Title
Authorizing the Department of Parks and Recreation to apply for funding through the Conservation Partners Legacy grant program to enhance prairie and woodland habitat at Hidden Falls Regional Park, the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, and Phalen Regional Park, and, if successful, to enter into an agreement providing indemnification for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Body
WHEREAS, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Lessard-Sams Conservation Partners Legacy (CPL) grant program; and
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul is eligible to receive grant funds through the CPL program; and
WHEREAS, it is the intention of Parks and Recreation to submit a proposal to enhance 37 acres of bluffland at Hidden Falls Regional Park through woody species removal and reforestation, to submit a second proposal to enhance prairie and woodland at the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, and to submit a third proposal to enhance 10 acres of forest and savanna at Phalen Regional Park; and
WHEREAS, the projects will increase connectedness of high-quality forests and prairies, reduce sedimentation of impaired waterbodies, and improve habitat for wildlife; and
WHEREAS, if funded, the grant agreement will require that the grantee indemnify the State, its agents and employees from any claims or causes of action arising from performance of the grant agreement; and
WHEREAS, the Saint Paul City Council finds that accepting these grant funds will allow Parks and Recreation to fulfill ecological principles of habitat restoration, and that the expenditure of public funds, which includes the promise of indemnification, for such a purpose will facilitate and enable it to take place; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that designated Parks and Recreation staff are hereby authorized to seek CPL funding on behalf of the City and, if successful, enter into an agreement with the State, which includes an indemnification clause, to accept the funds on behalf of the City.