Title
RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING APPLICATION FOR GRANT FUNDING FROM THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY TO CONDUCT AN 18-MONTH STUDY AND PUBLIC REVIEW OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DESIGNATING A SAINT LOUIS RIVER NATURAL AREA.
Body
CITY PROPOSAL:
RESOLVED, that the city of Duluth hereby supports application for grant funding from the Environmental Protection Agency for up to $250,000 to support an 18-month study and public review process examining the possibility of creating a St. Louis River Natural Area under the Duluth Natural Areas Program.
Statement of Purpose
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE: This resolution authorizes application for grant funding from the Environmental Protection Agency for up to $250,000 to support an 18-month study and public review process examining the possibility of creating a St. Louis River Natural Area under the Duluth Natural Areas Program.
The Duluth Natural Areas Program was established by ordinance in 2002 to give city council a locally controlled mechanism to protect properties of special environmental significance. The properties to be studied for potential inclusion in a potential St. Louis River Natural Area include an Audubon Important Bird Area, extensive wild rice habitat, and most of the remaining coastal wetlands on the Minnesota side of the St. Louis River Estuary. The vast majority of the candidate properties are wetlands and bluffs with limited or no development value.
Per city Ordinance, the study and public review process will proceed in two phases. The six-month phase one, anticipated to begin in March of 2017, will focus on development of a St. Louis River Natural Area nomination that will identify specific properties and describe how those properties meet the Duluth Natural Areas Program criteria. The nomination will be submitted to the planning commission and the city council whose approval would provisionally create the St. Louis River Natural Area.
The twelve-month phase two, anticipated to begin in August 2017...
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