Stakeholder Meeting
March 2018
Lebanon Hills Regional Park
Natural Resources Management Plan
Topics
1. Project Process
2. Background
3. Landscape Context
4. Landform
5. Vegetation
6. Water Resources
7. Wildlife
8. Rare/Unique Natural Features
9. Sneak Peak into Methods
10. Process Revisited
11. Your Questions and Feedback
LEBANON HILLS REGIONAL PARK NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PLAN
Date Tasks Phase
August 2017 Project start Initiation
September-
December 2017
• Research & findings
• Existing conditions
• Stakeholder meetings
Research &
Findings
January-February
2018
• Public Open House
• Planning Commission, County Board
January-March
2018
• Issues and opportunities
• Develop approaches, priorities, and recommendations
• Stakeholder meetings
Concept
Develop-
ment
April-May 2018 • Additional field work
• Draft Plan
• Pubic Open House, Planning Commission, County Board
June-August 2018 • Final Plan
• Public review (30 days)
Public
Review
August-October
2018
• Plan adoption Plan
Adoption
Purpose of the NRMP
To develop comprehensive goals,
approaches, strategies and work plans to
reverse the downward trend in the quality
of the natural resources and to restore
diverse and sustainable natural
communities within the recreational
context of the park.
Lebanon Hills Regional Park
Oldest park in the system
• First properties acquired in 1967
Largest park in the system
• 1,869 acres
Most visited park in the system
• Over 635,000 visits in 2016
Why Manage the Resource? Integrate Two Visions for Parks.
Dakota County Parks
Mission Statement:
To enrich lives by providing high quality
recreation and education opportunities in
harmony with natural resource
preservation and stewardship.
Natural Resources Management System
Plan
Vision:
The water, vegetation, and wildlife of
Dakota County parks, greenways, and
easements will be managed to conserve
biodiversity, restore native habitats,
improve public benefits, and achieve
resilience and regionally outstanding
quality, now and for future generations.
Why Manage the Resource? 2015 LHRP Master Plan
Vision:
Balance recreational use of the park
with natural resource stewardship.
Guiding Principles:
1. Be an urban natural retreat
2. Be a great outdoor recreation
experience
3. Be a resilient natural place 4. Be a greenway destination
5. Be a park with a strong sense of place and community
6. Be a flagship for the County park system
7. Be a four-season recreation area
• Ecological conditions have been significantly altered and degraded over the last century and a half
• Most natural areas have been converted to other land uses (agriculture, urban, industrial, roads, etc.)
• Since statehood, Dakota County has lost about: • 85% of its wetlands • 99% of its prairies and savannas • 80% of its original forests (the “Big Woods”)
• The natural land that remains is fragmented and scattered Streams were channelized, dams built, wetlands drained
• Many ecological processes, which have developed for thousands of years, have become disrupted, disturbed, altered, and/or suppressed
• Fire • Flooding • Grazing • Predation • Regeneration and recruitment • Nutrient cycling • Energy flow
Why Manage the Resource?
Topography Landform
Surficial Geology Landform
Soils:
Drainage
Class Landform
• Upland soils are predominately well-
drained (red, yellow, green)
• Hydric soils (wetlands and lakes) are
poorly drained (purple, blue)
Ecological Context
Presettlement vegetation
of Dakota County
• Large grazers common (elk & bison) • Influenced vegetation
• Landscape-scale effects
• Keystone species of historic landscapes lost • Loss of biodiversity reduces stability and resilience of natural systems
Historic wildlife Landform
Landscape Context Landform
• Adjacent Land Use
MCBS Biodiversity Vegetation
Land Cover & Land Use Trends Vegetation
Land Cover Mapping Results Vegetation
Land Cover Mapping Results Vegetation
Examples of Cover Types Vegetation
Native Prairie
Overgrown/Aforested
Old Field
Slightly Overgrown
Savanna
Lake (foreground) and mixed
pines and overgrown savanna
(background)
BUCK POND RESTORATION
Crotalaria
sagitalis
Special concern
Rattlebox Prairie
Sceptridium oneidense
Sceptridium dissectum dissectum
Rare Plants
Crotalaria sagitallis
“Rattlebox”
Rare Plants:
Grapeferns,
Rattlebox,
and orchids
Herbarium
specimen
Downy
rattlesnake
plantain
Sceptridium multifiduum
Wetlands Water
Resources
Wetlands Water
Resources
Sedge Meadow
Lag Wetland
Wet Meadow
invaded by RCG
Cattail Marsh
2017 Subwatershed Assessment Water
Resources
2016 Aquatic Invasive
Species Action Plan Water
Resources
Curly leaf
pondweed
Eurasian
water milfoil
Ecological restoration is the process of assisting
the recovery of an ecosystem that has been
degraded, damaged, or destroyed.
