Southeast Minnesota Protection and Restoration - Phase V
The program protected 416 acres through fee-title acquisition and 441 acres in conservation easements for a total of 857 acres of protection. Program partners also completed 161 acres of habitat enhancement, including 31 acres that occurred on property protected through this award.
The program's four core activities were to acquire lands in fee, protect lands through conservation easement, restore, and enhance habitat.
To protect habitat, program partners worked collaboratively with DNR and Soil and Water Conservation District partners to identify priority parcels and contact landowners to discover and cultivate potential projects. Program partners also conducted direct outreach to landowners; for fee acquisition projects local real estate listings were monitored.
Habitat restoration and enhancement sites were identified and prioritized in partnership with private landowners (for conservation easements) and DNR land managers (for fee acquisitions), with whom we worked collaboratively to develop project specifications. Enhancement projects in this phase primarily focused on brush management of bluff prairies where invasive shrubs like buckthorn and honeysuckle threaten the success of recent restorations. Prescribed goat grazing was the main tactic used on these sites, where the steep slopes make mechanical treatment impossible and hand treatment difficult and costly. This work was carried out by local contractors who managed goat herds through a rotation of paddocks at each site throughout multiple growing seasons.
The Rush Creek fee acquisition parcel completed by TNC included several structures which required demolition to be transferred to MN DNR. TNC contracted with an environmental services company to inventory all potential hazardous materials in the buildings, and then hired a construction firm to demolish the buildings and properly dispose of all potentially hazardous waste. We were able to utilize dirt excavated from a small wetland scrape we completed on the parcel to fill the old foundation and basement areas.
$2,375,000 in the first year is to the commissioner of natural resources to acquire lands in fee for wildlife management purposes under Minnesota Statutes 86A.05, subdivision 8; to acquire land in fee for scientific and natural areas under Minnesota Statutes, sections 86A.05, subdivision 5; to acquire land in fee for state forest purposes under 86A.05, subdivision 7; to acquire permanent conservation easements; and to restore and enhance prairie, grasslands, forest, and savanna for agreements , as follows: $1,000,000 to The Nature Conservancy; $675,000 to The Trust for Public Land; $700,000 to Minnesota Land Trust, of which up to $80,000 is to Minnesota Land Trust for establishing a monitoring and enforcement fund, as approved in the accomplishment plan and subject to Minnesota Statutes, section 97A.056, subdivision 17. Annual income statements and balance sheets for income and expenses from land acquired in fee with this appropriation and not transferred to the State of Minnesota or local government unit must be submitted to the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council. A list of proposed land acquisitions must be provided as part of the required accomplishment plan.
All work in this project was focused around priority conservation areas within the Blufflands Ecological Subsection, which contains more Species in Greatest Conservation Need than any other subsection in Minnesota. Conservation opportunity areas were identified by TNC, MLT, TPL, MN DNR and others based on the MN Biological Survey (MBS), existing public land assets, and the potential to expand and connect habitat complexes. Projects protected and improved habitat conditions for rare plants and animals along with popular game species in the region, including whitetail deer, wild turkey and ruffed grouse. Most projects are situated along or near trout streams; protection and restoration were focused on maintaining and improving trout waters and fishing opportunities. Projects funded through this appropriation have impacted known 66 occurrences of 25 different plants, animals, or communities considered rare, threatened, endangered, or of special concern. These include plants such as goat's rue, snow trillium, and the State Endangered Carey's sedge; and animals such as timber rattlesnake, North American racer, rusty-patched bumble bee, and Leonard's skipper.
Private, RIM Critical Habitat Match and Private