In June 2020 the Parks and Trails Legacy Partners embarked on a two-year research project to count visitors to the three system’s parks and trails.  Coordination Among Partners funds have paid for this research project for the benefit of all.  A data scientist was hired and is housed at the Metropolitan Council offices, working with support of their research team.
 
The scope of the project is to conduct a statewide analysis of parks and trails visitation, which for Greater Minnesota includes not only designated parks, but parks ranked “eligible for designation” as well.
 
The data used for the research has come from StreetLight Data, Inc., a company that aggregates vast amounts of anonymized data gathered from cell phones to algorithmically transform the inputs into contextualized, aggregated and normalized travel patterns.  In plain speaking, they can deliver insight into how vehicles, bikes, pedestrians and transit passengers move on virtually every road and in every Census Block.  This information provides the data scientists with ways to count visitors to our system parks and trails.  Information that in many parks and trails in Greater Minnesota, we simply do not have.
 
While the date shows as May 13, 2022, the information has been updated as StreetLight Data has advanced with a recent algorithm update.  Please know that the system park information study is complete, but trail research is still underway and will be released in the first quarter of 2023.
 
We invite you to review the report, check park visitation for your park or against other parks in the Greater Minnesota system or our partner agencies; Metropolitan Council Regional Parks and DNR State Parks.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is now accepting applications for the 2022 Noxious Weed and Invasive Plant Grant. Counties, municipalities, tribal governments, and weed management entities (including weed management areas) may apply for grants to mitigate noxious weeds around the state. Grants for fiscal year 2022 will be funded up to $5,000. The awards are intended to support local projects.

​Learn more HERE.

Invasive species, including buckthorn, is a significant challenge for parks and trails across Greater Minnesota. This article provides a nice introduction to the background, impacts and treatment strategies for buckthorn.
Article

This report draws on data from numerous sources to analyze 13 scenarios that consider future forest change in response to assumptions about land-use change, economic change, greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, forest growth, forest harvest, and other factors. Results are organized using the Montréal Process Criteria and Indicator framework.

​Download the document at http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/50448 

For additional USFS research click here: http://www.fs.fed.us/research/