This program will increase populations of a variety of game and non-game wildlife species by protecting and enhancing forest habitats on which wildlife depends. This program of on-the-ground forest conservation projects will amplify the wildlife value of forest communities on DNR administered forestlands. Our forest enhancement will treat 4,472 ac. These activities are not conducted as part of the DNR's commercial timber operations. Additionally, our program will acquire 404 acres of forestland that contributes to habitat complexes and other high priorities.
Leech Lake Area Watershed Foundation and the Minnesota Land Trust collectively protected 765 acres and 8.9 miles of critical shoreland and forest habitat in the watersheds of strategic North Central Minnesota lakes through the completion of 5 conservation easements and 1 fee title acquisition. Acreage protection outcomes exceeded that proposed by 151%; shoreland protected exceeded that proposed by 297%. The grant leveraged $1,119,000 through landowner donation of easement and fee value and other sources, exceeding goals by 134%.
Metro Big Rivers' restoration and enhancement partners (FMR and GRG) achieved their goals, converting through restoration a former rail yard in the urban core to 32 acres of prairie and enhancing 98 acres of prairie and forest at four other public conservation sites in the metropolitan area. The easement partner (MLT) exceeded goals and permanently protected 131 acres under two conservation easements in Washington County.
Metro Big Rivers Phase 3 protected 67 acres of significant habitat along more than 1 mile of the Mississippi River, restored 8 acres of prairie and enhanced 495 acres of priority habitat (47 wetland acres, 50 prairie acres and 398 forest acres) in the Metropolitan Urbanizing Area.
With this final report, Metro Big Rivers Phase 2 is complete and significantly exceeded its original acreage targets of protecting, restoring and enhancing priority wildlife habitat within the three big rivers corridors in the Metropolitan Urbanizing Area. Specifically:
* Metro Big Rivers 2 planned to protect 733 acres, but actually protected 1,430 acres.
* Metro Big Rivers 2 planned to restore 15 acres and enhance 135 acres, but actually restored 15 acres and enhanced 178 acres.
Using data supplied by Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), this project will model the relationship between sulfate and sulfide in wild rice habitats.
The goal of this project is the development of a model of wild rice population dynamics, using RAMAS software, which mimics natural variability of population levels and calculates the probability of population extinction.
Invasive carp have breached Minnesota's southern border. The last place they can be stopped is Lock&Dam 5 but time is of the essence. This proposal enables this solution.
The goals of the program are to evaluate the effectiveness of agricultural conservation practices, identify underlying processes that affect water quality, and develop technologies to target critical areas of the landscape. Funded projects provide current and accurate scientific data on the environmental impacts of agricultural practices and help to develop or revise agricultural practices that reduce environmental impacts while maintaining farm profitability.
This project will promote positive land use changes, along with a sense of watershed stewardship and awareness throughout the Crow River Watershed. This project contains three main tasks: BMP installation, public outreach and administration. This project will also work with the Big Swan Lake Association in Meeker County to host a shoreline naturalization workshop.
Implementation activities proposed as a part of this project include water quality monitoring, biotic surveys, sediment core sampling, mechanical treatment of curly-leaf pondweed (in accordance with regulations and permitting), an iron-enhanced sand filter, with a high capacity multi-stage outlet weir and 40,000 pounds of iron filings and stakeholder involvement in the design process and educational presentations.
This project consists of habitat restoration, water quality and fish passage improvements through the removal of the existing fixed elevation dam, construction of rock arch rapids and in-stream habitat restoration.
Implementation of the cultural resources study including a series of messaging features installed throughout the regional park on existing benches and light/wayfinding poles, on fences or in landscapes. The project will also include storytelling/interview videos linked in the messaging features and also landscaping and vegetation establishment.
Objective 1: At outset of project, MLBO staff will meet on a monthly basis in order to provide steering support for programming as well as a means of ensuring quality control for programming in order to ensure effective usage of grant resources. Objective 2: By Month 3 MLBO Administration and NAS Language Staff will have completed internal planning pertaining to usage of contracting funds, including long-term objectives for contracts and future-planning of contract funds which have not yet been allocated.
The Minimal Impact Design Standards (MIDS) project represents the next generation of stormwater management in Minnesota. MIDS offers guidelines, recommendations and tools that help low impact development practices be implemented more uniformly across Minnesota's landscape and provides guidance to effectively implement the concepts and practices of low impact development. Products include performance goals for new development, redevelopment and linear projects, a graphic user interface calculator and flexible treatment options for sites design.
Invasive carp species, including silver carp and bighead carp, are migrating north up the Mississippi River and pose threats to the native fish and aquatic ecosystems of Minnesota rivers and lakes where they can become established. While individual carp have been found in Minnesota, it is not presently believed that there are established breeding populations in the state.
This project will create a culvert inventory database for county and township roads in the southwest portion of St. Louis County that contains the St. Louis River watershed. Data will be used by the County Public Works Department to identify and prioritize stream crossings in need of replacement or increasing upstream storm water retention to reduce the potential for culvert failure during large runoff events, factoring in stream health (fish habitat and passage, sediment transport and hydrologic connection) while protecting infrastructure.
Ragamala Dance and Mu Daiko will present a shared public performance at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center, providing an affordable experience of Indian and Japanese performing arts to the southern Twin Cities suburbs, and a free school matinee.
This project will address impairments in the St. Croix, Kettle and Snake River Watersheds by reducing sediment and phosphorus delivery by encouraging private forest landowners within the St. Croix River Watershed in Pine County to re-establish riparian forest buffers, maintain existing riparian buffers and plant de-forested areas. It will develop a forest stewardship program and write forest stewardship plans in watersheds with the highest risk of impacts on water quality as listed by the Minnesota Forest Resources Council. This project will implement measures to achieve the St.
This project will install nearly 800 linear feet of restored lakeshore with an emphasis on bioengineering techniques, native plants and locating buffers/swales at points of concentrated overland flow into Green Lake. By targeting properties that are eroding and/or with concentrated overland flow to the lake we will reduce suspended solids discharge by 16,697 lbs/yr and phosphorus by 1.3 lbs/yr.
Northstar's Tellabration! is an annual festival held at Open Book the weekend after Thanksgiving, featuring traditional and contemporary storytelling and spoken word performance for all ages, as well as workshops, open microphones, and story swaps.
