All Projects

This project will produce content for the Headwaters exhibit including: 1) creation and content development of Meet Your Neighbor stations; 2) creation of two murals and a sculpture celebrating diversity; 3) new exhibit design in partnership with Stearns County History Museum; 4) design an art fence for the Outdoor Adventures exhibit.

In 2018 the Great River Children's Museum, (GRCM) received a building worth $1,500,000 from Liberty Bank. Since receiving this gift, the Board of Directors has completed a Museum Strategic Master Plan with Vergeront Museum Planning, a predesign plan and building condition assessment with JLG Architects, a hazardous building materials assessment with Braun Intertec, and a marketing plan with Gearbox Marketing.

Great River Children's Museum: Moving Forward Project encompasses the development of new exhibits & programs with and for the families of Central MN. We are expanding upon partnerships formed with community groups, developing exhibit areas that open doors to new experiences and cultures, and working to create program guides that will highlight some of the many informal learning opportunities to be found in our exhibit areas.

The goal of this project is to extend the input timeseries for the existing Crow Wing, Redeye, and Long Prairie, watershed Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) models and refine the calibration.

Minnesota’s use of groundwater has increased over the last two decades. An increasing reliance on groundwater may not be a sustainable path for continued economic growth and development. The DNR is establishing three pilot groundwater management areas (GWMA) to help improve groundwater appropriation decisions and help groundwater users better understand and plan for future groundwater needs associated with economic development.

Objective 1: By the end of 24 months, at least 50 students will increase their Ojibwemowin fluency level one ACTFL step each year. Objective 2: Establish a library at Endazhi-Nitaawiging with at least 500 books to support K-8 immersion education.

This project will support new exhibit components, including an agriculture heritage exhibit, that will showcase the farming way of life and the importance of family farms for the country's food source. It includes workshops and hands-on learning in roles such as gardener, farmer, processor, seed agronomist, farmers market vendor, and consumer.

To hire a qualified historian to conduct primary source research on the history of the Gumm and Milne families in Minnesota.

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,

The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe is working within the Leech Lake Reservation boundaries to address loss and degradation of aquatic habitat for wild rice and waterfowl. Efforts will include regulating water levels on shallow lakes by controlling beaver activity and conducting periodic water level draw-downs, reseeding of approximately 200 acres of wild rice, and implementing adaptive management based on analysis of wild rice productivity.

With this appropriation, the Minnesota Land Trust plans to protect approximately 500 acres of critical shoreline habitat along Minnesota's lakes, wetlands, rivers, and streams by securing permanent conservation easements and dedicating funds for their perpetual monitoring, management, and enforcement. Lands being considered for permanent protection in this round of funding are located in Becker, Beltrami, Blue Earth, Itasca, Kandiyohi, Lac Qui Parle, Le Sueur, Otter Tail, Pope, and Wabasha counties.

This project will sample and monitor 18 sites for chemical, physical and bacteriological parameters for two years in coordination with the 2015-16 Surface Water Assessment Grant (SWAG) work plan proposal. Headwaters Science Center (HSC) will be the project lead and recruit volunteer students from Trek North, Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig, and Deer Lake high schools as well as to two AmeriCorps volunteer crews. An experienced Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) environmental scientist will be the project lead responsible for oversight and full compliance to MPCA protocols.

Evaluation of Minnesota raptors, in rehabilitation and free ranging settings, for current or previous exposure to highly pathogenic avian influenza virus to better understand outbreak impacts to raptor populations.

This project will continue to develop, and calibrate/validate the hydrology of an HSPF watershed model for the Thief River watershed. The consultant will add representation of point source discharges to the model. The consultant will compile flow data for the purposes of calibration and validation. An initial hydrologic calibration will be performed and submitted for approval. The consultant will produce an HSPF watershed model that can readily be used to provide information to support conventional parameter TMDLs.

This project will support construction of three watershed framework models built using the Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF). These executable models will simulate hydrology at the subbasin scale. An HSPF model will be built for each of three major watersheds: the Crow River/North Fork Crow River, the South Fork Crow River, and the Sauk River.

This project will support construction of three watershed framework models built using the Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF). These executable models will simulate hydrology at the subbasin scale. An HSPF model will be built for each of these major watersheds: Crow Wing River, Redeye River, and Long Prairie River.

This project will construct, calibrate, and validate three HSPF watershed models. The consultant will produce HSPF models that can readily be used to provide information to support conventional parameter TMDLs. The consultant will clearly demonstrate that these models generate predicted output time series for hydrology, sediment, nutrients, and dissolved oxygen which are consistent with available sets of observed data.

The goal of this project is to continue and finalize HSPF watershed model construction and complete the calibration/validation process.

This project will finalize HSPF watershed model construction and complete the calibration/validation process for the following three watersheds: North Fork Crow River, South Fork Crow River, and Sauk River.

This project will continue HSPF watershed model construction beyond the initial framework development. The consultant will add representation of point source discharges to the model. The consultant will also compile flow data for the purposes of calibration and validation. Finally, an initial hydrologic calibration will be performed and submitted for approval.

This project will complete spatial and temporal revisions of 6 Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) models, the recalibration and validation of 7 watershed HSPF models, and the revision of the drainage network and point source representation of the Pomme de Terre HSPF model.

The project will investigate why, when, and where different species of harmful algal blooms release toxins into the water using hyperspectral microscopic imaging towards developing early warning remote sensing tools.

The purpose of this project is to identify effective irrigation and nutrient management best management practices and technologies and the barriers that prevent irrigators, producers, and other agricultural partners from adopting them in Otter Tail County. The primary goal is to reduce nitrate in areas where groundwater is susceptible to contamination as mapped by The Minnesota Department of Health by identifying effective BMPs and addressing the barriers to their adoption.

With only 1% of Minnesota’s native prairie remaining, many prairie plant and animal species have dramatically declined. Of the 12 butterfly species native to Minnesota prairies, two species, the Poweshiek skipperling and the Dakota skipper, have already largely disappeared from the state and are proposed for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act despite being historically among the most common prairie butterflies and having their historic ranges concentrated in Minnesota.

With only 1% of Minnesota’s native prairie remaining, many prairie plant and animal species have dramatically declined. Of the 12 butterfly species native to Minnesota prairies, two species, the Poweshiek skipperling and the Dakota skipper, have already largely disappeared from the state and are proposed for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act despite being historically among the most common prairie butterflies and having their historic ranges concentrated in Minnesota.

This project will enhance the current program, integrating new invasive carp control and detection methods to monitor and remove invasive carp to avoid establishment in Minnesota.

Minnesota has 15.9 million acres of forest land managed by a variety of county, state and federal agencies, and private landowners for timber production, wildlife habitat, and ecological considerations. Forest managers rely on inventory data to make effective planning and management decisions. Because forests are continually changing through natural and human processes, forest inventory data is periodically updated. However, doing so is an expensive and time-consuming endeavor and, as a result, much of Minnesota’s forest inventory data is currently out of date.

Autonomous robots, powered by green hydrogen and solar power, designed to remove weeds in row crop fields can improve agricultural ecosystems with reduced herbicide application and fossil fuel use.

We will compile all available data for Minnesota Trumpeter Swans and use these sources to model historical population abundance and predict future population dynamics.