Minnesota’s natural resource professional workforce is much less diverse than its citizenry and many other professional fields. The benefits of a more diverse workforce are many, including the ability of organizations to increase innovation and creativity, attract higher qualified candidate pools, and ensure services that meet the diverse interests and needs of all citizens.
Scientific and Natural Area (SNA) habitat restoration/enhancement (~600 acres), increased public involvement, and strategic acquisition (~250 acres) will conserve Minnesota?s most unique and rare resources for everyone's benefit.
There are currently more than 21,000 miles of drainage ditches and many thousands of miles of subsurface tile located throughout Minnesota and overseen by over 100 different local drainage authorities. Historically public records of these drainage systems have been maintained primarily in hard copy following differing protocols depending on local requirements. However, this antiquated approach limits the usability and accessibility of public drainage records creating various challenges for drainage management efforts.
Mine stockpiles are unproductive due to soil deficiencies of organic matter, nutrients, and soil organisms, which are essential to supporting healthy plant growth, diversity, and succession. Waste products, including biosolids, composts, and dredged materials, have the potential to be used to address some of these deficiencies and make the lands productive again.
The Minnesota Zoo will develop research-supported strategies to engage the public in specific conservation behaviors they can take in order to improve water quality and mussel health across the state.
Utilize ongoing experiments to determine impending EAB impacts on water, vegetation, and wildlife; optimal replacement species and practices for forest diversification; develop indicators and criteria for prioritization of mitigation activities.
Native Prairie Bank will help landowners conserve native prairie though outreach to 10,000 landowners and practitioners, restoration and enhancement of 870 acres, and protection of 600 acres through conservation easements.
We will reduce environmental pollution from plastics by creating eco-friendly replacements using lignin from the pulp mill in Cloquet. The lignin plastics will be similar in strength to polystyrene.
The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) has been decimating ash throughout the Great Lake States and is currently advancing into Minnesota, threatening the future of the ash forests that occur across much of the state. Of particular concern is the impact EAB will have on the ecology and functioning of black ash swamps, which cover over one million acres in Minnesota and represent the state’s most common ash forest type. Black ash trees grow and thrive in swamps and occupy a unique wet niche where few other tree species grow.
To provide real world economic results of cover crops and alternative tillage implementation. Environmental benefits do not have to come at a cost of bottom line profitability.
Climate change has and will have profound effects on Minnesota’s economy, agriculture, tourism, and natural resources. While climate change is often discussed in the broader contexts of its potential impacts at a national or international level, research has shown that climate change education and behavior change happens more effectively when the issue is made local and relevant.
New invasive plant species continue to emerge in Minnesota and will pose ongoing threats to Minnesota’s economy, ecology, and environment if able to spread across the state. It is cheapest, easiest, and least harmful to find and control small populations of invasive plants before they become widespread.
Elm Creek Restoration Phase IV is a in-stream habitat restoration project that includes 3,670 linear feet of stream bank restoration upstream of Mill Pond Lake
LCCMR's Emerging Issues Account authorized under M.S. 116P.08, Subd. 4. These funds can be allocated to efforts addressing an unexpected and urgent need in an expedited manner.
LCCMR's Emerging Issues Account authorized under M.S. 116P.08, Subd. 4. These funds can be allocated to efforts addressing an unexpected and urgent need in an expedited manner.
Funds will be used by the LCCMR to provide assistance for an unexpected, urgent, or emergency need where time is of the essence, as authorized in Minnesota Statutes, section 116P.08, subdivision 4, paragraph (d).
