Wild Rice Shoreland Protection - Phase VI
Four RIM easements have been recorded on 527.7 acres and are reported in the output tables.
DNR closed on the 99-acre Plantagenet Lake Aquatic Management Area in Hubbard County on 8/30/2022. The county board was notified and is supportive.
Voluntary, incentive-based conservation protection options for shoreland landowners are few. Unlike the prairie portion of the state where state funded easement options exist for conservation-minded landowners, private land protection options are limited for wild rice shoreland in the forest due to funding constraints. Further, many easement programs are targeted for restoration and not protection. In the northern forest, lower land values allow conservation dollars to stretch further while expanding current wildlife complexes already existing on nearby public lands.
Utilizing permanent conservation easements and fee-title acquisitions, the Minnesota Board of Water & Soil Resources (BWSR), Minnesota Department of Natural Resources ? Section of Wildlife (DNR Wildlife), and the fourteen local Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) offered permanent shoreland protection on the shallow lakes, rivers and shallow bays producing wild rice. The BWSR?s Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) Program will acquired 528 acres through permanent conservation easements and DNR Wildlife will acquired 99 acres Plantagenet Lake in Hubbard County.
Through the local SWCD offices, BWSR purchased RIM easements using rates set by BWSR. Tracts were selected based on the degree to which they help permanently protect all the land around a given wild rice water body. The RIM easements were acquired through a sign-up process similar to BWSR?s other easement programs. SWCD generated landowner applications were reviewed and parcels ranked by the RIM Wild Rice Technical Committee committee with guidance provided by the "Wild Rice Shoreland Protection Criteria" score sheet.
$937,000 the first year is to the Board of Water and Soil Resources to acquire permanent conservation easements on wild rice lake shoreland habitat for native wild rice bed protection. Of this amount, up to $72,000 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 permanent conservation easements must be provided as part of the final report. $250,000 the first year is to the commissioner of natural resources to acquire lands in fee and restore and enhance lands for wildlife management under Minnesota Statutes, section 86A.05, subdivision 8; for scientific and natural areas under Minnesota Statutes, section 86A.05, subdivision 5; for state forests under Minnesota Statutes, section 86A.05, subdivision 7; and for aquatic management under Minnesota Statutes, sections 86A.05, subdivision 14, and 97C.02 to acquire lands for wild rice lake shoreland habitat to protect native wild rice beds. A list of proposed acquisitions in fee must be provided as part of the required accomplishment plan.
Wild rice shoreland encompasses a complex of shallow lakes, rivers, and shallow bays of deeper lakes that support rice and provide some of the most important habitat for wetland-dependent wildlife species in Minnesota. Wild rice habitat is especially important to Minnesota?s migrating and breeding waterfowl. More than 17 species of wildlife listed as Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) use wild rice areas as habitat for breeding, migration, and/or foraging.
These targeted SGCN are as follows:
Common Loon, Trumpeter Swan, Bald Eagle, American Bittern, Least Bittern, Red-necked G rebe, Sora Rail, Virginia Rail, Yellow Rail, Black Tern, Rusty Blackbird, Sedge Wren, Lesser Scaup, Northern Pintail, and American Black Duck.
Wild rice is some of the most important habitat for wetland-dependent wildlife species in Minnesota as noted in the MNDNR's Natural Wild Rice in Minnesota report to the legislature (2008). Important game species supported by wild rice include the Ring-necked Duck, Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, Scaup, and Bufflehead.