The Rainy River Basin WPLMN Sampling Program will focus on watershed load monitoring in the Big Fork River, Little Fork River, Rainy River-Rainy Lake, and Vermilion River watersheds. Four total staff will work on various portions of this agreement. The main objective is for one lead sampler and one backup sampler to collect water chemistry and field parameters for eight (8) sites, annually at various flows, especially peak flows, and utilize that data to determine the amount of pollutant load into each stream system.
This project will meet the following goals: develop, implement, and evaluate the impacts civic engagement outcomes for the Rainy River Headwaters and the Cloquet watersheds; create a citizen understanding of the Watershed Restoration & Protection Strategy (WRAPS) process and the role that citizens, lake associations, institutions of higher education, and other stakeholders can play in attaining water quality restoration and protection; provide opportunities for citizens and stakeholders to assist local partners and state agencies in developing priorities for projects to accomplish resto
This project will provide an important framework for civic and citizen engagement and communication in the International Rainy River-Lake of the Woods Watershed, which will contribute to long-term public participation in surface water protection and restoration activities.
The goal of this project is the development of the Rainy River Headwaters, Vermilion River and St. Louis River Watersheds Local Civic Engagement and Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy.
Given access to resources & training, educators are in powerful positions to share stories of the people living on the land we call Minnesota. Through the work of Dr. Mato Nunpa, a team of Indigenous scholars & community interviews, Speaking Out Collective will examine how mass murder, wholesale land theft, enslavement and extermination were justified and taught in schools. By centering silenced Indigenous narratives, this project invites students, educators & districts to reconsider MN history.
We will characterize environmental drivers contributing to the decline of wild rice using lake sediment cores to reconstruct historical wild rice abundance in relation to lake and watershed stressors.
To hire qualified professionals to complete roof rehabilitation and exterior work on the former J.C. Schobes Bakery and Confectionery, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
To rehabilitate an egress door on the Lyric Theater, a contributing feature of the Virginia Commercial Historic District, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
To rehabilitate the sprinkler system protecting the Lyric Theater, a contributing feature of the Virginia Commercial Historic District, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Minnesota's wetlands provide crucial habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife, assist in flood control, and help maintain water quality. However, the state has lost half the wetlands that existed before European settlement and these drained wetlands have not been mapped as part of the National Wetlands Inventory. This appropriation is enabling efforts by Ducks Unlimited to provide a complement to the National Wetlands Inventory by identifying and mapping drained wetlands that have the potential to be restored to provide their various benefits once again.
With this grant, we were able to perform 195 acres of treatment within polygons resulting in the restoration or enhancement of 21 parcels. Overall treatment effort was even greater within wetlands (271 acres), with many areas receiving multiple overlapping treatments. Focusing our treatments on the most ecologically damaged areas allowed us to improve wetlands substantially, even if active treatment did not occur throughout every part of the parcel where invasives may not have occurred. 268+ acres had 50% of their areas treated, which we consider a standard for substantial restoration.
This project will complete the final Implementation Plan, semi-annual and final reports and hold project meetings. The Implementation Plan will identify target areas and priorities for implementation strategies to improve water quality for Bluff Creek. This project will build the groundwork so Bluff Creek will meet water quality standards for aquatic life in the future.
Under the CREP partnership with USDA, 71 easements were recorded on a total of 4,365 acres to restore previously drained wetlands and adjacent uplands. The easements were accomplished with local implementation done by SWCD, NRCS and FSA staff within the 54 county CREP area and leveraged federal funds for both landowner payments and cost share for conservation practice installation.
The Clean Water Fund (CWF) and Outdoor Heritage Fund (OHF) were used together to secure easements on buffer areas. 25 easements have been recorded for a total of 672.1 acres and are reported in the output tables for the final report (acre total does not include Clean Water Fund acres). The total acreage from both CWF and OHF sources for recorded easements is 1,152.4 acres. Only the OHF acres are being reported in this final report to be consistent with the approved accomplishment plan.
Under the CREP partnership with USDA, 38 easements were recorded on a total of 2,732 acres to restore previously drained wetlands and adjacent uplands. One easement is a flowage easement that was required to complete wetland restoration work on an adjacent
The Clean Water Fund (CWF) and Outdoor Heritage Fund (OHF) were used together to secure easements on buffer areas. 84 easements have been recorded for a total of 1,441 acres and are reported in the output tables for the final report (acre total does not include Clean Water Fund acres). The total acreage from both CWF and OHF sources for recorded easements is 2,793.2 acres. Only the OHF acres are being reported in this final report to be consistent with the approved accomplishment plan.
On May 20,1863 in St Louis, Missouri the Union Army Special Agent of Contrabands sent 218 African Descendant persons to Ft Snelling on the Steamboat Davenport. The Steamboat Northerner towed a raft to Ft Snelling arriving on May 5, 1863. This project seeks to document the resettlement at Ft Snelling and how this group and Black Civil War Veterans changed the course of history in Minnesota by succeeding in amending the state Constitution to grant citizenship to African American men in 1869.
We propose identifying hot spots of groundwater chloride pollution of surface waters due to excessive road salt use, which is a long term source increasing chloride impairment of surface waters.
