White Oaks Savanna

Wes Olmschenk Prairies, Residential

White Oaks Savanna™, is a unique, design-driven housing community with 30 home sites nestled into a prairie landscape that is being restored by MNL. The homes are being constructed on 5 to 7 acre lots that will primarily be maintained as prairie and oak savanna natural areas. The developers came to MNL to help them with their restoration after previous …

Wildflower at Lake Elmo

Bre Bauerly

MNL’s work with Engstrom’s Wildflower at Lake Elmo began in 2015 with site preparation. Natural areas were cleared of buckthorn and other weedy vegetation. Starting in the fall of 2015 through the spring of 2017, areas of the site were seeded with multiple native seed mixes to create a mosaic of different habitats (wetland, emergent, mesic prairie, dry prairie, savanna …

North Star Solar

Wes Olmschenk Solar

North Star Solar is a 100MW project near North Branch, MN. Upon completion in 2016 it was the largest solar site in the Midwest, producing enough energy to power 20,000 homes. MNL has been involved with this project from the early stages, working with the developer and Minnesota DNR to create suitable seed mixes for the site comprised entirely of …

Eldridge Rain Gardens

Wes Olmschenk Rain Gardens, Residential

In the spring of 2016, MNL began work on repair of 5 old and underperforming rain gardens. This project consisted of removing existing soils and plant debris, adding rain garden soil mixture, installing edging, mulching, planting, and assembling splash blocks on 4 of the 5 garden spaces. We really enjoyed seeing the improvements in a short period of time! Project …

Minnesota Zoo

Wes Olmschenk Prairies

This project consists of 5 large parking lot islands that MNL has converted to wildflower dominated prairie areas. Each prairie island is bordered by low-mow fescue to maintain sightlines around roadways and parking lot edges. This project began in 2012, and was burned in 2015. Project Partners:

Prince of Peace Church Rain Garden

Wes Olmschenk Rain Gardens

In 2014, MNL began work on the creation of two rain gardens at Prince of Peace Church in Roseville. These rain gardens collect runoff from parking lot and roadway areas much more effectively than the previous turf lawn could. A variety of native herbaceous plants and shrubs were added in the spring of 2015 to filter runoff collected in the …

Shoreline Restoration – Upper Hay Lake

Wes Olmschenk Lakeshore, Residential

The project goal was to re-establish a uniform and stable soft-armored lakeshore.  Installation included 100 linear feet of coir log, import and placement of 12 cubic yards of clean fill, coir blanket to create one soil lift, along with hardwood mulch, native shoreline seed and approximately 1,200 native plants and shrubs.       Project Partners:

Locust Hills Development

Wes Olmschenk Prairies, Residential

This restoration project began in 2006 with clearing of buckthorn and other invasive tree material over acres of future development. Since then, wetlands, prairies, woodlands, shorelines, outlots, and roadside swales have been graded, seeded, sodded, planted, and continuously maintained to a very high standard.   Project Partners: