Read Minnesota’s draft pheasant plan 1 July, 2015 // O

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Pioneer Press, Dave Orrick
1 July, 2015 // Outdoors Now
it will be much easier to read/follow if you click the link: http://blogs.twincities.com/outdoors/20 ... sant-plan/

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has recently completed a draft of its “Pheasant Summit Action Plan,” which recommends 10 actions for improving pheasant numbers.

Continue reading to read the executive summary and full plan, both of which remain in draft form and subject to change.

Here’s the executive summary:

PHEASANT SUMMIT ACTION PLAN

Executive Summary
1. Identify 9-square mile habitat complexes where the landscape meets the goal of 25- 40% permanently protected grassland to target future habitat protection efforts.

Large blocks of habitat increase reproductive success – the most important limiting factor for pheasant populations. Using GIS and current land cover data, we will identify the best places for pheasant production, and focus management efforts to meet habitat requirements throughout the year.
2. Increase the rate of enrollment and retention in non-permanent conservation programs and the enrollment of permanent conservation easements by private landowners.

With 95% of the pheasant range in private ownership, increasing pheasant populations will depend on maximizing private land habitat. Demand for conservation programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and Re-invest In Minnesota (RIM) Reserve far exceeds available program acres. Significant additional funding must be secured for practices and technical assistance.



Increase education and marketing of private lands conservation programs through the Farm Bill Assistance Partnership (FBAP).

The best tool for promoting Farm Bill and state conservation programs is the FBAP, which puts staff dedicated to private lands conservation into county offices. FBAP staff work with landowners to explain the full range of state and federal conservation programs and help them determine which program(s) are best suited to their land.
4. Increase management of habitat on both public and private lands.

Without periodic natural disturbances to prairie grasslands, diversity and productivity declines. Prescribed burning, tree removal, conservation grazing, and haying are all tolls that can increase the quality of pheasant habitat..
5. Accelerate acquisition of public lands open to hunting across the pheasant range including State Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) and Federal Waterfowl Production Areas (WPA).

Increasing the base of public lands, will both help increase the habitat base for grassland wildlife and create more opportunities for hunting and other forms of outdoor recreation.
6. Develop and implement a comprehensive riparian buffer program

Buffers, perennial vegetation adjacent to waterways, are important tools to prevent erosion into state waters. However, buffers can also provide habitat benefits for wildlife. Promoting the existing buffer program and expanding to additional waterways can provide dual benefits to surface water and wildlife.



Improve roadside management to optimize pheasant habitat.

While driver safety has to be a primary concern, roadsides can be improved for pheasants by increasing the diversity of the native plant community, using mowing practices that leave standing vegetation, and planting living snow fences that serve as winter cover.
8. Secure federal funding to sustain the Walk-In Access (WIA) program in the pheasant range in Minnesota.

Minnesota has been using a one-time legislative appropriation as well as competitive grants from the NRCS to support and fund the WIA program. Without additional federal funding, the program cannot be sustained.



Expand public education about grassland and pheasant conservation issues and support hunter recruitment and retention.

An electorate that is knowledgeable about the values and needs of grassland habitat will be supportive in securing resources to conserve and manage these habitats. By providing information and opportunities for new potential users, we can help create a new generation of hunter conservationists.



Expand monitoring and research capacity for both habitat and population studies of grassland wildlife and clearly communicate these results to the public.

There are more stressors on habitat and wildlife in the agricultural part of the state than there have ever been. Minnesota needs to continue and expand habitat based research and monitoring on pheasants and other grassland wildlife to ensure long-term sustainability.



Here’s the entire plan:

PHEASANT SUMMIT ACTION PLAN

On 13 December 2014, Governor Dayton convened a Pheasant Summit in Marshall, Minnesota. The Summit was attended by the Governor, the commissioners of the Departments of Natural Resources and Agriculture, several legislative aides, staff from multiple federal and state agencies, and 250 hunters, conservationists, farmers, and ranchers. It was Governor Dayton’s desire that this group, representing a diversity of interested Minnesotans, could help forge a plan to restore pheasant populations in Minnesota and ensure that generations can participate in Minnesota’s rich pheasant hunting tradition.

The Summit attendees were presented with historical pheasant habitat and population summaries along with the results of an online survey of 750 Minnesotans soliciting suggestions on restoring pheasant habitat and populations as well as hunting opportunity. They were then tasked with developing action items which were collated and refined by DNR staff. A Pheasant Summit Steering Committee, comprised of leaders from agricultural and conservation groups, was also asked to provide input into the plan.

