Tending and Completing NE MN Forest Restorations

Over the last fifteen years The Nature Conservancy developed strong collaborations with major landowners to improve upland forest and riparian habitat in Northeast Minnesota. To increase diversity, build ecological resilience, improve wildlife habitat, and help protect water quality, we planted and tended 2 million trees on 9000 acres of land, focusing on long-lived conifers and important hardwood species. Starting in 2010, we used CPL funding to plant and tend nearly 1 million trees on 5000 of those acres. In 2013, using complementary, private foundation funds, we initiated a climate adaptation tree planting project ?one of the first in the region to bring the latest climate science into on-the-ground restoration. This resulted in an additional 2000 acres of work. The net result is a large network of thriving seedlings across a diverse range of habitats used by many Species of Greatest Conservation Need. However, many of these seedlings are at a critical, vulnerable stage. Without several more years of additional tending that will protect them from deer browse and release them from competing vegetation, many of these seedlings will not make it to the ?free to grow? sapling stage, putting much of the initial investment at risk. This proposal is aimed at providing the browse protection, pruning, additional planting, and release from competition that is necessary to ensure that the trees planted on our previous CPL sites will survive and become thriving forest trees and important components of habitat for many wildlife species.
Many of the sites we have worked on are interwoven with other neighboring projects on partner lands. This cross-boundary coordination amplifies our work and provides connectivity of wildlife habitat in project areas. Project sites range from Two Harbors to Hovland on the North Shore and inland from the headwaters of the St. Louis River to the highlands of the Gunflint Trail.