CLINTON, Minn. (AP) -- Citizens are organizing to try to block a proposed quarry on the western edge of Minnesota, fearing it will spoil a scenic landscape of rock outcroppings and prairie.
Strata Corporation of Grand Forks, N.D., wants to develop a 104-acre quarry adjacent to the Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge between Ortonville and Odessa. The West Central Tribune of Willmar reports the quarry would be part of a 478-acre property that hosts nine species of rare and endangered plants, including ball cacti found nowhere else in Minnesota.
Project manager Bill LaFond says Strata is committed to limiting the environmental damage as much as possible and to reducing the impact on the rare plants and a neighboring farm. But he says the construction industry needs the crushed rock the quarry will provide.
