Kings Island, in the city of Anoka, has a floodplain forest with a canopy mix of silver maple, ash, and elm. Unfortunately, signs of Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) were discovered in 2021, and some trees started falling on the trail along the Mississippi River. ACD received funding from the Outdoor Heritage Fund in 2023 to conduct ecological management at Kings Island. A total of 426 Ash trees were removed in January 2024.

Ash trees infected by EAB will continue to die off, opening up the forest canopy throughout the island. Tree planting is planned for the fall of 2025 to promote diversity and forest habitat regeneration. Climate-resilient and transition tree species will be planted to enhance the ecosystem in Kings Island. Some of these tree species already exist and some were chosen because they are growing well at the Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change study at Crosby Farm along the Mississippi River.

Join ACD's efforts to diversify and steward King's Island floodplain forest. Sign up to plant trees at Kings Island on Saturday, October 25th, from 10 am to 12 pm. 

Do you have native milkweed plants on your property? If so, early fall is a perfect time to collect seeds. Seeds are mature and ready for collection once they have turned a darker brown. Milkweed pods will turn from green to brown, start to open up and reveal the brown seeds inside. Pods will continue to open and the seed will fly out and disperse. However, it's ideal to collect seeds before the pods fully open and the seed fluff/silk has developed. It is best to remove the fluff from the seed for storage. To separate the seed from the fluff, remove the entire stalk of seeds and fluff/silk from the seed pod, hold the end of the fluff/silk and gently push and pull the seeds off the fluff/silk. Watch this short video to see butterfly milkweed seed cleaning. Once the seed is "cleaned" (the fluff is removed), lay it out to dry completely, label the seed with the plant species name (common or butterfly milkweed), and write the date and location the seed was collected. Store dry seed in paper or mesh plastic bags. 

ACD collaborates with Anoka County Parks and cities within Anoka County to enhance local native habitats. If you have native milkweed seed you would like to donate, ACD staff will be happy to take it and spread the seed at appropriate locations.

Contact Carrie Taylor, Restoration Ecologist, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. There will be a waterproof box located outside the ACD office for seed drop-off. Be sure to label the milkweed species. ACD office address: 1318 McKay Dr NE, Suite 300, Ham Lake, MN 55304. 

Thanks to the Volunteers, Conservation Corps, and Three Rivers Park District staff for joining the ASP Rare Plant Rescue team to rescue state threatened Viola lanceolata, state Endangered Carex pallascens, and state Threatened Trichophorum clintonii from an area that will be dug up and developed soon. Those plants will temporarily grow at the MN Landscape Arboretum during the hot summer. In the fall, we will plant them into ecologically appropriate habitats on protected lands where they will be monitored.

Stay tuned for a volunteer planting event in the fall. Sign up to be added to the Volunteer List. Learn more about the ASP Rare Plant Rescue. For more information, contact Carrie Taylor, Restoration Ecologist, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Here are ways you can help pollinators and birds in your yard:

• Plant Native Plants
• Don't Buy Plants Treated with Neonicotinoids
• Avoid Pesticides
• Provide Water or a Birdbath
• Leave Bare Soil and Old Stems for Bee Nests

Apply to ACD's Lawns to Legumes Pollinator Pathway Native Plant Grant:
Eligible project practices include:

• Native pocket plantings
• Beneficial flowering tree and shrub plantings
• Pollinator-friendly lawns
• Pollinator meadows

Applications can be submitted via Google Forms or paper applications are available upon request. Questions can be directed to Jordi Johnson: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Anoka Sand Plain Rare Plant Rescue Program is a collaborative partnership focused on protecting rare plants in the Anoka Sand Plain (ASP) region. The ASP spans across several metro counties and supports 59 of MN's state-listed species (or nearly 20%) while representing only 2.2% of MN's land area.Our team collaborates with the MN Department of Natural Resources, landowners and developers to rescue rare plants from permitted development project areas before construction begins. We accomplish this with a team of ecologists and dedicated volunteers who help us to quickly mobilize and implement rescues. Rescued plants are transplanted into permanently protected natural areas with ecologically appropriate habitat and are monitored. Since the start of the ASP Rescue Program in 2019, state-protected species were rescued from eleven permitted donor sites and were translocated into 230 monitoring plots located within 13 permanently protected recipient sites. The work involved the rescue of ten species of state endangered, threatened, special concern and watch list vascular plant species. An additional project is underway with Xyris torta. MN Landscape Arboretum conducted germination trials with Xyris torta seed, which resulted in an opportunity to conduct an outplanting with plants that successfully propagated. Xyris torta was planted at the University of MN Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve for the purpose of conducting research and establishing a new population.