1% for Ecosystems
Investments in natural area stewardship can take many forms—hiring more seasonal staff, engaging outside contractors, and expanding support for our strong volunteer community. Each strategy plays an essential role, and we applaud the improvements already made in these areas. But an effective system requires more than a skeleton crew of on-staff Natural Resources professionals.
Dedicated, skilled, full-time technicians are the backbone of lasting impact. They don’t just initiate projects—they ensure they are implemented effectively and sustained over time. Without this continuity, even the best investments can be undone as invasive species rebound and newly established native plants fail without ongoing care.
Longtime volunteers have witnessed this cycle time and again over the decades. Their experience makes one thing clear: stewardship is not a one-time effort—it is a sustained commitment that must reach a critical threshold to succeed.
Alongside volunteer stewards, permanent full-time staff build deep relationships with our ecosystems and the human communities connected to them. They carry institutional knowledge forward in work that demands careful observation, learning, leadership, and adaptation over many years.
Grants end. Budgets shift. Seasonal staff move on. But full-time staff provide continuity and staying power. They represent the gold standard of commitment to mission—and are indispensable to protecting and restoring public natural areas for the long term.
Focus on personnel
The Natural Resources Department is one of the smallest departments at MPRB, with just three permanent full-time staff: one Natural Resource Supervisor and two Natural Resource Technicians. These professionals are responsible for managing nearly one-quarter of the land in the Minneapolis park system—its Natural Areas. They make up about one-half of one percent of fulltime MPRB staff.
For comparison, the Ice Arenas department has three full-time Ice Resurface Drivers. This is not a criticism of Ice Arenas—Minnesota is, after all, “The State of Hockey”! This comparison simply highlights that MPRB’s full-time staffing level for professional management of all of our prairies, woodlands, and wetlands is equivalent to a single job class within a single recreational program.
We are asking that at least one percent of permanent full-time staff be composed of qualified Natural Resources Department personnel. The current team is excellent, but we are asking only three trained ecological restoration professionals to: 1) plan, implement and sustain restoration across more than 1,000 acres; 2) integrate volunteers into restoration efforts; 3) collaborate with both established and emerging stewardship groups; 4) apply for, manage, and follow up on grant-funded work; 5) conduct prescribed burns and other complex stewardship activities; 6) train and manage seasonal staff; and 7) add new restoration areas—often associated with new projects—all while protecting irreplaceable DNR-identified remnant ecosystems that have already experienced significant degradation and avoidable harms, and cannot withstand further neglect.
We believe that adding staff in this area is the most cost-effective change MPRB can make.
Why Now?
The benefits of restoration are profound, but they take years to accrue—particularly when it comes to carbon sequestration and habitat development.
It takes at least three to four years for flowering to become common after invasive species are removed and native seeds are planted. Without flowers, there is no pollen or nectar for pollinators and no seeds or fruits for wildlife.
As the deep roots of prairie, savanna, and woodland systems develop, and mycorrhizal relationships rebalance, carbon is increasingly stored underground, where it is more stable than above-ground wood. Over time, prescribed burns further contribute to soil carbon through the formation of charcoal (biochar)—part of the process that formed the deep, dark, carbon-storing soils of the prairie region. It’s a decades-long process.
Delays carry real consequences. Hiring and training staff takes time, and new invasive species continue to spread and establish. Under a two-year budget cycle, the next realistic opportunity to add permanent staff may not come until 2029!
The cost of insufficient action is rising. Birds and insects are in decline, and the climate is changing. These systems—and the species that depend on them—cannot afford to wait.
