All Projects

Pollinators play a key role in ecosystem function and in agriculture, including thousands of native plants and more than one hundred U.S. crops that either need or benefit from pollinators. However, pollinators are in dramatic decline in Minnesota and throughout the country. The causes of the decline are not completely understood, but identified factors include loss of nesting sites, fewer flowers, increased disease, and increased pesticide use. Fortunately, there are known actions that can be taken to help counteract some of these factors.

Minnesota has 9.5 million acres of public forest lands that play an important role in sustaining Minnesota’s environment and economy. The policies and programs used by public timber sale programs can impact post-harvest ecological conditions and have pronounced effects on the composition, structure, and productivity of the forest in the future. Additionally, timber harvesting revenues play an important role in economic activity, employment, and tax revenue.

We will generate genome sequences of bacteria growing in wastewater treatment bioreactors, allowing us to improve phosphorus and nitrogen removal from wastewater in Minnesota and to discover novel pharmaceutical compounds.

The Division of Parks and Trails is providing expanded cross-country ski, snowshoe and other winter activities in Minnesota state parks and recreation areas; Minnesota state trails; and Minnesota state forests. The division is re-establishing trails that had been closed due to a lack of funding; enhanced a number of existing facilities by brushing, mowing or improving trail condition prior to snowfall. The division has also enhanced existing facilities by maintaining additional parking lots or staging areas and, in the case of trails, by providing winter grooming.

This project used a combination of invasive tree removal, seeding, and prescribed fire to improve habitat quality, diversity, and productivity on public lands in Minnesota. As we lose habitat to conversion and encroachment, it is increasingly important to maximize wildlife production on existing permanently protected lands. Today's public lands are expected to function at the highest level for not only wildlife usability but now also for other non game rare and threatened species, pollinators, and for water quality efforts in the state.

Increase access for individuals with disabilities to outdoor recreation facilities that are managed by the Division of Parks and Trails.

Expand staffing hours for customer interaction and facility operation

Minnesota Trout Unlimited will enhance and restore degraded habitat for fish and wildlife along coldwater streams with existing protections. We will utilize a crew of young people from diverse backgrounds to enhance habitat along Twin Cities area trout streams. Increasing threats to North Shore streams require accelerating work improving riparian forest habitat to improve stream flows and lower water temperatures, and buffering streams from larger, more frequent rainfall and flooding.

Evaluate routing, safety, water management and other environmental and design issues of the Superior Hiking Trail and establish SHTA best practices methods for carrying out the resulting redesign plans.

The contractor will add more functionality to HSPEXP+ Hydrological Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) tool and conduct 2016 HSPF Modeling Contractors Meeting

The goal of this project is to enhance the current version of the Enhanced Expert System for Calibration of HSPF (HSPEXP+) so that it can more easily and quickly be used for hydrology calibration, water quality calibration, generate reports and graphs.

The objective of the project is to integrate Division-wide stand-alone datasets into a single information system that eliminates redundancies and inconsistencies and better meets the business requirements of the Division. Once completed, the information system will serve as the authoritative source of MN State Parks and Trails data for updates, maintenance, and reporting, and will be poised to take advantage of emerging technologies.

Partner Organization: Macalester College.

Through this partnership, students from Macalester College are conducting a study to identify, select and assess historic content related to Minnesota's environmental history, using archival, archaeological and geospatial data at the Minnesota Historical Society.

To hire qualified professionals to edit an essay on the history of Carleton College in the 1960s.

To improve collections care and management through an updated collections management system and pilot inventory project.

To provide better organization of the organization's archival collections, allowing for greater public access to historic resources.

To hire a qualified consultant to monitor and assess the museum's environment and write an environmental monitoring plan.

Wastewater treatment plants discharge effluent that contains contaminants of emerging concern, such as estrogens. Estrogens have been shown to cause ecological effects such as fish feminization and fish population collapses. Presently the treatment and discharge of estrogens into the environment via wastewater treatment is not regulated. However, it has been found that the extent of estrogen discharge from wastewater treatment correlates with how and how well nitrogen, which currently is regulated and will likely be more so in the future, is removed during the treatment process.

This research project will provide critical information regarding how to treat surface water (used by 25% of Minnesota's population) to prevent outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease and infections by Mycobacterium avium.

Lake Superior, the world’s largest freshwater lake by surface area, is amongst Minnesota’s greatest natural resources providing drinking water, shipping, recreation, and tourism. Recently the lake has been undergoing significant changes including increasing water temperatures, decreasing ice cover, increasing nutrient loads, decreasing biological productivity, increasing invasive species, and changes in species abundance and distribution. The reasons behind these changes and the interactions amongst them are not well understood.

To hire a qualified and experienced HVAC engineer to evaluate how well the current system controls the environment of the Augsburg University archives.

The project will evaluate the effectiveness and benefits/impacts of locally sourced woodchip, corncob, and iron-bearing minerals as alternative effective abrasive materials to lower salt use for protecting Minnesotas water resources.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

PROJECT OVERVIEW

PROJECT OVERVIEW

To hire a qualified museum lighting professional to develop a museum lighting plan.

To hire a qualified museum lighting professional to develop a museum lighting plan.

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Watershed Pollutant Load Monitoring Network (WPLMN) requests assistance from local partners to collect samples and field data at designated stream monitoring sites for the purpose of assessing water quality and calculating annual pollutant loads.

With the centenary of the U.S. involvement in the Great War in Europe, the experience of predominantly German New Ulm and Brown County continues to have national significance and relevance to current events. The Brown County Historical Society created an exhibit, "Loyalty and Dissent: Brown County and World War I" on the second floor of their museum to illustrate and interpret the war experience of 1917 and 1918 as it pertained to Brown County.

To hire a qualified consultant to research the history of the biomedical technology industry in Minnesota in preparation for a future exhibit.