OutdoorMN News - DNR awarded $993,000 to protect coastal resources

[Rick]

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources received a $993,000 federal grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to fund ongoing work to protect and enhance coastal resources.

The DNR will use the funding to support Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal Program, a voluntary federal-state partnership that directs federal dollars to fund local projects along the inland coast of Lake Superior. Most of the funding will be awarded to nine projects in the coastal area.

The projects will:

• Collect aerial imagery of the North Shore of Lake Superior and the Minnesota side of the St. Louis River to help local coastal resource managers in their work.
• Help people in Lake County understand the need to improve water quality and reduce the spread of invasive species.
• Assess current forest cover and composition in eight North Shore watersheds to determine resilience to climate change and to develop updated forest management recommendations.
• Analyze foraging and non-breeding season movement patterns of common terns in the Western Great Lakes to prioritize habitat restoration and identify migration hotspots.
• Redesign, create and install interpretive exhibits at Gooseberry Falls State Park to help visitors realize their personal connection to natural resources around the park.
• Develop a mobile-friendly interactive Story Map to increase public awareness of the North Shore Scenic Drive.
• Enhance efforts to develop strategies and actions for achieving and maintaining water quality in Duluth’s urban watersheds.
• Construct a fully accessible public restroom on Minnesota Point to reduce garbage and waste on the beach and to protect fragile sand dunes from foot traffic and waste.
• Construct an interpretive trail through Chamber’s Grove Park in west Duluth, to realign existing unplanned trails and protect habitat and water quality while providing access to an abandoned quarry and the first rail bed built in Duluth.

Projects were selected for funding earlier this year through the program’s annual competitive grants process.

For more information about Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal Program, visit www.mndnr.gov/mlscp.

Discuss below - to view set the hook here.