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.
The goal of this phase of the WPA acquisition program was to protect a total of 760 acres of grassland, wetland and other wildlife habitats as Waterfowl Production Areas open to public hunting. Pheasants Forever purchased 11 parcels totaling 1,310 acres of wetlands and grasslands in Minnesota?s prairie region. In addition to exceeding our acre goals, $28,152.10 of grant funds will be returned.
This phase of WMA acquisition protected 1,182.25 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 1012 by more than 170 acres. All of the acquired properties had wildlife habitat restored to the highest quality possible.
This programmatic proposal accelerates the protection and restoration of 1,073 acres of strategic prairie grassland, wetland, and other wildlife habitats as State Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) open to public hunting. Pheasants Forever (PF) will be protecting parcels that build onto or create a corridor between existing protected lands which will be transferred to the MN Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR) to be included as a WMA. All acquisitions will occur within the prairie, prairie/forest transition, and metro planning regions.
The Conservation Partners Legacy Grant Program will be managed by the Department of Natural Resources to provide competitive matching grants of up to $400,000 to local, regional, state, and national non-profit organizations and government entities. In it's first 7 years of funding, the CPL program has provided 410 grants totaling $37 million to 133 different grantee organizations, positively affecting over 220,000 acres of habitat. Demand for CPL grants has continued to grow each year as new grantees hear about the program and successful grantees return.
As of 11/1/2023, the CPL program has provided over 970 grants totaling $115 million to over 250 different grantee organizations, improving or protecting over 577,000 acres of habitat. Demand for CPL grants has continued to grow each year as new applicants hear about the program and successful grantees return. In ML 2019 there were 99 grants awarded- 15 metro grants, 29 traditional grants, and 55 Expedited Conservation Partners grants. Through these 99 grants, over 34,000 acres were restored, enhanced, or protected. Over $10.6M was awarded to organizations for projects.
We restored and enhanced a total of 40,539 grassland acres with 446 activities on Wildlife Management Areas, Scientific and Natural Areas, Native Prairie Bank easements, Waterfowl Production Areas, and National Wildlife Refuges.
This DNR Aquatic Habitat appropriation used a programmatic approach to achieve prioritized aquatic habitat restoration, and enhancement of lakes and streams across all the LSOHC planning regions. Two large stream restoration projects totaling 54 acres were completed with this appropriation. Also, habitat enhancement projects were completed on 51 Aquatic Management Areas, totaling 1252 acres. Stream habitat work for this appropriation and LSOHC-funded projects from other appropriations was aided by funding for a stream restoration coordinator and interns.
This DNR Aquatic Habitat appropriation used a programmatic approach to achieve prioritized aquatic habitat restoration and enhancement of lakes and streams. DNR modified two dams and replaced five culverts to restore fish passage on six streams. Twenty acres of habitat were restored on two streams and three acres of stream habitat were enhanced with this appropriation. All of these projects will provide excellent opportunities to educate the public on the importance of lake and stream habitat restoration and enhancement.
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.
Project Partners Northern Water Land Trust (NWLT) and Minnesota Land Trust (MLT) successfully concluded this grant, exceeding all proposed acre and leverage goals. Minnesota Land Trust and the Northern Waters Land Trust protected 1,114 acres (170% of goal) of high priority critical fish habitat and 5.61 miles of shoreline associated with priority tullibee "refuge" lakes and their associated watersheds through conservation easement and fee title acquisitions, and enhanced 73 acres (122% of goal) of associated forest habitat.
Audubon successfully completed enhancement projects within a diverse array of floodplain forest habitats. Work was completed on 1260 acres of floodplain forest land, which was very close to our goal of 1290 acres. Through phase three, over 70,000 trees were planted, invasive species were managed, and quality trees were given more space to grow.
Ducks Unlimited successfully enhanced 3,437 wetland acres and restored 83 wetland acres through this grant, which significantly exceeds our grant acre goals of 2,000 acres of wetland enhancement and 50 acres of wetlands restored for this 2017 OHF appropriation.
Metro Big Rivers successfully completed work with the Phase 9 / ML2019 OHF appropriation, exceeding acreage goals by 55% and completing work on 1,723 acres (goal was 1,115 acres). Partners protected 207 acres through permanent conservation easement, restored 50 acres and enhanced 1,466 acres.
MBR 9 expended 94% of the OHF funds granted and leveraged the grant 51% with over $2.0 million in other funds, landowner donation of easement value, and in-kind work by the USFWS.
The Minnesota Forest Recovery Project completed habitat enhancement on 5519 unique acres of public lands in Lake, Cass, Itasca, St. Louis, Cook, and Beltrami Counties. Multiple treatments on some parcels ensured success of enhancement efforts.
Minnesota Trout Unlimited will enhance and restore habitat for fish and wildlife in and along priority coldwater streams located on existing conservation easements and public lands around the state. Trout streams are a relatively scarce resource and increasing threats to them require accelerating habitat work to reduce the backlog of degraded stream reaches. Population outcomes will be maximized by improving the connectivity of habitat and fish and wildlife populations, and building upon work on adjacent sections.
