Per Minnesota Laws, 2009, Chapter 172, Article 4, Section 2, Subd. 5, "Funds in this subdivision are appropriated to the commissioner of the Department of Administration for grants to the named organizations for the purposes specified in this subdivision. Up to one percent of funds may be used by the Department of Administration for grants administration. Grants made to public television or radio organizations are subject to Minnesota Statutes, sections 129D.18 and 129D.19."
The administration of the Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grant Program ensures rigor, fairness, honesty, integrity, and consistency in the distribution of ACHF funding. Grants staff consult on, review, evaluate, respond to, mentor, coach, shape, and monitor grant projects from initial applicant contact to project closeout, reporting, and monitoring.
The administration of the Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grant Program ensures rigor, fairness, honesty, integrity, and consistency in the distribution of ACHF funding. Grants staff consult on, review, evaluate, respond to, mentor, coach, shape, and monitor grant projects from initial applicant contact to project closeout, reporting, and monitoring.
Project Reclaim will transmit the Ojibwe language and relationship to the land through an augmented reality (AR) experience so as to reawaken Ojibwe language and culture in Minnesota. For this stage of the project, GIM will hold a Community Analog Prototype Workshop and design Reclaim, an interactive mobile app that will simulate the experience of walking in the woods with Ojibwe Elders, exploring Ojibwe ancestral lands while learning the Ojibwe language.
The Great Rivers Network portal promotes the development, discovery and use of historical collections held by the Minnesota Historical Society and its partners across Minnesota.
Through this project, the Society provides support and training to organizations statewide for the preparation of digital collections data, while providing a technical infrastructure that enables access to various collection components, such as photographs, manuscripts, vital record indexes and library catalogs.
The project will estimate sand-sized sediment loads for the Blue Earth and Le Sueur Rivers using United States Geological Survey (USGS) measurements to create an overall sediment budget for the rivers in conjunction with already completed fine sediment budgets. The development of the estimates from USGS data and comparisons will strengthen the understanding of the magnitude of the sand component of the total sediment load in the rivers.
The project will estimate the amount of sand loading at the mouth of the Blue Earth and Le Sueur Rivers using suspended sediment and bedload data collected by the United States Geologic Survey (USGS) and the analysis results published by the USGS and others. The development of the estimates from USGS data and comparisons to existing estimates will strengthen the understanding of the magnitude of the sand component of the total sediment load in the rivers.
The purpose of this project is to develop a framework to implement best management practices (BMPs) on ditches in headwater areas utilizing a partnership between drainage staff and the Greater Blue Earth River Basin Alliance (GBERBA). By replacing failing side-inlets with an alternative design, we can make strides towards our water quality and water quantity goals. The alternative inlets serve to prevent sediment and phosphorus from washing downstream and the design can also alleviate peak flows by temporarily storing stormwater.
This project is established by the Minnesota Legislature, directing the Department of Natural Resources to provide a grant to the Greater Minnesota Regional Park and Trail Coalition.
The grant will support the production of our first Children's Book created by immigrant youth for children ages K-4. Content will cover a wide range of topics: reasons for immigration, emotions and other aspects such as bullying, marginalization, transitions and loss. 3,000 copies will be produced and distributed along with accompanying events such as book readings. The goal is to build inclusive and integrated communities by sharing authentic first-person immigrant stories and building empathy.
This project is a collaboration between Blue Earth and Watonwan County. The two counties will share information, ideas and resources as they complete mining reclamation and wetland management plans to include in their local water management plans and comprehensive land use plans. Master plans for mining reclamation and wetland management will be used as guidance for planning and zoning decisions and implementing water management priorities that will enhance water quality protection and restoration efforts.
The goal of this project is to develop a tool to generate meteorological time-series input data for Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) models based on publicly available gridded meteorological products.
Gridiron Glory: The Best of the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a national traveling exhibit produced by
the Pro Football Hall of Fame of Canton, Ohio.
On display just as the new U.S. Bank Stadium opened, the exhibit featured a "Hometown Tribute" to the Minnesota Vikings with additional items from the MNHS collections related to Minnesota's football history.
The Minnesota Historical Society is developing creative, hands-on learning projects for K-12 students that adhere to state social studies standards and introduce students to important aspects of Minnesota and U.S. history. For example, students will explore the role of slavery in American history by examining historical newspapers, letters and laws and by watching a series of dramatic portrayals of Dred and Harriet Scott who lived at Fort Snelling in the 1830s. These projects will be made accessible to teachers around the state and around the country in 2013.
