This project will accelerate production of County Geologic Atlases (part A). An atlas is a set of geologic maps and associated databases for a county that facilitate informed management of natural resources, especially water and minerals.
Many of Minnesota's wetlands have been lost and the remainder degraded. Recent tiling and ditching have accelerated this situation. Through this program, shallow lakes and wetlands were designed, constructed, and intensively managed to benefit wetland wildlife and Minnesota residents. Habitat accomplishments from this proposal have enhanced 19,365 acres of wetlands and shallow lakes to benefit waterfowl and wetland wildlife. Work was accomplish through constructed infrastructure, cattail control, and a significant prescribed wetland burn.
The Anoka Sand Plain Partnership restored / enhanced 3,714 acres of priority prairie, savanna, forest, wetland, and shoreline habitat on public lands and waters within the Anoka Sand Plain EcoRegion within the Metropolitan Urbanizing, Forest-Prairie, and Northern Forest regions. Total R/E acreage achieved over the course of the appropriation is 126% of our stated acreage goals, and was accomplished through a robust partnership of four direct recipients improving a total of 16 priority sites including WMAs, state forest, national wildlife refuges, city and county lands.
This feasibility study will produce strategies for wetland restoration and ditch hydrology changes to reduce the amount of phosphorus and solids that drain into Typo and Martin Lakes, the Sunrise River and St. Croix River. Total Maximum Daily Loads and other plans have identified this area as key for pollutant reduction, and the study will determine scope and effects of potential projects, allowing the district to prioritize those that will have the great impact on water quality.
Minnesota’s 12 regional public library systems, which encompass 350 public libraries in all areas of the state, benefit from a portion of the Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Through State Library Services, a division of the Minnesota Department of Education, each regional public library system receives a formula-driven allocation from the annual $3 million Minnesota Regional Library Legacy Grant.
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.
The Minnesota DNR and the Minnesota Forest Resources Council work with forest landowners, managers and loggers to implement a set of voluntary sustainable forest management guidelines that include water quality best management practices (BMPs) to ensure sustainable habitat, clean water, and productive forest soils, all contributing to healthy watersheds. This project will monitor the implementation of these forest management guidelines and BMPs on forested watersheds in MN.
This project will install nearly 800 linear feet of restored lakeshore with an emphasis on bioengineering techniques, native plants and locating buffers/swales at points of concentrated overland flow into Green Lake. By targeting properties that are eroding and/or with concentrated overland flow to the lake we will reduce suspended solids discharge by 16,697 lbs/yr and phosphorus by 1.3 lbs/yr.
Construct, calibrate, and validate three Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed models that can readily be used to provide information to support conventional parameter Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs).
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.