The West Central Technical Service Area (WCTSA) serves 12 Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) in west central Minnesota and has been experiencing increased workload due to greater requests from member SWCDs. This funding will sustain a limited-term technician and purchase related support equipment to assist landowners in implementing targeted, high priority practices that result in the greatest water quality outcomes.
To broaden and improve public access to Itasca County history, a website was developed and designed using ICHS criteria. Staff and volunteers have been trained in its use.
The DMF has completely redesigned its website to broaden and improve public experience and increase accessibility to Boundary Waters history by illustrating the life of Dorothy Molter. The updated website provides searchable internet access to its archives, collects and shares memories of Dorothy Molter, has enabled news updates and improved the ease of online membership renewals and product sales.
The Carver County Historical Society website (www.carvercountyhistoricalsociety.org) was completely redesigned to reflect the community expressed need for the ability to research local history. This included, newspaper indexing, photo research, plat maps/GIS, historic properties, National Register information, and local resources.
The surveys sent to member reinforced their desire to be able to research online. More than 90% of respondents asked for access to research photos. Another 80% asked for plat map access.
This program is a part of a comprehensive clean water strategy to prevent sediment and nutrients from entering our lakes, rivers, and streams; enhance fish and wildlife habitat; protect groundwater and wetlands. Specifically the Wellhead Protection Conservation Easement program is targeted to protect drinking water through the Reinvest in Minnesota Program (RIM).
The goal of this project is to establish a framework that the local government can use to guide their involvement as the WFDMR Watershed Project progresses over the next four years. This will enhance the success of the overarching goal of providing a framework for which the local government and watershed organizations can engage the public in a manner that will lead to water quality improvement. This will result in strategies to protect or restore the waters in this watershed.
This project will apply science to identify viable and priority wetland restorations and rehabilitations that will deliver sustainable water quality benefit, along with flood storage and habitat benefits. Decision tools will be developed to assist with selection of restoration projects.
Fourteen conservation easements were completed by this program resulting in the protection of 1,962 acres of high quality wetland and associated upland habitat complexes and 78,596 feet (approximately 15 miles) of shoreland along priority lakes and rivers in west-central Minnesota. This program exceeded by 862 acres the amount proposed for the grant. Total leverage through donated easements by landowners is estimated at $1,209,700, all in excess of that proposed.
A collaboration between the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa and the White Earth Nation. The long term goal of this grant is to build whole families of first generation speakers. The short-term goals are to enable the partners to continue forward with their language revitalization efforts by providing digital media support, purchase digital high definition audio and video equipment. Additionally, they will host an elders and youth gathering.
2010 Grant Activities
Recording of 1st speakers. Webmaster hired to maintain language website. Conduct two half day gatherings for 1st Generation speakers.
Wicoie Nandagikendan Early Childhood Urban Immersion Project provides a 3-hour-a-day preschool language immersion experience. It builds on the integral connections between culture, literacy, and educational attainment. The project partners with existing programs to provide fluent speakers and language curriculum.
Twenty six easements protecting 1,173.3 were recorded which exceeded the original proposal by 173 acres (15%). 11.6 miles of shoreline were protected which exceeded the 8 acre goal by 30%. Total expenditure was $1,355,000 which was 17% lower than originally budgeted. No fee-title land acquisition opportunities on wild rice lakes that fit within DNR and other government agency land plans were available during this time period thus DU did not expend any of the $100,000 budgeted for fee-title acquisition. Instead the program focused on RIM easements.
This project builds on the successful implementation of previous work, installing 29 water and sediment control basins and 25 acres of vegetative filter strips within the priority Marsh Creek watershed to reduce sediment loading into the Wild Rice River, which is currently not meeting water quality standards for sediment.
The Wilder Foundation Archive was made more accessible to the public as a result of building on initial efforts by organizing and preserving fifty-nine (59) cubic feet of archival materials. The materials were inventoried and digitized, preservation issues were addressed and remedied and finding aids were created and made available. Some historic documents were donated to the Minnesota Historical Society, the University of Minnesota Social Work Archive, Stillwater Historical Society and the NPRHA Archives East End.
This project entailed the reconstruction and resurfacing of 0.4 miles of the segment of the Willard Munger State Trail that spans from Grand Avenue to 93rd Avenue in Duluth, MN.
To hire a qualified consultant to conduct an architectural study of the windows in the Brown County Historical Society building, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Four individual national register nomination forms were prepared for Central, Madison, Jefferson and Washington-Kosciusko elementary schools located in the city of Winona. A qualified historian was hired to prepare the documentation. The schools had been previously evaluated and found to be eligible for nomination.
