Stream flow information is essential for understanding the state of Minnesota's waters. Clean water funding has allowed the DNR to expand a network of stream gages that support planning and implementation for clean water protection and restoration. These gages are also used as part of the interagency Flood Forecasting/Warning System. This expanded stream gaging network has also significantly increased the real time data available to recreational water enthusiasts via the internet.
To hire qualified professionals to research and assemble materials specific to historic preservation in Minnesota preparatory to a national preservation conference.
The project will improve water management in the State of Minnesota. The result will be a water management tool that can be used by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to determine low flow statistics when establishing permit discharge limits and by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) to help in water appropriations permitting.
The Minnesota State Council on Disability (“MSCOD”) seeks to preserve and raise awareness of Minnesota’s disability culture in sync with the 25th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) through a theatrical production, public opinion survey and research, and an ADA celebration/training conference. Activities will also highlight the low employment rate of people with disabilities. Most of the public activities will occur in the second year of the grant.
Production agriculture’s dependence on fossil fuel energy carries significant economic and ecological risks. The energy consumed within livestock facilities alone is the equivalent consumption of several large cities, and agriculture currently contributes approximately 14% of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the state. As consumers increasingly demand low carbon footprint products, adoption of clean energy systems in crop and livestock production would position Minnesota’s agricultural sector with a competitive advantage.
A class of insecticides known as systemic neonicotinyl insecticides has been identified as a potential factor in recently observed declines in pollinators, including the phenomenon amongst honeybees known as Colony Collapse Disorder. Previous research examining the effects of neonicotinyl insecticides on lab colonies of bumblebees found that exposure to these insecticides at various levels increased queen bee mortality and detrimentally altered bee behavior and production.
Land and water conservation efforts require accurate information about land cover and land use. Minnesota’s land cover and land use data has not been updated since 2000 and so does not reflect changes since that time resulting from growth and development, agricultural production, or landscape cover. Researchers at the University of Minnesota are using this appropriation to conduct a statewide update and enhancement of land cover and land use data and make it freely available online for use by government and non-government organizations involved in land and water conservation.
The goal of this project is to construct two executable Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed models for the Minnesota River Headwaters and Lac qui Parle watersheds. The contractor will use the Minnesota River HSPF model application already developed by Tetra Tech as a starting point and will refine the model construction based on the details in this work plan. The contractor will produce HSPF models that, after calibration and validation, will readily be used to provide information to support conventional parameter Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs).
There has been a sharp decline in participation in outdoor recreation and education amongst youth, particularly in urban areas. Some argue that youth who have meaningful outdoor education experiences are more likely to become engaged in environmental stewardship and invested in outdoor resources as adults.
This provides a project manager to work with regulated parties to identify new or more efficient ways of meeting standards at wastewater treatment facilities (municipal and industrial).
The DNR provides technical support related to the causes of altered hydrology and watershed management solutions. We use state-of-the-art models and statistical methods to look at cumulative impacts of drainage and land-use practices and determine the benefits of best management practices. This involves collaboration with multiple partners at multiple scales.
DNR regional clean water specialists and area hydrologists work with regional staff from other state agencies and with local partners to help identify the causes of pollution problems and determine the best strategies for fixing them. We collect and analyze stream channel stability and streambank erosion data to help identify root causes of certain water quality impairments in streams.
The Watershed Health Assessment Framework (WHAF) is a web-based tool for resource managers and others interested in the ecological health of Minnesota's watersheds. The framework uses five ecological components to organize and deliver information about watershed health conditions in Minnesota. The five components are hydrology, connectivity, biology, geomorphology, and water quality. Statewide GIS data from DNR and partner agencies are used to calculate health scores that reveal similarities and differences between watersheds.
This project delineates and maps watersheds (drainage areas) of lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands for the state of Minnesota and provides watershed maps in digital form for use in geographic information systems. These maps become the basis for clean water planning and implementation efforts.
Minnesota has widespread water quality impairments due to nonpoint-source pollution generated by agricultural, urban, and other human-altered lands. Mitigation of these impairments requires implementing best management practices (BMPs) that are designed to limit soil erosion and nutrient transport from lands to receiving waters. Long-term data sets of water quality and land-use history are needed to tease apart the many factors that affect water quality. In particular, data sets that span periods before and after BMP implementation are needed to determine BMP effectiveness.
Wild bees are important for their pollination services and for their contribution to species diversity; for example, many prairie-grassland plant species require pollinators for seed production. However, while the importance of plant-pollinator interactions is well recognized, there are large gaps in our knowledge of Minnesota’s wild bees. The only statewide list of bee species was published in 1919 and it reported only 88 species, whereas it is currently estimated that there are approximately 350-400 native bee species in the state.
This project will produce a Winter Maintenance Assessment tool prototype that allows users to create a customized approach to modify their existing winter maintenance program that will reduce their road salt use. The tool will allow users to take inventory of their current practices and evaluate how they are doing today and where they have the most potential to reduce salt usage.
