Minnesota’s Driftless Area: a Biodiversity Hotspot
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Lee_Michael_BlufflandsBiodiversity_WSU-WCHS_mdl-24Mar2021.pdf (18529 kB)
WSUECOHIST_2021_Lee_Michael_Supplementary_PPT
Description
During this second event of the Ecological History Lecture series, Michael Lee shared highlights of the Minnesota Biological Survey’s work in the biologically diverse Driftless Area, which has the highest number of rare plant and animal species and the highest number of animal species of conservation concern in the state, as well as a diverse assemblage of native plant communities, some of which are themselves quite rare. Michael used maps and photos to summarize the biological survey’s results and highlight significant discoveries, discussed recent and ongoing survey and monitoring work, and talked about the prognosis for the Bluff Country’s biodiversity in the future. Additionally, Michael Lee touched on the history of botanical inquiry in the Winona area and provided a closer look at some of the rare biodiversity features that remain in the vicinity of Winona.
Michael Lee was raised on a farm in the Minnesota Blufflands of eastern Fillmore County. He graduated from Peterson High School in 1986. He earned B.S. and M.A. degrees in Wildlife Biology from St. Cloud State University. He has been employed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources since 1991, on the Minnesota Biological Survey since 1992. Michael has logged thousands of miles afoot cataloging the flora throughout most regions of the state, with a significant amount of that effort focused in Winona, Wabasha, Fillmore, and Houston counties.
The Winona County Historical Society (WCHS) and Winona State University (WSU) collaborated on applying for a Heritage Partnership grant to support educational projects that explore the unique ecological history of the Driftless area of Minnesota. Included in this grant project was a lecture series that will host ecological experts. The lecture series was to occur in the spring of 2020 but was postponed and converted to a webinar series due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Location
Zoom webinar, Winona, Minnesota
Start Date
3-24-2021 6:30 PM
End Date
3-24-2021 7:30 PM
Presentation Type
Lecture
Keywords
Native Plant Communities; Rare native species; Conservation; Habitat loss; Species in Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN); Eastern Broadleaf Forest; Paleozoic Plateau; Blufflands subsection; Driftless area; Biological survey; Minnesota Biological Survey; Southeastern Minnesota; Goodhue County; Wabasha County; Winona County; Houston County; Fillmore County
Fiscal Sponsor
This project was made possible in part by the people of Minnesota through a grant funded by an appropriation to the Minnesota Historical Society from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
Rights Management
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. This video may be viewed and shared. It may not be used for commercial purposes. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the right(s) holder.
Publisher
Winona State University
City
Winona, Minnesota
Department
Special Collections - Library
Date Digital
2021-03-24 18:45
Metadata Creation Responsibility
Allison Quam
Unique Identifier
wsuecohist_2021_Lee_Michael
Master File Format
MP4
File Type
MP4, SRT
Running Time
1 hours 16 minutes 56 seconds
Minnesota’s Driftless Area: a Biodiversity Hotspot
Zoom webinar, Winona, Minnesota
During this second event of the Ecological History Lecture series, Michael Lee shared highlights of the Minnesota Biological Survey’s work in the biologically diverse Driftless Area, which has the highest number of rare plant and animal species and the highest number of animal species of conservation concern in the state, as well as a diverse assemblage of native plant communities, some of which are themselves quite rare. Michael used maps and photos to summarize the biological survey’s results and highlight significant discoveries, discussed recent and ongoing survey and monitoring work, and talked about the prognosis for the Bluff Country’s biodiversity in the future. Additionally, Michael Lee touched on the history of botanical inquiry in the Winona area and provided a closer look at some of the rare biodiversity features that remain in the vicinity of Winona.
Michael Lee was raised on a farm in the Minnesota Blufflands of eastern Fillmore County. He graduated from Peterson High School in 1986. He earned B.S. and M.A. degrees in Wildlife Biology from St. Cloud State University. He has been employed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources since 1991, on the Minnesota Biological Survey since 1992. Michael has logged thousands of miles afoot cataloging the flora throughout most regions of the state, with a significant amount of that effort focused in Winona, Wabasha, Fillmore, and Houston counties.
The Winona County Historical Society (WCHS) and Winona State University (WSU) collaborated on applying for a Heritage Partnership grant to support educational projects that explore the unique ecological history of the Driftless area of Minnesota. Included in this grant project was a lecture series that will host ecological experts. The lecture series was to occur in the spring of 2020 but was postponed and converted to a webinar series due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Notes
Edited video. Captions available. Allison Quam and Kendall Larson co-hosted the lecture on the Zoom platform.