Many of the most experienced conservation practitioners at local soil and water conservation districts throughout the state are nearing retirement, and with their departure will go much of their practical, on-the-ground knowledge, experience, and skills. Meanwhile, college students seeking to be the next generation of conservation practitioners have knowledge of emerging technologies and other innovations that can improve and contribute to current conservation efforts.
Pollinators play a key role in ecosystem function and in agriculture, including thousands of native plants and more than one hundred U.S. crops that either need or benefit from pollinators. However, pollinators are in dramatic decline in Minnesota and throughout the country. The causes of the decline are not completely understood, but identified factors include loss of nesting sites, fewer flowers, increased disease, and increased pesticide use.
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.
Minnesota Trout Unlimited and its partners, chapters, and volunteers enhanced habitat for trout, as well as other fish, game and wildlife, in or along more than 9 miles of coldwater streams around the state. We adapting to challenging conditions caused by the pandemic by shifting budget from small projects using hand labor (which was largely unavailable for the past 3 years) to very large scale projects utilizing heavy machinery and extensive habitat materials.
Legacy funds allow the Minnesota Zoo to extend the season of the Wells Fargo Family Farm beyond its historical May to September season to include full programming and exhibits from April through November.
The Humanities Center used a portion of the Legacy funding to provide administrative support for Legacy-funded work. This support includes work such as financial management, reporting, technology, and website maintenance.
To add Minnesota history and museum administration books to Proctor Historical Society's holdings to make this information more accessible to the public.
The Minnesota Indian Affairs Council (MIAC) receives collections of American Indian human remains, associated funerary goods, archaeological materials and records in accordance with federal and state laws. The Minnesota Legislature passed the 2015 legacy funding bill with a onetime appropriation of $75,000.00 dollars each year for 2 years to help Indian Affairs Council develop an osteology laboratory and repository.
The Minnesota Forest Recovery Project completed habitat enhancement on 5519 unique acres of public lands in Lake, Cass, Itasca, St. Louis, Cook, and Beltrami Counties. Multiple treatments on some parcels ensured success of enhancement efforts.
The Minnesota Forests for the Future Program will use $4.573 million in the Northern and Southeast Forest sections to protect and enhance habitat. In the Northern Forest, we propose to protect 1,500 acres with permanent conservation easements and 400 acres in fee title acquisition, and to enhance 100 acres. In the Southeast Forest, we propose to add 100 acres to the Richard J. Dorer Memorial Hardwood State Forest and enhance 300 acres of existing state forest land.
We propose to double the size of a natural resource management tool, the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas, by including state agency observations and specimen records from four additional museum collections.
Funding is requested to accelerate high priority research that will protect Minnesotas wetlands, forests, prairies, and agricultural resources from terrestrial invasive plants, pests, and pathogens.
