ECOLOGIAL RESTORATION
ER
AT CEDAR LAKE POINT BEACH (AND BEYOND)
A few weeks ago I learned about some grant monies from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources that might be available for forest ecological restoration. It seems apparent to me that we need to intensify some work in Cedar Lake Park in a rush to protect areas that continues to be less than adequately managed by the Minneapolis Park Board. Especially in the north side of the park, in the woods, we need to advance some progress towards supporting the Cedar - Isles Plan that establishes the natural wooded area should remain protected. But as of to date, this area remains undesignated as a Managed Natural Area. So we're in a state of limbo. It's like if you're going to do some kind of home improvement. Good concept drawings are a start. But you need some working or construction drawings drafted if you're going to get serious about actually getting things done. Looking for where the money growsIn search of potential funds to accelerate some kind of action, my park board commissioner informed me of a forestry grants offered by the DNR. So I attended a urban community forestry grants webinar. The session was interesting, but from what I heard, it didn't sound like it was such a good fit for our situation. More about managing Emerald Ash Borne. But it did raise some good questions, to which I forwarded to the contact person at the webinar. Delightfully, the DNR contact person was incredibly responsive, answering my multiple questions in multiple emails promptly and with amazing detail. As a blundering citizen trying to find my way through the bureaucratic forest of programs and acronyms and terminology, the DNR contact was encouraging and appreciative of my efforts. Answers stimulated more curiosity and generated new questions. The challenge in broadening my understanding was to avoid the temptation to go down distracting rabbit holes. Some of my fellow ecological restoration fanatics kept me on track. By the end of the week, I ended up calling the natural resources manager at the MPRB. To my delight, he picked up my late on a Friday afternoon call yo keep me on track too. He too was encouraging and cooperative. Navigating ForwardI don't want to get too far into the weeds with this post, but what I can say is that I'm getting a sense of the landscape. Turning over stones. Sort through which might bear resources. More on that later. Meanwhile the the ground at Cedar Lake Point Beach, this week included several hours of cleanup and the start of laying some timbers to design some trails through the east point of the woods. Hoping to create an inviting way for visitors to access the forest and delineate where new native seeds will be planted in a few months.
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March 2024
AuthorI'm Steve Kotvis, volunteer Park Steward for the Minneapolis Cedar Lake Point Beach peninsula who has a newfound love of restoring this natural area and more. I'm learning as I go, and enjoy sharing that with those who have an interest. I'm also a photographer, so the photos in this blog are mine unless otherwise labeled. |