This proposal enhances 2,857 acres of open landscape habitat in the Northern Forest and Forest/Prairie Transition Regions for Sharp-tailed Grouse and other species. Enhancement work will take place on protected lands open to public hunting including Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs), National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs), state forest lands, Scientific Natural Areas (SNAs), and county lands. In addition, this proposal seeks to acquire and restore 743 acres of sharp-tail habitat in Lake of the Woods County to be transferred to the MNDNR.
A pilot project that will enhance connectivity within the Mississippi Flyway by linking urban neighborhood parks to the Mississippi River through restoration and implementation of identified habitat corridors.
Minnesota Trout Unlimited will enhance and restore degraded habitat for fish and diverse wildlife in and along priority trout streams located on existing public lands and conservation easements in the Metro area and southeast Minnesota. Increasing threats to these highly prized, yet relatively scarce, resources require accelerating habitat work to reduce the backlog of degraded stream reaches and buffer streams from the increased frequency and intensity of large rainfall and flood events.
6,870 acres of grassland and wetland habitat will be enhanced or restored through this proposal to benefit upland dependent species on Minnesota lands open to public hunting. These include 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 10,064.8 and restored 50.7 acres for a total impact of 10,115.5 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 and the forest/prairie transition regions of Minnesota.
In this phase of the Enhanced Public Lands - Grassland program, Pheasants Forever (PF) will enhance or restore 4,000 acres of upland and wetland habitat. The goal of this program is to improve habitat on existing Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs), Waterfowl Production Areas (WPAs), and National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) that are open to public hunting. PF does this by working with agency partners to develop restoration and enhancement plans and hiring local, private contractors to complete work.
This program enhanced 2,491 acres of open landscape habitat for $578,200 and brought $12,000 in leverage. We did this by mowing/shearing brush, removing trees and installing firebreaks on WMA's, State Forest, and County owned land in the Norther Forest Region.
Project will identify characteristics of successful artificial bat roost structures. Data will be used to optimize bat
use and reproduction in these structures to improve survival of WNS impacted bats
Collect baseline information about lower trophic fish diets, the distribution and status of rare benthic fishes, and the movement patterns of large river fishes in the Minnesota River.
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.
Minnesota Trout Unlimited will enhance and restore degraded habitat for fish and wildlife along coldwater streams with existing protections. We will utilize a crew of young people from diverse backgrounds to enhance habitat along Twin Cities area trout streams. Increasing threats to North Shore streams require accelerating work improving riparian forest habitat to improve stream flows and lower water temperatures, and buffering streams from larger, more frequent rainfall and flooding.
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.
The objective of the project is to integrate Division-wide stand-alone datasets into a single information system that eliminates redundancies and inconsistencies and better meets the business requirements of the Division. Once completed, the information system will serve as the authoritative source of MN State Parks and Trails data for updates, maintenance, and reporting, and will be poised to take advantage of emerging technologies.
We will build an outdoor classroom and up to an additional mile of accessible trails, including a foot bridge connecting the School Forest Trail System.
The Earth Science Teacher Education Project (ESTEP) will provide statewide professional development for Minnesota science teachers in Environmental and Earth Science content and pedagogy to strengthen environmental education in schools.
This project will evaluate the effectiveness of two methods to remove exotic hybrid cattail to restore fish and wildlife habitat in Minnesota wetlands.
Innovative AIS control and education programs have been widely acknowledged as far removed from the traditional stable of conservation easement and high priority land acquisition programs that the LSOHC generally espouses. However, these projects, though not permanent in nature, address the significant impacts to land and water resources that AIS pose. Left untreated, AIS severely impacts the habitat and outdoor recreational opportunities that LSOHC is committed to preserving.
to install a 8kw PV array, monitoring equipment, both roof and pole mounted tracker, 3 solar tubes, insulated shades, energy efficient displays, and related educational displays at the Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center as the final step to achie
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.
This project will focus on creating a much more robust reuse economy throughout the State resulting in reduced solid waste, less pollution, more jobs, and small business development.
This project will: expand strategies of the 2015 LCCMR grant; establish deconstruction and building material reuse as a practice statewide; document the environmental, health, and economic benefits of material reuse.
Expand fishing opportunities in urban areas, teach more kids and families how to fish, and inventory and inform the public about safe and legal shore fishing sites throughout Minnesota.
Camp Sunrise is an integrated environmental education program for economically disadvantaged youth. This innovative camp experience allows children a hands-on program to understand their impact on the environment and nature.
This project proposes to expand the Ecological Monitoring Network by establishing an additional 250 plots to inform the conservation and management of Minnesota?s native forests, wetlands, and grasslands.
The average Minnesotan and even most natural resource managers are not skilled in plant identification, yet the ability to positively identify plants is crucial to a number of conservation activities, including identifying areas that need protection, recognizing new or existing invasive species, monitoring restoration projects, and delineating wetlands. The Minnesota Wildflowers project attempts to fill this need with a free web-based field guide ultimately aimed at providing profiles for each of the over 2,100 vascular plant species in Minnesota.
New and innovatively designed greenhouse facilities have the potential to provide sustainable food, fuel, and other products year round by utilizing ecological processes and other practices to integrate production of fish, plants, and algae in a low input, self-sustainable system. The City of Silver Bay and researchers at the University of Minnesota – Duluth are using this appropriation to expand and enhance a demonstration greenhouse facility. Refined techniques developed at the facility have the potential to be transferred and replicated at similar facilities throughout the state.
The Fairmont Chain of Lakes habitat restoration project converted almost 35 acres of existing undeveloped and row crop lands into prime habitat. The open water areas were designed to promote northern pike spawning areas to benefit that fish species within the Chain of Lakes. This was accomplished by connecting to the existing Dutch Creek channel that flows adjacent to the project and outlets into the downstream lakes.
to construct a trail from the North Alexander Park on the East at Two Rivers Park and on the West at the railroad tracks, including an underpass connection under Second Avenue
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.
The DNR works with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota Department of Health to determine the level of contamination from mercury and other harmful chemicals in fish from Minnesota's lakes and rivers and to track the success of efforts to reduce mercury pollution. Clean Water Legacy funding is being used to significantly increase (more than double) the number of lakes and rivers that are assessed for mercury contamination on an annual basis. Fish are collected during DNR fishery surveys, processed for laboratory testing, and analyzed for contaminants.
The Leech Lake Area Watershed Foundation in partnership with the Minnesota Land Trust will protect high priority critical fish habitat and the surrounding watersheds on 30 tullibee "refuge" lakes by securing conservation easements and fee title acquisitions. We will permanently protect approximately 445 acres and 1 miles of shoreland in total. If a lake's watershed has less than 25% land disturbance, the lake has a high probability to maintain clean water and healthy lake ecosystem.
The Leech Lake Area Watershed Foundation in partnership with the Minnesota Land Trust will protect high priority critical fish habitat and the surrounding watersheds on 38 tullibee "refuge" lakes by securing conservation easements. We will permanently protect approximately 400 acres. If a lake's watershed has less than 25% land disturbance the lake has a high probability to maintain clean water and healthy lake ecosystem. State of Minnesota reports indicate this region could see 64% population growth by 2030.