The Winona County Well Sealing Costshare Program will utilize Clean Water Funds to speed water well sealing in a continuing effort to protect the groundwater aquifers used for drinking water in Southeast Minnesota. Since 1990, 1303 unused water supply wells have been sealed in Winona County with costs ranging from $500-$10,000+ per well.
The goal of this project is the development of an automated planning tool to complete the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area Chloride Watershed Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS).
Wirth Lake is located in Theodore Wirth Regional Park in the City of Golden Valley. The lake was listed as Impaired due to excessive phosphorus levels. In recent years water quality goals were met except during instances where seasonal overflows from Bassett Creek into Wirth Lake occurred.With one relatively simple project, the Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission anticipates that the excess phosphorus problem will be resolved once and for all.
The Western Lake Superior Sanitary District completed the fabrication and installation of an exhibit in the reception area of the main Administration Building that chronicles the history of the Sanitary District and the St. Louis River using photographs, text and three-dimensional objects. The Grant amount was adjusted to remove a traveling exhibit component not critical to the success of the project.
Wolverton Creek is a 25 mile long tributary to the Red River of the North. Its watershed drains approximately 105 square miles located in Wilkin and western Clay Counties. Wolverton Creek is the outlet for numerous ditch systems and natural drainage in the area and is a significant contributor of sediment to the Red River. The City of Moorhead and other downstream communities obtain drinking water from the Red River. Since 85% of Moorhead's drinking water comes from the Red River, high turbidity results in
higher treatment costs for their drinking water system.
An online timeline of legislation that has significantly affected women from Suffrage (1920) to the present was published. The entries are listed in chronological order. Each point on the timeline has a summary of the legislation and is linked to documentation related to the law's passage. Specific legislation can be indentified in conjunction with how many female legislators were holding office at that time.
The personal recollections of six women who have sought or held office in Minnesota were videotaped. These oral histories speak of the barriers, biases, challenges and opportunities they faced in politics. The recorded interviews are permanent additions to the Minnesota Historical Society archives. They were also used in a 30 minute broadcast television program on TPT (Twin Cities Public Television).
As part of a larger project to create a documentary on women's political history in Minnesota, historic footage, photographs, news clips and portions of taped oral history interviews were assembled and edited. The project produced a thirty-minute video documentary prepared for broadcast on Minnesota public television stations. AAUW owns the copyright and has offered programs and DVD copies to communities statewide, including a copy sent to the Minnesota historical Society.
A history of the college was written in preparation for the 2013 observance of it's Centennial Anniversary. The history examines the context of women's higher education in America as perceived by the College of St. Benedict alumnae. Information gathering included oral history interviews that were conducted with twenty nine alumnae exploring their experiences and perceptions of what college taught them. Two assistants were hired to conduct the interviews. Because of scheduling conflicts, the project director shared this work.
Hundreds of Minnesota women served on the French Front during World War I as volunteers for organizations such as the Red Cross. Their stories are often overlooked by history. The grand niece of Alice O'Brien, daughter of William O'Brien, has researched and developed a manuscript that combines chapters about Alice's life before and after the war with her letters home from the front during her service in France. The story is a personalized telling of what women volunteers experienced as Canteeners for the Red Cross. A copy of the manuscript was given to the Minnesota Historical Society.
Having completed one year in a new and expanded facility, the Duluth Children’s Museum focused on deepening and enriching the visitor experience. Minnesota Arts and Cultural Legacy funding allowed the Museum to focus on intensive educational program services; the rotation of the exhibits to bring fresh and new experiences to the visitor; and investment in a new tracking and reporting system, Altru by Blackbaud, a project begun with a previous Legacy grant.
The Yellow Medicine River Watershed District will contract with the Water Resource Center at the Minnesota State University - Mankato to complete a Geographic Information System (GIS) terrain analysis for the watershed using recently completed LIDAR data in southern Minnesota. Analysis will concentrate on the impaired reaches of the Yellow Medicine River Watershed and its tributaries. This inventory will utilize the State of Minnesota LiDAR elevation datasets to create many datasets through the analysis of this elevation data.
Using Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Fund dollars allocated in this grant, American Bird Conservancy (ABC) completed 2581 total acres of habitat enhancement on protected public lands in the northern MN Golden-winged Warbler focal area and 480 acres of acquisition adjacent to the Four Brooks Wildlife Management Area with assistance from The Conservation Fund.
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.
