07/26/2000 Env Bd Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Search

• • 13. Adherence to Grant Program Criteria: The proposed project area presents an important opportunity to begin to connect and enhance two significant regional open space corridors in eastern Anoka County. The project area has been identified in the Metro Greenprint as the potential greenway link between the urban areas of northern St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Mississippi River corridor, Rice Creek Chain of Lakes Regional Park System, Carlos Avery Wildlife Management Area, and `potential natural areas' to the north (Metro Greenprint Potential Greenway Map, 1995). Within the proposed project area, urban and suburban development is rapidly occurring along the Interstate 35W corridor and at the Municipal Urban Service Area (MUSA) edge. Landscape fragmentation, water resource modification, and wildlife habitat losses are among a few of the numerous landscape -scale changes that are occurring in this corridor. Furthermore, recent natural resource inventories within the City of Blaine have identified numerous additional rare species populations and rare natural communities not detected by the 1989 Minnesota County Biological Survey of Anoka County. Local and regional natural resource managers have realized the need for a comprehensive natural and cultural resource inventory of this area, which can be achieved with the Minnesota Land Cover Classification System (MLCCS). Furthermore, additional and proposed land cover classification projects for adjacent areas in Anoka County (e.g., Cedar Creek Greenway, City of Blaine Greenway Planning Grant) present opportunities for collaboration to achieve a completed land cover classification of the entire county in the coming years. This comprehensive coverage will be a critical tool in numerous natural resource and land planning applications at numerous scales, such as greenway and open space planning, watershed analysis and planning, baseline wetland inventories and function and values assessment, development planning and design review. Please note that although the primary objective of this proposed project is not to survey for rare plant populations or rare natural communities, the proposed land cover classification will greatly increase the effectiveness of additional biological survey work proposed for the same project area through the DNR Conservation Biology Grant Program for the 2000 -2001 field seasons. A high - priority search area for `phase -two' biological surveys for rare species and rare plant communities was defined by Jason Husveth and Hannah Dunevitz based on soil landscape associations and other abiotic characteristics of element occurrence records discovered in southeastern Anoka County during the 1998 -1999 field season. This high priority search area is defined in attachment #1 as a green polygon, and closely coincides with the project area proposed in this grant application. Land cover classification and analysis will increase the scientific understanding of landscape -scale vegetation patterns and land use impacts to natural communities and wetland systems of the Anoka Sand Plain and will serve to compliment additional detailed studies and analysis mentioned in this document. Furthermore, once the land cover data is compiled for the proposed project area, it will serve as an invaluable tool for developing ecologically sound management plans for existing rare plant populations and rare natural communities within eastern Anoka County, and to incorporate rare features into a regional greenway plan. Rice Creek Corridor Expansion Greenway Planning Grant Page 5 of 11 Anoka Conservation District and Collaborating Agencies January 28, 2000