Repainting the Landscape

When neighbors plan for one big back yard, they can go wild.

By Dave Schuller

Before the state of Minnesota was settled, the natural landscape looked like the broad strokes of an artist's brush: Big Woods forests of maple, basswood, and other hardwoods blended into oak savannas, prairies, wetlands, and eventually the conifer forest in the north. Then early European settlers came with the plow and broke up large expanses of prairie, savanna, and forest. Tiny pioneers' communities developed into today's expanding cities. Broad, sweeping landscapes are nearly gone.

Back in the 1950s, my family moved to the potato fields of the western Twin Cities suburbs. Among the abandoned farms, we saw original patches of field and forest, where low land or big trees had hindered development. I remember playing in those woods. They teemed with wildlife and gave me a sense of the forest near my suburban home. Later I watched as those woods were ripped down to make room for apartments, stores, and other homes like mine. All across the Twin Cities, fewer and fewer natural fragments remain.

Why should we care about this fragmentation? While many species have adapted to small fragments of habitat, others, especially Neotropical birds that nest in Minnesota, have not. Several native plants, such as ginseng, also are at risk in small patches of natural habitat. Furthermore, natural forests, savannas, and prairies filter air pollutants, water runoff, and city noise.

Yet all is not lost. People are working to preserve and tie remaining natural fragments together through a Department of Natural Resources forestry program called Neighborhood Wilds.

New Clientele

Neighborhood Wilds was created to serve a new clientele. For years DNR forestersÑthrough the Private Forest Management Program, which became the Forest Stewardship ProgramÑhelped landowners manage their forests of 20 acres or more to improve wildlife habitat, stop erosion, and grow trees for harvest. Meanwhile, city foresters helped city lot owners with their trees. With the expansion of the Twin Cities metro area, lots of two to 10 acres are becoming common. These lots often include remnants of forests, as well as wetlands, prairie, and other natural resources. They are beyond the scope of a city forester's expertise, and too small and numerous for DNR foresters to give much attention to.

In 1997 DNR forester Alan Olson was helping a landowner near Dean Lake in Shakopee with a stewardship plan for a five-acre lot. The plan helped the landowner decide what to do with his property to improve wildlife habitat, reduce soil erosion, and shade his home. This landowner told his neighbors about the advice he'd received. Soon Olson found himself back in the same neighborhood several times, saying the same thing to different people. Since the homeowners' lots and goals were very similar, Olson decided to ask his first contact to set up a neighborhood meeting so he could speak to the entire neighborhood at once. Setting up the meeting was easy, since a neighborhood association met regularly on other issues.

At the meeting Olson realized he could treat the corridor of adjacent back yards as one area, reducing the fragmentation common with individual lots. He also realized the neighbors had questions on other natural resources topics that he could not answer. So he set up another neighborhood meeting and brought in the local waters expert, fisheries manager, and wildlife manager. They answered questions and developed a comprehensive stewardship plan for the 30-acre neighborhood. Thus was born Neighborhood Wilds.

Olson shared his technique with other DNR foresters in the metro area. Soon other Neighborhood Wilds projects were being done all over the Twin Cities. All it takes for such a project in a neighborhood is a common goal, a willingness to work together, and at least one neighbor willing to bring the neighborhood together. The existence of a neighborhood association helps, though it's not necessary.

Common Enemy

Sometimes a common enemy can bring people together. For years the Woodland Hills and Woodland Ridge developments in Andover had problems with spruce budworm defoliating the white and Norway spruce trees that shaded the neighborhood. The unsightly defoliation, sticky webbing, and dying trees were a nuisance. Crowded stands of trees perpetuated the problem. The trees were too tall to spray from the ground, and aerial spraying on a yard-by-yard basis was too costly.

City forestry intern Brian Loeffelholz organized a meeting of area homeowners. He invited then? DNR forest health specialist Dwight Scarbrough and DNR area forester Art Widerstrom to discuss treatment options and provide information. In several follow-up meetings, they agreed that the best option was an early spring aerial spraying of the entire neighborhood to kill the budworms, followed by removal of some weaker trees to improve the health of the remaining trees.

The neighbors spearheading the project brought other neighbors together, and applied for a state Minnesota ReLeaf forest health grant to help defray the costs. They brought a proposal before the city council for approval and gathered permission signatures and funding from 79 of the 84 neighbors, thus matching the state grant and enabling the spraying to happen on time. Since then, some thinning has been completed, and more is scheduled in the next few years. The result: healthy trees and an attractive neighborhood.

Many Neighborhood Wilds sites connect and buffer existing natural areas, such as state parks and designated trout streams. One such area is the Sun Valley neighborhood near Afton State Park.

Sun Valley residents are working with a team of DNR specialists, including a forester, an ecologist, a hydrologist, and wildlife and trout stream biologists. Acting on the team's advice, the neighbors are removing buckthorn, an aggressive exotic plant that is invading forests in and around Afton State Park. They also are restoring an oak savanna in an area that connects adjacent oak forests. Natural buffers capture runoff before it degrades a designated trout stream; augment the forest around Afton State Park, giving wildlife more room to roam; and provide a visual transition from city to forest, giving park visitors a greater sense of the original landscape. More projects are sure to follow. As homeowner Jan Hayman notes, "All of us are busy reading and thinking about the land and its potential."

Greatest Benefit

One of the greatest benefits of Neighborhood Wilds is how it brings neighborhoods and communities together. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate the support for this project!" says Bonnie Juran, a local resident who is involved in the Lake Elmo project. "You have helped to bring our community together for a worthwhile cause."

Currently there are 14 Neighborhood Wilds projects in the Twin Cities, involving an average of 30 households each. Although people are taking action, it will take five to 10 years to really begin to see the results. Natural resources management is typically a long process. It takes decades to re-establish plant communities and truly connect natural fragments. Hundreds of people are joining the effort now. In the future, if thousands become involved, we'll see some of the broad strokes painted back on our Minnesota landscape.

City planners, developers, and builders have a new tool to help create more natural developments: a guidebook called Conserving Wooded Areas in Developing Communities: Best Management Practices in Minnesota. Developed by an advisory committee of foresters, developers, architects, builders, environmentalists, and state and local agency staff, it explains how to conserve wooded areas at the landscape, subdivision, and lot levels. It helps city planners identify ways to preserve fragments of natural forest. It encourages developers to implement a few easy and low-cost steps to enhance the environment, and in the process make the development more attractive and more valuable. It also gives tips to saving trees and fragments of forest during development and construction. Ask for a copy at the DNR Metro Forestry office, 651-259-5830.

Dave Schuller is a DNR Public Affairs Forester in St. Paul.