Targeted RIM Easement Program to the Individual Parcel: Pine and Leech Watersheds Phase 1
The Crow Wing Soil and Water Conservation District partnered with Cass SWCD, Hubbard SWCD, and the Board of Water and Soil Resources to permanently protect 239.6 acres of upland forest land, wetlands, and shorelines to develop larger habitat blocks. We worked with seven landowners in total to complete seven RIM easements - acres by county Cass: 117 acres, Crow Wing 34 acres, and Hubbard 87 acres. Partners met regularly; the regional committee completed the final application recommendations to move forward into the RIM easement process. SWCD staff worked with the landowners to complete the easements.
We partnered with the BWSR RIM Easement Program, Hubbard, Crow Wing, and Cass Counties, and Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD) to complete the RIM Conservation Easements. This project utilized sophisticated RAQ scoring, integrative parcel selection, proven outreach tactics, SWCD landowner relationships, and the BWSR and SWCD RIM partnership.
The SWCD's utilized the RAQ score for individual private, forested parcels in the following manner:
R: Riparian is whether the parcel is next to a priority water resource (1-3 points)
A: Adjacency is whether it is next to existing state, county, or federal land (1-3 points)
Q: Quality is the locally determined value of the land (1-3 Points), which can include many criteria, such as trout/cisco lakes, wild rice, old-growth forests, MN DNR phosphorus sensitivity, rare species, biodiversity, groundwater recharge, and sensitive areas.
Our GIS specialist provided 62,000 RAQ scores for all private parcels, RAQ score maps, databases, landowner outreach tables, percent of protected land, rare and unique species, species of concern, cisco and wild rice lake information, and easement acre goal for each subwatershed. This data targets RIM easements to the parcel level, allowing us to hand-select the best parcels for habitat value and prevent future fragmentation in the entire watershed. The local government units utilized LSPs to complete the following items:
Step 1: Filtered the outreach database to find parcel RAQ scores 7-9 within a prioritized HUC 10 subwatershed adjacent to selected high-quality lakes.
Step 2: Reviewed selected parcels and scores.
Step 2: Developed individual maps for each landowner showing the specific easement boundary and its price.
Step 3: SWCD staff mailed information on the RIM easement program and map to selected landowners. The mailings were completed on the following dates: June and May 2021 (33 landowners), January (22 landowners), March (41 landowners), April (13 landowners), December 2022 (26 landowners), and January and February (30 landowners) 2023.
Step 5: Hosted a landowner meeting and invited partnering state agencies and landowners to attend the event. Presented to the Pine River Watershed Alliance on June 15, 2021 (30 people in attendance) and participated in a radio interview on KAXE on August 17, 2021.
Step 4: Ranked and scored RIM applications with an internal scoring sheet. (Utilized the score sheet in the application).
Step 5: Hosted an interagency committee meeting to review all applications and met on 06.28.22, 12.31.22, 03.06.23, 02.27.24,06.25.24 with the partners to rank applications and discuss updates to existing easements.
Step 6: Began the RIM easement application process with BWSR. Six landowners canceled their RIM applications for 686 acres throughout this grant period. Landowners dropped out for various reasons. We had one large landowner drop out in 2023. His easement was going to be more than 344 acres.
Step 7: Completed the 55-step RIM Easement Process. Worked with BWSR, landowners, and title company to complete the 55-step process.
Step 8: Completed semi-annual reporting with BWSR and the LSOHC staff.
$2,458,000 the second year is to the Board of Water and Soil Resources to acquire and restore permanent conservation easements of high-quality forest, wetland, and shoreline habitat. Of this amount, $164,000 is for an agreement with the Crow Wing County Soil and Water Conservation District. Up to $97,000 of the total amount is for establishing a monitoring and enforcement fund as approved in the accomplishment plan and subject to Minnesota Statutes, section 97A.056, subdivision 17. A list of proposed acquisitions must be included as part of the required accomplishment plan.
The MN DNR rare species guide indicated the Leech and Pine River Watersheds contain more than 108 rare species of fish, invertebrates, plants, reptiles, and mammals. These species depend on the fringe wetlands, forested corridors, high quality lakes, and shoreland vegetative habitat. The focus area for the grant includes the habitats where long threatened or endangered species live. The grant application targeted long-eared bats, blanding turtles, wild rice, and golden wing warblers. 239.6 acres of habitat was protected.
BWSR Clean Water Funds