System Level Ecological Planning to Achieve Restoration & - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

System Level Ecological Planning to Achieve Restoration & Management Goals Forests Prairies Wetlands Wildlife Land Conservation and Clean Water Summit 2009 Ed Quinn - Division Resource Management Program Consultant MNDNR – Division of Parks and Trails

Natural/Cultural Resources in MN State Parks @ 278,000 acres within statutory boundaries (incl. public land & private in-holdings) – About size of Anoka County. 97% is natural area of one kind or another (native plant communities, old fields, etc) Includes hundreds of rare species of plants and animals. Contains some of the finest examples of old growth forest and native plant communities in the state. Over 1,000 nationally and state significant historic buildings, archaeological sites and cemetery sites. 40 National Historic Landmark Districts and National Register Historic Districts have been designated in the state park system.

State Parks Visitation & Activities Over 8 million visitors a year. 5,700 campsites Over 1,300 miles of trail 6,500 picnic sites 33 fishing piers And. . . .visitor centers, beaches, etc

Steps for Developing a Park System Level Ecological Mgmt. Plan 1. Identify/develop goals and objectives 2. Inventory resources (esp. land cover) 3. Determine desired future conditions 4. Calculate costs, targets and timeframes 5. Prepare long-range & short-term plans. 6. Obtain/augment funding needed.

Determine Resource Management Goals & Objectives - State Statutes (86A.05 subd. 2c) Preserve/perpetuate pre-settlement natural features Preserve/perpetuate other significant natural, scenic, scientific, historic features. Maintain a balance of plant and animal life Re-introduce desirable species. Outdoor recreation can be accommodated which does not cause material disturbance or the introduction of undue artificiality.

Determine Resource Management Goals & Objectives – State Park System Goals 1. Protect/perpetuate natural/cultural resources. 2. Minimize damage to nat/cult resources while providing opportunities for appropriate rec/educational activities. 3. Restore natural communities & ecosystems. 4. Promote understanding & awareness of nat/cult resources – facilitate management & protection. 5. Participate in landscape-level planning relative to the protection of nat/cult resources in state parks. System-level Objective Reconstruct, restore or maintain all land within state parks as natural communities of EO Rank B/C quality or better except developed areas or those planned for development .

Inventory Natural Resources At a minimum, need: Land cover - critical for EBM planning: NPC system level, mgmt. category, wetlands, etc Rare species – plants & animals Invasive plant species - #2 threat Other wildlife species - as needed/appropriate Forestville SP Heritage Elements

Inventory Natural Resources - Land Cover Mapping 1. Map land cover to NPC level (system, class, type) as need & $$ allow. 2. Classify/categorize current land cover into management categories (reconstruction, restoration, maintenance) and general community types ( forest, prairie, wetland .) 3. Develop desired future conditions (NPC and wildlife) 4. Calculate costs and time frames Reconstruction Restoration Maintenance Transformation of non- Improvement of a Maintaining a native native community to a degraded native plant community in native plant community. plant community. good condition.

Land Cover Mapping - MN State Parks Prairies & developing DFC’s Current Conditions Desired Future Conditions Parks resource specialists 1.Used Marschner map, bearing tree data, etc. mapped 11,951 acres of & professional judgment to determine: reconstructed & remnant 2.What was likely prairie in the park in the past prairie in state park system. & is still appropriate/feasible to restore. 3.16,800 acres to reconstruct. 4.Prairie DFC – 28,751 acres. Oak openings & barrens Big Woods Bur Oak N Pin Oak White Oak

Prairie Reconstruction -Time Frames & Costs Site preparation & planting (yr 1 & 2) – herbicide, fire, seed collection/purchase. Average cost = $762/acre if utilize own seed and little brush control needed. Establishment period (yrs 2-5) – mowing, spot herbicide, inter-planting $710/acre. Time Frame & Costs: 450 acres/yr - 37 years to complete $1,472/ac (16,800 ac) = $24,730,000.

