Please see the "Contributions" page for an exciting update.

In the early 1990s a one-acre forest in Hopkins, Minnesota was saved from townhouse development when a small number of homeowners agreed to pay for this passive area over a 15-year period.

The group was named the Oaks Folks by Peg Meier of the Star Tribune newspaper of Minneapolis.

Oaks Folks, in front of an old-growth tree:

Front row, seated:
Malora Carlson, Joey Carlson, both deceased. See the Recycling Page for information on their support of the project.

Back row:
Vernon Isaak, Patricia Isaak, Irene Ibsen, Jack Glasgow

Members not pictured: Ken Ibsen, Carrie Kennedy

Officers at time of organization in 1992:
Larry McNeff, Joey Carlson, Lisa Benson, Norma Glasgow

Association member Betty Carroll died in March, 2005

The Oaks Folks, with your help, are raising the awareness of the importance of saving green spaces and setting an example of what can be done by a small, grassroots group, supported by hundreds of people.

About the Oaks Folks: all volunteer; time, money and many resources are donated; no phone solicitations, no mass mailings; mailing list has not been shared. Every dollar contributed to the campaign through late August 2003 went into the payment fund.