Volunteers, Partners, and Funders Restore
Prairie, Savanna, and Forest Habitat For the Birds!
January 13, 2010
Dear Friends and Partners:
For the Birds is an ecological restoration initiative focused on restoring habitat for 15 Bird Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) including the Cerulean warbler (MN SPC) and Hooded warbler (MN SPC). The partners, St. Croix Watershed Research Station, Afton State Park, Standing Cedars, Audubon Minnesota, and Greening embarked, in 2007, on restoration with bird monitoring at three sites along the St. Croix River: Afton State Park, Tanglewood Savanna (Marine, MN), and Standing Cedars Community Land Conservancy (Osceola, WI).
Great River Greening and MN DNR led the reforestation effort at Afton State Park using the direct hardwood seeding technique. In fall 2008, 85 acres of old field were seeded with over three million hardwood seeds. These 85 acres adjoin existing bluff and floodplain forest and will enlarge the habitat for SGCN forest birds that need large acreage.
Great River Greening chose local ecotype seed for species native to the pre-settlement community found there. We also favored the native species that are modeled to do well in a changing climate. This includes meeting the particular challenges of establishing basswood and hackberry.
Through Greening’s Million Acorn Challenge, over 2,000 young people collected 1.2 million local acorns and 241 volunteers contributed 550 hours in the fall of 2008 and 2009 planting 59,000 of these acorns in important forest gap areas at Afton that were inaccessible to tractors. Another 380,000 of these acorns were added to the seed mix for sowing via tractors at Afton with the remainder being utilized at Robert Ney Regional Park.
During the bird monitoring process at Afton State Park, the presence of a singing male Henslow’s sparrow was confirmed in a different part of the park. Great River Greening removed a tree line and controlled invasive woody species, effectively enlarging the Henslow’s habitat by 40 acres.
Funding of For the Birds is provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, Minnesota DNR State Parks, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Upper Mississippi River Fund, Patagonia, and the Weesner Foundation.
Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund and the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources
Composed of 17 members: five Senators, five Representatives, five citizens appointed by the governor, one citizen appointed by the Senate, and one citizen appointed by the House, the function of the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) is to make funding recommendations to the legislature for special environment and natural resource projects, primarily from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund.
In addition to funding of For the Birds, funding from the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources has enabled Great River Greening to restore numerous ecologically, significant sites such as Meeker Dam, Arcola Mills, Hidden Valley Park, Eagle Creek AMA, River Park, Mississippi West Regional Park, and Pilot Knob Hill.
The Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources has funded Greening projects from 1999-2003 in the Big Rivers Partnership and the Bucks and Buckthorn programs. From 2003- present, over five phases of Metro Conservation Corridors program, Trust Fund funding has enabled Greening to restore 490 acres at 32 sites and engage over 2,000 volunteers. Another 250 acres at 20 sites are in progress.