Burntside Islands SNA, Border Lakes region of Minnesota. Photo by Steve Wilson, DNR SNA Program.
Minnesota
Scientific and Natural Area Program
Website:
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/snas/index.html
State Government Affiliation:
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Ecological Services
Naural Areas:
141 designated Scientific and Natural Areas protecting over 180,000 acres. 74 permanent Native Prairie Bank conservation easements protecting over 6,000 acres. 36 sites in Natural Areas Registry protecting over 6200 acres under other public ownerships.
Funding:
State general funding, state bonding, proceeds from the state lottery (Environmental Trust Fund grants administered by the Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources), federal grants (particular state wildlife grants and landowner incentive program), and partner resources.
Land Acquisition:
Scientific and Natural Areas are acquired in fee from willing landowners by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) as an SNA, or they may become an SNA through donation, transfer, or conservation easement acquisition. To qualify as an SNA, a site must have an ecological evaluation (usually completed by the Division’s County Biological Survey or Natural Heritage Program staff) that is approved by the appointed Commissioner’s Advisory Committee. Each SNA is formally established by a DNR Commissioner’s Designation Order that specifies whether the SNA is a public use, education, and/or research unit.
Protection:
Through the Natural Area Registry, the SNA Program enters into agreements with other state, federal, or local units of government for sites to be managed to protect native plant communities and rare features. The SNA Private Prairie Stewardship Program fosters native prairie protection, restoration, and management through DNR acquired Native Prairie Bank Easements (permanent conservation easements), technical and financial assistance, and by promoting landowner participation in the Prairie Tax Exemption Program.
Stewardship:
Habitat restoration and management – such as prescribed burns, woody encroachment and invasive species removal, and restoring prairies through collected seed – are undertaken on protected lands and priority native prairie by the DNR and partners as funding permits.
Program Purpose:
Minnesota’s SNA Program was initiated in 1966 and formalized in 1975 as part of the Outdoor Recreation Act. Its purpose is to preserve and perpetuate the ecological diversity of Minnesota's natural heritage, including landforms, fossil remains, plant and animal communities, rare and endangered species, or other biotic features and geological formations, for scientific study, nature observation, and education. The SNA Program's goal is to ensure that no single rare feature is lost from any region of the state – which spans three biomes from the Laurentian mixed forest featuring rocky pineries and extensive peatlands to the eastern broadleaf forest to remnants of the vast prairie. This requires protection and management of each feature in sufficient quantity and distribution across the landscape.