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You are receiving this newsletter because you are interested in rural conservation and land management in Hennepin County. You can unsubscribe from these updates using the link at the bottom of this email.
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Thank you for joining Conservation Connection. This is our debut newsletter, and we’re excited to connect with you about what’s going on in rural conservation and land management in Hennepin County.
Do you have news and ideas to share? We want to hear from you. Connect with us at environment@hennepin.us.
In this issue:
- Funding and technical support opportunities for landowners and farmers
- Free soil testing
- Conservation easement funding
- Cost share for conservation funding
- Noxious weed watch: Common and cutleaf teasel
- Conservation project spotlight
- Keeping cattle out of the creek in Corcoran
- Plants and animals of Hennepin County
- Biological monitoring updates
- Creature feature: Northern prairie skink, butterfly weed
- Note from MN DNR: Fawns are great, but leave fawns alone
 Hennepin County staff using a soil probe to take soil sample of a soybean field for a resident in Dayton
Learn about the health of your soil with a FREE soil test
Hennepin County Environment and Energy is offering residents a free soil test. The soil test includes analysis for phosphorus, potassium, soil pH, and percent organic matter, all of which can help you determine fertilizer needs and soil health.
All costs to test your soil and ship it to the lab are covered. Testing is performed at the University of Minnesota’s (UMN) soil testing lab in St. Paul.
Who is eligible for a free soil test?
Residents that are raising livestock or horses on pastures, growing crops in a rural area, or growing crops in an urban area are eligible to receive a free soil test. Urban farmers and gardeners are also eligible for lead testing if certain criteria are met. Please ask staff for more info.
Here's how it works:
- Contact Roz Davis (phone and email listed below) to learn about soil testing
- Provide information about your current operation and needs.
- Consult with staff about the best way to take soil samples
- The sample will be delivered to the lab and you can expect results in two to three weeks
- Conservation staff can consult with you about your results and help you determine what steps you can take to increase your soil's health
Interested? Contact Roz Davis, conservation specialist, Hennepin County Environment and Energy
Rozalyn.davis@hennepin.us, 952-262-0397
Funding and support available to establish conservation easements on valuable open spaces
 Prairie restoration on a conservation easement in Hennepin County. Photo: CleanWaterMN
Your land likely holds special meaning to you and your family. Special creeks, prairies, or forests can hold many memories of hiking, hunting, and recreation. For landowners who want to permanently project their land now and into the future, a conservation easement could be a good fit.
Landowners can be compensated for permanently protecting their property with a conservation easement, which is a set of development restrictions that a landowner voluntarily places on their property to permanently protect its natural resources.
Properties that may be a good fit for a conservation easement include those that contain rare plants or animals, are near to or have high quality habitat, or are at risk of being lost due to development. The county also has funding and technical assistance available to landowners for habitat improvement projects.
If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about establishing a conservation easement, visit hennepin.us/land-protection or contact Kristine Maurer at kristine.maurer@hennepin.us or 612-348-6570.
Cost share for conservation funding
 A completed water channel stabilization project. The rocks help armor the soil and protect it from erosion, especially during heavy rain and flooding events.
Hennepin County offers technical and financial assistance for projects on private properties to:
- Reduce erosion
- Improve soil health and water quality
Landowners may receive funding of up to 75-90 percent of the total eligible costs of installing a conservation practice. If your property is located in an area that is a priority for water quality improvement, you are eligible for up to 90% cost share on a project. All practices must be approved prior to construction. Landowners will be reimbursed when the project is complete. Learn more about common cost share projects: Common practices to reduce erosion, improve soil health and water quality (PDF).
Walk your land with us
The first step to see if your land and project is a good fit for funding is to have staff out for a field visit. If staff see potential for a cost share project, they will start a discussion and propose some options.
Cost share project proposals are evaluated quarterly and chosen based on a combination of factors such as feasibility, availability of funding, and impact on soil and water resources.
The next quarterly deadline for cost-share funding review is August 15, 2023.
Have questions or ideas for projects? We want to hear from you!
Contact Kevin Ellis, conservation specialist
kevin.ellis@hennepin.us
Eradicate listed noxious weed: Common and cutleaf teasel:
 (left) Common teasel. Photo: Matt Pilkington. (right) Cutleaf teasel. Photo: John Dziak.
Common and cutleaf teasel were added to the Minnesota state noxious weed list in 2012 because of their ability to form large, dense infestations. Their aggressive nature can reduce forage, impact wildlife habitat, and reduce species diversity.
Two species of teasel are currently found in Minnesota, and both are Prohibited Eradicate Noxious Weeds, meaning all above and below the ground parts of the plants must be destroyed. Additionally, no transportation, propagation, or sale of these plants are allowed.
Teasel is a perennial, existing for at least one year as a basal rosette. After at least one year, rosettes will send up a prickly flower stalk. Teasel flowers from July to September. The flowers are large oval-shaped heads, and their flower stalks can reach up to seven feet tall. After teasel flowers, it produces seed and dies.
Common teasel has been reported three times in Hennepin County and cutleaf teasel has been reported once in the county. While its seeds typically don’t travel very far from the parent plant, it can be spread by humans or wildlife.
If you suspect that you have found either type of teasel, report it! Be sure to include identifying characteristics in photos and record its exact location with either an address, or the location’s GPS coordinates.
You can report your find via EDDMaps or Report a Pest. Also notify the County Agricultural Inspector, Matt Stasica, 612-235-1237, matthew.stasica@hennepin.us, to confirm the plant and provide management recommendations.
