Thanks to the Volunteers, Conservation Corps, and Three Rivers Park District staff for joining the ASP Rare Plant Rescue team to rescue state threatened Viola lanceolata, state Endangered Carex pallascens, and state Threatened Trichophorum clintonii from an area that will be dug up and developed soon. Those plants will temporarily grow at the MN Landscape Arboretum during the hot summer. In the fall, we will plant them into ecologically appropriate habitats on protected lands where they will be monitored.

Stay tuned for a volunteer planting event in the fall. Sign up to be added to the Volunteer List. Learn more about the ASP Rare Plant Rescue. For more information, contact Carrie Taylor, Restoration Ecologist, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Here are ways you can help pollinators and birds in your yard:

• Plant Native Plants
• Don't Buy Plants Treated with Neonicotinoids
• Avoid Pesticides
• Provide Water or a Birdbath
• Leave Bare Soil and Old Stems for Bee Nests

Apply to ACD's Lawns to Legumes Pollinator Pathway Native Plant Grant:
Eligible project practices include:

• Native pocket plantings
• Beneficial flowering tree and shrub plantings
• Pollinator-friendly lawns
• Pollinator meadows

Applications can be submitted via Google Forms or paper applications are available upon request. Questions can be directed to Jordi Johnson: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

ACD is collaborating with Anoka County Parks to enhance wetland basins in the Cedar Creek Conservation Area. Efforts are underway to increase plant diversity and to shift the wetland plant communities to sedge meadow and wet meadow. Both basins were initially dominated by reed canary grass. In 2021, two sheet pile plugs were installed in the ditch system and reed canary grass scrapes occurred in the east side basin (see map below). Native plants emerged where reed canary grass was scraped away. Management including mowing, spot herbicide treatment and seeding continue in this area to increase plant diversity. 

The upland – wetland basin in the CCCA has the potential to be restored to native dry prairie and sedge meadow habitats. Many of the remaining sedge meadows are often only fragmented narrow strips, adjacent to non-native cattails, making them difficult to manage. It is feasible to create a burn break around this unique wet meadow and prairie habitat to restore and maintain the plant communities. There is an opportunity to include this area with an adjacent dry prairie that is part of a regularly scheduled prescribed burn management plan. Additionally, the soil type along the wetland margin in this basin are known to support rare plant species. Once restored, this site could be a recipient site for rescued rare plants. For more information contact Carrie Taylor,Restoration Ecologist, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The ditch plugs and berms at Cedar Creek Conservation Area are retaining this year's rainfall in the wetland basins, keeping the water on the landscape instead of channeling it to Cedar Creek and the Rum River during larger rain events. The organic wetland soils are saturated instead of dried out and vegetation is shifting to a native plant community to provide habitat for wildlife. These late summer photos below show native plants and standing water in an area that was previously drained and dominated by reed canary grass. ACD staff continue to control reed canary grass in some areas and spread native seed as needed. See 2021 Construction photos here.