Plant Community Assessment and Management Recommendations for Minneapolis Park Natural Areas

In 2017 the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) began a two-phase study to collect quantitative and qualitative data for urban park natural areas in Minneapolis, MN parks to inform management activities. The first phase took existing GIS data and quality ranking systems and tailored them to the Minneapolis park system. The second phase, which is still in process, involves field checking the data, applying the quality ranking system, and writing a management plan. 

In a nutshell, this resource offers:

• High-level explanations of methods for collecting ecological data in urban natural areas.
• A process and framework for conducting an ecological assessment in an urban natural area.

How to use this resource:

• As an example to help plan the stages of an ecological assessment of urban natural areas.
• To understand what information can be generated through remote sensing, and what needs to be followed up with ground-truthing.

Author: Marcia A. Holmberg, Debra L. Pilger, and Jeremy R. Barrick.

Date published: 2020

Point of contact: Debra Pilger, Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, dpilger@minneapolisparks.org 

Citation: Holmberg, M. A.; Pilger, D. L.; Barrick, J. R. 2020. Plant Community Assessment and Management Recommendations for Minneapolis Park Natural Areas. Cities and the Environment (CATE): Vol. 13: Iss. 1, Article 5. 

Resource available online here.