Osprey Wilds Environmental Learning Center will provide meaningful, hands-on environmental education learning opportunities to underserved rural and metro area children through our day-use and residential summer camps.
Demand for Engineering services in Northeast Minnesota's nine-county Area III Technical Service Area is exceeding the capacity to deliver the needed services. There are increased requests from Soil and Water Conservation Districts for engineering needed to design and install Best Management Practices in part due to requests related to Clean Water Fund projects. These funds will be used to hire an engineer, which will increase engineering capacity and result in the completion of at least five additional projects per year.
We will compile all available data for Minnesota Trumpeter Swans and use these sources to model historical population abundance and predict future population dynamics.
Funding supports an Irrigation Specialist to develop guidance and provide education on irrigation and nitrogenbest management practices (BMPs). In this position, Dr. Vasu Sharma provides direct support to irrigators onissues of irrigation scheduling and soil water monitoring. She is collaborating on the development of new irrigationscheduling tools that help irrigators manage water and nitrogen resources more precisely. These tools help reducenitrogen leaching losses in irrigated cropping systems.
This project encompasses surface water quality sampling within the Snake River Watershed over a period of two years (2017-18). This is the cycle II monitoring as follow-up to the original Snake River Watershed monitoring 10 years ago as part of the Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy Report (WRAPS). This project shall provide follow-up data on the waters in the Snake River Watershed in regards to changes in water quality over this 10-year cycle. The current sampling project will entail sampling 5 lakes and 11 stream sites.
The purpose of this work is to develop Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs; a federal clean Water Act requirement) for streams and lakes in the Kettle River and Upper St. Croix watersheds. This and other technical information will be used to develop a separate report called a Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) report.
Starting in 2016 the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) will be collecting monitoring data on many lakes and streams in the Kettle River and Upper Saint Croix Watersheds. While this information will be useful to assess the overall health of the watershed, it will miss locations in the watershed that can provide critical information to local implementers, local governments, and citizens.
After completing the One Watershed One Plan planning process for the Kettle & Upper St. Croix Watershed, and having the Kettle & Upper St. Croix Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan (KUSC CWMP) approved by BWSR, the local partners of the watershed will use the implementation funds to complete the actions in the plan. These actions will help complete the 10-year goals that are laid out in the plan. This in turn will help protect and restore water and soil resources in the Kettle & Upper St. Croix watersheds.
This project will provide information about the amount and sources of phosphorous flowing into Lake St Croix by implementing additional water quality monitoring and reduce the amount of phosphorous flowing into Lake St Croix by implementing phosphorous reduction activities. The St Croix River Association (SCRA) will coordinate with the St. Croix Basin Water Resources Planning Team (Basin Team) on the identification and funding of comprehensive water monitoring and phosphorus reduction activities in the Lake St. Croix portion of the St.
Phase 4 of the Lake Winona Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) project will finalize the draft Lake Winona TMDL, dated November 2009, by completing additional data analysis, lake quality modeling, updating the TMDL report, and supporting the public involvement process.
This project will develop an Implementation Plan for restoring Lake St. Croix and impaired waters within the contributing watershed, and protect waters currently attaining water quality standards.
The purpose of this project is to gain additional information about the amount of phosphorous flowing into Lake St Croix by implementing additional water quality monitoring and/or to reduce the amount of phosphorous entering Lake St Croix by the implementation of projects that will reduce phosphorus loadings. The St. Croix River Association (SCRA) will coordinate with a subgroup of the St. Croix Basin Water Resources Planning Team and other local resource experts on the identification and funding of comprehensive water monitoring and phosphorus reduction activities in the Lake St.
As a strategic document, the Legacy Strategic Agenda (LSA) has four goals that build on achievements realized during the first five years of Legacy funding. Over the next four years, the LSA strategic priorities in education, grants, partnerships and unfamiliar stories will be acted on, measured and sustained at the community level. A dedicated LSA Collaborative representing a cross-section of the history community meets quarterly around the state to guide the work of LSA Priority Action Teams and to share successes.
Little Rock Creek, a cold-water trout stream in central Minnesota, is impaired due to the lack of trout and other cold water fish. The trout are absent because of high water temperatures, low dissolved oxygen and high nitrate levels, stressors caused from a lack of base flow and overuse of groundwater. This project continues a 2011 initiative to assist irrigators in the Little Rock Creek groundwater recharge area with managing the timing and amount of irrigation applied to their crops.
The Little Rock Lake Total Maximum Daily Load study has identified areas in the watershed where phosphorus reduction is needed and what best management practices need to be applied. This is a coordinated implementation effort with Benton and Morrison Soil and Water Conservation Districts and Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Little Rock Lake Association, the livestock industry and other partners to install best management practices at numerous sites to continue cleaning up Little Rock Lake.
This Phase 9 request for Ducks Unlimited's Living Lakes program will enhance or restore 1,440 acres of wetlands and adjacent prairie grasslands for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Minnesota DNR on public lands and private lands under permanent easement. DU biologists and engineers will design wetland restorations and water control structures for active management of shallow lake water levels to enhance their ecology for ducks, other wildlife, and people, primarily in SW Minnesota's Prairie Pothole Region.
This Phase 10 request for Ducks Unlimited's Living Lakes program will enhance or restore 1,325 acres of wetlands and adjacent prairie grasslands for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Minnesota DNR on public lands and private lands under permanent easement. DU biologists and engineers will design wetland restorations and water control structures for active management of shallow lake water levels to enhance their ecology for ducks, other wildlife, and people, primarily in SW Minnesota's Prairie Pothole Region.
