ECOLOGIAL RESTORATION
ER
AT CEDAR LAKE POINT BEACH (AND BEYOND)
Trees are falling in our park forest. Are we around to hear it? The final draft of the Cedar-Isles Plan is now in the last stage of public feedback. Chapter 3 is 28 pages long, describing the nearly three-year process of community engagement. I attended several of the public meetings and served on the Citizen's Advisory Committee's Land Management Subcomittee where we authored and submitted the Natural Resources content in section 5.3 Project-wide Guidance (pages 113-119 in the draft Plan). This guidance was submitted in tandem with Water Quality Subcommittee content (pages 108-112). Along with this content, the public repeatedly voiced concerns about the declining health of our natural environments, diminishing biodiversity, suffering and loss of native trees and wildlife, and the decimation caused by too many years of park board neglect and mismanagement. It was like the park board forgot about its central mission, to protect the natural resources. When the last draft of the Cedar-Isles was published for final public comment, I scoured the more than 200 pages of the report to find where the Plan addressed what was repeated stated as priorities. First, protect the natural environment which includes both water quality and natural land areas, and second, fix what we've got before adding more developments. I was disappointed. Not only did the plan fail to clearly establish priorities based on a strategy as a part of its guidance, it didn't even acknowledge and describe problems and urgent threats. It lays out on a flat plane, a virtual anthology of capital improvement wishes, and then some more that at least I never saw in previous plans for public review. I realize I'm guilty of possessing a relatively zeroed in focus on what seems like an obvious need to set priorities based on the past years working to remove Buckthorn from Cedar Lake Point Beach. The problem and the threat is staring us in the face. The falling trees are talking to us. Will we listen? The first step is to acknowledge the problem. There is little in this Plan that says it is hearing the voices who are saying we have a critical problem. The draft Plan does little to call out the critical and urgent issue that invasive species are destroying our natural areas. It strays away from dangerous language, so far as to label unmanaged, neglected areas as "wildness." Labeling unkept, unmanaged, and areas that are being lost to the infestation of Buckthorn and other invasives as "wildness" sounds like a message spin. To those insensitive or unaware of the threat, it's like referring to the fox in the hen house as "cute". As written in the final draft of the Cedar-Isles Plan, those priorities are not clearly stated in the vision section, and they are vaguely decipherable in the Implementation section. Lacking a sense of alarm that natural areas are suffering and dying, nor a strategic framework that explicitly positions natural areas as the foundation of our park system, projects that follow in implementation will be scheduled not based on priority of need, but more likely determined by funding availability and/or political will. The second step is for the Park Board to assume its role to protect nature For too long, the Park Board has been passive in addressing the needs of nature. In this Plan, the impact of volunteers is noted and appreciated. But in some cases, the Plan suggests areas are being cared for by volunteers, when in reality they are not. The problem is too big. It is expanding too fast. We are loosing the battle. The Park Board needs to both assume a stronger leadership role and dedication of resources and help support a volunteers corps that is already doing a lot. Join the voice that speaks for nature: Endorse the Proposed Amendment Lacking a resounding voice that speaks of these issues in the draft of the Cedar-Isles Plan, a small group of volunteers, mostly those who are doing the work of restoring natural areas throughout the city, have been working fast and furiously to draft a proposed amendment to the planning document. We are asking for you to consider supporting this amendment during this short period that closes March 10th, 2023. It reads as follows: Proposed Amendment to Chapter 5, Project Guidance, section 5.3, to be added after page 138 in the draft Plan Prioritization Guidance Previous pages in this section contain guidance for understanding and implementing various types of potential enhancements to the project area, including water quality, natural resources, access and circulation, accessibility, safety, interpretation, historical and cultural resources, and programming and amenities. Each of these various aspects of park management can contribute to a richer and more inclusive and satisfying experience for diverse park visitors. This section explains how these potentially competing choices and recommendations will be prioritized to ensure success in achieving the Plan’s vision based on community input and in alignment with the Park Board’s central mission to permanently preserve, protect, maintain, improve, and enhance our natural resources for current and future generations of people, plants and wildlife. Guidance for prioritizing recommendations is essential to a realistic and workable plan. Effective plans offer a strategic analysis and framework in which existing and future needs, wants and desires can be evaluated and addressed. Without an explicit hierarchy of needs and priorities, implementation