Protect and Restore MN IBAs within the Tallgrass Aspen Parklands, Phase 2
Audubon Minnesota and Minnesota Land Trust are requesting funds to protect 560 acres through conservation easement and to enhance 500 acres of significant wildlife habitat on protected private and public lands. Our project and parcel prioritization criteria places an emphasis on Important Bird Areas and priority areas identified in the Minnesota Prairie Conservation Plan, prioritizing the 6 northwestern Minnesota counties associated with the Tallgrass Aspen Parklands region.
Audubon Minnesota and the Minnesota Land Trust will continue with the second phase of our Important Bird Area Protection and Restoration Program in the Tallgrass Aspen Parklands region of Minnesota. This program will further advance the Outdoor Heritage Funds legacy of habitat protection and enhancement of habitat for wildlife in Minnesota. With these funds we will: 1) Obtain conservation easements on 560 acres of private lands, and 2) enhance 500 acres of habitat within the Tallgrass Aspen Parklands region of Minnesota. Our program places an emphasis on Minnesota’s Important Bird Areas (IBAs) as they are essential to maintaining healthy and diverse bird populations in the state. Our aim is to protect and restore/enhance working grasslands, remnant prairies and threatened wetlands within the program area. Important Bird Areas not only provide a critical tool for targeting and maximizing conservation resources but they also provide an additional and compelling motive to private landowners considering putting their lands into a conservation easement. The Tallgrass Aspen Parklands (TAP) Region of Minnesota supports over 289 birds species (143 regular breeding species, 22 permanent residents, and over 114 migrants or winter residents) including geese, sandhill cranes, a variety of waterfowl, and numerous other grassland and wetland species. Gray wolves, moose, elk, and white-tailed deer are among the other wildlife found in the region. While protecting existing high quality habitats within IBAs and the Minnesota Prairie Conservation Plan priority areas is the ultimate goal of this program, we also recognize that some of the greatest conservation opportunities exist within the agricultural matrix of western Minnesota due to the loss of grassland and wetland habitats in recent years. It is in these areas that our complete toolbox of protection through easements coupled with enhancement activities may deliver their greatest impact. The Tallgrass Aspen Parklands Region, a transition area between the prairie and forest, was once dominated by wetlands, prairie grasslands and open woodlands. Today, approximately 64% of the landscape has been converted to row crops. In phase 2 of this program, we will expand our habitat focus to include the areas within the 6 northwestern counties that compose the TAP region and emphasize conservation management on working lands to improve water quality and provide better bird habitat. In these areas we will prioritize native plantings, promote participation in the MN Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program, and recommend bird-friendly conservation grazing and haying practices.Audubon Minnesota will conduct programmatic outreach and engagement with private landowners, assist with habitat identification and prioritization, develop Habitat Management Plans for participating landowners and manage the restoration of 500 acres of lands. The Minnesota Land Trust will procure conservation easements from willing landowners through a competitive landowner-bid process that delivers a cost-effective means of securing the protection of high quality, ecologically-significant land. To date, MLT has protected nearly 9,000 acres through 240 conservation easements in Important Bird Areas throughout Minnesota, demonstrating a longstanding commitment to protecting habitat for birds.
$829,000 the second year is to the commissioner of
natural resources for agreements to acquire
conservation easements and enhance wildlife
habitat in important bird areas identified in
Minnesota Prairie Conservation Plan. Of this
amount, $209,000 is to Audubon Minnesota and
$620,000 is to Minnesota Land Trust. Up to
$120,000 to Minnesota Land Trust is for
establishing monitoring and enforcement funds as
approved in the accomplishment plan and subject to
Minnesota Statutes, section 97A.056, subdivision
17. Subject to evaluation criteria in Minnesota
Rules, part 6136.0900, priority must be given to
acquiring lands that are eligible for the native
prairie bank under Minnesota Statutes, section
84.96, or lands adjacent to protected native
prairie. A list of permanent conservation
easements and enhancements must be provided as
part of the required accomplishment plan.
Protected, restored, and enhanced aspen parklands and riparian areas - Protection, restoration and enhancement can be measured by the number of acres/projects we protect in permanent conservation easements and by the total acreage we restore/enhance. The quality of work and level of success will be monitored through the MLT stewardship audits as well as by restoration monitoring as outlined in the Habitat Management Plan or specific restoration prescription developed for each project. .Increased participation of private landowners in habitat projects - This outcome will be evaluated not only by the number of conservation easements we achieve but also by the number of landowners we connect with. We will track the number of community members we: host at working-lands habitat enhancement workshops, conduct site visits with, and interact with at education and outreach events. Outreach is a large component of community engagement and we intend act as a valuable conservation resource, providing conservation management recommendations such as haying restrictions to increase nesting bird success, native plantings for buffers and rotational grazing practices, which benefit wildlife and improve habitat quality on private lands..
MLT, Audubon MN