06-03-2019 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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5/29/2019 14 The resource inventories, studies and field investigations completed since the early 90’s have identified for the public’s benefit, unique resources within the community, and helped shape conservation policies and procedures necessary to preserve and or enhance those resources in the years to come. However, the environment is not static and threats to these resources are continually evolving. The following listing includes unique resources identified within the community as well as potential threats. Unique Natural Resources • The City of Lino Lakes is divided diagonally by two primary glacial soil formations, sand deposits (west side of city) and glacial clay deposits (east side of the City). These different formations provide for a significant diversity of plants and animals in a relatively small geographical area. Rare and endangered vegetation can be found in the numerous groundwater dependent wetlands of the sandplain. Water willow and cranberry bogs, along with other unique species, can be found in the clay soils predominately supporting the westerly extent of the Eastern Hardwood forest. • The combination of poorly drained soils and high water tables have left the City with an abundance of wetlands. The City and watershed did an assessment of the function and value of local wetlands in the 2008 Resource Management Plan. Unique wetlands are distributed throughout Lino Lakes and form what we now call wetland management corridors, the basis for the City Greenway system. These wetlands where identified based on number of factors but primarily for vegetative diversity and their importance to minimizing phosphorus loading to our lakes. • The 15 lakes within the community are very unique features that give residents the joy of swimming, fishing, boating, and wildlife watching. • The City is home to a very unique Blue Heron colony on Peltier Island. Herons are a big part of the Lino Lakes culture. Once the 2nd largest in the 7 county metro area the rookery was nearly decimated by several environmental influences in the late 1990’s. A strong local commitment to management of the rookery has brought it back. • Ground water in Lino Lakes is abundant and high quality. • Soils of the Sandplain offer good opportunities to save surface water resources from loss downstream by infiltrating storage in subsoils and wetlands. Threats to Lino Lakes Resources • Development can either work around and save rare features of Lino Lakes, or destroy and mitigate the loss by restoring an equal area of loss somewhere else than Lino Lakes. Careful planning and understanding of the threatened and endangered species of Lino Lakes can most often be saved with buffering and avoidance.