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DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Division of Ecological & Water Resources 500 Lafayette Road, Box 25 St. Paul, MN 55155-4025 August 25, 2017 Correspondence # ERDB 20180086 Mr. Matt Unmacht WSB & Associates, Inc. 701 Xenia Avenue South, Suite 300 Minneapolis, MN 55416 RE: Natural Heritage Review of the proposed Everton AUAR Update, T31W R21W Sections 7, 8, 17, 18, & 19; Washington Couny Dear Mr. Unmacht, The Minnesota Natural Heritage Information System has been queried to determine if any rare species or other significant natural features are known to occur within an approximate one -mile radius of the project area. For the results of this query, please refer to the enclosed database reports (please visit the Rare Species Guide at http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/rsg/index.html for more information on the biology, habitat use, and conservation measures of these rare species). I am providing the database reports only and have not evaluated the potential for the proposed project to adversely affect these rare features. Please note that the enclosed reports include records from the Rare Features Database only. The project area is partially within a Central Region Regionally Significant Ecological Area (RSEA) that is ranked Outstanding. The DNR Central Region (in partnership with the Metropolitan Council for the 7 -county metro area), identified these ecologically significant terrestrial and wetland areas by conducting a landscape -scale assessment based on the size and shape of the ecological area, land cover within the ecological area, adjacent land cover/use, and connectivity to other ecological areas. The purpose of the data is to inform regional scale land use decisions, especially as it relates to balancing development and natural resource protection. A GIS shapefile of this data layer can be downloaded from the MN Geospatial Commons at https://gisdata.mn.gov/. Additional information, including pdf versions of the RSEA maps, is available at http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/rsea/index.htmi. The Natural Heritage Information System (NHIS), a collection of databases that contains information about Minnesota's rare natural features, is maintained by the Division of Ecological and Water Resources, Department of Natural Resources. The NHIS is continually updated as new information becomes available, and is the most complete source of data on Minnesota's rare or otherwise significant species, native plant communities, and other natural features. However, the NHIS is not an exhaustive inventory and thus does not represent all of the occurrences of rare features within the state. Therefore, ecologically significant features for which we have no records may exist within the project area. If additional information becomes available regarding rare features in the vicinity of the project, further review may be necessary.