Whitewater Wildlife Management Area (WMA) Beaver Cemetery and County Rd 30 20220206

February 6th, 2022. Stop 2 on my land tour of the Whitewater Wildlife Management Area (WMA) was the Beaver Cemetery. We turned off of Hwy 74 east on to County 30. Just past 116, there is a parking area with a path. We followed the path which went over a drainage area, along a pond and then up a small hill to a field. Turns out this was not the entrance to Beaver Cemetery. We still enjoyed our walk, looking at the dried plants and walking out on the ice of the pond.

We drove just a short way to the east and found the entrance to the cemetery. It was marked clearly with a sign. Before hiking up to the cemetery we checked out Beaver Creek. Just to the east of the cemetery entrance on the south side of the road there was another parking area and path the led to a dike with a culvert through it that dammed a flow going into Beaver Creek. The water was mostly open given the current. Beaver Creek had very little ice coverage and I spotted and heard a duck in the distance, a Mallard I believe. We explored for a bit and then headed back to the cemetery.

The rest of my family was cold and decided to wait in the vehicle for me while I explored the cemetery. The path was blocked for vehicle traffic so I hiked a short distance up a small hill. At the end of the path where the clearing for the graves opened up there were 2 signs with some information about the history and a list of people buried. The signs where covered in ice that I could not get off so I didn't get to read them.

A couple things immediately caught my eye. There was an unusual bunch of trees near the northwest corner and a wooden sign towards the center on the south side. As I approached the bunch of trees I could see that they were intentionally planted in a rectangular shape and had grown so close it was almost creating a structure. Some fallen headstones leaned against it. There was one headstone inside, there could have been more underneath the snow. I wandered around reading the headstones and checking out the perimeter making my way toward the wooden sign. Turns out the sign was marking the grave of Richard J. Dorer, a conservationist who dedicated many years of his life to restoring the Whitewater River Valley and is known for his work with wetlands and the Minnesota Memorial Hardwood Forest which is now named in his honor. He is the author of a book called "The Ghost Tree Speaks". His poem "Stewardship" is stamped on his memorial sign, it reads:

"YOUR CREATOR

HAS FILLED THE EARTH

WITH ALL THINGS NECESSARY

TO SUSTAIN YOU,

AND HAS FOUND THEM

TO BE GOOD.

WHILE YOU DWELL AMONG THE MORTALS

YOU MAY PARTAKE

THEREOF.

USE THEM JUDICIOUSLY.

GUARD THEM CLOSELY.

SQUANDER THEM NOT.