Great River Greening provides farmers with stewardship assistance
In western Minnesota

With less than one percent (about 170,000 acres) of Minnesota's native prairie remaining,
DNR program tries to address threats to grasslands

July 8, 2009

To Partners and Friends of Great River Greening:

In a contract with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Great River Greening is providing stewardship planning assistance to private landowners with native prairies enrolled in the state’s Prairie Bank conservation easement program.

In 1987, the Minnesota state legislature created the Native Prairie Bank program as part of the Reinvest in Minnesota legislation. This program allows landowners to protect native prairie on their property through a conservation easement with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources(DNR). Under the easement program, landowners receive payment for their native prairie land while keeping it in private ownership, to pass on to future generations. Management plans developed by Great River Greening will provide guidance to these landowners in managing their enrolled prairie lands.

Today, less than one percent (about 170,000 acres) of Minnesota's native prairie remains, and it continues to be lost. As prairie habitats dwindle, populations of prairie dependant mammals, birds, and insects have also declined. Minnesota’s Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy (CWCS) identifies 139 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) in the Prairie Parkland Province.

Great River Greening and other DNR partners are helping by providing landowners on-farm, integrated stewardship planning and technical assistance. Many of Minnesota’s remaining prairies have continued to exist as livestock pastures and haylands. Declining use of pasture and hayland, as well as increased grain prices, have increased pressure to convert land to row crops and maximize utilization of the remaining grasslands. In response, Great River Greening ecologists have been engaged to complete 12 plans in prairie counties such as Big Stone, Lac Qui Parle, and Grant. Management guidance is focused principally on grazing practices, haying, noxious weeds, woody plant encroachment, and prescribed burning.

For more information on this and other Greening conservation programs, contact Wayne Ostlie, Conservation Director, wostlie@greatrivergreening.org, 651-665-9500 x19. Also visit our website at www.greatrivergreening.org

Major operating support for all Great River Greening programs is provided by The McKnight Foundation.