City of Blaine Anoka County, Minnesota

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ENTER AGENDA SECTION HERE- Nate Monahan, Recreation Manager

Title

NRCB UPDATE

Background

Buckthorn Workshop Update

The city has an opportunity to work with the Anoka Conservation District (ACD) and Rice Creek Watershed District (RWCD) to provide training and cost-share assistance for buckthorn management. A workshop is tentatively scheduled for August 22^nd and will be taught virtually by Blue Thumb with the opportunity for staff to meet with residents at their property.

The ACD received funding to manage buckthorn and will be offering cost-share assistance to homeowners. The target audience for the workshop are the homeowners adjacent to the BWS as well as a few Homeowner Associations in close proximity to the site in the Lakes. Postcards will be mailed out in the next few weeks once the date is set.

BWS Interpretive Signs

Staff met with Vacker Sign Company to finalize installation and locations of the signs along the boardwalk and trails. The installation of the signs will begin this week.

BWS Virtual STEM Videos

City staff was able to get an educational grant from Rice Creek Watershed district for the creation of three STEM videos about the Blaine Wetland Sanctuary. The city partnered with Heidi Ferris from Growing Green Hearts to produce the videos. The STEM videos are based off curriculum Growing Green Hearts has developed for the Blaine Wetland Sanctuary.

OPEN SPACE UPDATE

The city’s Water Resources Intern (Dillon Moore) has been completing walkthroughs of city open spaces, updating the information in the kiosks at Pioneer and Laddie Lake Parks, filing mailboxes with clean dog waste bags, and collecting water samples to be tested for Ecoli and Phosphorus as well as lake measurements at Sunrise and Lochness Lakes.

Importance of protecting threatened and endangered species and the role the Blaine Wetland Sanctuary is providing

The Anoka Sandplain is unique to the State of Minnesota because of the soils, hydrology and vegetation types that are only found in this part of the state. With recent development in the area, significant loss of threatened and endangered plant species has occurred. Fortunately, the city has been given the opportunity to restore the habitat where many threatened and endangered species were suspected to be. The area is known as the Blaine Wetland Sanctuary (11980 Lexington Avenue).

This 510 acre city open space is becoming a sanctuary for many threatened and endangered plant species through the restoration work that started back in 2009 with the installation of a water control feature called a weir that restored the hydrology to the middle 55 acres of the site along with raking, mowing, burning, spot herbicide treatments and removing non-native and invasive tree species. This work exposed the native seed bank in the ground allowing threatened and endangered species to thrive.

This work continued to the north and provided an opportunity with a boardwalk for the public to enjoy the beauty of the restored wetland. Recent vegetation studies have shown that the restoration work is proving to be successful. The Lance leaved violet and several Rubus species, which are many of your fruit plants like raspberry, blackberry, dewberry, etc., are on the state’s threatened and endangered plant list. However, recent investigations at the Blaine Wetland Sanctuary have shown the start of recovery of these plant species.

Why is this important to you? Source: U.S. EPA (www.epa.gov <http://www.epa.gov>) and Endangered Species Coalition

Ecological Importance

Without healthy ecosystems, we will not have clean air, water or land. When a species becomes endangered it is a sign that the ecosystem is falling apart and may affect an entire food chain starting with the insects that live or feed on the plant, moving on to the birds and frogs that eat the insects and ending with the larger animals like snakes, hawks, and foxes that prey on the birds and frogs.

Medical

Over 50% of the 150 most prescribed medicines were originally derived from a plant or other natural product. Having sustainable populations of plants, allows the medical community the ability to experiment with plants to find cures for diseases.

Aesthetic/Recreational

The preservation of our nation’s biological diversity is an immensely important facet to the survival of the travel industry since many people visit natural areas in the US and participate in wildlife related activities.

Agriculture

The agricultural community plays an important role because the wild relatives of common crops contain important genetic material needed to maintain crops. The wild relatives can be used to ensure crops are disease resistant while providing information for developing new crops that can grow in less than adequate lands.

What can you do to help? (www.endangered.org <http://www.endangered.org>)

1. Visit botanical gardens, arboreta, wildlife refuges, and other locations to learn about endangered plants.

2. Plant native plants, which are key to maintaining our natural ecosystems.

3. Never harvest threatened or endangered plants. It is illegal to harm any endangered plants live in the wild.

4. Buy plants from reputable buyers. Plant collectors must be particularly careful to ensure unusual plants are legal.

5. Don’t plant invasive plants, which can wreak havoc on native ecosystems and endangered plants and animals.

6. Minimize use of herbicides and pesticides, which are hazardous pollutants that affect wildlife at many levels.

7. Buy reused wood or Forest Stewardship Council certified wood, highly recycled paper, and fair-trade coffee.

8. Don’t drain! Some of the most precious habitats in the country are wetlands with unique plants and animals.

9. When choosing a first or second home, look for houses that are already built.

10. Don't destroy habitat. Protecting habitat saves entire communities of animals and plants.

Rubus dominated field in BWS (photo credit: Jason Husveth, CCES)

Lance leaved violet at the BWS (photo credit: Jason Husveth, CCES)

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