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• • • Lino Lakes Handbook for Environmental Planning and Conservation Development In 1998 and 1999, the City developed the Lino Lakes Handbook for Environmental Planning and Conservation Development (Handbook). The final Handbook (published in December 1999) provided detailed guidance to enable the City to establish a viable conservation development program, and included: a natural resources based planning model and framework, an overview of Lino Lakes existing ecological resources, priority areas for ecological protection within the City, action steps for protection of ecological systems, potential open space and greenway corridors, a framework for ecological restoration and management, and principles of and guidelines for conservation development. Minnesota Land Cover Classification System (MLCCS) and Natural Resources Inventory From 2000 to 2001, the City participated in a detailed land cover classification and natural resources inventory of the City, using the newly established Minnesota Land Cover Classification System (MLCCS). The MLCCS survey of Lino Lakes documented all existing developed, agricultural, semi - natural, and natural land cover types within the City (Figure 2 -2). While all public lands and many private lands were assessed in the field as part of this survey, some private lands were unable to be field checked due to lack of access. The MLCCS assessment and resulting natural resources inventory identified and mapped 1,978 natural community remnants and semi - natural landscapes of various ecological quality throughout the City. Furthermore, the MLCCS inventory identified eleven additional rare plant populations that had not previously been documented within Lino Lakes, as well as dozens of potential natural rare species habitats that were flagged for future field checking. . Figure 2 -3 identifies the location of natural and semi - natural areas, the ecological quality of natural areas, and locations of regionally significant ecological areas mapped by the DNR and Metropolitan Council. As defined by MLCCS, semi - natural areas are unmaintained or infrequently maintained areas of perennial vegetation with more than 50% of the cover comprised of nonnative plants. In contrast, natural areas are comprised of more than 50% native plants. The MLCCS assessment determined the ecological quality of remnant natural areas and classified each natural area as one of the following three categories: 1. High Quality Natural Areas — represents areas with little to no human disturbances and the natural processes are intact. 2. Moderate Quality Natural Areas — represents areas with natural processes somewhat intact, but shows signs of obvious human disturbances and low levels of exotic species. 3. Low Quality Natural Areas — represents areas that include native species, but the native species are widely dispersed and altered. Regionally Significant Ecological Areas (RSEAs) RSEAs represent regionally significant terrestrial and wetland ecological areas in the seven -county metropolitan area, This inventory and assessment was completed by the MnDNR and are based on a hybrid land cover data layer created from LandSat images, national wetland inventory data, and locations of grasslands. The data is intended to help make regional scale land use decisions especially as it relates to balancing development and natural resource conservation.