6.2 at 1 Camp Cozy Park_NRMP_2023

Home Browse Search

40 Friends of the Mississippi River Camp Cozy Park NRMP Adjacent Land Use Land use around Camp Cozy is dominated by residential development, industrial and agricultural use (Figure 1). The Elk River borders the property to the south and east, and urban land use is present to the north, south, and east beyond the river’s corridor. This means that urban and residential runoff, agricultural nutrient loading, pollutants, and warm water from streets, roads, parking lots, and buildings all affect these waters before they arrive at the site. This part of Elk River lies within the Urban Services Area, meaning that city-operated infrastructure will continue to be built to serve expansion in development within this part of the city. Because many of the homes within the neighborhood bordering Camp Cozy are aged, redevelopment of these properties, especially those along the Elk River, is likely. East of the property, the Elk and Mississippi Rivers combine and turn southward, flowing southeast through a more urban landscape and eventually reaching the Twin Cities metro area. EXISTING LAND COVER & ECOLOGICAL MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS To better understand the property’s existing land cover in 2023, FMR ecologists used the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Minnesota Land Cover Classification System (MLCCS), which integrates cultural and vegetation features of the landscape into one comprehensive land classification system. To determine target plant communities for restoration (Table 2), we considered the following: 1) historic conditions, 2) existing conditions, 3) relative effort versus benefits, and 4) the desires of the City of Elk River. Relative effort versus 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 to determine the optimal and most suitable goals for restoration. Target communities are in accordance with the Field Guide to the Native Plant Communities of Minnesota: The Eastern Broadleaf Forest Province (DNR, 2005) and are described below. The field guides of native plant communities describe 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, and plant composition. 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. Camp Cozy is classified as follows (Figure 15): Ecological Province: Eastern Broadleaf Forest Section: Minnesota and Northeast Iowa Morainal Subsection: Anoka Sand Plain