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Environmental Assessment Worksheet
<br />Nature's Refuge Conservation Development
<br />Lino Lakes, Anoka County, Minnesota
<br />Draft Document - September 25, 2006
<br />Page 7
<br />Lino Lakes, a formerly rural town, has undergone a transition from being a small town in an agricultural area to
<br />being a suburb in the Twin Cities Greater Metropolitan Area. Thus, the site is surrounded by residential
<br />neighborhoods with interspersed wetlands and forest. The surroundings are, like the site, former agricultural land.
<br />The more open, rural character is now only evident in the area immediately northwest of the site, where there a few
<br />larger, partly forested properties with few buildings. The majority of the surrounding land consists of residential
<br />neighborhoods of moderate densities. Thus, the proposed development will bring the site into a condition more
<br />consistent with its current surroundings, while providing a conservation area located among the existing
<br />neighborhoods. Some forest and wetland patches on site are contiguous with small off -site patches, so some on -site
<br />impacts may extend to off -site areas, but these are expected to be minor.
<br />The project site is guided for Low Density, Sewered Residential and Park land uses, and is zoned Residential and
<br />Rural. Most of the site is within the Metropolitan Urban Service Area (MUSA), including a previously platted (but
<br />never built) area in the northeastern portion of the site. Thus, the project will not conflict with existing land use or
<br />plans.
<br />The only known environmental hazards from previous land use are the two buried pipelines in the northern portion
<br />of the site.
<br />10, Cover pes. Estimate the acreage of ti
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<br />Before
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<br />91.4
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<br />40.4' Impervious surfaces;
<br />21.4' Otler .(describe)
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<br />and ecologically sensitive r
<br />a. Identify fish and wildlife resources and hab
<br />by the project. Describe any measures to be tt
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<br />49.
<br />249.7
<br />Existing Resources
<br />The predominant habitat types on the site are oak forest, aspen forest, a limited area of planted pine forest, oldfield,
<br />and a complex of wetlands. Two mowed pipeline rights -of -way, plus the recently cleared southern portion of the
<br />property, provide very poor habitat value, although some animals (e.g. deer) may benefit from the forest -edge
<br />habitat provided by these areas.
<br />The project site includes approximately 91 acres of forest (-37% of site). The forest areas consist of second - growth
<br />deciduous trees of various ages and a limited area of even -aged, planted conifers. Oak - dominant and aspen -
<br />dominant stands are distinct. Maples, birch, ash, and elm are also common throughout the site. The forest is fairly
<br />mature, with many larger trees, an open understory, and moderately abundant standing dead timber (snags). The
<br />forest floor has abundant fallen dead wood and a moderately thick litter layer. This maturing condition with
<br />somewhat diverse microhabitats could support a fairly good diversity of forest animals, (although the setting of the
<br />site within a residential area within the City constrains potential wildlife species using the site to those that are fairly
<br />well adapted to human activity and living environments). The snags provide good potential habitat for raptors,
<br />woodpeckers, and cavity - nesting birds and mammals, while fallen timber can provide critical shelter for
<br />salamanders, snakes, small mammals, and many invertebrates. The understory shrubs, including dogwoods,
<br />European buckthorn (invasive exotic), spiraea, and hazel, occur in patches among more open- forest conditions. This
<br />provides perching habitat and shelter for forest birds, while allowing open flyways and sightlines through the forest.
<br />Small canopy openings (due to tree -fall) are not very common, but 23 of the site's wetlands are at least partly within
<br />the forested area, providing canopy openings and dense herbaceous ground cover within and surrounding the
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