This resultant Action Plan presents those ideas and establishes an aggressive set of short- and long-term steps to increase and improve habitat for pheasants and opportunities for hunting. This Action Plan includes measurable goals for a four year time frame in the context of a longer – two decade – timeline.

Previous plans such as the 2005 Pheasant Plan and the 2006 Duck Plan focused primarily on statewide goals for acres protected and restored. This Action Plan identifies acres needed to achieve population goals, but also identifies the best ways and the diversity of ways to accomplish those goals. This landscape approach – that identifies both optimal acreages as well as optimal location – borrows heavily from the approach of the Minnesota Prairie Conservation Plan.

Private lands in the pheasant range account for over 95% of the land base. Increases in pheasant populations will require a significant investment in private land management, enrollment in conservation programs and permanent easements, and some public land acquisitions. Recovering the pheasant population to desirable levels will also require landscape planning, coordinating landscape management in localized areas across multiple private and public ownerships.

The Pheasant Summit actions are explicitly designed to increase pheasant habitat and pheasant populations. Pheasants are flagship species for grassland conservation. Pheasants are dependent on grassland habitat. Those grasslands will also provide habitat for waterfowl, songbirds, pollinators, and hundreds of other species of grassland dependent wildlife. Those same grasslands also absorb rainfall, filter nitrates and sediment from surface water run-off, and sequester carbon in the soil. The management actions outlined in this plan will benefit all these species and processes.

The following are ten action items derived from the Pheasant Summit as well as specific tasks to be initiated to achieve each item.
















1. Identify 9-square mile habitat complexes where the landscape is 25 to 40 percent permanently protected grassland to target future habitat protection efforts.
It’s not necessarily the size of the habitat patch (individual WMA), but the amount of grass in the surrounding landscape that most benefits wildlife. This action item will extend the landscape concepts of the Prairie Plan to the entire pheasant range. The Action Plan will continue past work by building habitat complexes in areas where there is already a significant public investment in conservation lands.

Within GIS, identify areas that are 25-40% grassland where, with a minimal investment, the goal of 40% permanent protection can be reached.
Identify and concentrate conservation actions in a minimum of three complexes per county in the pheasant range.
Target the public and private land habitat outcomes identified in Actions 2, 3, and 4 in these 9-square mile habitat complexes in the pheasant range.


Background:

Studies have shown greater nest success among gamebirds, waterfowl, and songbirds in larger patches of grassland. More recently, the focus has shifted to a landscape approach instead of concentrating on a single block of habitat (Horn et al., 2005; Stephen et al., 2005; Haroldson et al., 2006; Walker et al., 2013). Nest success increases when a larger percent (40% or more) of a landscape (a quarter to a township) is in grassland.

The Working Land Initiative as well as the Prairie Conservation Plan core areas and corridor complex areas have a target of 40% grassland at the landscape scale in specific areas (i.e., blocks of 3 by 3 miles). This grassland habitat will be a combination of public lands; DNR Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) and Scientific and Natural Areas (SNA) as well as USFWS Waterfowl Production Areas (WPA) and National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), as well as permanent private easements. Pastures, hayfields, and lands in mid-term programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in these areas can be identified for permanent protection. By distributing these complexes across the state it will also distribute hunting pressure more evenly and create more hunting opportunities near population centers.


2. Increase the rate of enrollment and retention in non-permanent conservation programs and the enrollment of permanent conservation easements by private landowners.

Ninety-five percent of the pheasant range is in private lands. Increases in pheasant populations will require a significant investment in private land conservation programs. Demand for conservation programs such as CRP and Re-invest In Minnesota (RIM) program far exceeds available program dollars. These are lands that make a strong contribution to wildlife conservation and water quality improvement but remain in private ownership and stay on the county and township tax rolls.

Submit, fund and promote a Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) proposal to the Farm Service Agency (FSA) that would permanently protect 100,000 acres of habitat in the pheasant range.
Work with private landowners to retain as much as possible of the 332,000 CRP acres slated to expire in the next 4 years within the pheasant range. Re-enroll these acres in any new general CRP signup or Continuous-CRP (CCRP) practices when applicable.
Request an increase to existing acreage caps for MN State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) CP38e “Back Forty Pheasant Practice” of 20,000 acres/year and CP23a (wetland restoration practice) of 20,000 acres/year.
Sustain current funding trends for RIM of $20 million/year and work to increase this annual allocation to $40 million/year.


