Rice County Conservation Easement Forest Enhancement

This project's focus is enhancing current and future wildlife habitat on forested land in Rice County. Rice County has intense development pressure and, as a result, landowners have aggressively sought long-term protection for their land. These three conservation easements all include existing Big Woods type forests. To create corridors and interior forest, restoration activities have occurred, especially tree plantings of oak. All three landowners have extensive prairie re-creations, also. The proposed projects will eliminate undesirable vegetation that competes with mast producing woody vegetation and invades restoration areas (both woods and prairie).