Technical Evaluation Panel
The purpose of this program is to annually evaluate a sample of Outdoor Heritage Fund habitat restoration projects and provide a report on the evaluations in accordance with state law.
The Fiscal Year 2013 (ML 12) Restoration Evaluation report was submitted to the Legislature and the Outdoor Heritage Council December 2014. This report is available on the Legislative Library website: http://www.leg.state.mn.us/edocs/edocs.aspx?oclcnumber=823766285
Four Outdoor Heritage Fund project evaluations were presented in this report:
- Trout Unlimited. ML 2010 5 (c) Cold Water River and Stream Restoration, Protection and Enhancement; Project: West Indian Creek Habitat Restoration
- CPL Grant ML 2010, Rollie Johnson Island Shoreland Restoration
- Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge Trust (Great River Greening). ML 2010 5(a) Metro Big Rivers Habitat Program; Project: Cherokee Bluff Restoration
All projects were on track to meet planned goals with continued prescribed maintenance.
The Evaluation Panel’s recommendations for improvement in restoration practice based on evaluation of all projects (including Clean Water and Parks and Trails projects) were:
- Improved documentation to provide better tracking and clear, explicit direction for adaptive management
- Improved restoration training to disseminate best practices in the evolving field of restoration
- Evaluation process improvement to best capture and feedback lessons learned from restoration practice
$45,000 in the second year is to the commissioner of natural resources for a technical evaluation panel to conduct up to ten restoration evaluations under Minnesota Statutes, section 97A.056, subdivision 10.
Four project evaluations were presented in the report.
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