Background:

No other program has had as profound an impact on Minnesota’s landscape and grassland wildlife populations as the federal Farm Bill. In Minnesota, CRP acres peaked in 2007 with 1,453,817 acres, but by 2014 we had lost 654,791 acre for a current total of 799,026 acres. The 2014 federal Farm Bill continues this decline by reducing the national CRP enrollment cap from a high of 45 million acres in 1985 to 24 million acres by 2018. Over the next 4-years, an additional 500,000 acres of CRP are expected to expire in Minnesota.

Landowners do have current opportunities to explore eligibility in one of the many CCRP practices available. In particular, the SAFE portion of CRP has acres available for enrollment to landowners interested in creating and conserving upland habitat for pheasants and other grassland wildlife. Despite this decline in CRP acres, programs such as CCRP have increased by 123,544 acres, RIM increased by 22,828, and RIM/ Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) increased by 31,617 acres.

Minnesota’s highly successful RIM Reserve Program is a critical component of the state’s conservation efforts. To date over $ 200 million state dollars has resulted in the RIM Reserve program securing over 5500 permanent conservation easements totaling over 230,000 acres. Partnerships with the USDA’s Farm Service Agency(FSA) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) have resulted in over $260 million federal dollars leveraged into State of Minnesota via the RIM Reserve program.

The 1998 CREP in the Minnesota River watershed enrolled 100,000 acres in 2500 easements in four years. These acres were targeted on the landscape to meet specific objectives. Administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency, CREP is simply a “state sponsored” CRP designed to target and address specific high priority conservation objectives.

3. Increase education and marketing of private lands conservation programs through the Farm Bill Assistance Partnership (FBAP).

Minnesota conservation agencies and organizations have developed a collaborative approach for promoting Farm Bill and state conservation programs, called the Farm Bill Assistance Partnership (FBAP). FBAP staff work with landowners to explain the full range of state and federal conservation programs and help them determine which program(s) are best suited to the landowner and land. Staff can also discuss management options with landowners to improve the existing habitat on their lands. Current funding provides for approximately 35 full time equivalents in 49 counties.

Develop a coordination and marketing plan to ensure staff are aware of landowner contacts and that landowners get needed information at the right times.
Secure funding to add 10 additional FBAP staff in the pheasant range to provide technical assistance to all landowners in the pheasant range.
Commit to funding this $3 million annual staffing effort utilizing present and new funding sources from federal, state and local partners.


Background:

The FBAP is a joint effort between the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR), DNR, Pheasants Forever (PF), Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts (MASWCD), the Environmental and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENRTF), and the Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS). The FBAP program works with local SWCDs to provide funding that accelerates local staffing capacity by placing additional staff in the local USDA Service Center, with a primary focus to actively engage landowners and encourage them to enroll environmentally sensitive lands into voluntary conservation programs like the RIM Reserve program and CRP. This outreach connects landowners with the proper conservation program and practice that meets the landowner’s goals and addresses the resource concern. Since its beginning in 2002, the FBAP has enrolled 554,963 acres into state and federal conservation programs. Securing stable, long-term funding for this program will ensure that these staff can continue to provide outreach to landowners.

4. Increase management of habitat on both public and private lands.

Without periodic active management to simulate natural disturbances (prescribed fire and conservation grazing), plant diversity declines, trees invade the grasslands, and productivity is reduced. This also includes management activities such as food plots, winter cover including cattails and native shrubs. When conducted with private producers, grassland management can provide another benefit to the local agricultural economy, helping both wildlife and livestock.

Secure OHF appropriations to increase public land habitat enhancement for nesting, brood-rearing, and winter cover in the pheasant range.
Implement a Working Lands approach to grassland conservation in key areas, integrating agricultural practices such as grazing and haying into habitat management. Develop program to increase private land prescribed burning and habitat management capacity.
Work with partners to secure Farm Bill conservation program or North American Wetland Conservation Act (NAWCA) grants to increase management.



Background:

Using OHF, there has already been an increased capacity to do habitat management on public lands to enhance nesting, brood-rearing, and winter cover for pheasants and other grassland wildlife. . Three good examples are the DNR Roving Crews, The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Prairie Recovery Project, and the DNR Conservation Partnership Legacy (CPL) grant program. These efforts and acres are all additive to what existing agency staff were and are doing for habitat work. However, there are still many acres of public land in need of more active management.

A remaining challenge is to secure funds to do habitat management/enhancement work on private lands. The DNR’s Working Lands Initiative has funded some projects and there are NRCS programs for similar private lands work. Again, the demand is far greater than the resources for these programs.

