Agenda - Environmental Policy Board - 03/15/2007 - Special Meeting

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~ How will information from the NRI be used? ~ Large. plotted aerial photo(s} where residents can locate their property and share information about natural resources. Deliverable: ~ Open house design and presentations by Bonestroo staff on project goals, activities, and products Task 6: Field Inventory May - JUly 2007 While the existing data provides valuable information. it has not been field verified for accuracy 'and, especially in the case of natural areas, is lacking important information that can only be collected through an on. the ground or drive-by assessment, depending on the land cover type and th~ information. needed. We propose to complete a level offield check appropriate to the cover type and per conversations with City staff, as described below. 1. Complete a drive-by assessment of the cultural land cover areas (mapped as 20,000 codes in the current MLCCS layer). This includes agricultural lands, conifer plantations, and recreation areas. These will be coded to MLCCS level 3, which captures general cover class such as row crop or close grown crop such as hay. If desired, mapping can be completed to MLCCS level 4, which differentiates between hydric and upland soli crop areas. This higher level of detail is offered as an additional service. 2. Complete a drive-by assessment (field check level of 1 or 2) of the semi-natural communities. This includes areas such as fields of non-native grasses, reed-canary grass wetlands, and disturbed/altered forests. 3. Complete a drive-by assessment of natural areas where no property access was granted (field check level of 1 or 2). : ,', 4. Conduct an "on the ground" assessment of upland natural areas where property access is permitted, and for which no quality information is available. Based on review of the existing MLCCS, this includes up to 1,600 acres (333 polygons) of upland area. 5. Conduct an "on the ground" assessment of wetland natural areas which were not previously field checked during the MnRAM assessment. Where property access is not granted, we will: ~ Gather as much information as possible by observing natural areas from nearby viewing point{s) and through aerial photo interpretation ~ Note sites with potential for hosting unique natural communities and/or rare spedes and recommended for inventory prior to, or at the time of development I ci(y of Ramsey Natural Resources Inventoty 9 ;.