Fish and wildlife resource and species plans provide a framework for staff and stakeholders to work collaboratively to achieve short- and long-term goals. Typically these plans are developed with a variety of stakeholders (e.g., DNR divisions, other public agencies, nongovernmental organizations, current partners in existing efforts and other potentially affected interests).
The plans identify goals to measure success; objectives that describe steps necessary to achieve the goals; current trends and barriers to success; and strategies and actions that guide implementation efforts.
Plans vary in purpose and include asset planning (e.g., AMA and WMA acquisition), resource planning (e.g., coldwater resources in southeastern Minnesota, shallow lakes, Midwest glacial lakes, etc) and species plans (e.g., Lake Superior fisheries, trout, duck, pheasant, turkey, species in greatest conservation need, etc). Planning efforts such as these result in collaboration among partners on shared interests; strategic efforts for highest priority needs; and effective use of limited financial resources.
Although not exhaustive, the following list includes some of the key plans that direct Fish & Wildlife Division efforts to work with the people of Minnesota to conserve aquatic and terrestrial habitat; manage fish and wildlife populations and habitat; provide fisheries and wildlife related recreation; and preserve and foster Minnesota's outdoor heritage.
WMA Acquisition – The Next 50 Years
Plan: Wildlife management areas are established to protect lands and waters with high potential for wildlife production. WMAs are managed for wildlife production, public hunting, fishing, trapping, and other compatible outdoor recreational uses.
Strategies: Acquisition through public ownership.
Actions: Acquire 702,200 acres between 2002 and 2052. Short-term accelerated rate of 210,000 acres between 2002 and 2012.
More Information: Citizens' Advisory Committee Report 
(33 pages | 3.7 MB)
Managing Minnesota's Shallow Lakes for Waterfowl and Wildlife
Plan: Manage and protect shallow lakes to meet objectives of Long range Duck recovery Plan and focus DNR FAW shallow lakes management efforts.
Strategies:
- Protect and manage at least 1,800 shallow lakes for ecological, recreational, and economic value.
- Provide focus and criteria for identifying priority shallow lakes.
- Maximize waterfowl and wildlife habitat on shallow lakes associated with public lands.
Actions:
- Assess habitat condition of shallow lakes.
- Maximize management of 147 shallow lakes within WMA, Waterfowl Production Areas, National Wildlife Refuges, and all state Designated Wildlife Management Lakes.
- Maximize management on 1,715 shallow lakes with a portion of shorelines under public ownership.
- Increase management on 244 shallow lakes with public access but no other large tracts of public land especially those designated as Migratory Waterfowl Feeding and Resting Areas or have wildlife habitat.
- Increase awareness and protection of lakes with wild rice.
Prairie Pothole Joint Venture (PPJV) Implementation Plan
Plan: Integration of migratory bird international conservation efforts for waterfowl, shorebirds, waterbirds, and landbirds.
Strategies: Utilizes separate planning and integrated actions while recognizing that managing for one species will benefit other species.
Actions:
- Waterfowl: Secure 1.4 million addition wetland acres and 10.4 million grassland acres.
- Shorebird: Enhance protected wetland and grassland areas.
- Waterbirds: Protect existing wetlands and grasslands; retain and develop ?wildlife friendly? agriculture programs.
- Landbirds: Protect, restore, enhance prairie wetland, riparian, and grassland communities.
More Information: Prairie Pothole Joint Venture web site
Upper Mississippi River and Great Lakes Region Projects (UMGLJV)
Plan: Deliver full spectrum of bird conservation through regionally based, biologically driven, landscape-oriented partnership.
Strategies: Bring together conservation organizations, public agencies, private landowners, and other partners interested in bird conservation in the region with direction established by a Management Board with representatives from each member organization (including MN DNR).
Actions:
- Since 1993, protect, restore, and enhance 522,500 acres of habitat.
- Focus area includes all of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and portions of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska.
More Information: Upper Mississippi River and Great Lakes Region Projects web site
Aquatic Management Area Acquisition Plan 2008-2033
Plan: Aquatic management areas are established to protect, develop, and manage lakes, rivers, streams, and adjacent wetlands and lands that are critical for fish and other aquatic life, for water quality, and for their intrinsic biological value, public fishing, or other compatible outdoor recreational uses.
Strategies: Acquisition through public ownership.
Actions:
- Acquire 1,500 miles of cold water stream habitat from 2008 - 2033. Short-term accelerated rate of 1,000 miles between 2008-2017.
- Acquire 1,100 miles of lake and warm water stream habitat from 2008 ? 2033. Short-term accelerated rate of 750 miles between 2008-2017.
More Information: Aquatic Management Area Acquisition Plan report (57 pages | 1.1 MB)
Long-Range Plan for the Ring-Necked Pheasant in Minnesota
Plan: By the year 2025, stakeholders envision a Minnesota pheasant harvest averaging 750,000 roosters. This vision assumes a sufficient habitat base to support an average fall population of 3 million birds. High pheasant populations serve as an indicator of a healthier agricultural ecosystem.
