Hennepin County Habitat Conservation Program - Phase 2
Hennepin County, in partnership with the Minnesota Land Trust, proposes to permanently protect through conservation easement 299 acres of the most important natural areas remaining in the county, and restore and enhance 84 acres of protected habitat including forest, savanna, prairie, wetlands, shallow lakes, shoreline, bluffs, and riparian areas.
Intense development pressure is a persistent threat to remaining habitat in Hennepin County. This grant will enable this partnership to continue implementation of the conservation easement and restoration actions initiated through the Outdoor Heritage Fund in 2018 and accommodate high landowner interest generated through targeted outreach.
The Twin Cities metro area is rapidly losing ecologically significant and floristically diverse habitat as land development pressure increases; resulting in immediate consequences for the Species in Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) which rely on critical habitats in Hennepin County.
Hennepin County in partnership with its cities used extensive field work and the Minnesota Land Classification System Methodology to inventory every acre of land in the county and document the quality of natural communities. This assessment resulted in the identification of ecologically significant areas and natural resource corridors that connect areas of significant habitat across the county. In total, ecologically significant areas and corridors account for about 60,000 acres of land, of which only 31 percent is permanently protected. Using a combination of these rich datasets and other state, federal, and local data, the Hennepin County Habitat Conservation Program (HCP) has established focus areas and a systematic process for protection, restoration, and enhancement of the associated remaining high quality habitats. Over the next 18 years, the county plans to permanently protect 6,000 acres; resulting in permanent protection of 41 percent (24,600 acres) of the county's best remaining natural areas by 2041. Combined with our anticipated Phase 1 outputs, we will achieve nearly 20% of the county's long-term land protection objective during these first two phases of our program.
In 2018, Hennepin County and the Minnesota Land Trust (MLT) were awarded $1.514 million from the Outdoor Heritage Fund (OHF) to support the goals of the HCP. Through work conducted under that grant to date, the project partners are poised to acquire 200 acres of easement and complete restoration and enhancement actions on 130 acres of protected land. As a result, 2018 funds are expected to be fully encumbered this year and fully spent in 2020.
HCP promotion, outreach, and proposal solicitation efforts have resulted in consistent landowner inquiries and high-quality easement opportunities that now exceed our current easement acquisition capacity by more than 200 acres; accounting for approximately one-fifth of the acres proposed for protection under Phase 2. Landowner interest is strong. Funding through this proposal will allow the county and Minnesota Land Trust to sustain this momentum by continuing to identify the best, most cost-effective opportunities to protect, restore, and enhance remaining natural areas.
The county will continue to work with MLT, its 11 watershed organizations, 45 cities, two park districts, the MN DNR, NPS, and USFWS to identify easement opportunities and build landowner connections. The Minnesota Land Trust will bring the experience of its land protection and legal team to negotiate the purchase of conservation easements with landowners. An RFP approach will identify high value protection opportunities and encourage a competitive marketplace for scarce monetary resources. All opportunities for easement acquisition will be scored based on six categories: spatial context, size, habitat quality and diversity, water resources, wildlife and plant conservation, and risk of conversion. Management factors, partner involvement, and professional judgement will also be considered.
$3,155,000 the second year is to the commissioner of natural resources for agreements with Hennepin County, in cooperation with Minnesota Land Trust, to acquire permanent conservation easements and to restore and enhance habitats in Hennepin County as follows: $446,000 to Hennepin County and $2,709,000 to Minnesota Land Trust. Up to $264,000 to Minnesota Land Trust 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 permanent conservation easements, restorations, and enhancements must be provided as part of the required accomplishment plan.
A network of natural land and riparian habitats will connect corridors for wildlife and species in greatest conservation need - Phase 2 of the Habitat Conservation Program will permanently protect 441 acres of strategic and diverse habitat within identified natural resource priority areas and restore 83 acres of new and existing protected land.
By targeting protection, restoration, and enhancement activities in biologically diverse natural areas and remnant habitats critical for the interconnection and buffering of already protected core habitats, we will ensure the long-term health and viability of Minnesota's game and non-game wildlife and increase the ecological integrity of important habitats by forming habitat corridors and improving the quality of existing habitat through invasive species management and mitigation
Hennepin County and Landowner donation