We will use a programmatic approach to achieve prioritized aquatic habitat protection, restoration, and enhancement of lakes and streams across all the LSOHC planning regions of Minnesota.
We restored 2,081 acres of grassland and enhanced 42,425 acres of grassland for a total of 44,506 acres of wildlife habitat across 329 sites with these funds.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will restore or enhance habitat to facilitate fish passage, restore degraded streams, and enhance habitat critical to fish and other aquatic life. Projects are prioritized based on ecological benefit, urgency, feasibility, and stakeholder support.
Acquire 600 acres of high priority habitats for designation as Wildlife Management Area or Scientific and Natural Area emphasizing Prairie Conservation Plan implementation and coordinating with partners. All lands will be open for public hunting, fishing and trapping.
We used a programmatic approach to achieve prioritized aquatic habitat protection, restoration, and enhancement for lakes, trout streams, and rivers across all LSOHC planning regions of Minnesota.
to construct a solar powered potable water supply which will consist of a potable water supply well, solar pump and DC motor, on-site solar panel mounted to an adjacent frame and to the batteries used to power the pump motor with a user on/off switch at w
6289 acres of grassland and wetland habitat will be enhanced through this proposal to increase the productivity of game and non-game upland species on Minnesota lands open to public hunting including Wildlife Management Areas (WMA), Waterfowl Production Areas (WPA), and National Wildlife Refuges (NWR). We will accomplish this by working with our partners to follow best practices to conduct wetland restorations, conservation grazing, invasive tree removal, prescribed fire, and diversity seeding in the prairie, forest/prairie transition, and metro regions.
This program enhanced 10,583 and restored 198 acres for a total impact of 10,781 acres by restoring wetlands, removing invasive trees, seeding prairies, prescribed burning, and installing infrastructure for conservation grazing. These practices took place on Waterfowl Production Areas (WPA's), and Wildlife Management Areas (WMA's) in the prairie, metro and the forest/prairie transition regions of Minnesota. We exceeded our acre goals in every category, brought $45,768.51 in match funds, and are returning $833.50 in funds.
This project will utilize a combination of wetland restoration, invasive tree removal, seeding, and prescribed fire, to improve habitat quality, diversity, and productivity on Wildlife Management Areas and Waterfowl Production Areas within the prairie and metro regions of Minnesota.
Evaluate routing, safety, water management and other environmental and design issues of the Superior Hiking Trail and establish SHTA best practices methods for carrying out the resulting redesign plans.
Continue and expand a River Watch program on the Minnesota River engaging teams of high school students in water quality monitoring and reporting the data to the MNPCA
Compelling, new, interactive exhibits at North Mississippi Regional Park will spark curiosity, increase knowledge, change behavior, and inspire a diverse audience of 326,000 annual visitors to explore the outdoors.
The number of people from other cultures and languages is increasing in Minnesota. It is important that they learn the behaviors that will help Minnesota preserve and enhance its natural resources. Yet, communicating and effectively interacting with people across cultures to change behaviors on natural resources, conservation, pollution prevention and stewardship is challenging. Most environmental information is designed for reaching native English readers. Translating and printing information often does not reach the intended audiences, who are often part of an oral culture.
Reed canary grass and other invasive plants are preventing natural tree regeneration and threatening floodplain forests, upland forests, and wildlife alike. The Upper Mississippi River and its tributaries provide a critical habitat corridor for hundreds of species of birds from waterfowl and other game birds to warblers of special concern. This proposal builds on three previous and successful projects and will expand Audubon's work on State and Federal Lands as well as introduce projects on permanently protected private lands.
Reed canary grass is preventing natural regeneration of trees and threatening floodplain forests and wildlife along the Mississippi. This effort builds on previous LSOHC funding to control reed canary grass and plant trees as part of a long-term effort.
This proposal would acquire forest lands of significant natural resource and strategic location values and then resell those same lands previously acquired with this grant, subject to a Conservation Easement. Process would be repeated with land sale proceeds.
The Minnesota DNR and the Minnesota Forest Resources Council work with forest landowners, managers and loggers to implement a set of voluntary sustainable forest management guidelines that include water quality best management practices (BMPs) to ensure sustainable habitat, clean water, and productive forest soils, all contributing to healthy watersheds. This project will monitor the implementation of these forest management guidelines and BMPs on forested watersheds in MN.
The Frogtown area of St. Paul is a culturally diverse, low-income neighborhood having less green space per child than any other neighborhood in the city and was recently identified as an area in need of a new park. This appropriation is being used by The Trust for Public Land, in partnership with the City of St. Paul, to acquire a portion of twelve acres of a currently vacant space in the area to establish the multi-purpose Frogtown Farm and Park.
The Conservation Fund and Minnesota Land Trust will protect 380 acres of high-priority grassland, prairie, and wetland wildlife habitat with working lands conservation easements in western, central, and southeastern Minnesota. Grasslands represent one of Minnesota’s most threatened habitat types. Privately-held and well-managed grasslands in strategic habitat complexes have provided lasting benefits for Minnesota’s wildlife. This project will permanently prevent the conversion of grasslands to row crops.
Minnesota’s use of groundwater has increased over the last two decades. An increasing reliance on groundwater may not be a sustainable path for continued economic growth and development. The DNR is establishing three pilot groundwater management areas (GWMA) to help improve groundwater appropriation decisions and help groundwater users better understand and plan for future groundwater needs associated with economic development.
Overall Project Outcome and Results
This project contained two types of habitat enhancement that resulted in the enhancement of a total of 72 acres of habitat.
With this appropriation, the Minnesota Land Trust plans to protect approximately 500 acres of critical shoreline habitat along Minnesota's lakes, wetlands, rivers, and streams by securing permanent conservation easements and dedicating funds for their perpetual monitoring, management, and enforcement. Lands being considered for permanent protection in this round of funding are located in Becker, Beltrami, Blue Earth, Itasca, Kandiyohi, Lac Qui Parle, Le Sueur, Otter Tail, Pope, and Wabasha counties.
Hennepin County, in partnership with the Minnesota Land Trust, proposes to permanently protect through conservation easement 299 acres of the most important natural areas remaining in the county, and restore and enhance 84 acres of protected habitat including forest, savanna, prairie, wetlands, shallow lakes, shoreline, bluffs, and riparian areas.
With only 1% of Minnesota’s native prairie remaining, many prairie plant and animal species have dramatically declined. Of the 12 butterfly species native to Minnesota prairies, two species, the Poweshiek skipperling and the Dakota skipper, have already largely disappeared from the state and are proposed for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act despite being historically among the most common prairie butterflies and having their historic ranges concentrated in Minnesota.
This project acquired a small portion of land in Interstate State Park. The land may serve a trail connection from Scandia into the park in the future.
MPRB requests $444,000 to improve aquatic habitat in Lake Nokomis through integrated lake management. This project will enhance 4580 linear feet of shoreline.
Acquire 26-acres with 8,000 feet of lake shore located 2 miles west of the city of Alexandria. This will be the first phase of a larger acquisition totaling 136 acres. The property is bisected by the Central Lakes Trail and contains unimproved uplands, high hills, scenic vistas, small wood lots and wetlands.
