Dear Friends of the Eagan Core Greenway,

Last week, the Trust for Public Land, represented by its Minnesota Office Project Manager, Bob McGillivray, exercised its option and signed a purchase agreement with The Caponi Art Park & Learning Center, represented by Tony & Cheryl Caponi. The agreement is ultimately to benefit the City of Eagan, the citizens of Eagan, and the Eagan Core Greenway.

Founded in 1972, the Trust for Public Land (TPL) is the only national nonprofit working exclusively to protect land for human enjoyment and well-being. TPL helps local groups conserve land for recreation and to improve the health and quality of life of American communities.

For more than the past twelve months, TPL has worked in partnership with the City of Eagan, Dakota County's Farmland and Natural Areas Project, the State of Minnesota's DNR, and Friends of the Eagan Core Greenway to protect the Art Park. Additional financial support for this major preservation effort has been provided by private organizations such as Eagan-based Thomson-West.

Although the total purchase price of the Art Park has not yet been completely secured, the Trust for Public Land has assurances from the Art Park Board, represented by its current President, Thomson-West Vice President, Cary Felbab, that the outstanding funds will be obtained in 2005, thanks to the Art Park's forthcoming Capital Campaign.

This is the second successful preservation effort that Friends of the Eagan Core Greenway has participated in in the last nine months. In June of 2004, the City of Eagan was able to add 9 acres, known as the Anderson Parcel, to Patrick Eagan Park thanks to another successful funding partnership between TPL, the City of Eagan, Dakota County, the State of Minnesota, and Friends of the Eagan Core Greenway.

Following victories in securing the Anderson Parcel and the Caponi Art Park, Friends of the Eagan Core Greenway is now setting its sights on the third of three private parcels residing within the Eagan Core Greenway: the historic McCarthy Farm.

See www.EaganCoreGreenway.org (under "Recent News") for more information about these projects.

Background

Tony Caponi is a sculptor, endeavoring to complete a masterpiece. On the 60 acres he owns in Eagan are large pieces he created from stone and metal. He has also used the land - rolling hills, trees and hidden paths - as a medium and sculpted it into a work of art itself.

Caponi Art Park and Learning Center, at 1205 Diffley Road in Eagan, is open daily from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. May through September. For more information, call 651-454-9412 or visit www.CaponiArtPark.org.

---Jack Conrad

www.EaganCoreGreenway.org