All Projects

28 Results for
Recipient
DNR
2018 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$1,755,000
Fund Source

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.

Aitkin
Anoka
Blue Earth
Cass
Chippewa
Grant
Kandiyohi
Le Sueur
Lyon
Marshall
McLeod
Meeker
Mille Lacs
Morrison
Murray
Nicollet
Nobles
Pennington
Pine
Pope
Renville
Roseau
Scott
Sibley
Stearns
Todd
Wabasha
Wadena
Washington
Wilkin
Winona
Wright
Recipient
DNR
2014 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$1,790,000
Fund Source

Many of Minnesota's wetlands have been lost and the remainder degraded.  The original proposal planned for 15,000 acres of wetland/shallow lake enhancement to provide critical habitat for each life stage of waterfowl and wetland wildlife.  The six projects subsequently completed with this appropriation enhanced 13,800 acres of wetlands and shallow lakes in the Prarie and Forest/Prairie Ecosections of Minnestoa.

Aitkin
Becker
Benton
Big Stone
Freeborn
Jackson
Kittson
Lac qui Parle
Le Sueur
Lincoln
Mille Lacs
Nicollet
Polk
Roseau
Todd
Wilkin
Recipient
Pheasants Forever
2018 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$5,500,000
Fund Source

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.

Becker
Big Stone
Blue Earth
Carver
Clay
Kandiyohi
Otter Tail
Renville
Swift
Recipient
Pheasants Forever
2018 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$5,603,000
Fund Source

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.

Chippewa
Cottonwood
Kandiyohi
Lac qui Parle
Lyon
McLeod
Nobles
Sibley
Stearns
Recipient
DNR
2018 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$9,294,000
Fund Source

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.

Aitkin
Anoka
Becker
Blue Earth
Cass
Chisago
Clay
Clearwater
Cottonwood
Crow Wing
Dakota
Douglas
Goodhue
Grant
Hennepin
Hubbard
Isanti
Itasca
Jackson
Kanabec
Kittson
Lake
Marshall
Martin
Meeker
Mille Lacs
Mower
Murray
Nobles
Otter Tail
Ramsey
Rice
Sherburne
Sibley
St. Louis
Stearns
Steele
Stevens
Wadena
Waseca
Washington
Winona
Recipient
DNR
2018 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$3,950,000
Fund Source

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.

Aitkin
Anoka
Becker
Beltrami
Benton
Big Stone
Blue Earth
Carlton
Carver
Chippewa
Chisago
Clay
Clearwater
Cottonwood
Dakota
Douglas
Fillmore
Goodhue
Grant
Hennepin
Houston
Isanti
Jackson
Kandiyohi
Kittson
Lac qui Parle
Le Sueur
Lincoln
Lyon
Mahnomen
Marshall
McLeod
Meeker
Mille Lacs
Morrison
Mower
Murray
Nobles
Norman
Olmsted
Otter Tail
Polk
Pope
Red Lake
Redwood
Renville
Rice
Rock
Roseau
Scott
Sherburne
Sibley
Stearns
Stevens
Swift
Todd
Traverse
Wabasha
Washington
Wilkin
Winona
Wright
Yellow Medicine
Recipient
DNR
2014 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$5,250,000
Fund Source

DNR completed nine stream habitat projects with this appropriation. Four fish passage projects opened up access to 180 miles of river and 13,521 acres of lake and wetland habitat. We enhanced habitat on 39 Aquatic Management Areas, totalling 1440 acres, through the efforts of four positions funded by this appropriation. It also funded two stream habitat positions that oversaw the completion of 23 DNR projects and over 50 partner-lead projects funded by various OHF sources.

Aitkin
Becker
Beltrami
Big Stone
Blue Earth
Cass
Chippewa
Clay
Cook
Cottonwood
Crow Wing
Dakota
Douglas
Fillmore
Hubbard
Itasca
Jackson
Le Sueur
Lincoln
Martin
Meeker
Morrison
Otter Tail
Polk
Renville
Rice
Rock
St. Louis
Wabasha
Winona
Recipient
DNR
2014 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$4,783,400
Fund Source

Work resulting from this appropriation resulted in the acquisition, development, and inclusion of 2,095 acres into the state Wildlife Management Area (WMA) system, 74 acres into the the state Scientific and Natural Area system, and through easement acquisition added 387 acres to the state Native Prairie Bank.

