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EXISTING LAND COVER & ECOLOGICAL MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) developed a system called the Minnesota Land Cover Classification System (MLCCS),which integrates cultural and vegetation features of the landscape into one comprehensive land classification system.This information was used as a basis for the site evaluation,which was conducted by FMR's ecologist in the summer of 2015. For determining target plant communities for restoration (Table 2),we considered the following: 1) historic conditions, 2) existing conditions, 3) relative effort vs. benefits,and 4) the desires of the City of Elk River. Relative effort vs.benefit simply means that if the amount of energy and work that needs to go into restoring a particular community is too great,in terms of the benefits received,then restoration would not be recommended.This helps us determine the optimal and most suitable goals for restoration.Target communities are in accordance with the DNR field guides and are described below. As a guideline for the target plant community goals,we used the Field Guide to the Native Plant Communities of Minnesota: the Eastern Broadleaf Forest Province (DNR, 2005). This book describes the system developed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for identifying ecological systems and native plant community types in the state,based on multiple ecological features such as major climate zones, origin of glacial deposit,plant composition, and so on. There are four ecological provinces in Minnesota (prairie parkland, eastern broadleaf forest, Laurentian mixed forest, and tallgrass aspen parkland),ten sections within the provinces, and 26 subsections.The Bailey Point Nature Preserve is classified as follows (Figure 10): Ecological Province: Eastern Broadleaf Forest Section: Minnesota and Northeast Iowa Morainal Subsection:Anoka Sand Plain Friends of the Mississippi River Bailey Point Nature Preserve NRMP 31