8.2. SR 07-18-2016 - Laserfiche WebLink

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to recreational activities; however impact may occur as a necessity to achieve forest health goals and objectives. The challenge to Elk River is to balance the needs of the forest with the available resources and the desire to provide recreation to its residents. A comprehensive forest health management program helps to maintain and improve the health of forest habitats. Management strategies may vary depending on the desired outcome of the forest ecosystem and should be applied on a case by case basis with each land unit requiring thoughtful development of goals and objectives resulting in strategies to meet those objectives. For instance, management of oak woodland consisting of large mature bur, red, and white oaks and mixed hardwood species that are suffering from extensive oak wilt may be managed in multiple different ways. Depending of the goal of the property, extensive oak wilt management including surveying, vibratory plowing, and removal of diseased trees followed by replanting of bur oak seedlings may be an effective strategy for sustaining oak woodland. Another strategy may involve allowing oak wilt to thin red oak species in an area while protecting healthy bur and white oak resulting in pockets of open space within a woodland. This strategy may be beneficial to creating savanna openings and require restoration of native prairie species followed by prescribed fire to maintain these openings. Considerations for each management unit should include the goal or endstate for each unit, availability of resources (people and equipment), time required to implement, funding for implementation, public perception, and sustainability. Public perception is a critical aspect that is often overlooked when conducting forest health management. Trees and forests are highly valued by residents, especially in urban areas where pockets of natural woodlands may be scarce and in urban forests where shade and aesthetics are highly valued. Often sharing the goals of the project, educating the public on the process, and establishing expectations upfront are critical in gaining public support. Sustainability of any forest management or restoration project is vital to ensure resources are properly allocated and public funding is properly utilized. Forest management and restoration is a long term commitment that may span generations of volunteers and staff. Determining the goal of the management unit and the feasibility of the restoration includes identifying funding sources and allocating staff and equipment resources. Efforts to halt succession of forest ecosystems often result in failure, and thus the land manager should attempt to work with nature instead of fighting nature. For instance, oak woodland transitioning to northern hardwood forest may require more resources than those that are available, thus allowing the transition to occur may be the most effective option. With the warming of climates over the past century, movement of species is also certain to occur (evidence suggests this is already in the process of occurring) and the forests of today may not be suitable for the climate of tomorrow. While the land manager may see species composition beginning to shift from one woodland type to another and be tempted to halt that shift, his efforts may result in failure because the current forest cannot be sustained in its new climatic environment. Special consideration should be given to successional species from southern Minnesota and northern Iowa as these species are likely to inhabit central Minnesota's woodlands in the future. ELK RIVER WOODLAND MANAGEMENT The City of Elk River should take an active approach to woodland management. Current site conditions throughout the city show forests in stages of decline due to oak wilt and Dutch elm disease as well as infestation from invasive species; specifically buckthorn, honeysuckle, Siberian elm and garlic mustard. Human impacts through development of trails and facilities have likely influenced the presence of these forest diseases and pests as well as degraded the quality of the forests by increasing the volume of fuel on the forest floor inhibiting growth and reducing aesthitics. Developed parks with large acreage of natural woodlands such as Woodland Trails, Bailey Point, 26 =�,r)l , r,Ir; ,iI ,RK f.l -TFC I AI', .i DRAFT JULY 7, 2J16