This Phase 1 project will support project planning, coordination and civic engagement/outreach components of the Mississippi River (Headwaters) Major Watershed project. Phase 1 of this project will focus towards the development of project teams, identifying stakeholders, developing an initial civic engagement strategic plan and reviewing current and past watershed project data.
This project will build a working watershed SWAT model that can readily be used by the MPCA to provide information to support conventional parameter TMDLs and to identify critical areas for BMP installation/evaluation that can be supported by the efforts of the local Farmer Led Council as well as other land owners within the Mississippi River-Winona watershed.
The goal of this project is complete a dataset necessary for assessment of 6 stream sites and 11 lakes within the Mississippi Headwaters Watershed to determine the overall health of its water resources, to identify impaired waters, and to identify those waters in need of additional protection to prevent future impairments.
The project goal is to conduct water chemistry monitoring at three subwatershed sites in 2016-2019 and ongoing as needed in based on flow conditions, targeting runoff events using protocols defined in the Watershed Pollutant Load Monitoring Network (WPLMN) Standard Operating Procedures and Guidance. The data collected will be submitted to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and used in the FLUX32 model for calculating pollutant loads.
This project will focus on creating a watershed identity, monitoring & assessment, stressor ID assistance, Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) report development, Watershed Restoration & Protection Strategy (WRAPS) report development, watershed prioritization and targeting, and the continuation of the Civic Engagement components of the project. Currently, this watershed has seven listed conventional impairments (Lake Eutrophication); however, it is possible that additional stream impairments (up to four) may be identified during the IWM process.
This project will assist in assessing the quality of the Mississippi River bordering with Wisconsin in partnership with the Minnesota DNR (MNDNR), the Wisconsin DNR (WIDNR) and the Metropolitan Council of Environmental Services (MCES). Sampling will be conducted in 2016 using water chemistry and biological indicators, using a 5 state strategy recently developed recently with the leadership of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association. The Minnesota entities will focus their work on the River from St Anthony Falls to the Chippewa River confluence in Lake Pepin.
Phase 1 of this project is primarily geared towards project planning and coordination among project partners, developing an initial civic engagement strategic plan, holding a watershed kick-off meeting, and gathering and summarizing available water quality data.
This acquisition protected 2.7 miles of Mississippi river shoreline and nearly 2,000 acres of wetland and forest/upland habitat through fee title acquisition just east of Brainerd, MN.
Through the ML2015 Mississippi Headwaters Habitat Partnership appropriation, we permanently protected 1,923 acres of wildlife habitat in the quickly developing Mississippi Headwaters area. These accomplishments exceed the appropriation goal by 209%. Utilizing both fee-title acquisition and conservation easements, the partnership protected 10 projects, totaling over 11 miles of shoreline along the Mississippi River, its tributaries and nearby lakes.
This project proposes utilizing a precision conservation framework to assess two small impaired agricultural watersheds (HUC12) to determine optimal locations of best management practices and structures on the landscape that will address local water quality issues in a more strategic manner. The watershed assessment process will create GIS-generated maps that will be available to local SWCD staff that will inform decision-making for interested landowners.
The goal of this project is to develop Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) allocations and complete a final draft TMDL report for the 29 stream impairments listed in the Missouri River Basin. The project will produce completed models and pollutant source assessments for each impairment parameter, and a draft TMDL report that summarizes results of these analyses and TMDL allocations for each stream.
The MNHS Indian Advisory Committee (IAC) is made up of tribally appointed representatives of the 11 Minnesota tribes, as well as representatives of key groups, such as educators. IAC advises on planning, developing, and evaluating MNHS activities and initiatives including exhibitions, publications, public programs, and curatorial policy as they relate to the research, collection, preservation, and interpretation of Minnesota and American Indian history in Minnesota.
MNopedia and MinnPost, an online news organization, are working together to share content and make Minnesota history more accessible. MNopedia is the first digital encyclopedia about Minnesota. All MNopedia articles are prepared by historians, consulting experts, professional writers, and others vetted by the Minnesota Historical Society. Once a week, MinnPost will publish a MNopedia article on its website. In addition, twice a month for the next ten months, MinnPost will create and publish news articles that relate to historical events in Minnesota.
MNopedia is an award-winning online encyclopedia of Minnesota created by MNHS, designed for use by a general audience, teachers, and students. In 2015, the MNopedia library grew to include essays on Hmong, African American, and Jewish history, and articles on topics as diverse as Minnesota in World War I, immigration to the Iron Range, Dayton's department store, and the Grange in Minnesota. A new feature, This Day in Minnesota History, a Minnesota book of days, was added.
Using data supplied by Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), this project will model the relationship between sulfate and sulfide in wild rice habitats.
Support a new project that will aid in the development of a Montessori Language Proficiency Assessment for D/Lakota and Ojibwe languages for children 3-5 years.
Moody Lake is the headwaters of the Comfort Lake-Forest Lake Watershed District northern flow network, and as such, its water quality sets the stage for downstream waters, particularly Bone Lake, Comfort Lake, the Sunrise River, and ultimately Lake St. Croix. A multi-year diagnostic and implementation feasibility study was conducted in the Moody Lake watershed to prioritize nutrient sources, target cost-effective BMPs, and estimate the measurable phosphorus reductions that will be achieved through implementation of these projects.
