Fisheries Habitat Protection on Strategic North Central Minnesota Lakes: Phase II

A recent survey of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported 32 percent of Minnesotans participated in sport fishing, contributing $2.4 billion to the state economy in 2011. Sport fishing is a powerful economic engine in Minnesota and important to its residents' quality of life. Sustaining a strong angling heritage revolves largely around protecting fisheries habitat necessary for healthy sport fish populations in the near- and long-term future with resurging shoreland development pressures and looming climate changes. This project focused on fisheries habitat protection on lakes that have the best biological integrity for a sustained sport fishery in light of these changes. These lakes are known collectively as "tullibee refuge lakes."

Tullibee (aka cisco) is the preferred forage fish for walleye, northern pike, muskellunge, and lake trout. They require cold, well-oxygenated waters - a condition most common in lakes with deep water and healthy watersheds. Tullibee populations are the "canary in the coalmine" for three significant collective threats to Minnesota's sport fishery: shoreline development, watershed health, and climate warming. Deep, cold water tullibee lakes with high quality, well-oxygenated waters and natural, undisturbed land cover along the shorelines and within their watersheds will have the best chance to sustain tullibee populations in the face of these threats and will serve as a "refuge" for the tullibee if annual temperatures increase.

Minnesota DNR Fisheries researchers studied tullibee lakes and designated 68 lakes in Minnesota as the primary "refuge lakes" for tullibee that need protection. Thirty-eight (38) of these refuge lakes - 58 percent - are located in Hubbard, Crow Wing, Cass, and Aitkin counties. Many are also Minnesota's premier recreation lakes.

Scope of Project:

Minnesota DNR Fisheries research recommends that 75% of a lake's watershed be in permanent protection to ensure sustained water quality. Tullibee refuge lakes near this threshold were the highest priority for protection. In addition, the DNR's Sensitive Shoreland data were used to help identify priority lakes where conservation investments could be maximized. Landowner recruitment was focus on parcels in close proximity to protected land and which also had a high potential to expand upland and aquatic habitat complexes. Landowner applications were evaluated based on criteria established by the project's technical team. To ensure the best conservation return on the state's investment, landowner willingness to donate a portion of the easement value was a key component of the parcel evaluation. Best available data (state and county) was used to prioritize projects and maximize outcomes. The 2013 Minnesota DNR Fish Habitat Plan provided strategic guidance.

Per the Fish Habitat Plan, nearshore fish habitat in lakes is largely affected by shoreline disturbance and the water quality habitat is determined by the water's oxygen level and nutrient content. Lakeshore development decreases a lake's ability to function as a healthy ecosystem for sport fish and their forage, not only by allowing increased runoff, but also through physical fish habitat alteration by lakeshore owners.

Fisheries research has shown that healthy watersheds with intact forests are fundamental to good fish habitat. If 75% or more of its watershed remains forested and permanently protected, a lake has a high probability of sustaining a healthy lake ecosystem. The 38 tullibee refuge lakes in North Central Minnesota all have less than 25% land disturbance in their watersheds and already have some degree of watershed protection.

While fisheries habitat protection was the primary focus of this project, creating strategic conservation complexes was an added benefit of permanent protection of forested, non-riparian lands within a tullibee refuge lake's watershed. A conservation easement or fee title acquisition added adjacent to other protected land will increase the overall conservation impact by creating larger permanently protected complexes of diverse habitat that benefit many species.

Fee acquisition and conservation easements were used to achieve permanent conservation of fisheries habitat on strategic parcels primarily in the watersheds of the 38 tullibee refuge lakes in Hubbard, Cass, Crow Wing, and Aitkin counties. Protection was targeted to shoreland parcels and key private forested parcels within these lake watersheds.

NWLT's role in the program was focused on targeted landowner recruitment, facilitating the technical team, grant administration, and acquisition of fee projects. MLT provided technical support and worked with landowners to secure conservation easements.

Five properties were protected through this grant - one in fee (via NWLT) and four through conservation easements (via MLT). The five completed projects listed below are:

NWLT: Woman Lake Aquatic Management Area, Tract 11 - Cass County. The 28.9 acre Lockman Family property was purchased by NWLT and conveyed to the State of Minnesota as part of the Woman Lake Aquatic Management Area. Woman Lake is within the Girl Lake watershed, which is categorized as a cold water tullibee refuge lake. The property has wetlands and sensitive lakeshore with diverse aquatic plants, birds, and other species.

MLT: Sucker Brook (Roerick Trust) - Hubbard County. This 76-acre conservation easement is dominated by white cedar swamp and lies adjacent to the 321-acre Lester Lake SNA, Lester Lake AMA and the 100,000+ acre Paul Bunyan State Forest. The centerpiece of the property is the nearly one-mile riparian corridor of Sucker Brook, an important tributary to Kabekona Lake, a designated Tullibee Refuge Lake.

MLT: Kabakona River (Hunke) - Hubbard County. The conservation easement protects >7,000 feet of the shoreline along the Kabekona River, a state-designated trout stream, and jack pine woodland communities on the uplands. The river is an important cold-water tributary to Kabekona Lake, an Outstanding Water Resource and a designated Tullibee Refuge Lake.

MLT: Eleventh Crow Wing Lake (Olander) - Hubbard. County. This 400-acre property is part of a large landscape of protected natural lands, lying adjacent to the Paul Bunyan State Forest. The property's rolling terrain supports mixed hardwood-conifer forest, restored grasslands, wetlands, and ponds. Six SGCN have been observed here.

MLT: Thunder Lake (Steiner) - Cass County. The 49-acre conservation easement contains over one-half mile of shoreline on Thunder Lake, a designated Tullibee Refuge Lake, Lake of Outstanding Biological Significance, and a wild rice lake.