02/27/2008 Env Bd Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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I. Introduction Royal Oaks Reality (ROR) retained Critical Connections Ecological Services, Inc. (CCES) to develop a natural resources restoration and management plan for the conservation areas associated with the Foxborough Conservation Development within the City of Lino Lakes, Minnesota. The 51 -acre residential conservation development is located south of Birch Street and east of Deerwood Lane in the southeastern corner of Lino Lakes (Figure 1). Of the 51 acres, approximately 29 acres have been set aside in three outlots as permanent conservation areas, to be restored and managed as natural open space in perpetuity. Furthermore, a public pedestrian trail will be constructed within a trail easement through the outermost conservation area (Outlot A), and will serve to connect existing and proposed regional trail systems throughout the city of Lino Lakes and the greater regional trail system of the Rice Creek Chain of Lakes open space. The residential development consists of 57 residential lots and narrowed residential streets that were designed to cluster housing, reduce overall impervious surfaces, minimize stormwater runoff and maintain site hydrology, and restore and preserve existing natural areas within the development in the form of permanently protected and managed outlots. Conservation areas contained within the outlots will be restored and managed as natural communities consistent with the pre - settlement vegetation of the site, such as oak forests and savannas, lowland hardwood forest, wet meadows, emergent marshes, and dry, mesic, and wet prairies. The inventory and ecological assessment for this report was conducted April through July of 2005, and represents baseline information regarding the natural resources of the site. The site inventory and assessment was designed to document the extent and types of existing vegetation and native plant communities, to assess the relative ecological quality of remaining natural vegetation and semi - natural areas, and to identify opportunities and prioritize resource needs for immediate and long -term restoration and management within the conservation areas. Additional surveys and monitoring will be required in future years to gain a more complete understanding of the site's flora and fauna, the ecological functions and values of the conservation areas, and the response of vegetation to initial restoration and management treatments. Landscape scale information (e.g., surficial geology, soils, presettlement vegetation) and past land use history were researched from historic documents and other resources, and are cited within the text where appropriate. Background information regarding the site's landscape context and context within the City's planned open space and greenway system were considered and incorporated into the development of this plan as well. This plan describes natural resource restoration and management recommendations for the various natural community remnants and semi - natural areas within Foxborough's permanent conservation areas. The intent of the plan is to assist the Royal Oaks Reality, the City of Lino Lakes, and the future Foxborough's Homeowners Association in stabilizing, establishing, restoring, and managing the site's natural resources in the short term (one to five years), and to improve the ecological quality and function of the open space over the long term through an adaptive management approach. Successful restoration and management will likely require long -term collaborative efforts of various organizations and individuals, community groups, municipalities, and government agencies, including the residents of Foxborough, the City of Lino Lakes, the Rice Creek Watershed District, the Saint Paul District of the US Army Corps of Foxborough Conservation Development Restoration and Management Plan 1 • • •