Camp Ripley Sentinel Landscape ACUB Protection Program - Phase 12
Phase 12 of the Camp Ripley Sentinel Landscape ACUB Partnership will utilize permanent conservation easements (BWSR RIM) to acquire 790-acres of high quality habitat in order to accomplish: PERMANENT PROTECTION of habitat corridors and buffers around public lands, PRESERVE open space within the CRSL, and conservation enhancement and restoration PRACTICES to protect soil and water quality and habitat corridor connectivity. This effort will be in coordination with the CRSL partnership and the Morrison SWCD to secure habitat corridor easements that will action the goals of the State Wildlife Action Plan, local Landscape Stewardship Plan and the CRSL Strategic Plan.
The CRSL Army Compatible Use Buffer (ACUB) program has over 350 interested landowners on a waiting list for participation. To date OHF support of almost $15M has leveraged over $42.5M in federal dollars to protect over 40,000 acres. Phase 12 will permanently protect approximately 790-acres and fund restoration and enhancement activities that will benefit fish, game, migratory bird, and forest habitat around in an area that is ripe for second tier lakeshore development, just north of Lake Shamineau. This work also supports protection goals of the Long Prairie River One Watershed One Plan. This phase will secure approximately 11 permanent conservation Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) easements, utilizing partnerships with Camp Ripley, a State Game Refuge, the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) and the Morrison Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD). Easement acquisition, habitat enhancement and restoration will occur in Morrison County.
Easement acquisition in this area will protect forest habitat corridors and seven natural environment public water lakes that have not been developed. These habitat corridors and complexes are critical protection priorities for the State of Minnesota, MN National Guard (MNNG) and National Guard Bureau (NGB) and its mission to sustain military training of soldiers, our local economy, the National Mississippi River Flyway, and Mississippi Headwaters Board mission.
Parcels were prioritized and targeted for high quality existing habitat, to protect corridors and large habitat complexes and to ensure reduced future fragmentation. Evaluation criteria include ecological and habitat factors for resident and migratory wildlife species. The target area has been limited to ensure a concentration of easement acquisitions that provide landscape scale benefits and will allow for protection of large forested parcels that are an imminent threat of conversion as they would be considered second tier lakeshore development around Lake Shamineau and prime for plats around the existing seven natural environment public water lakes.
In addition, the forested region of Morrison County is where agriculture transitions to existing forested lands. Thousands of acres within and around this work area are being converted from forest to annual cropping, primarily for potato/corn production. Forests not only provide critical wildlife habitat for game and non-game species, but forests lessen the impact of water quality contamination from land use practices and sequester carbon. This region of the state, most specifically Morrison County, is the fastest growing county in the state for the loss of grazing land to annual cropping. The loss of forests would exacerbate problems associated with conversion. Drinking water standards in the area are also in jeopardy with the increase in irrigation and large scale livestock operations, so protecting the forested lands has become a local and agency priority.
In 2016, Camp Ripley was designated as a federal Sentinel Landscape one of eleven in the nation. This designation by both State (2015) and Federal entities coordinates strategies to protect this landscape. Many agencies have identified their scope of priorities within the CRSL10-mile boundary.
$2,068,000 the second year is to the Board of Water and Soil Resources, in cooperation with the Morrison County Soil and Water Conservation District, to acquire permanent conservation easements and restore and enhance forest wildlife habitat within the boundaries of the Minnesota National Guard Camp Ripley Sentinel Landscape and Army Compatible Use Buffer. Up to $110,000 to the Board of Water and Soil Resources is to establish a monitoring and enforcement fund as approved in the accomplishment plan and subject to Minnesota Statutes, section 97A.056, subdivision 17. Subdivision 8, paragraph (b), does not apply to this project. A list of permanent conservation easements must be provided as part of the final report.
Forestlands are protected from development and fragmentation - A summary of the total acres of associated forest land secured under easement through this appropriation will be reported. On-site inspections are performed every three years and compliance checks are performed in the other two years to ensure maintained outcomes. Sustained habitat availability within a certain region is expected to maintain the carrying capacity of associated wildlife within that region. This would affect both game and non-game species. We expect sustained populations of endangered, threatened, special concern and game species as these easements are secured.
Rivers and streams provide corridors of habitat including intact areas of forest cover in the east and large wetland/upland complexes in the west - A summary of the total acres of forest land secured under easement through this appropriation will be reported. On-site inspections are performed every three years and compliance checks are performed in the other two years to ensure maintained outcomes. Sustained habitat availability within a certain region is expected to maintain the carrying capacity of associated wildlife within that region. This would affect both game and non-game species. We expect sustained populations of endangered, threatened, special concern and game species as these easements are secured
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