Strategies:
- Protect, acquire, maintain, and improve reproductive and winter habitat.
- Provide technical and financial assistance for private land management.
- Encourage tax credits and incentives for developing or managing critical habitat.
Actions:
- Increase undisturbed grasslands by 330,000 acres by 2008.
- Increase undisturbed grasslands by 1.56 million acres by 2025.
More Information: Long-Range Plan for the Ring-Necked Pheasant report (25 pages | 291k)
Long-Range Duck Recovery Plan
Plan: By 2056 increase the state's average breeding duck population from 636,000 to 1 million birds producing a fall population of 1.4 million birds from Minnesota. Protect 2 million acres of duck habitat.
Strategies:
- Restore long-term protection for 2 million acres including 64,000 wetlands covering 570,000 acres and 1.4 million acres of grassland. Protect 600,000 acres by 2025.
- Accelerate efforts to restore 1,800 shallow lakes, including wild rice lakes.
- Provide waterfowl sanctuaries, refuges or rest areas every 50 miles within the major waterfowl habitat areas across Minnesota.
Actions:
- Create four- to nine-square mile wetland and grassland complexes that provide nesting habitat in spring and rest areas during fall migration.
- Utilize state and federal acquisition and easement programs to protect waterfowl habitat.
- Protect, enhance, and manage 1,800 shallow lakes.
More Information: Long-Range Duck Recovery Plan report (24 pages | 234k)
Long-Range Plan for Wild Turkey in Minnesota
Plan: Provides a long-term vision for the wild turkey management program with specific actions for fiscal years 2006-2011 that will result in a spring population of 75,000 wild turkeys and 35,000 spring hunting permits by 2011.
Strategies:
- Improve turkey habitat throughout the turkey range in Minnesota.
- Leverage other funds to acquire turkey habitat in fee title or perpetual easement.
Actions:
- Establish native woody cover/shrub plantings with emphasis on winter fruit bearing species.
- Increase oak savannah and oak forest management.
- Increase streamside corridor development and management of woody cover.
- Annually acquire 20-50 acres of important wild turkey habitat.
More Information: Long-Range Plan for Wild Turkey in Minnesota (36 pages | 1.3 MB)
Long-Range Plan for Wild Turkey in Minnesota
Plan: Provides a long-term vision for the wild turkey management program with specific actions for fiscal years 2006-2011 that will result in a spring population of 75,000 wild turkeys and 35,000 spring hunting permits by 2011.
Strategies:
- Improve turkey habitat throughout the turkey range in Minnesota.
- Leverage other funds to acquire turkey habitat in fee title or perpetual easement.
Actions:
- Establish native woody cover/shrub plantings with emphasis on winter fruit bearing species.
- Increase oak savannah and oak forest management.
- Increase streamside corridor development and management of woody cover.
- Annually acquire 20-50 acres of important wild turkey habitat.
More Information: Long-Range Plan for Wild Turkey in Minnesota (36 pages | 1.3 MB)
Strategic Plan for Coldwater Resources Management in Southeast Minnesota 2004-2015
Plan: Protect, improve, and restore coldwater aquatic habitat and fish communities.
Strategies:
- Improve ability to protect, improve, and restore riparian and in-stream habitat.
- Support and us a watershed approach so that all cold-water resources are protected and improved.
Actions:
- Increase protected critical habitat.
- Increase assistance to landowners for riparian land management.
- Habitat improvement efforts on protected lands.
More Information: Coldwater Resources Management in Southeast Minnesota report (35 pages | 248k)
Red River of the North Fisheries Management Plan
Plan: The overall approach to habitat management in Red River is to maintain, restore, enhance, and protect riverine and upland habitats and their functions. The majority of factors affecting aquatic resources operate at the watershed scale. Two significant causes of habitat degradation include alterations to the hydrologic regime and increased sediment loading.
Strategies:
- Reconnect red River and tributaries by removing or modifying dams.
- Protect and/or rehabilitate within channel, riparian and upland habitat on Red River and in its watershed.
- Protect and enhance fish habitat.
Actions:
- Establish and maintain stable stream channels.
- Improve and protect high quality fish spawning and rearing habitats within Red River and tributaries.
- Provide uninterrupted fish passage/river connectivity.
- Provide appropriate heterogeneous and complex physical habitat components.
- Provide water of sufficient water quality to sustain healthy aquatic systems.
- Re-establish a more natural flow regime.
More Information: Red River of the North Fisheries Management report (27 pages | 367k)
Watershed District Plans
Plan: Comprehensive watershed management plans integrate needs and efforts to reduce flood damage and enhance natural resources. A variety of FAW and watershed district reports and plans document these needs and efforts (e.g., Red River Basin Stream Report; Snake River and Tamarac River Watersheds 2006 and Red Lake River Watershed 2004).
