This project will complete a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) study for the impaired reaches of the Snake River Basin. The project includes development of a Generalized Watershed Loading Function (GWLF) model for nutrient sources and Total Suspended Sediment (TSS), a spreadsheet version of a BATHTUB model of lake response for four lakes, and a bacteria source assessment. Wenck will also provide all stream channel data as a spreadsheet and locational database.
The purpose of the project is to reduce sediment and nutrient deposition in surface waters within priority areas of the watershed. A five percent reduction goal has been established in the County Local Water Management Plan and Impaired Waters project in progress. Eleven Best Management Practice (BMP) installations are planned for this project in cooperation with local landowners, Cities, Townships and Lake Associations.
The Project and Outreach Coordinator will facilitate efforts within the watershed to provide landowner support and assistance in identifying areas in need of conservation plans and best management practices. The coordinator would use the Watershed Protection and Restoration Strategy Report and county water plans to target and prioritize outreach and education to maximize water quality benefits. This will greatly multiply the number of educated landowners in the watershed and increase the number of projects implemented.
This project primarily focuses on riparian restoration (permanent vegetative buffer enhancements and plantings) on 6.5 miles (both sides) of targeted tributaries, ditches, and wetlands within five sub - watershed areas identified in the Snake River Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) Report. These plantings will consist of native perennials, trees, and shrubs where practical. In addition to the riparian plantings, this project will include fence exclusions for cattle and heavy use protections at cattle crossings in streams and ditches.
The goal of this project is to extend, calibrate, and validate the existing Hydrological Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) model for the Snake River Watershed in the Red River Basin. The contractor will produce an HSPF model that can readily be used to provide information to support conventional parameter Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Studies. The model will generate predicted output for hydrology, sediment, nutrients, and dissolved oxygen that is consistent with observed data.
This phase of the project will complete a TMDL for the impaired reaches of the Snake River Basin. The project includes development of a Unit Area Load model for nutrient sources, a spreadsheet version of a BATHTUB lake response for four lakes, and a bacteria source assessment. Contractor will also provide all stream channel data as a spreadsheet database and in GIS.
Continue and finalize watershed models using Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) for the Grand Marais Creek and Snake River Watersheds and complete the calibration/validation process.
The goal of this project is to utilize the information and data collected in the Phase I project to develop a Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) Report and Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Study that will address water quality impairments and maintain or improve water quality throughout the Snake-Middle River Watershed. The Phase II project will allocate pollutant reductions goals, and prioritize and identify implementation strategies to maintain or improve water quality in key streams in the watershed.
This project will result in the completion of the first phase of the Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) for the Snake-Middle River Watershed.
The goal of this project is to utilize the information and data collected in the Phase 1 project to develop a Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) report and Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) study that will address water quality impairments and maintain or improve water quality throughout the Snake-Middle River Watershed. The Phase 2 project will allocate pollutant reductions goals and prioritize and identify implementation strategies to maintain or improve water quality in key streams in the watershed.
To prepare a Historic Structures Report with a Comprehensive Energy Plan for building reuse at the Soap Factory, a contributing resource in the St. Anthony Falls Historic District and listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The goal of this project is to develop and implement a multiagency tracking framework that will help clarify connections between Clean Water Funds invested, actions taken and clean water outcomes achieved.
Implement cover crops, no tillage management, forestry improvements, and prescribed grazing to improve soil health, sequester carbon, and protect drinking water within the southwestern portion of the Mississippi River-Sartell watershed, including areas immediate upsteam of the St. Cloud drinking water surface intake. This will be achieved by providing financial and technical assistance paired with targeted outreach and in combination with other CWF grant programs.
The primary goal of this project is to protect public water supplies from contamination from nonpoint-sourced pollution by providing farmers with resources to implement soil health Best Management Practices (BMPs) within a set radius of municipal Drinking Water Supply Management Areas (DWSMAs) for cities within Traverse County. The secondary goal of the project is protection of public surface waters and measurable progress towards reduction of nutrient and sediment pollution to impaired watercourses.
The Minnesota Soil Survey is an ongoing effort by the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) that is systematically collecting and mapping data pertaining to soil types and other soil properties in each county of the state. Soils data is used by governments, farmers, and other businesses for a number of purposes from protection and restoration of soil, water, wetlands, and habitats to agricultural soil management to building construction.
The purpose of this project is to provide a new shared position in southeast Minnesota which will accelerate the adoption of soil health practices by leveraging the existing efforts of the National Resources Conservation Service and other organizations.
This project will augment data collection efforts for the Lake Superior South, Cloquet, St. Louis River, and Duluth Urban Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) projects. Activities include: attaining datasets for watershed stressors and geomorphic conditions, water quality gap monitoring, and civic engagement. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has been collaborating with the South St. Louis Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) to complete WRAPS related technical and civic engagement work in the Lake Superior basin for the past five years.
This project seeks to inventory twenty registered feedlots identified as having an Unpermitted Liquid Manure Storage Area. Specifically, this inventory would include offering cost-share for soils investigations. These feedlots are located in three townships that have also been identified as having groundwater that is vulnerable to nutrient pollution, necessitating a need for nitrate testing per MN Department of Agriculture. These townships also house the vast majority of remaining unpermitted Liquid Manure Storage Areas in the County.
Pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and agricultural nutrients serve important functions in crop production and the treatment of disease. However, these chemicals become pollutants when discharged into surface waters through wastewater, storm water, and agricultural runoff. There are natural processes, though, that help break down and remove these pollutants from water. One such process is the role that sunlight interacting with dissolved organic matter naturally present in surface water from decaying plant materials and algae has in transforming these contaminants.
Sustainable energy production is a major challenge facing our society. Solar energy is renewable and is a viable and attractive option. However, there are obstacles to widespread use. Current technology is expensive, making it difficult for businesses and homeowners to implement, and solar cells are commonly made using toxic and rare elements or using processes that require large amounts of energy. To become commonplace, solar cells must be inexpensive and robust, and they must be made of abundant, cheap, nontoxic materials.
Over the past several years six environmental learning centers located around the state - Audubon Center of the North Woods, Deep Portage Learning Center, Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center, Laurentian Environmental Learning Center, Long Lake Conservation Center and Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center – have been implementing demonstrations of energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy on their campuses for use as educational tools for the thousands of students and visitors that come to the centers each year.
to install solar electric PV panels at Dennis Frandsen County Park to provide power for park lighting, well and security equipment and when power is not called for to support park operations it will support grid function
to install two solar thermal flat plate collectors for existing shower facility that will produce shade for the adjacent picnic table and children's playground area
The Somali community in Rochester, MN is by far one of the most connected cultural groups in the region. Our project hopes to untangle the rich culture that is often hidden from the public sphere in Rochester, MN. Unity begins with knowing your neighbors. Through the Humanities Center's Cultural Grant we will implement a program to inform and teach our fellow neighbors about the Somali culture. Our platform will be based on speakers, multimedia, tv programming, and print.
This project will connect Somali youth to their rich cultural heritage through arts and language. The Somali Youth Cultural Empowerment project will ensure youth learn their native Somali language and culture through classes taught by Somali teachers and will participate in the cultural tradition of Danta Dance. A dance group will perform at cultural events, with music performed live from previous members of the Somali supergroup, Waaberi, and thus, share Somali art culture with Minnesotans.
The Somali Museum of Minnesota will curate and present two new monthly series of public programs designed to amplify, celebrate, and preserve Somali culture. The first series will be gallery-based and draw from the museum’s collection to offer Somali language, cultural and history instruction targeted to Somali families and school age youth. The second series, designed for a broader audience, will present artist talks and demonstrations, dance performances, exhibitions, and poetry readings.
The Somali Museum of Minnesota will develop a series of programs for Somali and non-Somali audiences for public viewing and education. All programs are designed to amplify, celebrate, and preserve Somali culture and will include activities such as artist talks, demonstrations, dance performances, exhibitions, and poetry readings. Some will be performed live; others will be recorded in studio, videographed and edited for viewing by an audience. A written text will accompany each performance.
The Somali Language and Culture Classes Project will honor and preserve Somali culture by first, connecting Somali youth to their rich cultural heritage through arts and language classes and second, by providing a class for others in the mainstream Minnesota community to learn about Somali language and culture. This project will pilot teaching Somali language and culture through utilizing taped sessions with an in-person bi-lingual facilitator in order to allow for future sustainability.
Unite Cloud will join with Farhiya Iman to host 12 Intro to Somali Language and Culture sessions. Also, Farhiya will develop a curriculum for a new class: Advanced Somali Language and Culture. Once the class is built, we will host 9 Advanced classes.
The goal is to develop a “Basic Somali Language and Culture Class” curriculum. This course will be a tailored 20 – 30-hour training for people in the business community as well as Somali youth. Each class session with have an element of language and an element of culture.
A project that helps families express their feelings through poetry, sharing historical perspectives on disability within the Somali Community. We will invite school administrators, teachers, and community members and discuss the social stigma of disabilities and mental health through innovative strategies. In our parent to parent peer support, we have event nights where parents gather informally and express their daily barriers for the first half of the session, and then we go through resource sharing the second half of the session.
The Minnesota State Legislature asked the Minnesota Humanities Center to award arts and cultural heritage grants to the Somali community through the competitive grant process. Legacy funds are appropriated to the Humanities Center to support such work. A small portion of each appropriation was reserved by the Humanities Center for direct expenses related to administering the grant. Should any portion of this reserve be unused, the difference will be awarded to the respective organizations.
Working with the Somali Museum of Minnesota, MNHS is developing an exhibit that will help Minnesotans understand this recent immigrant community. The exhibit will showcase cultural traditions and material culture of Somalia, cover the immigrant experience in the journey to Minnesota and will review the accomplishments and cultural adaptations Somali people have made since making Minnesota home.
Partner: Macalester College
MNHS and Macalester have been working on a project in FY14 and FY15 to interview Somalis in Minnesota. Professor Ahmed Samatar from Macalester College has been guiding the process and consulting with the Minnesota Historical Society. Professor Samatar is a world-renowned international studies professor, specializing in Somali studies.
MNHS continued its previous collaboration with Macalester College and the Somali community to add
an additional 10 interviews to those that have already been completed. The new interviews focused on
women's experiences.
This project will support the newly developed Somali Heritage Language Program. Somali has rich oral traditions as foundational elements of language usage and development. As a less commonly taught language, Somali often lacks accessible curricula within mainstream publishing companies. It will specifically support the development or continuation of projects at four school sites: Sullivan Steam Magnet, Lyndale Community School, Heritage Academy and South High.