options will mistakenly appear as of equal value and importance, resulting in arbitrary decisions about what’s most important, based on temporal and/or political considerations such as availability of funding and or the most visible or well-connected advocates. A strategic approach prioritizes recommendations in order to best achieve the overall vision and goals. Climate Change Looms Scientific research and direct observation and experience show that climate change and declining biodiversity are dramatically affecting and threatening the health and survival of our parks, our city, and life on our planet. Our “Parks for All” Comprehensive Plan acknowledges that the global climate crisis looms over everything: “Climate change is a defining challenge for both current and future generations. …The Minneapolis Park System will have to deal with a myriad of impacts ranging from public health to invasive species as greenhouse gases continue to build in our atmosphere. This severity of climate change in both depth and breadth of impacts will touch every person in Minneapolis and every aspect of MPRB operations, from recreation offerings to basic infrastructure maintenance.” Our Ecological Systems Plan also recognizes the ecological changes happening as a result of intensifying global climate change. “In view of these changes, the work that MPRB does through planning and implementation to protect water, air, land, and life in the parks will help to sustain park resources for generations to come.” Our Natural Areas Plan advises us to “bring an ecosystem perspective into all land and water management” that will replicate the ecological structures and processes that enable ecosystems to adapt to changing conditions. Natural Resources Sustain Our Park System Healthy natural resources sustain ecosystems that make possible the array of physical, social, emotional and spiritual benefits visitors enjoy and expect, including all forms of recreation in these parks. Toward fulfillment of our mission and plans, and in the context of the deepening crises of climate change and declining biodiversity, the Cedar-Isles Plan will prioritize park improvements based on the most urgent and universal imperative: to protect our natural resources in order to sustain ecological function and biodiversity. Repeatedly and throughout this planning process, in forums and feedback, the public expressed the need to protect our natural resources first and foremost, including the lakes and the land. The Community Advisory Committee unanimously concluded that the most important topic to address in this Plan is water quality. The Plan’s vision, established by consensus after extensive community engagement and discussion, confirms the necessity to prioritize the ecosystem: “Lake of the Isles and Cedar Lake, as part of the Minneapolis Chain of Lakes Regional Park, contribute to a vital, urban natural ecosystem with unique experiences that protect, connect, and sustain people, wildlife, and natural resources, while maintaining the health of the lakes.” Prioritizing water quality and a healthy natural ecosystem aligns with the guidance described in this plan’s Section 2.2 Indigenous Legacy, that historical and cultural landscapes are to shape philosophical and incremental design concepts (page 17): “In the beginning, the water—Mni—was pure, part of the land, and therefore part of the people. It was the first medicine given to our people because water keeps everything alive. Water that comes from within the earth is pure and as such is considered wakan or sacred.” Prioritizing Natural Resources as the Foundation The Cedar-Isles Plan’s top priority is to protect the health and sustainability of natural resources in the project area (lakes, shorelines and surrounding lands, and wildlife) for current and future generations. Establishing this priority does not change the recommendations in Chapter 5, but rather provides a framework in which to evaluate and prioritize those recommendations in order to best achieve the overall vision and goals consistent with the Park Board’s mission. Consistent with the Park Board’s mission and with community engagement and CAC decisions during this planning process, we will evaluate and implement recommendations in this plan based on this priority.
What you can do: Please complete the survey at this link now. 1) For question 1: Choose “Project Area as a Whole." 2) For question 2: Choose “Multiple or Other Topics.” 3) For question 3: Enter a comment urging an amendment to the draft Plan to prioritize the health of our natural resources first and foremost. Some key talking points you can make (preferably in your own words):
4) For question 4: Enter additional comments that you want to make. For example, please comment that the proposed bike path in the Cedar Woods should be removed from the plan. For numerous reasons, the best use of this woods is for nature-based recreation undisturbed by active sports such as mountain biking:
Also, see page 10 in Hill & Lake Press article about this.
5 Comments
Paul S
2/17/2023 01:11:54 pm
Bravo!
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STEPHEN KOTVIS
2/17/2023 07:01:24 pm
Thank you!
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Kevin Cain
3/6/2023 11:01:21 am
Thank for your efforts on behalf of a thriving nature reserve in our community.
Reply
STEPHEN KOTVIS
3/7/2023 10:28:59 am
Thanks!
Reply
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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. |