HCP VI - Professional Services (4i)
Overall Project Outcome and Results
This project focused on paying professional services related to the conveyance of habitat corridor lands to the DNR by HCP partners. Parcels acquired from HCP partners will be placed in public ownership and administered as State Wildlife Management Areas.
Project goals were to pay professional services as parcels are conveyed to DNR by nonprofit HCP partners. During this appropriation only Pheasants Forever (PF) projects were conveyed to DNR.
This project resulted in professional services being paid on 15 different parcels as they were processed for conveyance to DNR by HCP Partners. Project funding by PF changed as time went by, with some projects not being acquired with Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENRTF) dollars at closing, and other unanticipated parcels changing to ENRTF dollars at closing. Some of these PF projects were closed last year, but continued to have residual professional services for closing the project out. Some projects have just started the acquisition process and will continue into the next phase of 4i: Habitat Acquisition - Professional Services. Consequently the range of dollars spent on projects varied greatly, but ranged from $20 to $3,700.
As a result of this project, DNR was able to pay for professional services and processing costs related to land acquisition transfers to the DNR from HCP partners. Costs include the following: staff time for Division of Lands and Minerals ($83/hour) and the Attorney General's Office ($110/hour), survey costs, recording and abstracting fees, and deed tax.
Project Results Use and Dissemination
Accomplishment Reports and press releases are available at www.mnhabitatcorridors.org. and all WMAs acquired with professional services funds will be added to DNR's Public Recreational Information Maps (PRIM).
$3,375,000 is from the trust fund to the commissioner of natural resources for the sixth appropriation for acceleration of agency programs and cooperative agreements. Of this appropriation, $770,000 is for the Department of Natural Resources agency programs and $2,605,000 is for agreements as follows: $450,000 with Pheasants Forever; $50,000 with Minnesota Deer Hunters Association; $895,000 with Ducks Unlimited, Inc.; $85,000 with National Wild Turkey Federation; $365,000 with the Nature Conservancy; $210,000 with Minnesota Land Trust; $350,000 with the Trust for Public Land; $100,000 with Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge Trust, Inc.; $50,000 with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service; and $50,000 with Friends of Detroit Lakes Watershed Management District to plan, restore, and acquire fragmented landscape corridors that connect areas of quality habitat to sustain fish, wildlife, and plants. The United States Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service is a cooperating partner in the appropriation. Expenditures are limited to the project corridor areas as defined in the work program. Land acquired with this appropriation must be sufficiently improved to meet at least minimum habitat and facility management standards as determined by the commissioner of natural resources. This appropriation may not be used for the purchase of residential structures, unless expressly approved in the work program. All conservation easements must be perpetual and have a natural resource management plan. Any land acquired in fee title by the commissioner of natural resources with money from this appropriation must be designated as an outdoor recreation unit under Minnesota Statutes, section 86A.07. The commissioner may similarly designate any lands acquired in less than fee title. A list of proposed restorations and fee title and easement acquisitions must be provided as part of the required work program. All funding for conservation easements must include a long-term stewardship plan and funding for monitoring and enforcing the agreement. To the maximum extent practical, consistent with contractual easement or fee acquisition obligations, the recipients shall utilize staff resources to identify future projects and shall maximize the implementation of biodiverse, quality restoration projects in the project proposal into the first half of the 2010 fiscal year.
Click on "Final Report" under "Project Details".
Click on "Final Report" under "Project Details".