Because management practices are often labor-intensive – and staff, equipment and trained contractors are limited – we usually aren’t doing enough management to maintain the health of our grasslands, especially on private lands. For example, while many agency staff are trained to use prescribed fire on public lands, few private landowners have basic fire training and little equipment.


5. Accelerate acquisition of public lands open to hunting across the pheasant range including State Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) and Federal Waterfowl Production Areas (WPA).

In the pheasant range, publicly accessible habitat often accounts for less than two percent of the landscape. This significantly restricts hunter opportunities and forces a large number of hunters into small areas. Accelerating the rate of public land acquisition, often low productivity acres and always from willing sellers, will both help increase the habitat base for grassland wildlife and create more opportunities for hunting and other forms of outdoor recreation.

Seek state bonding, Environmental and Natural Resource Trust Fund (ENRTF), or federal dollars of up to $10 million/year for public land acquisition.
In cooperation with partners, seek $40 million in OHF for WMA and WPA acquisition.



Most of the large public land holdings in Minnesota – WMAs, state forests, county lands and National Forests – are located in the northern and northeastern part of the state, outside the pheasant range. As grassland and wetland habitat has been lost in portions of western and southwestern Minnesota, demand for additional habitat and public hunting areas has increased. State and federal agencies are purchasing public hunting areas from willing sellers. These acres have been used to create new DNR Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) and USFWS Waterfowl Production Areas (WPA) and Northern Tallgrass Prairie National Wildlife Refuge (NTGP NWR) tracts.

These tracts were acquired after extensive review and landscape modeling by both the DNR and USFWS through a comprehensive scoring process. The review is intended to identify the most critical tracts for wildlife production purposes.

Local units of government subsequently receive Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) and Revenue Sharing for lands acquired for WMAs and WPAs/NWRs, respectively. These payments are intended to compensate local units of government for property taxes lost when lands are acquired for a public purpose.

Maximize the benefits of buffers for pheasants and other grassland wildlife.

Riparian buffers help keep our waters clean by protecting them from erosion and runoff pollution. Buffers also can provide additional ‘stacked’ benefits for wildlife and pollinators. Landowners can be encouraged to design buffers with habitat in mind, including plants used to create the buffers, buffer management, and size/width of buffers.

Implement the 2015 Buffer Initiative, which expands the scope of waters required to have buffers, sets timelines for implementation, provides for enforcement, and appropriates funding.
Secure ongoing funding to work with SWCDs on enhancing existing and new buffers for pheasants.
Develop and implement incentive programs to increase payments for landowners who have stacked benefits for wildlife in their buffers.



Background:

Minnesotans are proud of the waters in our state. However, in recent years, those waters have faced significant problems. An MPCA study from the southwest corner of the state found that only one of 93 stream sections studied were safe for human recreation and none of the lakes met the safety standard. Another recent MPCA study from the southern part of the state found very high nitrate levels.

For wildlife habitat, wider buffers are better and buffers planted to a more diverse native grass and wildflower mix are better than grass monocultures. Landowners can be encouraged to enroll buffers in programs that will pay for these enhancements. Wider buffers can also be targeted on the landscape where they are most needed, such as at the base of steeper slopes with higher erosion rates.


7. Improve roadside management to optimize pheasant habitat.

Roadsides represent a significant acreage of grassland across the pheasant range, when federal, state, county, and townships roads are added together. While driver safety has to be the primary concern with roadsides, there are numerous ways to make roadsides more wildlife friendly. This can include increasing the diversity of the native plant community, using mowing practices that leave standing vegetation for nesting and brood rearing cover, and establishing living snow fences that could serve as winter cover.

Revitalize the Interagency Roadsides for Wildlife Task Force and Roadsides for Wildlife Program to prioritize and coordinate roadside habitat efforts.
Use the task force to identify new approaches to improve habitat and seek new authority from the Minnesota legislature.
Secure funding to implement county integrated roadside vegetation management programs.


Background:

Due to their long narrow shape, nesting success in roadsides (and buffers) usually will not be as high as in large blocks of habitat. However, roadsides can be good brood rearing habitat and travel corridors for wildlife.

Currently many of our roadways have relatively low levels of native plant diversity. Additionally, they are often mown or hayed multiple times each summer and often the entire ditch is mown/hayed. This can be most damaging when the first mowing occurs during the nesting season. By mowing the entire width of the ditch, no nesting or escape cover is left. While some mowing can alter the vegetation in a way beneficial to wildlife, mowing too much too often and too early can potentially be quite damaging to wildlife.