Strategies: Rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands within a watershed have the capacity to provide a variety of high quality habitats for fish and wildlife. Correction of degraded hydrologic conditions and unstable channels support high quality fish and wildlife habitats.
Actions:
- Establish and/or protect riparian corridors along all waterways, including ditches, using native vegetation whenever possible.
- Implement seasonal aquatic community based instream flow protection recommendations.
- Stop or mitigate future activities that will continue to disrupt the hydrology (e.g., drainage, tiling, etc).
- To the extent possible, augment base flows and attenuate peak flows in streams throughout the watershed to attain more natural hydrographs.
- Remove or modify dams and culverts that are acting as fish passage barriers.
- Re-establish natural functioning stream channels wherever possible using natural channel design principles.
- Implement agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) to reduce erosion and sedimentation, and to facilitate natural channel evolution.
Individual Lake Plans
Plan: Lake plans completed by Fisheries staff highlight goals, objectives, and actions for healthy fish population and habitat.
Actions:
- Restoration, protection, and preservation of natural lakeshed features through project work, comprehensive planning, land use zoning, environmental review, and permit review processes.
- Collaboration with watershed districts and lake associations on best management practices.
- Protection and preservation of shoal areas, particularly unique fish and wildlife habitat, through various permit processes.
- Promotion of aquatic management area acquisition, aquatic plant restoration and preservation, Aquatic plant restoration efforts.
Fisheries Management Plan for the Minnesota Waters of Lake Superior
Plan: Protect, restore, and enhance the quantity and quality of fisheries habitat in the Minnesota waters of Lake Superior.
Strategies:
- Restore capacity of degraded habitat in Lake Superior tributary watershed.
- Protect, restore, and enhance riparian areas in Lake Superior basin.
- Protect spawning area and other critical habitats in Lake Superior and tributary streams.
Actions:
- Minimize erosion, beaver damage, high flows, groundwater degradation, and poor land-use practices in watersheds.
- Restore fisheries habitat in streams on impaired waters list and critical habitats on non-listed streams.
More Information: Lake Superior fisheries management plan report (100 pages | 6.2 MB)
Midwest Glacial Lakes Partnership
Plan: Minnesota DNR provides the project manager for this eight-state effort with the goal of protecting, rehabilitating, and enhancing sustainable fish habitats in the region?s glacial lakes.
Strategies: Develop a regional strategy for addressing aquatic habitat protection and restoration in glacial lakes.
Actions:
- Regional assessment of glacial lakes.
- Forum for sharing programs, strategies, techniques used at a local scale for implementation at a regional scale.
- Candidate for NFHP official partnership.
More Information: Midwest Glacial Lakes Partnership web site
Driftless Area Restoration Effort
Plan: A partnership formed to address habitat degradation, loss, and alteration that are the primary factors contributing to the decline of fish populations in this unique region. It employs a regional strategy that links upland health and fish habitat with fish populations in targeted watersheds.
Strategies: Develop a regional strategy for addressing aquatic habitat protection and restoration in glacial lakes.
Actions:
- Coordinates upland best management conservation practices with streambank stabilization, restoration of riparian vegetation and instream habitat, and reconnection of streams to their floodplains in targeted watersheds.
- Stream restoration project planning training for over 180 volunteers.
- Developed stream restoration materials for conservation professionals.
More Information: Driftless Area Restoration Effort web site
A Vision for Wildlife and Its Use – Goals and Outcomes 2006-2012
Plan: Provides guidance on conservation and management of wildlife habitats.
Strategies: Increase habitat management efforts on shallow lakes/wetlands, prairies/grasslands, savannas, forests, and brushlands both on public and private lands.
Actions:
- Shallow lakes and wetlands: Increase management to 300 basins annually. Increase active management to 130 ? 170 natural wild rice basins annually.
- Prairie/grassland areas: Undisturbed grasslands will increase from 3.24 to 3.84 million acres. Prairie pothole areas supporting 30 or more pairs of ducks will increase from 1.17 million to 2.34 million acres. Double the four square mile habitat blocks for waterfowl breeding habitat from 197,000 acres to 394,000 acres.
- Savannas: Restore and manage savanna habitats.
- Forests: Early successional, and older forests will be actively managed to provide wildlife habitat. Aspen will be maintained and managed in mixed stands with conifers stands. The SFRMP process establishes specific acreage goals by subsection.
- Brushlands: Improve habitat on 5,000 acres of private lands annually.
- Prescribed burning: Increase acreage of wildlife habitat burned to 85,000 acres annually.
More Information: Vision for wildlife report (26 pages | 182k)
Wildlife Management Area Guidance documents
Plan: Guidance documents record future habitat management goals for each unit.
Fisheries Management Long-Range Plan
Plan: A six-year plan, running through 2010, that identifies broad goals and defines core functions of the division's Fisheries Management Section.
More Information: Fisheries long-range plan (34 pages | 317k)
