June 27, 2024



header


*Minnesota DNR News
*




*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
*

June 27, 2024




*For more information:* <[email protected]>

Contact the DNR Information Center
by?email? <[email protected]>or call 888-646-6367.





In This Issue

* $16 million in grants awarded to strengthen Minnesota?s community forests [ #link_1491411839600 ]
* Volunteers needed in northeastern Minnesota counties for DNR loon survey [ #link_1491411977526 ]
* Well sampling planned in Lake County for groundwater atlas [ #link_1 ]

________________________________________________________________________



$16 million in grants awarded to strengthen Minnesota?s community forests
A couple people in safety vests planting a tree

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has announced that 81 communities will be receiving a collective $16 million through the ReLeaf Community Forestry Grants and the Shade Tree Bonding Grants, marking a significant investment in community forestry.?

These grants underscore Minnesota?s commitment to addressing emerald ash borer and other invasive pests while fostering climate-resilient communities.

Awardees include municipalities, towns, counties, a tribal government, nonprofits, and a school district. The ReLeaf Grants will support 31 projects in areas of environmental justice concern, with eight of the grants providing support for tree care costs, which includes activities such as pruning and tree removals, to low-income property owners. The Shade Tree Bonding Grants will support projects in 43 communities, with a focus on removing ash trees that pose a public safety concern and planting diverse, climate-adapted trees to Minnesota.

These projects will have a positive impact on community forest health, environmental equity, and overall well-being. They will help replace, diversify, and strengthen Minnesota?s urban tree canopy, increase the urban canopy?s resiliency, and help with climate mitigation through carbon storage and the cooling benefits of shade trees. The $16 million awarded is a significant increase over the past grant cycles, and illustrates the Minnesota Legislature?s and Walz-Flanagan Administration?s commitment to preserving and improving community forests now and into the future.

The application period for the next round of ReLeaf Grants is anticipated to open later this year, with an additional $6 million available. The Shade Tree Bonding Grants were fully awarded. Updated information will be available when grants go live on Minnesota DNR?s Community Forestry webpage [ [link removed] ]?(mndnr.gov/forestry/urban).

A full list of grant recipients is available on the DNR website [ [link removed] ] (mndnr.gov/grants/forestmgmt/past-and-current-grant-recipients.html).

Awardee highlights

*The city of Roseau*

?Our small city has very limited resources to put towards tree planting efforts and only through the ReLeaf program is our community able to make significant strides towards our goal of creating a beautiful community with a strong, healthy, and diversified tree canopy,? said Todd Peterson, Roseau community development coordinator.

The city is using the grant to plant 200 trees in various areas throughout the Roseau community and ?minimize future large-scale losses to any single tree disease or pest.?

*Homecroft Elementary School in Duluth *

Homecroft Elementary is the first school awarded a ReLeaf grant. An acre of land was donated to the school that was later enrolled in the Minnesota School Forest Program. Unfortunately, many of their trees have been damaged by storms, emerald ash borer, and other invasive species.

Rebekah Johnson, Homecroft School Forest chair, said while teachable moments can be found anywhere, ?this ReLeaf funding will allow us to reforest our acre with a diverse population of native trees that can outcompete opportunistic, aggressive, invasive plants. Our students will then be able to watch a forest grow up around them through their years in elementary school and beyond!?

*Urban Roots in St. Paul*

Urban Roots [ [link removed] ] (urbanrootsmn.org) is one of five Minnesota nonprofits awarded a ReLeaf Grant. David Woods, the conservation program director at Urban Roots, said he is excited for what this funding will do for the East Side Community in St. Paul.

?We'll be able to greatly expand a program to provide trees to residents and community partners to improve tree canopy coverage, especially in areas that need it most,? Woods said.

*The city of Marshall*

"The landscape in the city of Marshall will be changed for years to come as a result of emerald ash borer,? said Preston Stensrud, Marshall park and recreation superintendent. ?The city has been preparing for EAB for over a decade now, making sure to plant diverse species and conducting tree inventories, but budgets are tight. With the help of the ReLeaf Grant we will be able to focus on removing unhealthy trees, treating trees we feel provide high value for our community and the spaces they are in, and also continue to plant new trees.? We fully understand how important trees are within our community not only today, but for the future as well.?

###

________________________________________________________________________



Volunteers needed in northeastern Minnesota counties for DNR loon survey

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is seeking volunteers to help monitor the loon population in Aitkin, Cook, Crow Wing, Itasca and Lake counties. Volunteers are needed for a minimum of one morning during the June 28 through July 8 monitoring period, to count the number of adult and juvenile loons on pre-selected lakes.

For more than 20 years, with the assistance of hundreds of volunteer observers, the DNR has gathered information about common loon numbers on more than 600 lakes distributed among six regions, or "index areas,? throughout the state.

