Graduate student Ashley Petel developed a site assessment tool that helps local governments determine land resilience and restore ecological health.
A resident wants to donate 20 acres of woods to the county, but it's overrun by buckthorn. A cattle rancher wants to sell pastureland to an adjacent regional park, but the cost is one-fourth of the county’s natural resources budget.
With limited time and money, how can local governments make smart decisions when acquiring land for conservation or recreational purposes?
A new site assessment tool developed by a University of Minnesota graduate student will make that process easier. The project was made possible through a multi-year partnership between Washington County, the Metropolitan Council, and the Resilient Communities Project (RCP).
The tool uses site observation worksheets to capture ecological conditions on the ground. This systematic documentation reveals the land’s ecological resilience level and, therefore, the degree of effort (and funding) needed to restore and manage it.
“The tool allows us to compare one parcel (of land) to another parcel,” said Connor Schaefer, Senior Planner at Washington County. “Both staff and policymakers need better, more objective tools to make those decisions.”
The project began in 2021 when Schaefer and Natural Resource Coordinator Dan MacSwain submitted a proposal to RCP, a program at the University of Minnesota that connects local government agencies to university resources. RCP accepted the proposal and shared the project with Dr. Susan Galatowitsch, a leading researcher on ecological restoration in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology.
Galatowitsch immediately saw the value of creating a tool that helps municipalities protect and restore natural systems that are vital for resisting climate change.
“With critical environmental problems like climate change adaptation, we can't afford to do research that isn’t going to be translated into action,” she said. The assessment tool will make Washington County’s conservation efforts more efficient, sustainable, and impactful.
Galatowitsch recruited graduate students from her ecological restoration course to work with Washington County. In 2023, Ashley Petel completed her graduate capstone in horticulture with Galatowitsch as faculty advisor. She collaborated with MacSwain and Schaefer over nine months to create the resilience-based site assessment tool. She visited park preserves in Washington County and developed metrics for four common ecosystem types in the area: upland prairie, oak savanna, deciduous forest, and palustrine wetlands.
“We often don't have the resources to do a management plan for a parcel that's being acquired,” said MacSwain. “I have to maximize my time. I can't see every square inch of a property.”
With the new tool, county staff can conduct a rapid assessment using a consistent, objective process. And, the tool will help MacSwain develop a management plan that restores the land more effectively.
“You can't make [land management] mistakes for 20 years until you have acquired professional judgment,” said Galatowitsch. “You need to have tools to guide you.”
This semester, students enrolled in Galatowitsch’s ecological restoration course are piloting the tool at sites in Washington County. The tool is meant to be used by natural resource staff, interns, and other new professionals, and student usability feedback will help refine it.
“Ecological resilience as a topic can be difficult for students to grasp in an operational way,” said Galatowitsh. “Having students in the field fits that need. And, we can test the usability of the tool, including validity, by seeing if we get consistent results amongst different groups.”
The project was supported by the Metropolitan Council, which helped finance the partnership. The Council supports local agencies to “identify lands with high-quality natural features and/or with high restoration potential.”
“While it's focused on Washington County, the methodologies employed in this project are going to be really useful for the region,” said Eric Wojchik, Planning Analyst and Climate Policy Analyst at the Metropolitan Council. “We need to help cities understand that protecting natural systems is a key component to climate resilience.”
The project has garnered wider interest, and stakeholders hope to digitize the tool so it can be more easily shared. Petel presented her research at the Water Resources Conference in mid-October, and will also share it at the Upper Midwest Invasive Species Conference in mid-November.
“One of my favorite parts about this project is that it's not something that's just sitting on a shelf somewhere that no one is ever going to read,” said Petel. “I think it was really important to me to have something that was practical and hopefully makes an impact in the field.”
Petel’s research as a graduate student has also had a positive impact on her career trajectory. She started working as a Restoration Ecologist at MNL in March, shortly after completing the project.
“This project provided a great foundation for ecological restoration practice, with direct application to the work I am doing now at MNL,” Petel added. “It gave me really good connections.”