MNHS continues to strive for environmental, economic, and social sustainability in the fifth year of its sustainability program. Staff and visitors are engaged with sustainability through the project's "More for the Mission" campaign. Recent energy-efficiency projects within our facilities have allowed us to achieve the five-year goal of 15 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
South Washington Watershed District and its partners will work to restore the Colby Lake watershed and prevent continued degradation of Bailey Lake by installing two large scale water re-use systems. The water re-use systems at Eagle Valley and Prestwick Golf Courses will capture urban runoff and excess nutrients that would otherwise flow into Colby and Bailey Lakes and use it for irrigation.
The South Washington Watershed District (SWWD) and its partners will continue restoration of Colby, Wilmes, and Powers Lakes through coordinated implementation of targeted watershed retrofits as part of planned roadway rehabilitation projects. Watershed retrofits will include right of way bioretention, iron enhanced sand filtration, and stormwater reuse for irrigation. These practices represent some of the most cost-effective options remaining to provide the nutrient loading reductions necessary to protect and restore SWWD's lakes.
This area of the Minnesota River Basin has been identified as contributing significant amounts of sediment to the watershed. The primary cause of the sediment is from gullies and ravines. This project by the Greater Blue Earth River Basin Alliance (GBERBA) continues efforts begun with FY2011 Clean Water Funds. Using data collected through Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and LiDAR, GERBA will install best management practices to address severe ravines and gullies in targeted specific locations.
Increased development pressure on shorelines and lakes with declining water quality is a concern in Cook County. To work towards reducing nutrient loading in lakes, the county has systematically prioritized lakeshore properties for SSTS inspections. The next three highly developed lakes identified for inspection are within the Lake Superior North Watershed. Monitoring has provided evidence of declining water quality in these lakes.
The goal of this project is to reduce the number of vulnerable unused wells located within sensitive areas and to prevent potential groundwater contamination. This project will provide cost-share well sealing funds to target sealing of unused wells located in highly vulnerable areas within both the City of Faribault, and the City of Northfield's Drinking Water Supply Management Areas (DWSMA), and other vulnerable areas of Rice County.
Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District (RWMWD) is a largely developed area of the Twin Cities with an average impervious surface area of 34%. Faith organizations often have large impervious surface areas with little to no stormwater treatment on site. The goal of this project is to collaborate with faith organizations in high priority areas to implement stormwater volume reduction retrofit projects. High priority areas are defined as areas with limited to no stormwater treatment before reaching a water body and/or areas that drain to an impaired water.
To be able to manage resources in the Blue Earth and Le Sueur Watersheds into the future and have a positive effect on water quality, resource managers need high quality accurate data to support decision making of best management practice (BMP) implementation. Digital elevation data is a valuable resource for modeling water flow, however in its current state it cannot represent water conveyance through features such as roadways. These flow barriers limit the accurate use of data for recently developed targeting tools identifying BMP suitability and effectiveness down to the field scale.
To re-roof and improve weather-tightness to preserve the Taylors Falls Public Library, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, preparatory to marking the city's centennial anniversary in 2013 of operating a library in this facility
The U of M and MNHS are collaborating to enhance heritage education across Minnesota. This project engages students in field experiences with the archaeological collections and interpretive programs at Historic Fort Snelling and is providing research support for new programs at the Oliver Kelley Farm. These projects will help build models for collaborative instruction that fosters cultural heritage awareness and protection.
The purpose of this program is to annually evaluate a sample of Outdoor Heritage Fund habitat restoration projects and provide a report on the evaluations in accordance with state law.
