MeCC V - Critical Land Protection Program (3.1)
Project Outcome and Results
In its Critical Lands Protection Program, The Trust for Public Land (TPL) used $380,000 ENRTF funds to secure fee title on 21.63 ENRTF acres of 402 total acquired acres. TPL conveyed these lands to public agencies for permanent protection. Individual project successes include the following:
- TPL spent $318,000 2009 ENRTF funds to protect 14.43 ENRTF acres of land as part of a larger 64-acre purchase of shoreline designated by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources as a "regionally significant ecological area." TPL conveyed the land to the City of Lindstrom to create the Allemansratt Wilderness Park.
- TPL spent $62,000 2009 ENRTF to protect 7.2 ENRTF acres of land as part of a 338-acre acquisition of one of the largest undeveloped and contiguous tracts of open space in the Twin Cities Metro Area. TPL then conveyed the land to Anoka County. Located at the confluence of Cedar Creek and the Rum River, this land will be managed by the County as the Cedar Creek Conservation Area.
TPL leveraged $380,000 in TPL Metro Conservation Corridors (MeCC) 2009 funding on these projects with $992,000 in non-state funds to protect 87.79 additional pro-rated acres of land. $652,000 of this was non-state public funds and $339,500 of this was from private land value donations. Additionally, $500,000 in state remediation grant funds were used to protect 22.7 pro-rated acres and $1,900,000 in Outdoor Heritage Funds were used to protect 221.4 pro-rated acres. TPL's 2010 ENRTF funds in the amount of $338,000 and DNR's 2008 ENRTF funds in the amount of $200,000 were used to protect 39.4 pro-rated acres and 9.08 pre-rated acres respectively. All acres acquired total 402.
*Please note, since a portion of TPL's 2010 ENRTF funding was used for the Cedar Creek Conservation Area project, a portion of these results will also be reflected in TPL's 2010 MeCC Work Program update and Final Report.
Project Results Use and Dissemination
As conservation transactions were completed, The Trust for Public Land disseminated information on the TPL website www.tpl.org, broadcast emails to Embrace Open Space (EOS) and TPL list serve members, distributed press releases, and included information in TPL's newsletters as appropriate. TPL also worked with the long-term stewards to ensure information was distributed to their listserves and posted on their websites as well.
$3,375,000 is from the trust fund to the commissioner of natural resources for the fifth appropriation for acceleration of agency programs and cooperative agreements. Of this appropriation, $2,185,000 is for Department of Natural Resources agency programs and $1,190,000 is for agreements as follows: $380,000 with the Trust for Public Land; $90,000 with Friends of the Mississippi River; $155,000 with Great River Greening; $250,000 with Minnesota Land Trust; $225,000 with Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge Trust, Inc.; and $90,000 with Friends of the Minnesota Valley for the purposes of planning, restoring, and protecting important natural areas in the metropolitan area, as defined under Minnesota Statutes, section 473.121, subdivision 2, and portions of the surrounding counties, through grants, contracted services, technical assistance, conservation easements, and fee title acquisition. Land acquired with this appropriation must be sufficiently improved to meet at least minimum management standards as determined by the commissioner of natural resources. Expenditures are limited to the identified project corridor areas as defined in the work program. This appropriation may not be used for the purchase of residential structures, unless expressly approved in the work program. All conservation easements must be perpetual and have a natural resource management plan. Any land acquired in fee title by the commissioner of natural resources with money from this appropriation must be designated as an outdoor recreation unit under Minnesota Statutes, section 86A.07. The commissioner may similarly designate any lands acquired in less than fee title. A list of proposed restorations and fee title and easement acquisitions must be provided as part of the required work program. All funding for conservation easements must include a long-term stewardship plan and funding for monitoring and enforcing the agreement. To the maximum extent practical, consistent with contractual easement or fee acquisition obligations, the recipients shall utilize staff resources to identify future projects and shall maximize the implementation of biodiverse, quality restoration projects in the project proposal into the first half of the 2010 fiscal year.
Click on "Final Report" under "Project Details".
Click on "Final Report" under "Project Details".