ELY — A DNR conservation grant program has funded more than 1,000 habitat projects across Minnesota since 2009, including a pair of recent awards for work near Ely, but a legislative change will restrict new funding to the Twin Cities metro area for at least the coming fiscal year.
Amy Yoelin, who manages the Conservation Partners Legacy grant program for the DNR’s Fish and Wildlife section, presented an overview of the program at this week’s Tuesday Group, alongside two project managers who spoke about local work already underway.
The Conservation Partners Legacy program, known as CPL, provides reimbursable grants for restoration, protection, and enhancement of wetlands, prairies, forests, and fish and wildlife habitat. Funding comes from the Outdoor Heritage Fund, one of four accounts created by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment passed by Minnesota voters in 2009. The program runs through 2034.
Yoelin delivered an unwelcome update alongside her program overview. Starting this July, CPL funding will be restricted to the seven-county metro area for one fiscal year.
“When I signed up for this presentation many months ago, I thought I would be saying you are eligible,” she told the group. She characterized the restriction as temporary and encouraged local organizations not to abandon their planning. “We do think it’s just a one-year change.”
About $13.1 million in CPL funding will be awarded statewide in the coming year, with $11.1 million reserved for the larger grant cycle and $2 million for the smaller expedited round.
The program offers two grant tracks. Larger grants of up to $500,000 fund multifaceted habitat projects including land acquisition and go through a more intensive review process involving DNR technical staff, division directors, and the commissioner’s office, a process that can take four to six months.
A smaller expedited track, recently increased from $50,000 to $75,000 per project, allows rolling applications with up to five cycles per fiscal year and is limited to specific restoration and enhancement activities. Yoelin said the threshold was raised in response to feedback about rising prevailing wages and the high cost of invasive species removal.
Both tracks require a 10 percent match, which Yoelin said can be met through in-kind contributions including volunteer labor, equipment use, and personnel time. Only nonprofits and government agencies are eligible, and projects must be on permanently protected land.
Two local projects funded through CPL were highlighted at the meeting. Corey Denning, a resource conservationist with North St. Louis County Soil and Water Conservation District, described an ongoing effort to remove invasive species from a two-acre strip along the Trezona Trail in Ely. The site contains tansy, bird’s foot trefoil, and buckthorn, and will be reseeded with native wildflowers and grasses this fall following herbicide treatment. Denning said volunteer help will be needed in coming years to maintain the planting while it establishes, and asked interested residents to contact the Folk School.
Theresa Jensen of Dovetail Partners described a $500,000 CPL award for balsam fir removal on approximately 150 acres of forest along the North Arm corridor north of Ely. Jensen said the balsam removal would give existing red pine stands, some of which include old-growth trees, a better chance to regenerate.
“We’re trying to reset these stands,” she said.
Yoelin also flagged a new DNR grants program in development, modeled on CPL but broader in scope, that is expected to open for applications in August or September. She said it is funded through the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund and is expected to distribute approximately $28 million. She encouraged area organizations to watch for details as a potential alternative funding source while the CPL metro restriction is in effect.
More information about the Conservation Partners Legacy program is available at the DNR’s website.