Find more information on identification of cutleaf teasel and common teasel.
 Keeping the cattle out of the creek in Corcoran
A Corcoran resident had a herd of cattle on pasture that included a small stream running toward Rush Creek. Livestock near waterways, such as streams, can pollute them by causing erosion as the livestock walks in and out of the streambank, and by depositing manure directly into the water.
Fencing is a simple fix to help prevent that pollution from happening in the first place. By strategically placing fencing and crossings along waterways, livestock owners can keep cattle out of waterways and thus reduce the sediment, nutrients, and bacteria from flowing downstream into our lakes.
The Corcoran resident responded to a flyer advertising funds to implement best management practices, such as fencing along waterways, in the Rush Creek Subwatershed. Staff worked with the landowner to design and install fencing that was not only sturdy enough to keep his herd on dry land but allowed for more effective grazing rotations. The whole process took less than a year to complete from the initial site visit to the first time the cows were put out to pasture and will be used for many more years to come.
 Hennepin County staff holding a snapping turtle
Biological monitoring
Starting in 2022, Hennepin County staff began conducting biological monitoring on county properties and conservation easements across the county.
The first year of data collection was vital to inventorying the species present in the county and establishing a baseline of what species are using permanently protected lands. This data will be used to inform our habitat restoration and management decisions.
Biological monitoring is how we assess the changes in ecosystems over time. By monitoring how plant and animal communities change, we can measure our successes and tailor management plans to create healthier ecosystems that are home to a diversity of species and resilient to climate change. Once baselines are established, each site will be re-evaluated every three to five years to monitor changes in species composition.
Follow us on iNaturalist: Hennepin Biomonitoring
If you would like to keep up with what we’re finding, follow Hennepin County on the iNaturalist app. iNaturalist is a nature app that helps you identify the plants and animals around you. Download the app to your phone or create an account online at inaturalist.org. On iNaturalist, we are: Hennepin Biomonitoring.
Interested or want to learn more? Contact Nicole Witzel, nicole.witzel@hennepin.us.
Creature feature: Northern prairie skink
 (left) Adult prairie skink basking on lumber, north Minneapolis. Photo: Jack Lucas (right) Early adult prairie skink, slight bluish tinge on tail still visible, Minnetonka. Photo: Nicole Witzel
Though you may not see them often, the northern prairie skink is common in Hennepin County. It is the only native lizard species recorded in the county.
Northern prairie skinks are black with seven light-colored stripes running down their back. Juveniles have an electric blue tail, while adults can have a yellowish patch on their chin. They are often mistaken for salamanders, which are amphibians, unlike the skink, which is a reptile.
Skinks prefer sandy soils in grasslands and oak savannas with exposed rock for basking and cover objects to hide and make nests under. They can often be found under pieces of wood or metal in junk piles but are difficult to spot as they dart away very quickly.
Northern prairie skinks are difficult to catch and will detach their tails if they are frightened. They can grow a new tail back over time, but it can take months and uses a lot of the lizard’s energy, so if you see a skink, appreciate it with your eyes, not your hands.
Plants to cultivate: Butterfly weed
 Orange sulphur butterfly on butterfly weed. Photo: Nicole Witzel
A pollinator favorite, butterfly weed (asclepias tuberosa) is also a host plant to the monarch butterfly. It’s a beautiful native perennial, typically found in prairie habitats with dry, well-drained soil.
Butterfly weed is clump-forming and grows up to three feet tall with bright green leaves and fiery orange flowers, which bloom from late spring to late summer. After it is done flowering, it will produce brown pods filled with seeds that will burst open and be dispersed into the wind. Once established, it is also drought-tolerant, forming a deep taproot that allows it to survive even the driest conditions.
Butterfly weed also does well in a native flower garden. Seeds should be sourced from a local, native plant nursery and sown directly into the garden in the fall, as they need to overwinter before germinating in the spring. It can take a few years for the plant to become fully established and produce flowers, but the blooms will become denser with each year. Butterfly weed will spread readily if allowed, so to manage it in a garden, the seed pods can be broken off each year before dispersal and disposed of. Or, better yet, allow the seeds to mature, harvest the pods, and share them with a friend.
Note from the MN DNR: Fawns are great, but please leave fawns alone
 Fawn photographed by Hennepin County trail cam
Fawn season is here, and here are some fun facts about fawns:
- White-tailed deer often have twins, or even triplets.
- A doe will leave a fawn well-hidden for hours at a time. This is a way of protecting the fawn from predators as the doe feeds. Twins will be hidden separately from one another.
- A fawn’s white spots serve as visual camouflage to help hide them from predators. The pattern mimics sunlight breaking through the trees to the ground.
- Fawns grow up fast — after only six weeks, they’re fully weaned. Female fawns stay with their mother for up to two years, but male fawns will typically leave after the first year.
- Most hidden fawns are not abandoned! Wildlife rehabilitators receive several fawns each year that were actually kidnapped. Unless a fawn is injured, sick, or malnourished, it likely does not need help. Before handling or moving any fawn, please contact your local wildlife rehabilitator.
If you find any injured or seemingly orphaned wildlife, please call the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota (WRC) at 651-486-9453. They can provide professional advice on how to help the animal you’ve found, whether that means leaving it alone and monitoring it, or bringing it to their clinic in Roseville, Minnesota. The WRC is one of the leading wildlife rehabilitation centers in the country, taking in nearly 20,000 patients of 200 different species annually.
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