Forest Management Plan
The forest management plan for the Lake Agassiz, Aspen Parklands Section was last revised in 2011. This ecological section covers approximately 2.9 million acres from an area near Gully to Roseau, and from Lancaster to Crookston, and includes approximately 95,000 acres of state-managed forest land. Approximately 250,000 additional non-forested acres are included in the plan.
The Lake Agassiz, Aspen Parklands Section is defined by the basin of Glacial Lake Agassiz. The forest ecosystems within this ecological section include aspen savanna and floodplain forests along rivers and streams. Defining or unique features of this part of the state include:
- Vegetation patterns composed of a complex mosaic of prairies, brushland, woodlands, and forests on uplands, and wet prairies, meadows, fens, and wet forests in wetlands.
- Dominance of quaking aspen, balsam poplar, and shrubs in the western part of the section where low dunes, beach ridges, and wet swales historically decreased fire frequency and intensity.
- Relatively large, contiguous remnants of native plant communities in a landscape predominantly used for agriculture.
- Major migratory stopover and breeding area for waterfowl.
- Numerous Species of Greatest Conservation Need including gray wolves, sharp-tailed grouse, eared grebes, northern harriers, marbled godwits, American bitterns, Franklin’s gulls, Assiniboia skipper, and moose.
The section forest resource management plan outlines the planning process, forest vegetation management goals and directions, and implementation strategies for state-administered lands in the Section. It also identifies management opportunity areas, such as ruffed grouse management areas and old forest management complexes around old growth stands, in the Section.