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<br />Edward E. Hamm Trustee Property: Conservation Design Plan: Initial Phase <br />Orono, Minnesota <br />Page 3 <br />Forests Class The Forest Class areas within the Site are typically found on moist to dry upland areas. Tree canopies in the upland areas are dominated by oaks with areas in moist areas dominated by sugar maple, basswood, elm, and ash trees. The Forest Class areas are mostly located on the slope from the maintained lawns to the wetland area in the northeast portion of the Site. The MLCCS identifies the type of forest as a Maple-Basswood Forest. Sugar maple (Acer saccharum), American basswood (Tilia americana), elms (Ulmus sp.), and ash (Fraxinus sp.) trees are common on moist areas. Other mesic trees, such as slippery elm (Ulmus rubra), American elm (Ulmus americana), northern red oak (Quercus rubra), bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa), white ash (Fraxinus americana), and green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) are sometimes dominant locally. The understory is multi-layered and patchy. This portion of Maple-Basswood Forest is historically part of the Big Woods. Herbaceous Class The Herbaceous Class consists generally of forbs and ferns which form at least 25% cover. The type of cover in this class consists of a seasonally flooded cattail (Typha spp.) marsh wetland which is dominated by cattails. <br /> Trees Pinnacle contacted the City to determine if a tree survey was necessary for the initial phase of the Conservation Design Plan. The City did not believe that a tree survey was necessary since no development is anticipated to occur with the splitting of the parcel into two parcels. Therefore, a tree survey was not completed. Pinnacle noted several areas of the shortgrass land cover type had a canopy of mature trees. These trees mainly consisted of Norway Spruce (Picea abies), Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum), Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum), Oaks (Quercus spp.), and Northern Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa). Areas adjacent to Orono Orchard Road South and Fox Street contained many volunteer trees, such as: Boxelder (Acer negundo), White Pine (Pinus strobus), Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana), Ash (Fraxinus spp.), and Elm (Ulmus sp.). The shrub layer under the tree canopy was dominated by European buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) with common lilac (Syringa vulgaris) present near the delivery entrance on Orono Orchard Road South. Trees in the Maple-Basswood Forest included Maples and basswood as well as Boxelder, Sugar Maple, Red Maple (Acer rubrum) , Silver Maple, Oaks, Green and White Ash and Northern Catalpa. Buckthorn dominated the understory of the Maple-Basswood forest area. The tree with the largest diameter at breast height (DBH) was a 56-inch DBH Northern Red Oak located on the ridge between Wetlands 1 and 2. Other large trees consisted of 39-inch DBH and 44-inch DBH Northern Catalpas, 47-inch DBH Silver Maple, many 40- 50 feet tall Scotch Pine (Pinus sylvestris), and many 50 to 60 feet tall Norway spruce. <br /> Rare Plant Communities No rare plant communities were observed on the site and none were identified on the Hennepin County Natural Resource Inventory map. Most of the communities on the site are dominated by planted and maintained species or invasive species. The planted and maintained species included Norway Spruce, Sugar Maple, Silver Maple, Kentucky Bluegrass, and fescues. Invasive species were mostly located in the wetland areas or adjacent the road corridors. The invasive species included Reed Canary Grass (Phalaris arundinacea), European Buckthorn, and Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense). Due to the human alteration of these land cover areas, no special protection of these areas is recommended. <br />300