This project will expand the Truth Telling Series that collected, preserved, and shared suppressed Dakota and Anishinaabe histories through community oral narratives. The project will document untold and silenced narratives from Black Minnesotans in urban and rural communities to develop new and easily accessible curriculum for grades Pre-K-6, in partnership with numerous BIPOC scholars, elders, and community partners. The project includes a collaborative story collection. The stories will be collected, documented, and written.
This full-scale pilot will evaluate supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) for managing PFAS in biosolids and water treatment residuals. SCWO can destroy PFAS in a variety of wastes and recover energy.
The Cannon River Watershed is a diverse watershed from the standpoint of topography, land use, and land cover, but a central issue of concern is increased sedimentation and turbidity within the river. One of the best ways to keep sediment from entering the Cannon River is to install vegetative buffers on the smaller tributaries in the upper reaches of the watershed. This project is important as it aims to help identify strategic locations where buffers are needed and to assist landowners to install buffers that will directly help reduce sedimentation within the watershed.
We will partner with urban municipalities and school districts to support planting of climate-resilient tree species. Activities include planting trees, gravel bed nursery creation, tree assessment and mapping, and community.
While aspen is one of the most dominant forest types, predicted future conditions will negatively impact aspen growth. Increasing tree diversity can provide increase ecological and economic resilience.
To hire a qualified consultant to develop a Historic Structure Report that will help preserve the Canby Theatre, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
This project is to refresh the Cannon River Watershed Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) model. The previous model was developed for the time period of 1995-2012. This phase will extend the model to include data through 2019. All time series data will be updated through 2019, land classification zones will be restructured, hydrology calibration will be updated as needed, and final reporting including technical memo and model package.
This project with the Cannon River Watershed Joint Powers Board will conduct lake and stream sampling for the watershed restoration and protection strategy (WRAPS) update in the Cannon River Watershed. This sampling will track changes from the 2011 results, along with fill in gaps, delist or keep an eye out for new impairments, and gather data for permitting. The sites of sampling were selected by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and will be looking at lake and stream chemistry and stream bacteria.
The Cannon River Watershed Habitat Protection and Restoration Program will protect approximately 275 acres in fee, and restore and enhance approximately 181 acres of high priority wildlife habitat within the Cannon River Watershed, including wetlands, prairies, Big Woods forest, and river/shallow lake shoreline. Its goal is to protect existing high quality habitat, restore degraded habitat, prevent degradation of water quality, and provide public access.
The goal of this project is to use a science-based and participatory approach to understanding and promoting conservation practices in the agricultural community.
The goal of this project is to apply the Hydrological Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) model to evaluate scenarios to support potential management actions and implementation in the watershed, construct Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) studies, and to develop a conceptual site model of the lakes for understanding phosphorus release.
Complete section 3 of Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) document for the Cannon and Zumbro Watersheds and provide input to sections 1 and 2.
The Cannon River Watershed Habitat Protection and Restoration Program will protect approximately 264 acres in fee, and restore and enhance approximately 238 acres of high priority wildlife habitat within the Cannon River Watershed, including wetlands, prairies, Big Woods forest, and river/shallow lake shoreline. Its goal is to protect existing high quality habitat, restore degraded habitat, prevent degradation of water quality, and provide public access. We will restore and enhance riverine, forest, wetlands, oak savanna, and prairie habitat
The Cannon River Watershed Habitat Protection and Restoration Program will protect approximately 290 acres in fee, and restore and enhance approximately 358 acres of high priority wildlife habitat within the Cannon River Watershed, including wetlands, prairies, forests, and river/shallow lake shoreline. Its goal is to protect existing high quality habitat, restore degraded habitat, prevent degradation of water quality, and provide public access.
The Cannon River Watershed Habitat Protection and Restoration Program will protect approximately 180 acres in fee, and restore or enhance approximately 136 acres of high priority wildlife habitat within the Cannon River Watershed, including wetlands, prairies, forests, and river/shallow lake shoreline. Its goal is to protect existing high quality habitat, restore degraded habitat, prevent degradation of water quality, and provide public access.
Through fee-title acquisition, Trust for Public Land permanently protected 253 acres (115% of our goal) throughout the Cannon River Watershed. This resulted in two additions to existing Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs). These now publicly accessible and protected areas include wetland, prairie, and Big Woods forest habitat. The permanent protection of these places has reversed habitat loss, allowed for habitat restoration, and increased access to public lands for hunting, fishing, hiking, and other outdoor recreation opportunities.
