Urban Roots Self-Guided Site Tour
Take a chance to explore East St Paul and see what Urban Roots has been up to! Use these modules and our site map to help you get around and appreciate the natural beauty of the neighborhoods that we work, live, and play in.
If you are interested in touring any of our sites with a staff member, email info@urbanrootsmn.org and a member of our staff will get back to you!
Take part in our Getting Outside on the East Side challenge:
Take a selfie while doing the listed activity at one of our sites and send it to info@urbanrootsmn.org for a chance to be featured in community outreach!
Rivoli Bluffs Farm and Restoration Site – 749 Arkwright St, St Paul
History: The area that would become Rivoli Bluffs was once a residential area in the Railroad Island community of Payne Phalen that transitioned into use as a dump site for the city’s street sweepers resulting from the I-35E construction in the 1970s. The interstate’s construction displaced many of the previous residents of the area following a protest movement to reroute . Rivoli Bluffs has been a restoration and farm site since has been under restoration since 2017 when our youth planted a garden there. Since then, a native medicine garden, a hoophouse, bees, and an orchard have been added in order to increase the educational value and biodiversity to the site.
Projects: Restoration of the bluff, orchard, hoop house, staircase, medicine garden, nature path, community garden, community space
Community Engagement: Urban Roots is constantly looking to improve the native vegetation growing at the site, as well as use innovative organic farming techniques to provide nutrient rich food through their garde program. Additionally through a partnership with Lower Phalen Creek Project a native medicine garden has been established as an urban foraging site for some herbs, flowers and plants used in traditional Native American practices.
Action Item: Forage for bee balm, other plants around the site, attend events/volunteer with UR to help restore the site!
Jessamine Pocket Park (Stonegarden on Jessamine) – 752 Jessamine Ave E, St Paul
History: The Stonegarden on Jessamine was part of the Payne Phalen Pocket Park network. Starting in 2013, community members began the process of turning the space into a space for the community to gather. Urban Roots took over the project in 2022, helping return the space to a community gathering site, adding many more types of fruit plants in order to create an urban food forest.
Projects: restoring the planting beds, planting bee lawn
Community Engagement: Create a plan to continue improvement of the park’s infrastructure, create public engagement surrounding the park
Action Item: Pick serviceberries, apples, or raspberries to eat or take home!
Harvest Park – 2561 N Barclay St, Maplewood
History: The Prairie at Harvest Park is a native seed collection farm and prairie demonstration site developed between UR and the city of Maplewood in 2018. Varieties of less common plants that we would like to see in other prairie sites around the east side are grown here in an effort to make a sustainable collection site for Urban Roots and the community.
Projects: Shaded planting demonstration, prairie plots, woody bush growing area
Community Engagement: Seed collection events, prairie planting and education opportunities
Action Item: Harvesting, cleaning, and planting seeds from the prairie demonstration sites with permission and instruction of Urban Roots staff.
Gateway Community Garden – 290 Arlington Ave E, St Paul
History: Gateway Community Garden has been a staple of community gardening space in East St Paul for well over a decade. Sitting on the gateway bike trail, Urban Roots has been tasked with making it the gem it has been in the past. This is the first year of Urban Roots’ involvement and we are excited to be involved in the redevelopment of the gardens.
Projects: Restoring the gardens and infrastructure,
Community Engagement: Outreach, education and followthrough for people engaged in the garden
Action Item: Pick up trash, engage with your social circle about community gardening, or take a food production class with UR!
Willowbrook Nature Sanctuary – 1200 Warner Rd, St Paul
History: Willowbrook has been a mainstay for Urban Roots’ conservation efforts, as we have planted hundreds of trees with a variety of updated growing techniques and protection methods. This site has hosted a fish hatchery and a construction dump site previously, and old building materials can be found throughout the vegetation surrounding the bike trail.
Projects: Supporting tree canopy growth and best practices regarding biome restoration.
Community Engagement: Letting people know about the site and the public access for the bike trail and nature paths.
Action Item: Check our growing areas and find the beaver lodge!
