Sauk River Watershed Habitat Protection and Restoration
Through the Sauk River Watershed Habitat Protection and Restoration program, the Partnership protected 726 acres (264 acres through fee simple acquisition and 462 acres through conservation easements). Additionally, the program restored/enhanced 780 acres of high priority habitat in the Sauk River Watershed. Overall, we achieved 111% of our land protection goal, 177% of our R/E acreage goal, and 397% of our proposed leverage goal. Our actions increased habitat connectivity, biodiversity, and landscape resilience.
Sauk River Watershed District (SRWD), Minnesota Land Trust (MLT), and Pheasant Forever (PF), along with technical assistance provided by Stearns County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), Todd SWCD, Douglas SWCD, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR), and The Nature Conservancy (TNC), partnered to implement habitat protection and restoration within the Sauk River Watershed (SRW). Sites that include top priority habitats, such as existing high quality or easily restorable wetland complexes, upland forests, floodplain forests, and prairies were prioritized. Prioritized sites were protected to preserve and enhance critical habitat for waterfowl and other important wildlife species.
This program protected high caliber habitats and protected and restored degraded habitats in key locations. The SRW is in a rapidly growing region of the state that has also experienced some of the most intense conversion from perennial cover to cropland in the past decade. This conversion is expected to increase. Interest by landowners in protecting their land is strong in the SRW, but often these lands do not qualify for CREP. A small window of opportunity exists to protect these high habitat quality sites now as they are expiring from CRP, before they are developed or converted back to farmland. In 2018 alone in the SRW, there were 434 CRP contracts expiring, comprising 3,122 acres of quality habitat.
SRWD managed the grant and subcontracted for associated R/E activities. PF negotiated and secured fee title acquisitions and oversaw related R/E activities. MLT negotiated and secured conservation easements and oversaw R/E activities.
Conservation Easements:
MLT worked with private landowners to protect approximately 462 acres of permanent conservation easements through this grant. SRWD, with assistance from local partners such as the County SWCDs, conducted outreach to landowners within targeted priority areas identified using TNC's Multiple Benefits Analysis that has been completed for protection prioritization in the SRW. Interested landowners submitted proposals to MLT using a competitive request for proposal (RFP) process that ranked properties based on ecological value and cost, prioritizing the projects that provide the best ecological value and acquired them at the lowest cost to the state, and developed restoration and habitat management plans for eased lands.
Fee acquisition:
PF coordinated with MN DNR and United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on all potential fee simple acquisitions. PF worked with willing sellers to protect and restore 264 acres of strategically identified parcels within the SRW and then donated the parcels to the MN DNR as a WMA and to FWS as WPA where they will be managed as wildlife habitat and provide public access in perpetuity.
Restoration and Enhancement:
SRWD and MLT collectively restored/enhanced 780 acres through this grant. SRWD, with assistance from County SWCDs, restored approximately 394 acres of wetland, riparian and associated upland habitat. Activities included prairie tree removal, seeding, and prescribed burns. MLT led enhancement work across lands protected through conservation easement, DNR WMAs, and other protected properties, enhancing 386 acres.
$2,946,000 the first year is to the commissioner of natural resources for agreements to acquire lands in fee and permanent conservation easements and restore and enhance wildlife habitat in the Sauk River watershed as follows: $440,000 to Sauk River Watershed District, $590,000 to Pheasants Forever, and $1,916,000 to Minnesota Land Trust. Up to $192,000 to Minnesota Land Trust is to establish a monitoring and enforcement fund as approved in the accomplishment plan and subject to Minnesota Statutes, section 97A.056, subdivision 17. A list of acquisitions must be provided as part of the required accomplishment plan.
This program prioritized projects using SGCN and quality habitat as major weighting factors. The Sauk River Watershed is an important migratory corridor for forest birds and waterfowl. It contains wetlands, upland forests, and shorelands, which are essential habitats to Minnesota's wildlife diversity and health.
Two properties, totaling 264 acres were protected and restored, creating additions to a WMA and WPA. These acquisitions provide vital habitat to many SGCN.
Seven properties totaling 462 acres were protected through conservation easement under this grant, including:
-Cold Spring Creek (Johnson): A 39-acre property in Stearns County that protects an important wetland complex at the headwaters of Cold Spring Creek - a state-designated trout stream and a tributary to the Sauk River.
-Sauk River (Maile Trust): A 85-acre property in Stearns County that is within a Site of Moderate Biodiversity Significance and protects over 12,000 feet of shoreline.
-Ashley Creek (Eggers Trust): A 27-acre property in Stearns County that contains outstanding habitat for marbled godwit, a SGCN, which has been sighted in the area during breeding season surveys.
-Sauk River (Rothstein): A 6-acre property in Stearns County that protects over one-quarter mile of shoreline on the Sauk River. This property is part of a complex of three adjacent conservation easements held by MLT that totals 122 acres of permanent protection.
-Byer Lake (Gillitzer): A 116-acre property in Stearns County that protects over a mile of undeveloped shoreline on Byer Lake - a unique "perched" lake that contains a high-quality assemblage of aquatic plant species.
-Sauk River (Lieser): A 37-acre property in Stearns County that protects over a mile of shoreline on the Sauk River.
-Byer Lake (Gresser Family LLP): A 152-acre property in Stearns County that is part of a growing contiguous area of protection on Byer Lake.
Furthermore, the partnership restored/enhanced more than 780 acres of forest, prairie/grassland, and wetland habitat across the Sauk River Watershed. Projects included wetland restoration, invasive species control, native seeding, and tree planting.
Attorney donated time, Federal Funds, Federal Funds, Landowner donations, contractor donations, Landowner donations and contractor donations