All Projects

Provide contract management to ENRTF pass-through appropriation recipients for approximately 115 open grants. Ensure funds are expended in compliance with appropriation law, state statute, grants policies, and approved work plans.

The Lower Minnesota River East Watershed Partnership would like to request our first round of WBIF funding. The Funding request is for FY'24 and FY'25, but will be incorporated into the FY'24-FY'26 Workplan.

This proposal accelerates the protection and restoration of 792 acres of strategic prairie grasslands, associated wetlands and other wildlife habitats as State Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) open to public hunting. Pheasants Forever (PF) will be permanently protecting strategic parcels within the prairie, prairie/forest transition, and metro planning regions. These acquired properties will be restored to the highest quality wildlife habitat feasible and transferred to the MN Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR) to be included into the WMA system.

Funding provided through this appropriation enhanced 5,024 acres of wetland habitat. Eight wetland and shallow lake infrastructure projects were competed that enhanced 1,643 acres of wetland. Cattail spraying using a helicopter outfitted with an OHF-purchased spray unit and impacted impacted 1,762 acres. Work by the Region 3 Roving Habitat Crew enhanced 1,619 acres of wetland. Finally, survey and design work was initiated on four projects to prepare for future construction.

This is the twelfth phase to accelerate the protection and restoration of 540 acres of strategic prairie grasslands, associated wetlands and other wildlife habitats as State Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) open to public hunting. Pheasants Forever (PF) will be permanently protecting strategic parcels within the prairie, prairie/forest transition, and metro planning regions which will be restored and transferred to the MN Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR) to be included as a WMA.

The proposal was to accelerate the protection of 1,220 acres of prairie grassland, wetland, and other wildlife habitat as State Wildlife Management Areas open to public hunting. Over the course of the appropriation, we acquired 11 parcels for a total of 1,484.05 acres which exceeded our total acre goal of 1,220 acres by 264.05 acres.  Breaking down acres by ecological section we acquired 876 acres in the metro, 152 acres in the forest/prairie, and 456 acres in the prairie.  We have a balance of $52,798 that will be returned to the Fund despite exceeding our acre goals.

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.

This program will protect 800 acres of new wildlife habitat in the Prairie, Deciduous Transition, and Southeast Bluffland ecological sections of Minnesota through fee title acquisition. Title of all lands acquired will be held by the State and designated as Wildlife Management Area open to hunting, trapping, fishing and compatible outdoor recreation uses.

This programmatic partnership between the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Ducks Unlimited (DU) will accelerate enhancement, restoration, and protection of shallow lakes and wetlands important to waterfowl. This partnership will assess, design, and implement shallow lake and wetland enhancement, restoration, and protection projects to address the most important wetland issues facing waterfowl and other wetland wildlife in Minnesota.

This program uses a multi-programmatic approach to achieve prioritized aquatic habitat protection, restoration, and enhancement for lakes, trout streams, and rivers across Minnesota. We propose to: i) protect 7.8 miles of shoreline on lakes, rivers and trout streams; ii) effect structural repairs to 2 lake outlet control structures that will integrate fish passage; iii) restore and enhance river and stream functions that will benefit over 50.5 river miles; and iv) enhance 1.4 miles of shoreline habitat on publicly-owned lakeshore.

We protected 22.3 miles of trout streams and 1.3 miles of lakeshore via easements (585 acres in total), and 7.4 miles (504 acres) of lakeshore through fee-title purchase. We enhanced shoreline habitat on 524 acres of riparian land, and instream habitat on 3.1 miles of trout streams and 0.5 miles of warmwater rivers.

This phase of WMA acquisition protected 1802.55 acres of prairie grassland, wetland, and other wildlife habitat as State Wildlife Management Areas open to public hunting. With these 16 acquisition we have exceeded our planned acres of 1362 by more than 400 acres. Breaking down acres by ecological section we acquired 282 acres in the metro and 1520 acres in the prairie.  We have a balance of $52,798 of grant funds and $81,837.48 in program income that will be returned despite exceeding our acre goals.

This appropriation funded 283 projects totaling 21,953 acres. The two largest types of enhancement were 112 woody removal projects totaling 10,160 acres and 134 prescribed burns totaling 10,082 acres. Additionally, we seeded 30 sites totaling 1386 acres, put in infrastructure for conservation grazing of 236 acres on 3 sites, conducted 3 oak savanna enhancements totaling 42 acres, and treated 47 acres of invasive species on 2 sites.

This proposal accelerates the protection of 900 acres of prairie grassland, wetland, and other wildlife habitat as State Wildlife Management Areas open to public hunting.

This proposal will address a backlog of shallow lake and wetland habitat work that will otherwise go unfunded. These projects will address work called for in the Minnesota Prairie Conservation Plan, Long Range Duck Recovery Plan, and Shallow Lakes plan.

We propose restoration and enhancement of prairie and savanna on WMA’s, SNA’s, and Native Prairie Banks in Minnesota and restoration and enhancement of bluff prairies on State Forest Land in southeast Minnesota.

The Native Prairie Bank Program will work with willing landowners to enroll 420 acres of native prairie in perpetual conservation easements. Enrollment will focus on Minnesota Prairie Plan identified landscapes and target high quality prairies that provide valuable wildlife habitat.

This proposal accelerates the protection and restoration of 911 acres of prairie grasslands, associated wetlands and other wildlife habitats as State Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) open to the public. Pheasants Forever (PF) will be permanently protecting parcels within the prairie, prairie/forest transition, and metro planning regions. These acquired properties will be restored to the highest quality wildlife habitat feasible and transferred to the MN Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR) to be included into the WMA system.

The Minnesota Land Trust proposes to permanently protect 506 acres of high quality habitat in southwest Minnesota by securing conservation easements within scientifically prioritized habitat complexes by filling key unmet gaps in the available land protection toolbox. Working with willing landowners the Land Trust will use its innovative bid model to maximize conservation benefit and financial leverage in project selection.

The Minnesota Land Trust proposes to permanently protect 312 acres of high quality habitat in southwest Minnesota by securing conservation easements within scientifically prioritized habitat complexes by filling key unmet gaps in the available land protection toolbox. Working with willing landowners the Land Trust will use its innovative bid model to maximize conservation benefit and financial leverage in project selection.

This phase of WMA acquisition protected 1,260.22 acres of prairie grassland, wetland, and other wildlife habitat as State Wildlife Management Areas open to public hunting. With these 9 acquisition we have exceeded our planned acres of 1030 by more than 230.22 acres. All of the acquired properties had wildlife habitat restored to the highest quality possible.

CMSM opened its new permanent site with increased capacity to serve as an informal learning center that playfully engages children, families, and school groups in interactive experiences with the art and cultural heritage of southern Minnesota. With its current appropriation, CMSM is poised to strengthen its core as an institution that promotes arts and cultural heritage learning through continued

CMSM will build upon the work that began with its 2015-16 appropriation by (1) Remediation and further development of exhibit areas that promote Arts & Cultural Heritage (ACH) learning (2) Expanding ACH learning opportunities for new audiences at off-site locations; (3) Engaging an outside Evaluation Consultant to help plan/implement strategies that meaningfully assess ACH learning outcomes and impacts; (4) Boosting the Museum’s capacity to serve more school/early learning groups.