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The Lower Rum River Watershed provides habitat for a significant number of Blanding's turtles <br />(Emydoidea blandingii), a state threatened species. In addition to Blanding's turtles, several other state <br />threatened species of reptiles, birds, and rare plants have been identified and listed in the NHIS Rare <br />Features Data. Additional information about rare, threatened, and endangered species is available from <br />the NHNRP at: tt. : / r.st t .us/n r/ <br />x. <br />t 1 <br />None of the lakes in the LRRWMO are MDNR-managed fisheries. The MDNR and its partners have <br />periodically performed fishery surveys of the Mississippi River and Rum River. The Lower Rum has been <br />periodically managed as a smallmouth bass and walleye fishery by the MDNR, but is not consistently <br />stocked. More information is available from the MDNR at: <br />tt :// r.st t n. / r*sills ri* st tr+ iv <br />The MDNR's Minnesota County Biological Survey for Anoka County (1994, with Ramsey County) identified <br />pre -settlement vegetation. Prior to settlement, the LRRWMO was covered primarily by oak forest <br />interrupted by tall grass prairie. River bottom forests occurred near the confluence of the Mississippi River <br />and Rum River in Anoka. Portions of wet prairie occurred throughout the watershed, most heavily <br />concentrated within Andover in the northeast. <br />In 2007, the City of Anoka established the Anoka Nature Preserve (ANP). The preserve includes over 200 <br />acres of forested oak savanna, meadow and grassland, wetland backwaters, and includes a mile of Rum <br />River shoreline. The ANP is protected by a conservation easement; the ANP is cooperatively managed by <br />the Anoka SWCD and City of Anoka. Anoka SWCD has also established a conservation area at the <br />confluence of the Rum River and Cedar Creek. The area is preserved for nature -based outdoor recreation <br />such as hiking, bird watching, fishing, and hunting by permit. <br />Minnesota County Biological Survey also identifies sites of biodiversity significance. Sites of moderate <br />biodiversity significance occur along portions of the Rum River within the ANP and Mississippi River. <br />Additional areas of biodiversity that do not meet MDNR threshold criteria are present throughout much <br />of the watershed (see Figure 2-14). Additional information is available from the Minnesota Biological <br />Survey at: tt :// r.st t. <br />x. t <br />2-38 <br />