Becker
Brown
Clearwater
Hubbard
Jackson
Kandiyohi
Pennington
Stearns
Stevens
Swift
Wadena
Wilkin
Wright
Recipient
DNR
2014 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$2,220,000
Fund Source

The following table provides a short summary of the accomplishments under this appropriation.  In total, the DNR enhanced and restored 283 sites for a total of 17,087 acres.  

Becker
Beltrami
Big Stone
Blue Earth
Brown
Clay
Cottonwood
Douglas
Faribault
Fillmore
Goodhue
Grant
Houston
Jackson
Kandiyohi
Kittson
Lac qui Parle
Lyon
Marshall
Martin
Nobles
Norman
Otter Tail
Polk
Pope
Redwood
Renville
Rice
Roseau
Sibley
Stevens
Swift
Traverse
Wabasha
Winona
Yellow Medicine
Recipient
DNR
2018 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$2,166,000
Fund Source
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.
Cook
Otter Tail
Rock
Todd
Recipient
Leech Lake Area Watershed Foundation and Minnesota Land Trust
2018 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$1,716,000
Fund Source

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.

Cass
Crow Wing
Recipient
Ducks Unlimited
2018 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$4,716,000
Fund Source

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.

Cottonwood
Grant
Jackson
Lac qui Parle
Le Sueur
Lincoln
Meeker
Murray
Pope
Sibley
Swift
Yellow Medicine
Recipient
DNR and USFWS
2014 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$1,710,000
Fund Source

The Lower Mississippi River Habitat Partnership included three distinct project components. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service enhanced 700 acres of wetland and bottomland forest habitat on the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge’s (Refuge) Root River Tract in Houston County.

Dakota
Goodhue
Houston
Recipient
MN VNWR Trust, Friends of Miss, GRG, MLT, TPL
2014 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$1,720,000
Fund Source

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.

Anoka
Carver
Chisago
Dakota
Ramsey
Scott
Sherburne
Sibley
Washington
Recipient
The Nature Conservancy
2018 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$2,683,000
Fund Source

The acquisition work for this phase has been completed. The goal for this phase was the protection of 770 acres in fee and conservation easements. Over the life of the grant we protected 973 acres (126% of the goal): 913 acres in conservation easements and 60 acres in fee title. The goal for native prairie acres for this phase was 385 acres. We protected a total of 772 acres of native prairie acres (201% of the goal).

Brown
Clay
Kandiyohi
Pipestone
Pope
Rock
Yellow Medicine
Recipient
The Nature Conservancy
2014 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$5,310,000
Fund Source

Phase Four of the MN Prairie Recovery Program resulted in a total of 1,707 acres protected, 37,567 acres enhanced, and 440 acres restored. When combined with Phases 1-3 of the Prairie Recovery Program we have cumulatively protected 5,777 acres, enhanced 95,701 acres and restored 754 acres using Outdoor Heritage Fund dollars. We will continue to implement subsequent Phases toward meeting the conservation goals described in the MN Prairie Conservation Plan.

Big Stone
Chippewa
Clay
Cottonwood
Jackson
Kandiyohi
Kittson
Lac qui Parle
Lincoln
Lyon
Marshall
Murray
Nobles
Norman
Pennington
Pipestone
Polk
Pope
Red Lake
Rock
Roseau
Stearns
Swift
Wilkin
Yellow Medicine
Recipient
Cass County
2014 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$500,000
Fund Source

Project protects forest wildlife habitat in central Minnesota through fee title acquisition of key forest tracts. Title of lands acquired is held by Cass County in fee.