The Nature Conservancy and US Fish and Wildlife Service will work together to permanently protect native prairie and associated complexes of wetlands and native habitats in western and central Minnesota by purchasing approximately 705 acres of fee title properties and/or permanent habitat easements. Approximately 350 acres will be native prairie. Work will be focused in areas identified as having significant biodiversity by the Minnesota Biological Survey and located in priority areas in the Minnesota Prairie Conservation Plan.
The program protected 848 acres using OHF, and a total of 1,627 acres of forested habitat which leveraged over $2.2 million in other state and federal Department of Defense funding to permanently protect these lands near some of Minnesota's fastest developing cities (Baxter and Brainerd). This was a partnership effort involving The Conservation Fund, The Nature Conservancy, Camp Ripley, City of Baxter, Sylvan Township, Cass County, and Crow Wing County. The local press covered the closing of the project on radio, TV, and the newspapers.
The Norway Lake Dam was removed and replaced with a rock-arch rapids in 2022 by the City of Pine River. Replacing the high hazard dam with a rock riffle enhanced fish passage, biological connectivity, habitat, safety, aesthetics, fishing, and recreational access to the river. The riffle pools and channels enhanced recreational opportunities wading, fishing, paddling and other water-based fun.
Using the Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) program, this project addressed the potential loss of grassland habitats from conversion to cropland and accelerated grassland protection efforts not covered by other programs. Focusing on Minnesota Prairie Plan-identified landscapes and working in coordination with established Prairie Conservation Plan Local Technical Teams (LTTs), this project completed 7 RIM conservation easements permanently protecting 617 acres of grassland habitat, exceeding the accomplishment plan goal by 23%.
Under the CREP partnership with USDA, 38 easements were recorded on a total of 2,732 acres to restore previously drained wetlands and adjacent uplands. One easement is a flowage easement that was required to complete wetland restoration work on an adjacent
This Phase 8 request funds Ducks Unlimited’s prairie land acquisition and restoration program. DU will acquire 560 acres of land containing drained wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region of SW Minnesota for restoration and transfer to the Minnesota DNR for inclusion in the state WMA system. This land acquisition and restoration program focuses on restoring cropland with wetlands along shallow lakes and adjoining WMAs containing large wetlands to help restore prairie wetland habitat complexes for breeding ducks and other wildlife.
This Phase 6 request for Ducks Unlimited's land protection and restoration program will acquire and restore 600 acres of prairie land on shallow lakes and prairie land with restorable wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region of SW Minnesota for transfer to the Minnesota DNR for inclusion in the state Wildlife Management Area system. This land acquisition and restoration work will focus on land that buffers shallow lakes and provides breeding habitat for ducks and other prairie wildlife.
Funding through this appropriation enhanced 8,359 acres of wetland habitat. Included in this work were six infrastructure projects that enhanced 871 acres and a Douglas County wetland restoration was done in cooperation with Pheasants Forever. Wetland management actions by the Region 1 Roving Habitat Crew enhanced almost 7,500 wetland acres through work on prescribed burns, herbicide applications, and removal of woody vegetation. Survey and design work in Rice County gathered information for possible future construction.
This program will protect approximately 1,900 acres using conservation easements and fee land acquisition and restore and enhance approximately 165 acres of declining habitat for important wildlife species in strategically targeted areas of biodiversity significance in the Blufflands of Southeast Minnesota resulting in increased public access and improved wildlife habitat.
The program protected 416 acres through fee-title acquisition and 441 acres in conservation easements for a total of 857 acres of protection. Program partners also completed 161 acres of habitat enhancement, including 31 acres that occurred on property protected through this award.
This project will protect and enhance high priority habitat in fee for the Richard J. Dorer Memorial Forest in southeast Minnesota. This will include enhancing mixed deciduous forest lands through silvicultural practices and control of invasive species. The project will also provide additional opportunities for hunting in an area of the state where public hunting opportunities are limited. All projects will be done in accordance with the state forest land asset plans, RJ Dorer State Forest Plan and the SE MN Driftless Project Map.
Phase 4 of the Wetland Habitat Protection and Restoration Program will result in the protection of 800 acres of high priority wetland habitat complexes in Minnesota’s Prairie and Forest-Prairie Transition areas by securing permanent conservation easements within scientifically prioritized habitat complexes. The Minnesota Land Trust will use its innovative landowner bid model to maximize conservation benefit and financial leverage in protection project selection.
This Phase 5 continuation of the Wild Rice Shoreland Protection Program will utilize permanent conservation easements to protect 500 acres, translating to approximately 3 miles of wild rice shoreland habitat. Sites are selected through an integrative ranking process that considers development risk, surrounding land use, habitat value, and numerous other criteria. BWSR will utilize the RIM Easement process in partnership with 12 local SWCDs within the Northern Forest and Forest/Prairie Transition Sections during the appropriation term.
