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AOMIN 1000 _43010M * STATE *+iINNESOTA Natural Resources • DEPARTMENT Office /VI @mQl'QR [!n't TO Judy Davidson, DATE: Region VI Waters `1-,kw-,11/13/80 O V 171980 19810, FROM Bob Glazer, REGION V1 PHONE: 464-5200 Ecological Ser ices WATERS ERS SUBJECT: P.A. 80-6258 Lloyd Knudson passed your memorandum of October 28, 1980, dealing with permit application 80-6258 (M & E Development) on to me for comment. I share the opinion with Lloyd that the revised plan, although somewhat modified from the original plan calling for excavation of the entire marsh, is none -the -less still unacceptable as far as the wildlife community is concerned, and from my viewpoint poor as far as maintaining water quality is concerned. As you may recall from our earlier field trip and from my comments to you at that time, the marsh has historically supported a diverse, abundant assortment of fauna and flora. Song birds, waterfowl, shore birds, furbearers small mammals, aquatic insects, and a unique complex of marsh vegetation populate the area. I think that due consideration should be given to the term complex in this discussion for we are dealing with a system, an ecosystem to be correct, and there is an interdependence amongst the plants, animals and their food chains and a relationship to soil types and amounts of standing water that is beautifully demonstrated by the present situation. For instance, the animals draw from many parts of the marsh complex for their life support needs, not just from the floating bog portion nor from the cattail sections alone. To think about converting a sizeable portion of the marsh to open standing water without compensation and not anticipating an upheaval of the present ecological balance would be naive. In response to any argument that creation of open water will simply result in a reshuffling of wildlife types (more ducks for instance), it should be kept in mind that there is already an ample supply of it in the northern suburbs to accomodate duck loafing area needs. It is really the small diverse marsh complexes such as the one under discussion that are in critical supply now in the metropolitan area, and this is presum- ably one of the very reasons the legislature saw the need for wetlands protection in the first place. it should be remembered that the marsh in question is the last remaining marsh of significance in Mounds View that is covered by our wetlands ordinance. cont'd.