Local television station (KTTC) donated 485 BETA videos and 557 16mm films to the History Center of Olmsted County. New storage methods and materials were implemented to preserve and stabilize these donations. The historic collection was sorted, organized and rehoused into archival containers which were then labeled, cataloged and entered into a Past Perfect database.
This valuable resource, now stored in the HCOC research library, has been made more accessible to the public.
To hire a qualified consultant to develop planning documents that will help preserve the First Congregational Church of Minnesota, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Fish Lake is a headwater of the Watonwan River. The lake is a regionally known fishery due to its unusual depth >20', lack of a mud bottom, and a naturally reproducing smallmouth bass fishery. The watershed has many tile drainage systems that are a source of nutrients to the lake. Woodchip bioreactors will be installed to reduce nitrogen from all tile outlets entering Fish Lake. This will help achieve the goal of a 40% reduction in Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) in the Minnesota River.
The number of people from other cultures and languages is increasing in Minnesota. It is important that they learn the behaviors that will help Minnesota preserve and enhance its natural resources. Yet, communicating and effectively interacting with people across cultures to change behaviors on natural resources, conservation, pollution prevention and stewardship is challenging. Most environmental information is designed for reaching native English readers. Translating and printing information often does not reach the intended audiences, who are often part of an oral culture.
The Bell Museum will sort and identify all fish samples collected by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's (MPCA) North and South Biological Monitoring Units. The Bell Museum of Natural History (Bell Museum) will provide professional fish Identification expertise to the MPCA fish voucher program, while also helping the Bell Museum annually update their fish distribution map for the State of Minnesota. As the MPCA samples and vouchers species of significance, the Bell Museum shall catalog these species into their official fish collection.
The DNR works with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota Department of Health to determine the level of contamination from mercury and other harmful chemicals in fish from Minnesota's lakes and rivers and to track the success of efforts to reduce mercury pollution. Clean Water Legacy funding is being used to significantly increase (more than double) the number of lakes and rivers that are assessed for mercury contamination on an annual basis. Fish are collected during DNR fishery surveys, processed for laboratory testing, and analyzed for contaminants.
Leech Lake Area Watershed Foundation and the Minnesota Land Trust collectively protected 765 acres and 8.9 miles of critical shoreland and forest habitat in the watersheds of strategic North Central Minnesota lakes through the completion of 5 conservation easements and 1 fee title acquisition. Acreage protection outcomes exceeded that proposed by 151%; shoreland protected exceeded that proposed by 297%. The grant leveraged $1,119,000 through landowner donation of easement and fee value and other sources, exceeding goals by 134%.
Floodplain forest enhancement projects were implemented at 10 sites covering 292 acres along the Mississippi River from Red Wing to the Iowa border. We completed site preparation; controlled invasive species; planted trees and shrubs using a combination of direct seeding, bare root seedlings and large, potted trees; protected trees from deer and voles; completed post tree planting weed control; and installed willow and cottonwood cuttings. Outcomes varied by site, ranging from poor to excellent tree seedling survival.
Minnesota Hungarians' project, a series of events over six days (lecture-demonstration, workshop, and concert involving community groups) is designed to provide opportunities for Minnesotans to learn about and participate in Hungarian folk dance and music.
NACDI, in collaboration with All My Relations Arts, will present Tradish: Contemporary Treatments of Traditional Dakota and Ojibwe Arts. Tradish will exhibit work by expert and award-winning American Indian artists who live and work in Minnesota.
Nordic Arts Alliance presents Ordinary Vikings by Minnesota artist Jill Johnson, creating traditional Scandinavian Bronze and Iron Age bog stav sculptures based on Nordic cultural stories. The work is expanded upon and interpreted by Icelandic folklore storyteller Ingibjorg Gisladottir. There will be an outdoor exhibition at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve.
Nordic stav and sondan workshops and collaboration will explore the ancient roots of Nordic culture by integrating runes, stav, and Old Norse with dance forms preserved by Nordic immigrant ancestors, culminating in interactive community performances.
Rajasekar's project will focus on Nuances of Melody and Rhythm in Carnatic Music, the classical music of South India, through workshops (by a Minnesota artist and a visiting artist from India), performances, and mentorship.
Hesla will bring people to three Minneapolis parks to sing together, inspired by the incredible legacy of park singing in the early 20th century. These summer 2011 singing events, open to all, will build community and celebrate our diverse traditions.
The Cradleboard Project will revitalize a part of our Native American cultural knowledge that is an endangered tradition, by bringing family and community together to carry on the tradition of the cradleboard with traditional appliqué beadwork.
Minnesota Potters: Sharing the Fire will explore, promote, and honor Minnesota ceramic artists, their tradition of mentorship, and the ways in which they pass on their skills to new generations.
Southside Family Charter School will partner with artists focused on the folk music of African Americans, with a special emphasis on songs of struggle, and provide extended residencies for students in grades 2-8.
Dance Revels Moving History will work with local French and Metis (French-Indian) cultural specialist/interpreter Virgil Benoit, French Director Josette Antomarchi, and several French cultural groups to produce dance workshops, discussions about being bi-racial, and a dance theater show about the Metis founding father of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Pierre Bottineau and his multi-racial world.
The Hmong Arts Connection (HArC) promotes and inspires artistic expressions of Hmong culture through storytelling, in partnership with L’Etoile du Nord French Immersion School. Professional Hmong storytellers will connect with K-6 classrooms to perform and teach the art of Hmong storytelling.
The Irish Fair of Minnesota, which is conducted annually on Harriet Island in Saint Paul on the second weekend of August, is one of Minnesota’s largest ancestry-based outdoor folk and traditional arts and culture festivals.
The focus of this project will be on protection efforts to maintain or improve the water quality of Forest Lake by reducing phosphorus loads to the lake, especially from storm water. The two main objectives of this project are to compile and make minor updates to a large body of diagnostic work that already exists for Forest Lake, and to develop a comprehensive, site-specific implementation plan for best management practices (BMPs).
