Friends of Minnetonka Parks Educational and Social Event

Join Friends of Minnetonka Parks for an evening of socializing, light refreshments, and a featured presentation highlighting restoration success stories, bison reintroductions, and human integration into restored parks.

Integrating People Into Natural Community Ecology

Examples from Dakota County, Minnesota
Once a rich tapestry of prairie, savanna, woodland, and forest, Dakota County teemed with thousands of plant and animal species. However, due to fire suppression, buckthorn invasion, and other factors, many wooded areas in Dakota County parks (and Minnetonka parks) are dense landscapes lacking in diversity.

Oak Savanna Restoration Before 
(Photo credit: Dakota County)

Oak Savanna Restoration After 
(Photo credit: Dakota County)

Woodland and savanna habitats support thirty-six wildlife species of greatest conservation need including red-headed woodpeckers, Bell’s vireos, brown thrashers, skinks, and milk snakes. Leading the team effort to restore these vital ecosystems is Senior Ecologist Joe Walton. Through his presentation, we'll gain insight into Dakota County's natural resource management strategies, long-range planning, and the growing emphasis on restoring and preserving the park's natural resources.

Joe will highlight ongoing restoration initiatives, wildlife reintroduction programs including bison, natural features monitoring, and an exploration of the county's planning process that thoughtfully integrates people into high-quality biodiverse parks.

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About Joe Walton

Joe Walton is Senior Ecologist for Dakota County. He has been in this role since 2015. His chief responsibilities are developing plans for the management of the natural resources of the County, including County Parks, Greenways, and privately-owned conservation easements. He works as a part of a team of natural resource professionals that manage and restore over 6,000 acres of land in the County. Much of the emphasis has been on restoring savanna, prairie, and open woodland, but also water resources including degraded wetlands, peatlands, black ash seepage swamps, and trout streams. Since Joe has joined the County, natural areas management has become much more important and a much larger component of what the County provides and values. The protection of lands, the preservation of remnant plant communities, the conservation of wildlife species and their appropriate management, and the restoration of core habitat have risen in importance and are central to how the County manages its parks.

Joe has worked as a natural resource professional for over 20 years. Prior to his current position, he worked as an ecologist for Friends of the Mississippi River and for Great River Greening, both located in St. Paul, Minnesota. Joe received an M.S. in Urban and Community Forestry where he examined the effects of soil compaction on forest restoration plantings, and received a B.S. in biology, both from the University of Minnesota.