The Soudan Iron Mine near Ely, Minnesota is no longer an active mine and is now part of a state park, as well as the home to a state-of-the-art physics laboratory at the bottom of the mine. The mine has also been discovered to contain an extreme environment in the form of an ancient and very salty brine bubbling up from a half-mile below the Earth’s surface through holes drilled when the mine was active. Strange microorganisms – part of an ecosystem never before characterized by science – have been found living in the brine.
This project proposes to increase the adoption of cover cropping in southwest Minnesota to address issues of loss of diversity and environmental degradation. By generating important information on cover crops,
Overall Project Outcome and Results
The objective of this project was to accelerate Ducks Unlimited (DU) bio-engineering assistance to help agencies design and construct enhancement projects on shallow lakes for waterfowl using water control structures. DU biologists and engineers provided technical assistance to Minnesota DNR, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and private landowners around shallow lakes with a goal of:
Overall Project Outcome and Results
DNR spent $140,689 to continue on-site field investigations to accelerate management of shallow lakes and adjacent wetland complexes and support the accomplishments of Ducks Unlimited through HCP 2c and 3c. Temporary field personnel (1 full time and up to 6 temporary) documented shallow lake habitat occurrence and quality. Habitat surveys were conducted on 171 lakes within seven HCP project areas. The lakes surveyed totaled over 82,831acres. The surveys were distributed more broadly than in the past with:
Overall Project Outcome and Results
The Nature Conservancy's (TNC) 2009 work program focused on 6 habitat restoration projects totaling 3,664 acres (3,118-ENRTF funds; 546-other funds). Additional details, beyond the short summary below, are found in the more detailed reporting provided for each project.
Overall Project Outcome and Results
The objective of this project was to accelerate Ducks Unlimited (DU) efforts to help improve and protect shallow lakes managed for waterfowl. To protect shallow lakes, DU worked with private shallow lake shoreline landowners to secure permanent conservation easements on managed shallow lakes prioritized by DU for their importance to waterfowl and threat of development. The goal was to permanently protect at least 200 shallow lake shoreland acres.
Overall Project Outcome and Results
This project focused on the acquisition of habitat linkages that provided environmental protection of the shoreline and riparian zone, exhibited a high risk of development, supplied angler access, and afforded management access necessary for implementing habitat improvement projects.
Project goals were to protect 120 acres (1.4 miles of lake and stream shoreline) with the help of partner and other state funding. Partner funding includes donations of land value and cash.
Overall Project Outcome and Results
The Minnesota Valley Trust acquired 78.5 acres of priority lands in Lincoln Township of Blue Earth County to expand the Lincoln Waterfowl Production Area for the Minnesota Valley Refuge and Wetland Management District, US Fish and Wildlife Service. Of the 78.5 acres, 21 acres were acquired with Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund; the other 56.5 acres were acquired with nonprofit / other, non-state funds.
Overall Project Outcome and Results
This project focused on paying professional services related to the conveyance of habitat corridor lands to the DNR by HCP partners. Parcels acquired from HCP partners will be placed in public ownership and administered as State Wildlife Management Areas.
Project goals were to pay professional services as parcels are conveyed to DNR by nonprofit HCP partners. During this appropriation only Pheasants Forever (PF) projects were conveyed to DNR.
Pheasants Forever provides coordination, mapping, and data management for the Habitat Corridors Partnership. Funds are being used to coordinate the partnership, guide strategic outreach and implementation efforts, manage project data, and provide reporting and mapping of accomplishments.
An estimated 200 acres of lands acquired through this phase of the Habitat Corridors Partnership are expected to be transferred to the state for designation as Wildlife Management Areas (WMA). The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is using these funds to conduct habitat restoration on these new WMA lands, as well as develop the infrastructure necessary for public access to them.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is coordinating efforts to improve habitat for aquatic species and protect water quality on lakes, streams, and their surrounding sensitive shorelands. A total of up to 3.5 miles or 35 acres of water bodies in Kandiyohi, Otter Tail, Rice, or Stevens Counties are expected to benefit from restoration activities including installation of aeration systems, development of spawning areas, installation of native vegetation, and stabilization of stream banks.
