Pine River Watershed Landscape Stewardship Plan
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Pine River Watershed Landscape Stewardship Plan September 2017 Prepared for MFRC / US Forest Service Minnesota Forest Resources Council (MFRC) ©Copyright 2017, Minnesota Forest Resources Council Information about the Minnesota Forest Resources Council and the Landscape Program can be found at www.frc.state.mn.us. Equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from Minnesota Forest Resources Council programs is available to all individuals regardless of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, and marital status, status with regard to public assistance, age, sexual orientation, or disability. Discrimination inquiries should be sent to the Minnesota Forest Resources Council, 2003 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, MN 55108; or the Equal Opportunity Office, Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. 20240. This information is available in an alternative format upon request. Document prepared by: Pine River Landscape Stewardship Team; MFRC and DNR staff; written by Mitch Brinks. Cover photos: Mitch Brinks, Dan Steward Aerial photo (header): Lake Ossawinnamakee, Source: BWSR, DNR Other photos, maps, & graphics: Unless otherwise noted, all maps and graphics were made by Mitch Brinks or Red House Media, under contract with Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry. Please cite this document as: Minnesota Forest Resource Council. Pine River Landscape Stewardship Plan. Minnesota Forest Resource Council, St. Paul, Minnesota, 2017. MFRC 1-1 Pine River Watershed Landscape Stewardship Plan Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................................. 1-3 Part 1. Purpose and Context: Where Have We Been and Where Are We Today? .......................................... 1-4 Section 1. Introduction: Pine River Watershed…a Complex Landscape! ........................................................................................ 1-5 A. Physical Landscape: Geomorphic Shaping Forces ................................................................................................................. 1-6 B. Forest Resources ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1-8 C. Water Resources ................................................................................................................................................................... 1-13 D. Ownership Patterns, Land Supply & Demand, and Development / Agricultural Risk ......................................................... 1-19 Section 2. Watershed Protection Approach ....................................................................................................................................... 2-25 A. Development of a “Protection” Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 2-25 B. Pine River Watershed Protection Status ............................................................................................................................... 2-26 C. Watershed Protection Goal for Lake-Based Systems ........................................................................................................... 2-27 D. Watershed Protection Goal for Stream-Based Systems ........................................................................................................ 2-29 E. Potential to Protect ................................................................................................................................................................ 2-30 F. Cost to Achieve Watershed Protection Goal ......................................................................................................................... 2-31 Section 3. Sub-Watershed Context ........................................................................................................................................................ 3-1 Forest Characteristics: ....................................................................................................................................................................... 3-2 Lake Characteristics: ......................................................................................................................................................................... 3-2 Stream Characteristics: ..................................................................................................................................................................... 3-3 A. Pine River Sub-watershed: Headwaters .................................................................................................................................. 3-4 B. Pine River Sub-Watershed: Pine River South Fork ................................................................................................................ 3-9 C. Pine River Sub-Watershed: Whitefish Chain of Lakes ......................................................................................................... 3-14 D. Pine River Sub-Watershed: Lower Pine River ...................................................................................................................... 3-19 E. Pine River Sub-Watershed: Little Pine River ....................................................................................................................... 3-24 F. Pine River Sub-Watershed: Daggett Brook .......................................................................................................................... 3-29 Appendices (separate document) A Individual Minor Watershed “Potential to Protect” Map B Individual Minor Watershed “RAQ Scoring Map” MFRC 1-2 Pine River Watershed Landscape Stewardship Plan Executive Summary Pine River Landscape Stewardship Plan Forests play a critical role in keeping water clean by absorbing and filtering water, preventing erosion through soil stabilization, and allowing for groundwater recharge. Clean water is vital to the ecological, economic and social health of the resource-rich North Central Minnesota region. The National Association of State Forests Water recognized the connection of healthy forests to clean water by its policy statement: "Water, in all its uses and permutations, is by far the most valuable commodity that comes from the forest land that we manage, assist others to manage, and/or regulate." Forests also provide important and sustainable social, recreational, and economic benefits for landowners and the public at large. Because north-central Minnesota still maintains abundant forest and water resources, protecting these resources is critical to not only maintaining the high quality ecological benefits, but also improving the social/recreational and economic value of these areas. A well-designed "protection" methodology is needed that that not only prioritizes watersheds based on the amount of protected lands and locally adopted policy, but also targets implementation (using forest protection tools) based on a parcel based system that scores parcels not only by the amount of acreage, but also their riparian, adjacency (to other protected lands), and quality characteristics. Just as an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, employing a "protection" approach is much more efficient and cost-effective than a "restoration" approach. This plan builds on the efforts of previous plans like the North-central Landscape Plan and the Camp Ripley Landscape Stewardship Plan to solidify the connection between forest land cover and water quality in north-central Minnesota in order to continue promoting collaborative ways to bring partners and stakeholders together strategically to increase implementation of watershed protection strategies and promote private forest management. This Plan can be used to inform forest stewardship planning on non-industrial private forest lands (NIPF); water resource management for quality and quantity; fish and wildlife habitat management; enhancement of recreational opportunities on private and public lands; community land use planning; collaborative project funding and delivery; and to influence state and local policy makers. The Pine River Landscape Stewardship Plan employs the minor watershed methodology to drill down from the major watershed (HUC8: about 780 sq. miles) to the six sub-watersheds contained within (HUC scale: 130 scale miles), then down to the 69 minor watersheds (HUC 14: about 11 sq. miles) contained within all of the sub-watersheds. The drill-down methodology uses local and state prioritization effors to identify priority minor watersheds and then targets the large-tract (>20 acre) forested landowners within those minor watersheds for in order to implement forest management and forest protection projects in strategic areas of the watershed. The plan starts with establishing the foundation of how geomorphic processes at the end of the last ice age shaped the underlying soils and resulting original forested landscape of the Pine River watershed. The anthropogenic effects on the amount and type of forest cover over the last several hundred years, as well as the current ownership pattern on the landscape are also important topics that are addressed in Part 1. Parts 2 and 3 focus on the tools for private forest management and where to start. These major sections seek to address strategic planning questions: • Part 1: Purpose & Context—Where Have We Been and Where