SFRMPs, along with 10-year stand exam lists, are operational plans for achieving the DNR's strategic direction for forest resource management. They guide forest management activities on DNR-administered lands within each forested ecological section in Minnesota as the 10-year stand exam listis implemented.
The PP SFRMP outlines the natural resource issues, planning process, management goals and directions, and implementation strategies for state-administered forest lands in the PP Section. Within the Section, the SFRMP also identifies management opportunity areas, such as turkey management areas and old forest management complexes around old growth stands, in the Section.
Plan Status
The DNR is currently developing the Paleozoic Plateau Section Forest Resource Management Plan (PP SFRMP), which will guide forest management in the PP ecological section as the DNR implements its 10-year stand exam list.
The comment period for the plan was completed in October of 2023, and the plan is currently in review within the DNR. Once approved, the final plan documents will be available on this page.
Paleozoic Plateau Section Information
The Paleozoic Plateau Section covers approximately 2.6 million acres from near the Twin Cities metropolitan area southeastward to the Iowa border.
The forest ecosystems within this ecological Section are mostly high-quality hardwoods in the uplands and riparian hardwoods near water. The Paleozoic Plateau Section includes approximately 65,000 acres of state-managed forest land.
Defining or unique features of this part of the state include:
- A high percentage (94 percent) of privately owned land.
- The Mississippi River bluffs and the plateau stretching to the west of them.
- The Mississippi River borders this Section to the east, much of the land near this is part of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge.
- The largest state-administered units within the Section are the Whitewater Wildlife Management Area and the Richard J. Dorer Memorial Hardwood State Forest.
The PP SFRMPS preliminary assessment document (completed in 2021) includes additional background information about the Section.
Direct comments or questions about this plan to: [email protected]