Cass
Recipient
BWSR
2018 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$10,398,000
Fund Source

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

Blue Earth
Brown
Carver
Cottonwood
Freeborn
Grant
Martin
Meeker
Nicollet
Redwood
Renville
Rice
Steele
Swift
Traverse
Wilkin
Yellow Medicine
Recipient
BWSR
2014 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$13,292,600
Fund Source

The Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) Wetlands Partnership Phase V protected and restored 2,041 acres of previously drained wetlands and adjacent native grasslands on 23 conservation easements. All easements have been recorded. $35,000 of funds from other sources were also used.  

Becker
Blue Earth
Clay
Freeborn
Le Sueur
Lincoln
Lyon
Meeker
Murray
Nobles
Otter Tail
Redwood
Stevens
Todd
Wilkin
Recipient
The Nature Conservancy/MN Land Trust
2014 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$1,644,600
Fund Source

The Nature Conservancy acquired in fee 3 properties that added 143 acres to the RJ Doer Memorial Hardwood Forest. The Minnesota Land Trust protected 3 properties with perpetual easements totaling 526 acres. The Nature Conservancy enhanced 396 acres of high priority habitat (bluff prairie and oak savanna) on existing state forest and Scientific and Natural Area lands, and an additional 35 acres on new fee acquisitions. 

Fillmore
Houston
Winona
Recipient
Ducks Unlimited
2018 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$5,750,000
Fund Source

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.

Clay
Lincoln
Pope
Sibley
Recipient
Ducks Unlimited
2014 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$3,530,000
Fund Source

Ducks Unlimited purchased a total of 567 acres in 11 separate parcels in the Prairie Section for the state of Minnesota, including 135 acres of wetlands and 432 acres of uplands.  All 11 parcels have been restored and transferred to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for inclusion in state Wildlife Management Areas, are open to public access, and managed for wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation.  This prairie conservation work contributes to the goals of the Minnesota Prairie Conservation Plan, the Governor's Pheasant Action Plan, Minnesota's Long-range Duck Recovery

Big Stone
Blue Earth
Freeborn
Le Sueur
Martin
Meeker
Nicollet
Recipient
The Nature Conservancy; The Trust for Public Land; Minnesota Land Trust
2018 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$2,375,000
Fund Source

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.

Fillmore
Houston
Winona
Recipient
DNR
2018 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$1,000,000
Fund Source

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.

Fillmore
Houston
Recipient
BWSR; DNR
2014 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$1,450,000
Fund Source

Fourteen permanent RIM Easements on 766 acres of high quality, riparian and forested habitat  have been recorded and will provide lasting wildlife habitat. Attempts were made to acquire three tracts in fee title that would have relied on this funding.  The owner of one tract rejected an offer of the certified appraised value.  Acquisition attempts on the other two tracts were discontinued when it became apparent that the planned use of the land as DNR Wildlife Management Area would be incompatible with local government plans for future municipal growth.

Cass
Crow Wing
Morrison
Recipient
MN Land Trust
2014 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$1,980,000
Fund Source

Fourteen conservation easements were completed by this program resulting in the protection of 1,962 acres of high quality wetland and associated upland habitat complexes and 78,596 feet (approximately 15 miles) of shoreland along priority lakes and rivers in west-central Minnesota. This program exceeded by 862 acres the amount proposed for the grant. Total leverage through donated easements by landowners is estimated at $1,209,700, all in excess of that proposed.

Douglas
Meeker
Otter Tail
Pope
Todd
Recipient
BWSR
2018 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$750,000
Fund Source

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.

Aitkin
Becker
Cass
Crow Wing
Recipient
BWSR with Ducks Unlimited
2014 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$1,630,000
Fund Source

Twenty six easements protecting 1,173.3 were recorded which exceeded the original proposal by 173 acres (15%). 11.6 miles of shoreline were protected which exceeded the 8 acre goal by 30%. Total expenditure was $1,355,000 which was 17% lower than originally budgeted. No fee-title land acquisition opportunities on wild rice lakes that fit within DNR and other government agency land plans were available during this time period thus DU did not expend any of the $100,000 budgeted for fee-title acquisition. Instead the program focused on RIM easements. 

Aitkin
Carlton
Cass
Crow Wing
Hubbard
Itasca
St. Louis
Wadena