Sauk River Watershed Habitat Protection & Restoration, Phase 4
This program permanently protects, restores, and enhances critical habitat within the Sauk River Watershed, which has experienced considerable habitat loss and is at high risk for more land use conversion. Using conservation easements and fee land acquisition, we will protect approximately 500 acres of high priority habitat in Minnesota's Prairie and Forest-Prairie Transition Area. We will restore/enhance approximately 74 acres of wetlands and accompanying uplands, creating vital habitat for waterfowl and populations of Species in Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN). Properties selected will be strategically targeted using innovative site prioritization model that maximizes conservation benefit and financial leverage.
Sauk River Watershed District (SRWD), Minnesota Land Trust (MLT), and Pheasants Forever (PF) - with technical assistance from local Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD), Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) - will partner to implement habitat protection and restoration within the Sauk River Watershed (SRW). Site prioritization will focus on protecting and restoring habitat in key, high-impact locations, such as existing high quality or easily restorable wetland complexes, upland forests, floodplain forests, and prairies. Prioritized sites will be protected to preserve and enhance critical habitat for waterfowl, upland birds, and other important wildlife species.
The SRW is in a rapidly growing region that has also experienced some of the most intense conversion in Minnesota from perennial cover to cropland in the past decade. Furthermore, public access for recreation, including hunting and fishing, is lacking. Landowner interest in conservation land protection and restoration is strong in the SRW. Since July 2019, the Partnership has protected 373 acres through fee title acquisition, 464 acres through conservation easements, and has restored 65 acres, while leveraging $1,319,340 through landowner donation of easement value and non-state funding sources. As of May 2021, landowners owning approximately 1,600 acres are interested in permanently protecting their properties. Protecting and restoring these strategic parcels will far exceed funding available through the Partnership's previous OHF grants. We anticipate significantly more interested and qualified properties for this program as outreach efforts grow.
Conservation Easements:
MLT, with assistance from SWCD partners, will conduct outreach to landowners within priority areas. Interested landowners will submit proposals to MLT using a competitive, market-based Request for Proposal (RFP) process. Properties will be ranked based on ecological value and cost, prioritizing projects that provide the best ecological value and acquiring them at the lowest cost to the state. Approximately 301 acres of permanent conservation easements will be procured through this proposal, with restoration and habitat management plans developed for eased acres.
Fee Acquisition:
PF will coordinate with agency partners on all potential fee simple acquisitions. PF will work with willing sellers to protect 199 acres of strategically identified parcels within the SRW and then donate the parcels to the MN DNR as a Wildlife or Aquatic Management Area or to USFWS as a Waterfowl Production Area. Protected tracts will be managed as wildlife habitat and provide public access in perpetuity within an area of our state where public land for recreational use is lacking.
Restoration and Enhancement:
SRWD will restore/enhance approximately 74 acres of wetland, riparian and associated upland habitat in cooperation with county SWCDs, MLT, USFWS, and TNC. Most of the restoration work will occur on conservation easements in Douglas County. The restorations will focus on building a wetland complex in an area that had historically been known as Crooked Hanford Lake, but was drained by the addition of a public drainage system. The habitat benefits will include general wildlife, fish, and amphibian habitat improvements.
$4,091,000 the second year is to the commissioner of natural resources for agreements to acquire lands in fee and permanent conservation easements and restore and enhance wildlife habitat in the Sauk River watershed as follows: $1,601,000 to Sauk River Watershed District; $1,245,000 to Pheasants Forever; and $1,245,000 to Minnesota Land Trust. Up to $192,000 to Minnesota Land Trust is to establish a monitoring and enforcement fund as approved in the accomplishment plan and subject to Minnesota Statutes, section 97A.056, subdivision 17. A list of acquisitions must be provided as part of the required accomplishment plan.
Protected, restored, and enhanced nesting and migratory habitat for waterfowl, upland birds, and species of greatest conservation need - Large corridors and complexes of biologically diverse wildlife habitat, providing nesting and migratory habitat for waterfowl, upland birds, and SGCN will be restored and protected. Partners will work together to identify priority lands using existing data and public plans, and then coordinate protection, restoration, and enhancement activities in those priority areas. Success within each priority area will be determined based on the percentage of area protected, restored, and/or enhanced.
Restored and enhanced upland habitats - Large corridors and complexes of biologically diverse wildlife habitat, providing nesting and migratory habitat for waterfowl, upland birds, and Species in Greatest Conservation Need will be restored and protected. Partners will work together to identify priority lands using existing data and public plans, then coordinate protection, restoration, and enhancement activities in those priority areas. Success within each priority area will be determined based on the percentage of area protected, restored and/or enhanced
Landowner Donation, Midwest Glacial Lakes Partnership Grant, NA, PF, Federal and Private