This project involves monitoring three data deficient lakes in the Crow Wing River Watershed and one stream site at the inlet to White Earth Lake. The data deficient lakes were on the MPCA Targeted watershed list. After getting the required assessment dataset for these lakes, all targeted lakes in Becker County will be completed for this assessment cycle. The stream site is a site that the White Earth Lake Association and the Becker Coalition of Lake Associations (COLA) will monitor. It is the inlet to White Earth Lake.
The Lake of the Woods Watershed Assessment will include the waters of Warroad River and Willow Creek in Roseau County and Williams Creek and Bostic Creek in Lake of the Woods (LOW) County. This assessment project will focus on the collection of water chemistry and field parameters at the six key sites identified and modified by MPCA. One site on the Warroad River will have extra nutrient and chlorophyll analysis done. Sites are located in the lower reaches of each surface water system.
This project will include stream monitoring of six preselected sites from the Leech Lake Watershed (HUC 07010102) and Pine River Watershed (HUC 07010105). The sites will be monitored for chemical, physical and biological parameters for two years.
This project will collect water quality data for 13 Hubbard County lakes located in the Crow Wing priority watershed and identified as priority lakes by the MPCA. Upon completion the project data set will include all of the necessary information for the lakes to be assessed for impairment due to nutrients. Volunteers will collect samples from 7 of the 13 lakes and paid SWCD staff will collect samples from 6 of the lakes that do not have public access or volunteers willing to sample. The water samples will be collected 5 times/year June-September in 2010 and 2011.
Hubbard, Crow Wing, and Cass County Land Departments and Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD) will partner to acquire 300 acres (public access) and place easements on 240 acres of private high-quality forest, wetlands, and shoreline in the Northern Forest Ecological Section. This project is integrating county land management goals and parcel selection into the 75 percent protection watershed goal (Phase 1 Watershed Grant).
The Crow Wing Soil and Water Conservation District partnered with Cass SWCD, Hubbard SWCD, and the Board of Water and Soil Resources to permanently protect 239.6 acres of upland forest land, wetlands, and shorelines to develop larger habitat blocks. We worked with seven landowners in total to complete seven RIM easements - acres by county Cass: 117 acres, Crow Wing 34 acres, and Hubbard 87 acres. Partners met regularly; the regional committee completed the final application recommendations to move forward into the RIM easement process.
A new GIS technician will help prioritize and target conservation activities and protection strategies in nine north-central Minnesota counties. The GIS technician will create GIS products, assessments, and watershed analysis to identify the high priority areas in each County or watershed in need of protection or restoration using all available data, including LiDAR, soils, land use, completed WRAPS and other datasets. These areas will then be targeted for future resource management efforts, Clean Water Fund projects, and additional conservation activities.
The Children's Discovery Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota will increase access and deepen engagement with their effectively proven School Service Program. The museum will take down the economic barriers and increase enrollment. This grant will fund more educators and facilitators, curriculum development, scholarship aid, transportation assistance and art/teaching supplies.
Fourteen permanent RIM Easements on 766 acres of high quality, riparian and forested habitat have been recorded and will provide lasting wildlife habitat. Attempts were made to acquire three tracts in fee title that would have relied on this funding. The owner of one tract rejected an offer of the certified appraised value. Acquisition attempts on the other two tracts were discontinued when it became apparent that the planned use of the land as DNR Wildlife Management Area would be incompatible with local government plans for future municipal growth.
This project is a digital storytelling project dedicated to bonding communities and cultures through telling elders' stories. The project is embedded in the idea that our elders are waterers - carrying history and knowledge that strengthens a community's identity, and that through the sharing of their stories, we can understand and strengthen communities across generations and geographic location. The project will involve 30 persons from Indigenous, Hmong, Latinx and Somali cultures located across the state.
To create and install an exhibit bringing to light the absent narratives behind 129 graffiti signatures in the soft yellow bricks of the Canadian National Railways Depot, listed in the National Register of Historic Places and current cultural center
This project will build off the success of the additional geographic information system (GIS) and water planning expertise the TSA8 added in 2016 to provide consistent mapping, water planning assistance and training to partners. This project will help soil and water conservation districts prepare for the 1W1P process before the planning starts. A unified protection methodology is essential for the 1W1P process to be successful. This project will include: unified GIS mapping and protection model for all nine counties respectively.
Turtle Island Skywatchers - Innovative Research and Data Visualization project works to protect Minnesota water, wildlife, and natural resources while empowering Indigenous youth as leaders and all citizens as researchers.
