Natural Resources Restoration Projects

This 11-acre oak savanna restoration, south of Upper Afton Road and west of Century Avenue, will preserve oaks and revive the savanna landscape.  The majority of trees within this project area consisted of invasive black locust, Siberian elm, poplar and boxelder, amongst old growth oaks. 

Invasive buckthorn removal began in the winter of 2021 along with the girdling of large black locust and Siberian elm trees. Native seed was cast in the spring in some open areas. Work in the winter of 2022 includes the removal of large invasive trees and piles of buckthorn. Spring and summer of 2022 and 2023 will include maintenance of buckthorn and planting of native flowers and grasses to re-establish native habitat that will better benefit local wildlife and pollinators.

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This 45-acre project, west of Battle Creek Road and north of Lower Afton Road, will enhance and convert native prairie over five different land cover types (detailed below). This project will take place January 2022 through June 2025. 

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• Site 1 and 2: Six acres of fallow field - Steep hillsides consisting of invasive herbaceous grasses and weeds, such as crown vetch and brome. These two sections were excavated for fill more than 30 years ago, which has left two concave impressions on the hillside. The goal is to remove the invasive material through mainly foliar application and convert these hillsides to native prairie.
• Site 3: Three acres of fallow field - A flat cleared field with woody invasive material. This site has been mowed the past few years. The goal is to remove all invasives and convert to native prairie.
• Site 4: 23 acres of native prairie - This flat established native prairie was planted in the mid-2000s and is burned on a three-year rotation. Recently, the site has seen an increase of invasives and has buckthorn growing throughout. The goal is to increase maintenance of this site over the next three seasons (mowing, spot treatment and prescribed burns) to improve the existing prairie. 
• Site 5: 13 acres of cleared invasive woodland - A plateau that was farmed until the late 1980s and then was left fallow. Large invasive black locust and Siberian elm trees filled the site and provide little to no habitat while leaching the soil of nutrients. These trees were girdled three seasons ago and were removed in February 2022. Starting spring 2022, this area will be converted to native prairie to better provide birds and insects with beneficial native vegetation. 

Lake Owasso, situated north of Bennett Lake and south of Lake Wabasso in the Owasso Chain, is the largest lake in the District. Over the past several years, the District has been working to reduce the invasive carp population in Lake Owasso and surrounding water bodies.

With the recent completion of work at Lake Owasso County Park, Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District has partnered with Ramsey County and secured a Conservation Partners Legacy Grant to restore over 700 feet of shoreline between the boat launch and swimming beach along the northeast shore of Lake Owasso. The majority of the work will occur in the spring and summer of 2022.

More information can be found on the Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District website.

Work began in August 2019 and will be completed by summer 2022 to convert degraded forest and brome field into a native prairie and oak savanna. The project site is located in Tamarack Nature Center, which is part of the Bald Eagle-Otter Lakes Regional Park, south of County Road H2 and west of Otter Lake Road within White Bear Township. The site is approximately 17 acres, with four acres being converted to native prairie and 13 acres of woodland to be restored and planted with oak trees. This multi-year project is designed to create a healthy and resilient prairie and oak savanna ecosystems.

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The project is located south of Snail Lake Road and north of Gramsie Road within the city of Shoreview, Minnesota and lies within the Vadnais-Snail Lakes Regional Park system. The site is approximately 63 acres and consists of six land cover class restoration areas (see project map for details). The project began in winter of 2018/2019 and ended in summer 2021. The Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District and Ramsey County teamed up to restore the forest and wetland buffer habitat. This area supports one of the largest oak forest and associated wetland habitats in the region. Over the last several years, it has been degraded by invasive vegetation, flooding and erosion. With funding from a DNR Conservation Partners Legacy Grant, this multi-year project is designed to create more healthy and resilient forest and wetland ecosystems. For more information about the wetland buffer restoration location and timeline, please visit Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District's information page. 

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The project site is located in Battle Creek Regional Park, north of Upper Afton Road and east of the Battle Creek Waterworks entrance road within the city of Maplewood. This forest restoration project began in 2019 and will run through the summer of 2022. Historically, this 33-acre woodlands, was a high quality native forest with a variety of ages consisting of mesic and oak woodlands. Over the last several years, this area has been degraded by invasive vegetation and erosion. This multi-year project is designed to remove invasive species and introduce native trees and plants to create a more healthy and resilient forest.

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The corridor, located within Battle Creek Regional Park, consists of uniquely steep topography, wetland seeps and habitat of high ecological significance. The creek corridor restoration project restored over 100 acres of mainly oak woodlands and converted around three acres of brome field into native prairie – which is located on steep hillsides adjacent to the paved path south of Upper Afton Road. The woodland restoration work included removal of buckthorn and other woody invasive species such as black locust and Siberian elm. Invasive plant control included burdock, garlic mustard, narrow leaf bittercress, amongst others. A prescribed burn took place in 2019, with a follow-up completed in 2021.

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This project was a continued restoration effort that started through volunteers and donations on 20 acres of oak savanna and woodlands within Long Lake Regional Park. The restoration expanded to include another five acres, for a total of 25 acres of woodland restored. The restoration included the removal of woody exotic and invasive species, and removal of larger trees, such as boxelder, cottonwood and some conifers, to decrease the encroachment on the oak trees and field areas being converted to oak savanna. Clearing took place in the winter of 2017 and tree material was removed or burned on site. A prescribed burn took place through sections of the restored areas in the spring of 2017 and 2019, followed by plantings of native seed and oak tree seedlings.

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The Rice Creek corridor extends 22 miles through Anoka and Ramsey County and provides habitat for migratory waterfowl and upland birds that nest and travel within the Mississippi flyway. This project restored 80 acres of creek corridor habitat back into quality oak forest, through removal of woody invasive species, suppression of oak wilt and removal of larger invasive trees such as locust and Siberian elm. Most of the clearing was completed in the winter of 2017 and tree material was burned on site, followed by plantings of native seed and oak tree seedlings. Work was completed in the summer of 2019 and ongoing maintenance will include foliar spraying of reemerging buckthorn and prescribed burns.

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