Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 04/10/1997

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Mississippi West Regional Park is located 20 miles northwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota along the Mississippi River in the city of Ramsey in westem Anoka County. The park's hydrology is under the management of the Lower Rum River Watershed Management Organization (LRRWMO). It includes two islands on the Mississippi River; Cloquet Island (70 acres) presently owned by the Anoka County Park Officials, and Foster's Island (9 acres) currently owned by Herbert and Marcella Husby. Mississippi West Regional Park property consists of a total 266.17 acres and lies along the south boundary of the city of Rarnsey, occupying most of section 33 and parts of section 28 and section 34, all in T. 32N., R. 25 W. Current access to the property is via Traprock Street, just north of the Rarnaey Boulevard junction with US Highway 10. An inventory was carried out by students in the Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences curriculum at the University of Minnesota. The inventory looked at natural communities w~chin the park and classified each commumty according to the resource classification system used by Anoka County. The natural commun/ties were classified based on the predominant vegetation on the landscape. Cultural features of the land (utilities and structures) were also noted on the inventory. The inventory found three existing native sand plain cornmun/fies w/thin the park: oak woodland-brushland, floodplain forest, and a river beach commumty. Five non-native communities were also identified: non-native arboretum, red cedar forest, red cedar/non-native grassland, non- native grassland, and agricultural areas. These non-native communities could be altered into native communities with relative ease. Recommendations were then made, based on data col/ected during the inventory, about how to best manage the park. The park was divided into four distinct management zones: wildlife, preservation, resource, and development. Recommendations were made on how to best manage the individual zones for the benefit of the entire park. Recommendations for the wildlife refuge management zones focus on maintaining the natural barriers to the islands to prevent human impact in these delicate communities. The recommendations also address the proposal to develop car~sites on Cloquet Island. In general the islands are too fragile and too dangerous (due to flooding) to sustain any development. Recommendations for the preservation management zones focus on preserving the soil resource. Both preservation zones occur in areas w/th sandy soils and steep slopes. These iv