04. Updated Forest Mitigation Agreement with the Metro Flood Diversion Authority

5 10. Monitoring areas seeded with herbaceous vegetation will be completed annually, for up to five years, following the performance standards presented in this document. 11. If necessary, utilization of prescribed burning, as appropriate, can be used as management tool once full site establishment is complete. 6. Forest Mitigation Site Selection Forest mitigation sites will be located in the Red River of the North watershed, the same watershed where the impacts will occur. Input from partnering agencies and the non-federal sponsors have helped to develop criteria to aid in site selection. Site selection is prioritized by lands that have been acquired by the non-federal sponsors, sites that would result in large contiguous blocks of forest, sites adjacent to rivers and streams, sites where wetland hydrology could be restored or improved, and sites that are adjacent to other forested or natural areas. Lands that become inaccessible or difficult to utilize due to the construction of Project features will also be given additional consideration. The Oxbow-Hickson-Bakke (OHB) Site was identified in the Forest Mitigation Plan dated April 2016. Since then, the OHB Site has been planted and an additional site immediately to the north, known as the Oxbow Country Club Restoration Project (WP43.G) has also been constructed. The OHB Site and Oxbow Country Club Restoration will result in 13 and 63 acres of new forest, respectively in North Dakota. The identified sites and their reforestation prescriptions below are designed to fulfill the remaining required forested acreage. Sites considered for forest planting are assigned a site number for identification purposes. Sites are evaluated for adequacy for forest mitigation by the Forest Management Team. Sites that receive a favorable consensus rating from the group are added to the Forest Mitigation Plan, while others are removed from consideration. 6.1 Baseline Information Numerous sites have been identified for potential forest mitigation throughout the project area. The sites are located along rivers and are often connecting existing forested riparian areas. The majority of the sites are currently used in the production of agricultural row crops or were once building sites. Unless specifically called out otherwise, all agricultural fields would continue to be planted with row crops until trees are planted to suppress weeds and undesirable vegetation from establishing. All buildings, foundations, and debris would be removed from the mitigation sites. Sites with undesirable vegetation would be treated with broad-spectrum herbicide, such as glyphosate, to clear the area prior to planting with trees and other natural vegetation.