Minnesota Forests for the Future Phase VI
This Minnesota Forests for the Future project protected 1,947 acres of forest and forested wetlands with 1,478 acres of perpetual working forest conservation easements and 469 acres of fee title acquisition in Cass, Hubbard, Lake and Morrison Counties; ensuring public benefits, management access and sustainable managed forests.
Forest land ownership changes within recent years, primarily within the industrial forest ownerships, are occurring as the timber industry restructures and looks to obtain value from their land through real estate sales and recreational leases. These sales can result in forest fragmentation or even outright conversion of forest lands, impact public recreational access including recreational trail routes, affect forest management access by public agencies across the impacted lands, degrade wildlife habitat and decrease the use of sustainable forestry practices.
The current project has targeted a total of four properties in these three categories: 1) a large industrial ownership located in northeastern Minnesota whose property adjoins and is commingled with thousands of acres of other public forests including those owned and managed by the state, Lake County and the Superior National Forest; 2) a large industrial ownership publicly accessible in north central Minnesota adjoining thousands of acres of other public forests owned and managed by the state and Hubbard County; and 3) two family owned properties located in Morrison and Cass Counties, adjacent to public land, in areas of high forest conversion threat and in areas identified as priorities for land protection through local watershed analysis and planning.
LSOHC appropriations target priority projects as determined by the scoring criteria developed in consultation with the Minnesota Forests for the Future Advisory Committee (stakeholder group). Projects may need to be scaled back or phased to accommodate the available funding. Each project included in this report were located within program priority areas as identified by a GIS model that integrates recreational, ecological and economic data.
These projects addressed forest fragmentation, habitat degradation, recreational and management access and sustainable forestry through perpetual conservation easements and fee acquisition that will protect the forest and wetland habitats in perpetuity, restrict forest parcelization and development, provide for public recreational access and public management access and promote sustainable forest management practices.
The Minnesota Forests for the Future and Federal Forest Legacy Programs have proven to be cost effective programs for protecting private forest land habitat in Minnesota, while also providing public recreational and agency management access and ensuring sustainable forestry. These programs have protected over 360,000 acres to date at an average cost of less than $300/acre. Over $24 million in non-state funds have been leveraged for these protection efforts over the past 10 years.
$1,473,000 the second year is to the commissioner of natural resources to acquire lands in fee and to acquire easements for forest, wetland, and shoreline habitat through working forest permanent conservation easements under the Minnesota forests for the future program according to Minnesota Statutes, section 84.66. A conservation easement acquired with money appropriated under this paragraph must comply with Minnesota Statutes, section 97A.056, subdivision 13. The accomplishment plan must include an easement monitoring and enforcement plan. Of this amount, up to $25,000 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 land acquisitions must be provided as part of the required accomplishment plan. A list of permanent conservation easements must be provided as part of the final report.
The project area provides a wide diversity of habitats to many fish, game and non-game wildlife species found in northeastern and north central Minnesota including moose, gray wolf, black bear, Canada lynx, white-tailed deer, ruffed grouse, spruce grouse, waterfowl, forest songbirds, and trout and other fish. With areas of shoreline on trout streams, other streams, ponds, small lakes and numerous wetlands the project area provides the critical shoreland habitats that are essential to many fish and wildlife populations. The project area lies in the transition area between the conifer dominated boreal forests of the north and deciduous forest to the south that together with the array of streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands provides a rich mosaic of habitats that support these species. Over 80 species in greatest conservation need are known or predicted to occur in either the North Shore highlands and/or Toimi Uplands landscapes. Nearly half the project area is identified by the MCBS as high/moderate sites of biodiversity significance.
The Nature Conservancy