Revitalizing the old deer yards into Caribou Yards is a transformative initiative aimed at creating habitats for a herd of caribou. The need for this project arises from the closure of the old deer yards, which were previously inhabited by white-tailed deer until the last one passed away of old age. Subsequently, the fencing surrounding these three habitats has weathered and suffered damage during the years of inoccupancy.
This project will place the Cedar River watershed on a sustainable and clearly understood implementation process for comprehensive water management. All people living in the watershed and all groups operating and managing land in the watershed, are responsible stakeholders in the effort. Objectives for this phase of the project include:
1. Develop a comprehensive watershed restoration and protection strategy.
2. Continue development of a more coordinated and comprehensive citizen participation process.
The entities of the Cedar - Wapsipinicon watershed planning area hope to achieve the Cedar - Wapsipinicon Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan goals, including surface water quality, groundwater quality, excessive sedimentation and erosion, and flooding goals. Work includes cost-share incentives, project development, technical/engineering assistance, education/outreach, and administration/grant reporting.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency requires the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to carry out the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program in the state of Minnesota. Minnesota has an abundance of lakes and river reaches, many of which will require a TMDL study. In an effort to expedite the completion of TMDL projects, the MPCA has decided to construct watershed models. These models have the potential to support the simultaneous development of TMDL studies for multiple listings within a watershed.
There are two main goals of this Cedar Basin HSPF project,
A. Overall development of the HSPF model in the Cedar Basin of Minnesota; and
B. Shell Rock River nutrient, DO , impairment modeling and TMDL completion.
Pileated Woodpeckers are keystone habitat modifiers that support an array of game, non-game, and conservation concern species. Additional information is needed to understand cavity dynamics for these species.
The Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota (CMSM) will build upon a strong foundation of Minnesota Arts, Culture and Heritage (ACH) learning experiences made possible with prior MN Legacy funding support to:
To increase the Steele County Fair's capacity to showcase children's art by purchasing new display materials. Portable wall panels will allow work to be hung in a gallery type fashion, and offer more surface area to display children's art.
The goal of this project is to extend the existing Chippewa River Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed model. The contractor will produce an HSPF model with meteorological, point source, and atmospheric deposition input timeseries extended through 2020.
The Chippewa River Watershed Association (CRWA) will lead programs to tell a watershed story on the state of our waters and efforts needed to protect or restore them. The CRWA will partner with local offices on existing local educational efforts and will support these types of events. Activities will focus on priority areas and information sharing as outlined in the Chippewa River Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategies (WRAPS) Public Participation Plan.
The purpose of this project is to create a shared plan for the Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) process with roles, responsibilities, commitments and deliverables clearly understood by all (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), Chippewa River Watershed, and local partners). The MPCA and the Chippewa River Watershed Project (CRWP) will be working together to ascertain the level of involvement that local units of government and other partners want to engage in for the second round of the WRAPS process.
The goal of the Chippewa River Watershed Protection project is to protect unimpaired areas of the watershed. This will be accomplished through education and outreach with landowners and through implementation of best management practices.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) developed the Chippewa River Watershed Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) report in 2016 that addresses impairments 48 separate impairment listings for 16 stream reaches and 25 lakes in the watershed. The purpose of this project is to support the development of TMDLs for additional streams reaches and lakes that were not previously completed. MPCA has identified 12 waterbodies with aquatic recreation or aquatic life impairments that need to be addressed through the development of new TMDLs.
The Chippewa River Watershed Project (CRWP) will work with the Minnesot Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to conduct watershed pollutant load monitoring at four sites in the Chippewa River watershed and one site in the neighboring Pomme de Terre River watershed to aid the MPCA in measuring and comparing regional differences and long-term trends in water quality. Our goal is to collect quality data and complete load calculations for five sites using the MPCA's Watershed Pollutant Load Monitoring Network (WPLMN) established protocols.
This project will complete a comprehensive and sustainable Major Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategies report for the Chippewa River, its tributary streams, and the many lakes in the Chippewa River watershed that is understandable and adoptable by local units of government and residents.
Rising temperatures and increased precipitation contribute to decreased oxygen and increased methane in Minnesota lakes and wetlands. We will identify impacts on water quality and methane emissions, providing management guidance.
