This program will complete the initial WMA site development on 1,500 acres of land acquired in the Accelerated Prairie Grassland WMA and Accelerated Wetland WMA Acquisition programs to meet standards for inclusion in the Outdoor Recreation System. This program will also accelerate the restoration, enhancement and management of at least 5,180 acres of native prairie vegetation on existing public lands.
Pheasants Forever, Ducks Unlimited, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will cooperate to permanently restore and conserve approximately 800 acres of grassland and 400 acres of wetland as Waterfowl Production Areas in western and southern Minnesota. All lands acquired through this grant proposal will be owned and managed by the Service as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
The table below provides a short summary of the acres and sites accomplished. We enhanced or restored 59,495 acres in 458 separate habitat projects.Project Type # Sites # AcresFencing for conserv grazing 6 721grassland conversion 33 1,124Invasive Species Control 43 1,599mowing 3 104Prescribed burn 214 48,368Restoration 13 123Woody Removal 146 7,457
This program will permanently protect approximately 1,246 acres (8.9-miles) of lake and warm water stream shoreline through fee title and permanent easement acquisition. Our program will also secure 54 Acres (3.1-miles) of permanent habitat management easements that include angler access on designated trout streams.
This program will restore and enhance in-stream and riparian fish and wildlife habitat in 11 watersheds across the state of Minnesota. The proposed projects will improve habitat for both game and non-game fish and wildlife species uniquely associated with cold water trout streams and provide expanded recreational opportunities for Minnesota anglers.
The Conservation Partners Legacy Grant Program, managed by the Department of Natural Resources, provided 56 competitive matching grants to non-profit organizations and governments, appropriating all the available ML12 funds.
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.
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.
Phase I work was conducted on the main Knife River and its Main West Branch tributary. Primary goals were met and these goals include: stream connectivity, riparian zone tree planting, stream assessment and black ash stand identification. • Stream Connectivity - repaired Second Falls on the main Knife River. • Tree Planting - two volunteer and one CCM projects where several thousand trees were planted.
Prepare Lake Vermilion State Park for development and public use by completing a master plan and providing immediate day-use opportunities. This program area describing development accomplishments on Lake Vermillion State Park is now being reported as part of "New State Park and State Recreation Area Development," searchable on this site.
Radio Tower Bay: 115,000 cubic yards of wood material was removed to increase water depth, provide greater habitat diversity, promote native aquatic vegetation and increase recreational access.Knowlton Creek: 6,500 linear feet of degraded stream was restored by reshaping and creating new stream channels; constructing instream structures; and native planting and seeding to stabilize the stream and minimize sediment into the Estuary.21st Ave W/Interstate Island: Restored 2 acres of critical nesting habitat for the Common Tern and Piping Plover.Wild Rice: Restored 133 acres of wild rice in the
Construction of approximately 2 miles of the Mesabi Regional Trail beginning in Soudan at the Brietung Town Hall and ending at the Vermillion State Park entrance road.
This project will create a high accuracy elevation dataset - critical for effectively planning and implementing water quality projects - for the state of Minnesota using LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and geospatial mapping technologies. Although some areas of the state have been mapped previously, many counties remain unmapped or have insufficient or inadequate data. This multi-year project, to be completed in 2012, is a collaborative effort of Minnesota's Digital Elevation Committee and partners with county surveyors to ensure accuracy with ground-truthing.
The Minnesota County Biological Survey (MCBS) is an ongoing effort begun in 1987 by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) that is systematically surveying, county-by-county, the state's natural habitats. The effort identifies significant natural areas and collects and interprets data on the status, distribution, and ecology of plants, animals, and native plant communities throughout the state. Through 2009 surveys have been completed in 74 of Minnesota's 87 counties and have added nearly 17,000 new records of rare features to the DNR's information systems.
The goals for this project were to: protect 1,200 acres native prairie/wetland/savanna; restore 250 acres prairie/wetland; enhance 6,000 acres grassland/savanna with fire, invasive species removal, and grazing; and continue a new prairie conservation model. This phase resulted in a total of 1,425 acres protected, 22,298 acres enhanced, and 110 acres restored. When combined with phases 1 and 2 of the Prairie Recovery Program we have cumulatively protected 4,070 acres, enhanced 58,134 acres and restored 314 acres using OHF funds.
The Minnesota Moose Collaborative (Collaborative) has implemented a variety of habitat enhancement treatments across the core of moose range in Northeast Minnesota on County, State, Federal, and Tribal lands since 2013. Moose browse has been improved through treatments that regenerate preferred brush and tree species. The Collaborative has also planted over two million trees including white spruce, white pine, jack pine, and white cedar.
This acquisition protected 2.7 miles of Mississippi river shoreline and nearly 2,000 acres of wetland and forest/upland habitat through fee title acquisition just east of Brainerd, MN.
Acquire 2.1 acres on shore of Lake Nisswa to support nature-based recreational activities for local, regional and statewide visitors, and provide the first public access to Nisswa Lake, very close to downtown Nisswa and the Paul Bunyan State Trail.
This appropriation allowed the permanent protection of 769 acres in western Minnesota. These properties included 287 acres of remnant native prairie, 112 acres of associated wetland complexes, and 19,500' of stream front. For this phase, we committed to protecting 500 acres with a minimum of 250 being native prairie. Both targets were exceeded – 153% of total acres and 115% of native prairie acres. The lands and easements purchased with this funding by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) have been transferred to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and are now units of th
to install and connect a 9.85 KW solar photovoltaic array and monitoring system on the roof of the main community/education facility to power all indoor, outdoor and trail lighting and to install more energy efficient light bulbs throughout the building
This project entailed the reconstruction and resurfacing of 5.3 miles of segments of the Paul Bunyan State Trail from Pine River to Merrifield to Brainerd.
This project entailed reconstruction and resurfacing of 1.1 miles of the segment of the Willard Munger State Trail that spans the trail terminus to Grand Avenue in Duluth.