• Intentional science-based activity
• Accelerates the recovery of an ecosystem
with respect to its health, integrity, and
sustainability
• Attempt to return an ecosystem to its historic
trajectory
• Determine historic conditions that existed
prior to degradation
• Put the ecosystem back on a trajectory
similar to its historic one
• Long-term commitment of land and resources
• Requires thoughtful deliberation
• Develop collective decisions
• Gain consensus among stakeholders
• Careful and systematic planning
• Monitored approach
Photo by Scott Hagen
Ecological Restoration. What Is It, and How Do We Achieve It?
Wildlife Studies/Monitoring WIldlife
• Surveying turtles with hoop nets
• Found Blanding’s, painted, and snapping turtles
• Other herps found: smooth green snake, milk snakes and
tiger salamanders
• Small mammal surveys initiated in 2017
Wildlife Surveys
Species of Local Conservation Interest Rare Natural
Features Common Name Scientific name SGCN* State Status
Animals
Red-shouldered Hawk Buteo lineatus x MN Special Concern
Lark Sparrow Chondestes grammacus x
Acadian Flycatcher Empidonax virescens x
Blanding's Turtle Emydoidea blandingii x MN Threatened
Big Brown Bat Eptesicu fuscus x
Milk Snake Lamptopeltis triangulum
Franklin's Gull Leucophaeus pipixcan x
Fisher Martes pennanti
Red-headed Woodpecker Melanerpes erythrocephalus x
Northern Long-Eared Bat Myotis septentrionalis x MN Special Concern
Fed Threatened
Smooth Green Snake Opheodrys vernalis x
Tri-colored Bat Perimyotis subflavus x
Horned Grebe Podiceps auritus x
Purple Martin Progne subis x
Virginia Rail Rallus limicola x
Cerulean warbler Setophaga cerulea x
Forster's Tern Sterna forsteri x
Golden-winged Warbler Vermivora chrysoptera x
Bell's Vireo Vireo bellii x
Plants
Lily-leaved twayblade Liparis lilifolia
Rattlebox Crotalaria sagittalis MN Special Concern
White wild indigo Baptisia lactea MN Special Concern
*SGCN - Species in Greatest Conservation Need. 93
species in the ecoregion.
PRAIRIE-FOREST CONTINUUM
From The Tallgrass Restoration Handbook, edited Stephen Packard and Cornelia F. Mutel. Copyright © 1997 Society of Ecological Restoration.
Reproduced by permission of Island Press, Washington, D.C.
Primarily determined by fire frequency. Top sketch fire frequency is high (2-5 years), second sketch is medium (3-7 years)
third sketch is about every 9-10 years, and bottom sketch it is infrequent (20 or more years). Frequent fire prevents trees and
shrubs from dominating.
UPCOMING RESTORATION: SAVANNAS AND WOODLANDS
Restoration Project Example: Oak Savanna
Forestry Mowing, Hot-saw
Forest/woodland restoration technique
Current Natural Resources Restoration Projects
UPCOMING RESTORATION: SAVANNAS AND WOODLANDS
Specific Restoration Examples
Mitch Miller, 2015
Volunteers
Date Tasks Phase
August 2017 Project start Initiation
September-
December 2017
• Research & findings
• Existing conditions
• Stakeholder meetings
Research &
Findings
January-February
2018
• Public Open House
• Planning Commission, County Board
January-March
2018
• Issues and opportunities
• Develop approaches, priorities, and recommendations
• Stakeholder meetings
Concept
Develop-
ment
April-May 2018 • Additional field work
• Draft Plan
• Pubic Open House, Planning Commission, County Board
June-August 2018 • Final Plan
• Public review (30 days)
Public
Review
August-October
2018
• Plan adoption Plan
Adoption
Process, revisited
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS
Project Manager: Joe Walton
952-891-7507
Project Webpage: https://www.co.dakota.mn.us/parks/Planning/NaturalResources/Pages/leba
non-hills-management-plan.aspx
Questions