Iowa offers a model program for roadside management and incorporation of native grasses, wildflowers, and shrubs into roadside management. A review of Iowa and other state’s roadsides programs may give Minnesota insights into how to improve roadside management for wildlife while still treating public safety as the primary concern.


8. Secure federal funding to sustain the Walk-In Access (WIA) program in the pheasant range in Minnesota.

Minnesota has been using a one-time legislative appropriation as well as competitive grants from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service to support and fund the WIA program. Future long-term support will need to come from hunters.

Seek federal funds to expand the WIA program to 30,000 acres and/or more counties in the pheasant range.
Explore other funding options if federal funds are not secured.



Background:

The Walk-In Access program (WIA) has been popular in its initial years. The state has gone from 6,039 acres enrolled in 2011/12 to 21,100 in 2014/15. Landowner participation has increased from 62 to 181 over that time. In 2013/14, the DNR estimates that 18,460 hunters used the WIA program. SWCD offices and the FBAP are key to the implementation of the WIA program as they are almost always the first contact with landowners and do much of the mapping and contracting.

WIA has been partially funded through an NRCS grant. However, these funds will soon run out. In 2015 23 states submitted funding requests to NRCS for a WIA program. At least $29 million was requested from the $20 million available through this program. With these competitive grants, the success of funding cannot be guaranteed and, if awarded, only guarantees funding in three year increments. Permanent funding is needed to secure the long-term future of the program.



Expand public education about grassland and pheasant conservation issues and support hunter recruitment and retention.

Informed and engaged people make the best decisions. The Minnesota conservation community will continue to work to explain the complexities of habitat management and conservation issues as they relate to habitat and wildlife. There is also a need to provide more information that can be easily accessed by hunters on pheasant hunting opportunities, and to develop programs and opportunities directed towards new or first-time hunters to encourage additional pheasant hunting participation.

Survey hunters to identify information needs and develop mobile apps, websites, and social media to inform and connect people with hunting and other outdoor recreational opportunities.
Work with partners to develop a 4-year communication strategy focused on educating and informing the public, hunters, and lawmakers on issues affecting pheasant hunting and habitat.
Implement the Commissioner’s Task Force recommendations on Hunter Recruitment and Retention.
Develop a Pheasant Action Plan Scorecard to monitor and report progress on implementing strategies and actions and to inform the public on progress.



Background:

Multiple audiences (i.e., landowners, conservationists, consumers, businesses, citizens, community residents, etc.) have differing levels and topics of interest and concern regarding grassland conservation. To promote grassland conservation we need to tailor messages to each group.

The DNR as well as Pheasants Forever and other conservation organizations frequently publish articles on different aspects of grassland conservation and these efforts can be accelerated. We will also work with events such as the State Fair, Farm Fest, Game Fair, etc to communicate conservation efforts to the public.

Hunters can already find maps of WMAs, WPAs, WIA sites on the web, at many locations in their local community, as well as agency offices. The WIA booklets provide maps with WMA, WPA, and WIA all on the same page. The DNR continues to work with social media to improve information and hunting guides.



Expand monitoring and research capacity for both habitat and population studies of grassland wildlife and clearly communicate these results to the public.

Minnesota needs to continue and expand habitat based research on pheasants. Monitoring the effects of restoration and enhancement activities is also critically important. Identify a four year priority list of research/monitoring needs and secure additional funding for research and monitoring for the pheasant and prairie wildlife habitat

Identify a four year priority list of research and monitoring needs and secure additional funding for work on pheasant and prairie wildlife habitat
Identify needed management strategies in the face of climate change
Further cultivate relationships between agencies and universities to coordinate and sustain research
Clearly communicate the results of these activities with hunters and the public



Background:

Although we have been conducting habitat restoration, enhancement, and management projects for decades, many practitioners feel that we are just beginning to understand some of the complex processes we are attempting to replicate (restoration) or affect (enhancement/management). Every habitat project is an opportunity to learn and those lessons should be applied to future projects. In many cases we have a good general understanding, but many of the details are still unknown.

The USFWS has developed a formal model for integrating monitoring and research into habitat management activities and landscape planning called Strategic Habitat Conservation (SHC). This is a more formal version of the older process of adaptive management.

The DNR’s population research and habitat monitoring programs should be integrated with efforts of the USFWS and Minnesota colleges and universities.

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Action 11; stop pimping count results so birds don't get piss pounded in localized areas.

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