National Register of Historic Places nomination preparation and a management plan for the 47-acre Two Points property on Ottertail Peninsula, Leech Lake. Included is a spatial analysis of physical artifacts, researching documentation of the site, creating and annotating maps, taking photos and completing the nomination form with attachments and bibliography.
We will reconstruct historical lake conditions to identify factors linked to successful walleye fisheries and guide effective management in the face of warming temperatures, invasive species, and nutrient loading.
Minnesotans increasingly value native fishes. For example, >95% of bowfished species in MN are native, yet all are poorly understood. Foundational natural resource data is absolutely necessary for all stakeholders.
Our goals are to engage 100,000 underserved youth statewide in environmental education, engaging them in the conservation and preservation of Minnesota wilderness through the experiences in the outdoors.
Over the past 100 years, about half of Minnesota’s original 22 million acres of wetlands have been drained or filled. Some regions of the State have lost more than 90 percent of their original wetlands. The National Wetland Inventory, a program initiated in the 1970s, is an important tool used at all levels of government and by private industry, non-profit organizations, and private landowners for wetland regulation and management, land management and conservation planning, environmental impact assessment, and natural resource inventories.
This project will provide the monitoring of reaches where there are data gaps, incorporate new data and analyze relevant data, identify pollutant sources, hold a stakeholder meeting, and gather information towards the future development of a Draft Restoration (TMDL) and Protection Plan.
The goal of phase 1 of this project is primarily to support organizational planning and coordination among project partners, forming and training a civic engagement team, creating a civic engagement strategic plan, holding two watershed kick off meetings and gathering and summarizing available water quality data. The completion of phase 1 will help provide significant momentum towards the completion of the future phases of the Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) process.
This project will extend the simulation period for the Hydrological Simulation Program - FORTRAN (HSPF) models for the Grand Rapids, Brainerd, Crow Wing, Redeye, Long Prairie, Sartell, Sauk, St. Cloud, and Crow watersheds, and review and comment on the calibration.
This project will extend, calibrate, and validate watershed models using the Hydrological Simulation Program - FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed model for the Mississippi Headwaters, Leech Lake, Pine, and South Fork Crow Watersheds.
The primary goal of this project is to examine the calibration and validation of recently extended Hydrological Simulation Program – FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed models for the Mississippi River-Headwaters, Mississippi River-Grand Rapids, Mississippi River-Brainerd, Mississippi River-Sartell, Mississippi River-St. Cloud, Leech Lake, Pine River, Crow Wing River, Long Prairie River, and Redeye River watersheds and revise the calibration.
Use mobile AI-assisted technologies to survey lake visitors. Assess perceptions of water quality and perceived threats. Combine survey data with water quality data and trend monitoring to inform lake management.
Lake of the Woods is a world-class fishery and an important economic driver for Roseau County. The proposed project will investigate and quantify sources of sediment to the lower portion of the Warroad River near its confluence with Lake of the Woods. Sedimentation at the mouth of the Warroad River is a concern for several reasons including fisheries habitat, water quality and the drinking water supply for the city of Warroad.
Lake of the Woods (LOW) is a resource with local, regional, state, and international significance and is the second largest lake in Minnesota. Over the past three decades the Warroad River Harbor in LOW has experienced severe sedimentation problems. The sedimentation has led to frequent dredging to remove excess sediment and protect this vital resource. However, it is unsustainable to continue dredging the harbor without also addressing the sources of upstream sediment within the Warroad River watershed.
Minnesota Sea Grant seeks to create a science-policy fellowship program to train Minnesota's science-policy workforce and advance Minnesota's water resource policy, emulating Sea Grants successful federal-level fellowship program.
We propose robotics-based educational activities for middle-school youth on water quality in Minnesota. Youth will gain skills for measuring water quality and communicating results through group study and hands-on projects.
This project will support the operation and maintenance of a stream gage that records stage, index-velocity and water temperature at Wheeler's Point on the Rainy River. The USGS will visit the stream gage approximately every six (6) weeks to perform maintenance and, as needed, to define the range of flows that occur.
This Phase 5 continuation of the Wild Rice Shoreland Protection Program will utilize permanent conservation easements to protect 500 acres, translating to approximately 3 miles of wild rice shoreland habitat. Sites are selected through an integrative ranking process that considers development risk, surrounding land use, habitat value, and numerous other criteria. BWSR will utilize the RIM Easement process in partnership with 12 local SWCDs within the Northern Forest and Forest/Prairie Transition Sections during the appropriation term.