Land Cover Mapping - MN State Parks Forests & developing DFC’s Used a process similar to prairies for determining forest acres & reconstruction needs Current Conditions Approx. 125,000 acres of FD, MH and floodplain/wet forests in state parks. 20,000 acres needs to be reconstructed (5,000 acres old field/similar, rest is declining aspen/birch w/ no regen.) Desired Future Conditions 145,000 acres of forest in the state park system.

Forest Reconstruction -Time Frames & Costs Forest reconstruction process – much more variable than prairie reconstruction - on average @ 10 years to establish. Direct seeding - $1,724/acre Planting seedlings - $837/acre Understory planting - $1,210/acre Exclosures & planting - $4,715/acre Time Frame & Costs: 286 acres/yr - 69 years to complete $1,257/ac (15,000 ac) + $4,715/ac (5,000) = @ $42,430,000.

Maintaining Natural Communities in the MN State Park System Natural Community Maintenance Maintaining the community in good ecological condition. Monitoring (recreational impacts, external influences) Application of fire or other disturbance at appropriate intensity/intervals. Spot control of invasive species

Maintaining Natural Communities - Calculating Needs, Time Frames & Costs Resource Management Standards hours – allocated directly to parks for maintenance of the park’s natural/cultural resources on an annual basis. Calculated based on individual assessment of each park’s natural & cultural resources and system-wide estimate of hours (costs) needed to maintain various resources. (ex. 100 acres FD forest x 0.5 hrs/ac = 50 resource hours.) Hours = current mean labor rate for system (@ $19.79/hr). Total for state park system is 184,000 hours - @ $3.6 million. Although have never been able to fully fund, having figures/info has led to steady increase over time.

Maintaining Natural Communities - Calculating Needs, Time Frames & Costs – Upper Sioux Agency SP examples System Units Res Upper Total hours Sioux amt. Res hrs FD Forests Area/acres 0.5 151 76 Grasslands, Shrublands & Area/acres 8.0 53 424 Sparse Vegetation Heritage elements (rare sp.) # elements 5.0 6 30 & occur. Cult. Res - cemeteries Per unit 10.0 6 60 Cult. Res – arch. sites Per unit 2.0 2 20

Natural Community Restoration Restoration - Improvement of a degraded native plant community. Restore or maintain all land within state parks as natural communities of EO Rank B/C quality or higher. EO ranks – A through D, generally lower ranks = more invasives, more anthropogenic disturbance, lack of fire or other historic disturbances, missing key community species. Control invasive species within matrix of a native plant community - herbicide, fire. Eliminate past anthropogenic impacts.

Natural Community Restoration – Calculating Needs, Time Frames & Costs Most difficult category to quantify: 1) sometimes requires onsite visits in addition to GIS analysis & 2) variation in degradation. System restoration estimates calculated using actual values for 3 parks in each region. Mean 25% (20%-33%) of total system acreage in need of restoration. 69,500 acres. Highest % in south, lowest in north. Hours/costs estimated to be 30%-40% higher for sites needing restoration.

Special Needs (examples) For a true ecosystem –based approach, important to insure that both native plant communities and wildlife species are incorporated into inventories, DFC’s and management plans. Timber rattlesnakes Fire-sensitive invertebrates Habitat needs to be Soudan Batgate MN Threatened Dakota maintained but immediate skippers & other species can Soudan UG mine – issues were den site be negatively impacted by safe, ingress/egress vandalism & poaching RX fire if not planned for needed for # bat (restricted areas, patrolling) appropriately. species

Park System-level Ecological Planning - Results Provided ecological outcomes which can be quantified in ways which allow for costs to be estimated and time frames developed. Can be communicated in terms common to administrators, legislators and stakeholders. For state parks has resulted in significant increased support for natural resource management on state park lands. 35% increase in funding to accelerate natural community reconstruction of prairies and forests. 50% increase in funding to conduct Rx burns - site prep, invasives control , maintenance of FD communities. 33% increase in funding to control invasive species and re-establish native vegetation.