Saving Simon Lake: It Takes a Village and More
Monday, September 8, 2014
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Across the state and region, grassland habitat is some of the most threatened, but success is being reported in West Central Minnesota thanks to a unique collaboration. The "Simon Lake Challenge" is a project with farmers, landowners, environmental groups and government agencies. The goal is to revitalize area grasslands and improve water quality for the benefit of wildlife and livestock, says Robin Moore, coordinator with Chippewa 10 percent a Land Stewardship Project.
"It is a community putting aside their differences, listening to each other and really working together to meet a common goal," Moore says. "It doesn't work to just manage your own land, you also have to make sure the neighbors around you are taking care of their land to have healthy grassland."
Moore says efforts thus far have focused on two key areas including the wide-scale removal of invasive species like the sumac and western red cedar that were taking over in the area around Simon Lake. The other goal has been to open more land to livestock grazing as a method of protection and conservation.
"A lot of grasslands do much better with impact from grazing animals," Moore says. "So, a lot of private land that hadn't been grazed put in some fence, some of the public lands also; we've also been combining herds in some areas to provide the correct impact for each piece, and for the management they're looking for."
In just the first year, Moore says, the amount of land under the project has more than tripled in size, now stretching across some 6,500 acres in southern Pope County.
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