Bald Eagle Lake is a popular recreational lake known for its fishery on the Metropolitan Council's Priority Lakes List. The lake is negatively impacted by excess nutrients and restoring its water quality is a local priority.
This project will collect stormwater runoff from an approximately 900 acre area and re-use it to irrigate an existing golf course. This innovative project will provide a multitude of environmental benefits for Bald Eagle Lake including significant runoff volume reduction, groundwater recharge and phosphorus load reduction.
The Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4) program is in the process of issuing the small MS4 general permit to new permittees who have been designated based on the results of the 2010 Census. These permittees were notified on February 25, 2015 that they will need to apply for the Permit within 18 months. We need to provide outreach on stormwater management and environmental impacts to ensure that they achieve a basic understanding of why the MS4 Permit exists, and why their municipality is in the program.
This project will result in updates to existing information and incorporation of new information into the Minnesota Stormwater Manual. The information is used by stormwater practitioners to implement the most effective and cost-efficient practices for managing stormwater runoff volume and pollutants, in addition to meeting regulatory requirement associated with stormwater permits.
This project will result in updates to existing information and incorporation of new information on active construction site erosion prevention and sediment control into the Minnesota Stormwater Manual. The information is used by stormwater practitioners to implement the most effective and cost-efficient practices for managing stormwater runoff volume and pollutants, and to meet regulatory requirements associated with stormwater permits.
This project will result in updates to existing information and incorporate new information into the Minnesota Stormwater Manual. The information is used by stormwater practitioners to implement the most effective and cost-efficient practices for managing stormwater runoff volume and pollutants, and to meet regulatory requirement associated with stormwater permits.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) each collect similar information on streams in Minnesota such as water quality, fish species presence, or the quality of fish habitat. For example, the DNR might sample stream fish to assess whether the agency’s management activities such as fishing regulations or stocking are creating good angling opportunities for the public, while MPCA might sample fish to assess whether a stream meets regulatory standards for a healthy fish community.
Stream flow information is essential for understanding the state of Minnesota's waters. Clean water funding has allowed the DNR to expand a network of stream gages that support planning and implementation for clean water protection and restoration. These gages are also used as part of the interagency Flood Forecasting/Warning System. This expanded stream gaging network has also significantly increased the real time data available to recreational water enthusiasts via the internet.
This project will generate water quality data for 10 stream locations MPCA designated for their 2012 and 2013 open-water sampling seasons (8 by NRRI-UMD and 2 via subcontract to the North St. Louis SWCD). The overall project goal is to collect event-based physical and chemical data sets for 10 agency-prioritized stream sampling sites in NE Minnesota for calculating pollutant loads and for incorporation into the overall State database for MPCA assessment purposes.
This project will provide information and tools for a method to credit street sweeping that can be implemented by Municipal Separate Storm Sewer (MS4) permittees to help meet permit requirements for phosphorus and total suspended solids (TSS). The contractor will develop and submit a communication-outreach plan for the credit method.
The Children's Discovery Museum's (CDM) new 3,000 piece Wizard of Oz (WOZ) collection will be properly archived, conservation materials purchased, and exhibit concept and design drawings completed. CDM facilitators and educators will travel to other children's museums in Minnesota for staff enrichment and professional development.
To hire a qualified consultant to develop a structural study that will help preserve the Scriver Building, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Grants to counties to implement SSTS programs including inventories, enforcement, development of databases, and systems to insure SSTS maintenance and of reporting program results to BWSR and MPCA and base grants.
In the design phase, this new 5,000-square-foot exhibition will focus on the history of the explosive growth of the Twin Cities suburbs, particularly in the years after WW II, and the aspirations driving the suburban dream. This exhibit will open October 10, 2015, and run through March 20, 2016.
This 5,000-square-foot exhibit opened Oct. 14, 2015, and tells the story of the population exodus from the central cities to the developing Twin Cities suburbs
Twenty high school students from diverse backgrounds participated in a college-readiness program at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Students learned high-level research and presentation skills while working with various collections in the Andersen Library. Students also learned how to apply for college, spent the night in a dorm room, participated in mock lectures with professors and other activities designed to increase their confidence and comfort level with campus life.
Partner: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Thirty high school students from diverse backgrounds participated in a college-readiness program at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Students learned high-level research and presentation skills while working with various collections in the Andersen Library. Students also learned how to apply for college, spent the night in a dorm room, participated in mock lectures with professors and other activities designed to increase their confidence and comfort level with campus life.
This project will achieve pollutant reductions within a chain of lakes with a hard-won trend of improving water quality. We will install shoreline stabilization projects with near-shore native plant buffers and in-lake aquatic plantings. We will stabilize at least 300 linear feet of shoreline resulting in at least 4 lbs/yr of phosphorus and 2.4 tons/yr of sediment reduction. This project is small budget and modest scale, but a critical finish-line kick to reach goals after many other larger projects that have nearly achieved goals.
This project will apply the Sunrise River watershed computer model generated under previous projects to selected scenarios of land-cover and land-management changes. The watershed model calibrated to conditions in the late 1990s will form the initial baseline against which all other model runs will be contrasted. Scenarios to be run will include changes in future land cover, agricultural practices, urban practices, and natural resource management.
The Society sought out potential grant applicants, led grant-writing workshops, presented at 43 public meetings statewide and conducted onsite visits in approximately 40 communities.
This funding supports and ensures the success of the ACHF-funded Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants Program. The Society seeks out potential grant applicants, leads statewide grant-writing workshops and webinars, and helps applicants with technical information critical to submitting a successful grant application, as well as supporting recipients throughout the life of their projects.
This project will develop a surficial geology shapefile (map) for part of the State of Minnesota, by modifying and joining smaller existing, but separate, surficial geology maps. The resulting internally consistent geographic information system (GIS) layer will be used to support the hydrologic parameterization of Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) watershed models.
Minnesota’s environment is changing in response to a variety of stressors – including population growth, residential development, industry, agriculture, invasive species, and climate change – and the state’s iconic lakes, and the goods and services they provide (e.g., fishing and water recreation), are an important part of what’s being impacted. To manage effectively for these changes it is important to understand how the state’s many lakes respond to these stressors.
The Minnesota Historical Society recognizes the natural relationship between sustainability and historic preservation and the importance of environmental stewardship as we preserve our cultural heritage for future generations. For this reason, the Society is studying its level of sustainability, including levels of energy consumption, water usage, waste and resource use.
Recommendations for reducing the Minnesota Historical Society’s environmental impact will be presented and implemented during the second phase of this project. It's estimated that the recommendations can save the Society $1.7 million over five years and divert two million kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere.
Producing new materials from regional plant byproducts for renewable solar energy. This project engages many students in environmental research; this homegrown technology will ultimately provide affordable energy to Minnesota families.
MNHS continues to strive for environmental, economic and social sustainability in its sustainability program. To pinpoint opportunities for ongoing progress, the sustainability program will harmonize a broader range of institutional needs and objectives. The program will establish integrated, continuous, electronic reporting that unites environmental, social and economic risk analysis. This reporting will be used to further reduce our environmental impact and improve the sustainability of our operations as a whole.
