of invertebrates – and of course, a perch for a Field Sparrow.

My field notes (aka scribbles) from my visit to
Upper Sioux Agency State Park in my most treasured
and used book when birding in Minnesota,
"Birds of Minnesota State Parks" by Robert B. Janssen,
author and teacher who passed away last year,
known as a "pioneer of ornithology in Minnesota."

References

Associated Press. (3 Sept. 2023). Upper Sioux Agency State Park to be returned to Minnesota tribe. Kare11.com online. Retrieved from https://www.kare11.com/article/tech/science/environment/upper-sioux-agency-state-park-daktota-land-back-minnesota/89-476b7c0d-6f22-4244-8603-07569c51a5f6 

Hutton, R. (2023, Nov. 3). He wrote the book on Minnesota birding. Star Tribune, A1, A5.

Janssen, R. B. (2015). Birds of Minnesota State Parks. State of Minnesota, Department of Natural Resources. 

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. (2024, Feb.). Upper Sioux Agency State Park is permanently closed. https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/parkfinder/upper-sioux-agency-state-park-land-transfer.html

Smith, W. (2021, Sept.-Oct.). Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa). Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, 84(498), 96-97.