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Page 30
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<br />14. Fish, Wildlife, Plant Communities, and Sensitive Ecological Resources
<br />(Rare Features):
<br />
<br />a) Describe fish and wildlife resources as well as habitats and vegetation on or near the site.
<br />
<br />Prior to European settlement, the Mississippi River St. Cloud Watershed (MRSCW) “was
<br />heavily forested, with patches of prairie and bog/swamps. Oak stands, prairies, and barren lands
<br />were dominant in riparian areas along the Mississippi River, transitioning into denser, hardwood
<br />forests in upstream areas. European settlement in the 1800s resulted in loss of many ecosystems
<br />including prairie systems, oak openings, and oak savannas in the MRSCW. In addition, many
<br />hardwood forest species were cleared to create new agricultural fields” (14).
<br />
<br />According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Forest Service’s
<br />ecological classification system, the project area is within the Eastern Broadleaf Forest Province,
<br />the Minnesota and Northeast Iowa Morainal section, and the Anoka Sand Plain subsection (31).
<br />
<br />The U.S. Geologic Survey’s Earth Resource Observation and Science Center’s National Land
<br />Cover Database (published September 26th, 2024) maps the property as primarily cultivated
<br />crops (163.33 acres) (11). Per the database, the project area consists of the following (Figure 4):
<br /> Cultivated Crops (163.33 ac.)
<br /> Deciduous Forest (32.45 ac.)
<br /> Pasture/Hay (29.27 ac.)
<br /> Emergent Herbaceous Wetland (13.53 ac.)
<br /> Open Water (3.20 ac.)
<br /> Developed Low Intensity (2.15 ac.)
<br /> Developed Open Space (1.25 ac.)
<br /> Developed Medium Intensity (1.37 ac.)
<br /> Woody Wetland (0.95 ac.)
<br /> Developed High Intensity (0.14 ac.)
<br />
<br />The site contained cultivated fields, hayfields, old paddocks, woodlands, a tributary, and a
<br />farmstead with single-family homes and barns. The cultivated fields were planted with soybeans
<br />for the 2024 growing season and the hayfields had been recently mowed prior to the site visit.
<br />The woodlands consisted of white oak, hackberry, northern pin oak, eastern red cedar, green ash
<br />and silver maple trees. The understory consisted of prickly ash, prickly gooseberry, common
<br />buckthorn shrubs, creeping Charlie, dewberry, motherwort, wood nettle, calico aster, Virginia
<br />stickseed, and Virginia creeper. The old paddocks consisted of common mullein, smooth brome,
<br />Canada goldenrod, common ragweed, and Kentucky bluegrass. The eastern wetland (Wetland 1)
<br />was comprised of reed canary grass, blue vervain, marsh horsetail, northern water plantain, dark
<br />green bulrush, swamp milkweed, lake sedge, Carex sp., giant goldenrod, American burnweed,
<br />bugleweed, jewelweed, river bulrush, Pennsylvania smartweed, common boneset, narrowleaf and
<br />broadleaf cattails. The western wetland (Wetland 2) was comprised of silver maple trees, wood
<br />nettle, jewelweed, reed canary grass, and creeping Charlie.
<br />
<br />During the delineation four seep areas were identified, these areas will be reviewed by a DNR
<br />qualified specialist to verify whether rare plant communities or sensitive ecological resources
<br />exist at/near the seeps within Wetlands 1 and 2. A specialist from Midwest Natural Resources
<br />(MNR) found that both wetland features lacked any evidence of calcium carbonate and the soils
<br />throughout were generally sandy with some organic matter present but not similar to soils
<br />typically found in river terrace fens. The wetlands were determined not to be calcareous fens.
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