?The Minnesota Loon Monitoring Program is a success due to hundreds of volunteers who conduct surveys annually,? DNR Northeast Region Nongame Wildlife Specialist Gaea Crozier said. ?The data collected allows us to track changes in the loon population over time and identify potential management needs and opportunities on Minnesota lakes.?

Volunteers can choose one or more lakes on which to count the number of adult and juvenile loons. They then report these observations to the DNR for data analysis.

Aitkin and Crow Wing County lakes that need volunteers include Lily, Spruce, Sweetman and Thirty-One.

Cook and Lake County lakes that need volunteers include Artlip, Bonanza, Bulge, Caribou, Cross River, Dick, Fox, Little Wilson, Peterson, Rice, Slip, Silver and Silver Island.

Itasca County lakes that need volunteers include Batson, Big Island, Bill?s, Doan, Ethel, Highland, Little East, Pear, Pickeral, Plum, Snow, and unnamed lake 31-0661.

The time commitment is one to four hours per lake. Each lake?s survey must be done between 5 a.m. and noon on a single day per lake of the volunteer?s choosing during the June 28 to July 8 monitoring period.

Volunteers must commit to completing one or more assigned lakes and are encouraged to consider participating in the program for multiple years. Surveys can be conducted from shore on smaller lakes or by boat or canoe on larger lakes. Volunteers use an online system to reserve and manage their lake assignments, view maps and information for their lakes, and print data collection sheets. The online system was funded by a 2017 donation from the Minnesota United professional soccer team, whose mascot is a loon.

To sign up as a survey volunteer and select a lake, go to the DNR?s loon monitoring program webpage [ [link removed] ] (mndnr.gov/eco/nongame/projects/mlmp_state.html) and click on ?Volunteer Map.? Select an available lake, add it to the volunteer cart and sign up to become a loon surveyor.

People considering volunteering in Cook, Lake, or Itasca counties can contact regional loon monitoring coordinator Bry Persing at 218-735-3962 [email protected] with any questions. Questions regarding Aitkin or Crow Wing County lakes can be directed to Karen McLennan at [email protected] or 218-203-4352.

The Minnesota Loon Monitoring Program is supported by donations to the nongame wildlife check-off on Minnesota?s tax forms.

###

________________________________________________________________________



Well sampling planned in Lake County for groundwater atlas

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will collect water samples from about 90 wells in Lake County to develop the Groundwater Atlas of Lake County.

The process involves collecting a water sample from an outside spigot or hydrant for laboratory analysis. Dozens of different water components are analyzed to determine the natural chemistry of local aquifers. Participation is voluntary, and well owners will receive a report of the laboratory results at no cost. While sample well locations will appear on atlas maps, contact or ownership information will not be included.?

The DNR will soon be contacting selected well owners by mail with a request for permission to sample their wells. Wells are chosen based on geology, location, well depth and well construction. Participation will help hydrologists create county maps and descriptions of groundwater distribution, movement, conditions, and aquifer pollution sensitivity. The atlas and maps will be printed and shared online, and geographic information system files will be available for download.

The groundwater atlases help identify viable drinking water sources, support sustainability, guide well and septic system construction decisions, inform well-head protection efforts for public water supplies, highlight regional recharge and groundwater movement, and assess pollution sensitivity and possible contaminant migration. Neither well sampling nor the atlases are used to regulate individual well owners.

The Groundwater Atlas of Lake County should be completed in 2026. It is Part B of a two-part series. Part A, the geology of Lake County, was completed by the Minnesota Geological Survey in 2022.

The County Atlas Program is funded in part by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources.

A description of the program and completed atlas products are available on the DNR website [ [link removed] ] (mndnr.gov/groundwatermapping).

###





________________________________________________________________________

minnesota department of natural resources [ [link removed] ]

*Minnesota Department of Natural Resources ?|? mndnr.gov [ [link removed] ] *

Email us: [email protected] ?|? Call 651-296-6157 or 888-646-6367

Follow us on Facebook [ [link removed] ] ? Follow us on Twitter [ [link removed] ] ? Follow us on Instagram [ [link removed] ] ? Find us on LinkedIn [ [link removed] ] ? Follow us on YouTube [ [link removed] ]

SUBSCRIBER SERVICES:

Manage Preferences [ [link removed] ] | Unsubscribe [ [link removed] ] |?Help [ [link removed] ] ?|? Sign-up for DNR e-mail lists [ [link removed] ]


________________________________________________________________________

This email was sent to [email protected] using GovDelivery Communications Cloud GovDelivery logo [ [link removed] ]
body .abe-column-block { min-height: 5px; } table.gd_combo_table img {margin-left:10px; margin-right:10px;} table.gd_combo_table div.govd_image_display img, table.gd_combo_table td.gd_combo_image_cell img {margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px;}