Continue and expand a River Watch program on the Minnesota River engaging teams of high school students in water quality monitoring and reporting the data to the MNPCA
Expand fishing opportunities in urban areas, teach more kids and families how to fish, and inventory and inform the public about safe and legal shore fishing sites throughout Minnesota.
The Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota (CMSM) will complete the innovative community engagement process started with the previous Legacy grant. CMSM will build upon the progress created with the previous Legacy grant by transitioning the team's focus to carrying-out of strategic access strategies that engage a diversity of community members in the exhibit development process, resulting in the completion of fabrication plans for exhibits and environments that are accessible; engaging; and reflect the diverse art, culture, and heritage of southern Minnesota.
Building on the exhibit development community engagement process carried through three successive Legacy grants, the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota used the 2013 direct appropriation to prepare for and begin building exhibit components for its permanent facility by combining professional museum expertise with local resources, volunteers, and community involvement.
In 2007, the Children's Museum of Southern Minnesota (CMSM) conducted an environmental scan of early learning opportunities for children in southern Minnesota. It became apparent that the region creates few opportunities for children to engage in self-directed learning experiences in social settings; in particular, opportunities that create access to arts, culture, and heritage. This is still true today.
Building on the exhibit development community engagement process carried out through four successive Legacy grants, the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota will use the 2014-15 direct appropriation to complete fabrication and installation of several exhibit components for its permanent facility. Local resources, volunteers, and community involvement will be combined with museum expertise to complete this process.
This proposal aims to answer this question: How would the water quality of Minnesota's lakes change in the next century under future scenarios of urbanization, agricultural growth, and climate change?
This project will analyze existing and projected data to develop simple tools to predict the effect of land use and climate change on extreme floods and droughts.
The project will assess chemical and biological defluorination activities in environmental samples and identify the microorganisms, metabolic pathways, and intermediates resulting from degradation of fluorinated pesticides and pharmaceuticals.
This project will build the first comprehensive list of Minnesota moths and butterflies. Information gained through surveys and outreach efforts will inform land managers and inspire public appreciation.
River Watch (RW) enhances watershed understanding and awareness for tomorrow’s decision-makers through direct hands-on, field-based experiential watershed science. High School based teams throughout the Minnesota River Basin participate in a variety of unique and innovative watershed engagement opportunities such as Water Quality Monitoring and Macroinvertebrate surveys that are suited to their school, community, and watershed needs.
This project will maximize the utility and usefulness of three HSPF models that have been constructed and calibrated for hydrology. The contractor will identify and reduce parameterization errors in the following three HSPF models: 1) Buffalo River Watershed, 2 ) Thief River Watershed, 3) Bois de Sioux-Mustinka Watersheds. This will result, not only in a better hydrology calibration, but will also improve each of the models’ ability to more accurately estimate sediment and pollutant loads and concentrations.
Funding is prioritized to structural and non-structural practices within the Upper Mustinka and Fivemile Creek planning regions. In addition, a primary goal will be to complete a feasibility study for the Fivemile Creek Restoration as well as completion of the final phase of the Lake Traverse Water Quality Improvement Project. The BdSWD will focus on 4 CIPs within the Bois de Sioux River planning regions; WCD Sub-1, WCD 35 and WCD 20 & 25 drainage retrofit projects.
This is the third round of watershed based implementation funds to be shared by up to 13 LGU's between the Bois de Sioux River and Mustinka River watersheds. These funds are to implement grant eligible components of the 2021 - 2030 Joint Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan. Activities for this grant application are diverse, reflecting activities planned to improve water quality to and within legal drainage systems, streams, and lakes in the Bois de Sioux and Mustinka River watersheds.
The Chippewa River Watershed planning partnership has based its comprehensive watershed management plan (CWMP) on six planning regions. Each planning region has a list of prioritized and targeted resource concerns, measurable goals, and implementation actions. Implementation actions will be focused based on the CWMP on the highest and medium priority practices in locations within each planning region, which were prioritized based on local concerns, programs, etc.
The Greater Blue Earth River Basin Alliance (GBERBA) is a joint powers organization consisting of ten member Counties and SWCDs encompassing the Blue Earth, Le Sueur and Watonwan Watersheds. Our mission is to lead in the implementation and promotion of economically viable watershed activities through the combined efforts of local partners. We have identified two target areas in the GBERB (Greater Blue Earth River Basin) where high levels of nitrates directly affect public water supply.