6.2 at 1 Camp Cozy Park_NRMP_2023

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42 Friends of the Mississippi River Camp Cozy Park NRMP remain appropriate targets for restoration within most of the site, but there has been some community succession. Some areas that had likely been prairie and savanna have succeeded to overgrown forest and savanna, and the relative cost-benefit of restoring historical plant communities should be weighed. Additionally, restoration planning must also consider that Camp Cozy’s intended use is as a nature park, and certain areas of the site that have been maintained as mowed turf should be carved out of restoration management units to provide for areas of park programming and the construction of amenities. The size of the park at nearly 50 acres allows for a good balance of developed space that serves the community, opportunities for unique interactions with the river, prairies, and forests, and the preservation of imperiled habitat. PLANT COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT Land Cover The MLCCS consists of five hierarchical levels that are reflected in a five-digit classification code. At the most general level, land cover is divided into either Natural/Semi-Natural cover types or cultural cover types. The cultural classification system is designed to identify developed areas impervious to water and vegetation patterns. Level 1 - General growth patterns (e.g. forest, woodland, shrubland, etc.) Level 2 - Plant types (e.g. deciduous, coniferous, grasslands, forbs, etc.) Level 3 - Soil hydrology (e.g. upland, seasonally flooded, saturated, etc.) Levels 4 & 5 - Plant species composition, (e.g. floodplain forest, fen sedge, jack pine barrens, etc.) The current MLCCS land cover of Camp Cozy Park is a mix of predominantly upland land covers: “Dry oak savanna barrens” in the north, “Dry prairie barrens in the areas of the two remnant prairies, “Oak forest” within the oak forests, and “Lowland hardwood forest” in the terrace and floodplain areas (Figure 17). Additionally, two acres of mesic prairie is shown in the area of the southern mesic prairie remnants, though these remnants are considerably smaller due to woody encroachment. With some nuance, these land cover classifications are accurate. Each unit description includes a recommended plant community which can be used to guide restoration, based on the Minnesota DNR Native Plant Communities. Full descriptions of each native plant community recommended for the property can be found in Appendix B.