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.
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).
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).
Locating the sources of sediment, phosphorus, and bacteria is integral to reducing the effect they have on a water body. The completion of the West Fork Des Moines River (WFDMR) Targeting and Prioritizing Endeavor will result in a set of data that is the most cost-effective for the implementation of Best Management Practices (BMPs) for all identified priority resources. The results will be expressed as the maximum reduction of a water quality contaminant (e.g. sediment, phosphorus, bacteria) at a priority resource (e.g. an impaired stream) for a given level of investment.
This monitoring work expands on previously established routine water quality and flow sampling to include extensive fish and aquatic invertebrate surveys. Subsequent steps include assessment of the monitoring data to determine impairments, identification of stressors that are causing impairments, development of Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) studies using identification of pollutant sources using computer modeling and other techniques, civic engagement, and public education as approaches in progress towards water quality goals.
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.
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.
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 Phase III continuation of the Wild Rice Shoreland Protection project acquired 98 acres for Yaeger Lake Wildlife Management Area (total acquisition was 285 acres but a portion was funded with other LSOHC money, only the portion funded with this grant is reported here) and 14 RIM easements protecting 600 acres for a total of 698 acres of wild rice shoreland habitat in the Northern Forest Section. This exceeded this Phases overall goal by acres for RIM.
Assesss current data sources and preliminary information about the conditions in the watershed and present the information through bibliographies, abstracts and memos.
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.
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.
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.
$530,500 of the allocated $600,000 was used to enhance 150 acres of Wirth Park habitat. This project included habitat enhancement of woodlands and wetlands involving invasive species removal and planting of native species. This project benefits animal species including the pileated woodpecker and the threatened Blanding’s turtle. Primary outcomes include better quality plant communities, reduced fragmentation, and higher functioning wetlands.
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.
Wolves are a hot topic in Minnesota, with the public sharply divided on management issues such as wolf hunting. The complexity of the topic lends itself to a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation that is not always helpful to resolving the polarized debate.
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.
This project will allow lake associations and other motivated groups to use their local landowner networks and site specific knowledge to effectively implement best management practices that fit within the greater context of Wright County's Water Management Plan.
Adoption of renewable energy technologies and energy conservation practices can contribute in a variety of ways to the environmental and economic health of rural Minnesota communities through costs savings and emissions reductions. Engaging and coaching students as the leaders in the process of implementing such practices provides the added benefit of increasing knowledge, teaching about potential career paths, and developing leadership experience.
