Last updated: November 26, 2024
Article
Project Profile: Forest Restoration along the Mississippi River
Mississippi Park Connection
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
National Seed Strategy | FY23 $250,000
The National Park Service will engage the local friends’ group and broader communities in a replanting and restoration effort to restore lost ecosystem services including flood mitigation, clean water, wildlife habitat, carbon sequestration, soil stabilization, recreation and cultural values to the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. The project will benefit visitors and the underserved and underrepresented communities around the park. This project allows for the continuation of the efforts conducted with the park’s friends’ groups from over the past five years.
Why? The Mississippi River riparian corridor has been devastated (more than 500,000 ash trees killed) by emerald ash borer over the last five plus years. In addition, due to human manipulation of river hydrology and other factors, cottonwood trees, which are considered a keystone species and are ecologically important as bald eagle nesting sites, are experiencing very limited regeneration.
What Else? This riparian corridor and major migratory flyway will be restored through planting climate-adapted trees, shrubs, and other native plants to replace the ecosystem services that have been lost, and by invasive species control as well as removal of dead and dying diseased ash trees. The park’s friends’ group will help engage more than 3,000 volunteers as they restore the floodplain forested heart of the metropolitan area of the Twin Cities in Minneapolis. In addition, this project employs 20 urban youth in restoration efforts.