02/27/2002 Env Bd Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Search

ENVIRONMENTAL BOARD MEETING JANUARY 30, 2002 Chair Kukonen stated the information was useful, and was what was needed right now. Ms. Booth responded that the case studies for the information would be the Tree Protection Ordinance and the Landscape Ordinance. Asleson indicated that the Board would be electing two members to sit on a panel for ordinance revision. Ms. Booth stated that the information would result in better Natural Resource Assessments. The Minnesota Landcover Classification System received some of the money dedicated to it and maps made up a large part of the appendices. Mr. Husveth stated he worked with Critical Connections Landscape Ecology, and noted that he covered 38,000 acres in Blaine, Ham Lake, Lino Lakes, and Columbus Township. He found 40 rare species within the City. Some were significant in the State and had not been seen for up to 75 years. He was attempting to identify a greenway between the Rice L e Chain of Lakes and Carlos Avery to guide development. He used the dcover Classification System's five levels, with land use as the lowest ve sed on soil, vegetation, imperviousness and hydrology. An example = vet 1 a forest, Level 2 would be a deciduous forest, Level 3 Upl . °. • us f rest, Level 4 oak forest, and Level 5 was Oak forest dry subtype, the m detail, and field checked. The map used standard colors to depict var d c ers. The dark areas were residential and mostly impervious, the forest, brown was herbaceous and wetland areas, the beige . ere s bs, and blue was open water. The second map showed the tre . o • and the darkest color was 80 -100% land cover. Ms. Booth stated th . opy c er has been linked with air quality, heat affecting temperatures, and other Mr. Husveth pointed out the third map labeled MLCSS which identified areas of high, moderate, and low quality in the City, with white showing the areas which no longer had natural significance. He credited Asleson with the discovery of the area of wet meadow with rich fen along the pipeline corridor. He noted an unidentified species of plant was found to be classified as the common name tooth cup and was last sighted in 1987 in Cedar Creek. Special interest sites were a residential area adjacent to the prison that could be a neighborhood project, and an aspen forest in the northwest even though there were no rare species found there. He added that the maps could be overlaid on other maps because of the G.I.S. Asleson stated that Mr. Husveth included notes that gave clarifications and greater detail that the maps could not show. •