This project engages private property owners in a neighborhood scale effort to install up to 180 stormwater Best Management Practice (BMPs) to protect Lake Nokomis, a water body in Minneapolis impaired for excess nutrients. An analysis of the Lake Nokomis subwatershed identified priority areas for BMP installations based on drainage pattern, land uses and presence of previously-constructed BMPs. The project will install 160-180 BMPs adjacent to alleyways to disconnect residential backyards, rooftops and driveways on 15 residential blocks.
Taylor Township, Traverse County, retained the services of a historical consultant to complete a National Register Nomination for School District No. 44 School. It was presented to the Review Board in May, 2011 and is now listed in the National Register.
An historic marker was commissioned and installed at the site and an informational brochure was designed and printed for distribution to the public.
Preserve Appleton's Heritage Inc. retained the services of historical consultants to complete a National Register Nomination for Gethsemane Episcopal Church. The nomination was complicated by a past remodel. The church is now listed in the National Register.
DNR regional clean water specialists and area hydrologists work with local partners to provide technical assistance on implementation projects and related outreach, resulting in cleaner water through healthier watersheds, shorelands and floodplains. We help partners identify, develop, target, design and/or implement on-the-ground projects that improve water quality, enhance habitat and protect infrastructure. We help design restorations that provide lasting benefits by mimicking features of healthy ecosystems.
To make accessible Boys' Life and Scouting and the American Girl and Girl Scout Leader magazines as a basis for understanding scouting history in Minnesota
This project will collect water quality data for 31 sites (22 lakes and 9 stream sites) within the Rainy River Headwaters, Cloquet, and Vermilion major watersheds as part of the 10-year cycle for monitoring Minnesota's waters. Due to the large number and geographic extent of monitoring sites, North St. Louis SWCD (NSLSWCD) is subcontracting with Lake County SWCD and Koochiching County SWCD. An intern from the Vermilion Community College (VCC) Water Resources Program will be hired to conduct monitoring of 4 stream sites and 3 lake sites located between Ely and Virginia.
The North Fork Crow River Watershed District will develop an inventory and inspection database for 103E ditches under their drainage authority. The district will acquire a database software solution to conduct field inspections and to track ditch maintenance projects throughout the district. This software will be used to facilitate statutory compliance including developing a process for completing annual inspection and reporting requirements.
This project will replace a conventional 32 foot wide neighborhood street with a narrowed 22 -24 foot wide street that will include rain gardens, sidewalk, and boulevard trees. North St. Paul is using the term Living Streets to describe a new type of street that will eventually replace most of the city's existing streets. Living streets are narrower and have less pavement than existing streets. Reducing the width of existing streets reduces construction costs and assessments to residents. It allows room for the installation of rainwater gardens to treat stormwater.
Northern white cedar wetland plant communities provide unique ecological, economic, and wetland functions, including high value timber, long-term carbon storage, winter refuge for deer and other wildlife, wildlife habitat, and thermal buffering for brook trout streams. However, these plant communities have been declining in Minnesota for decades mostly as a result of development impacts. The Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources is using this appropriation to continue efforts aimed at improving the quantity and quality of white cedar wetland plant communities in Minnesota.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will coordinate the collection of high-resolution elevation data for northeastern portion of Minnesota using Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) systems. The geographic area of the work includes Minnesota counties of Carlton, Cook, Lake, and St. Louis Counties and that portion of Koochiching County that comprises Voyageurs National Park.
This program will protect, enhance and restore up to 1,419.7 acres of open and brushland habitat and 145 acres of forest habitat in northeastern Minnesota, provide access to additional public lands for recreation, provide multiple environmental benefits, and benefit sharp-tailed grouse and other open and brushland species in greatest conservation need (several of which are state listed as endangered, threatened or special concern) by pursuing acquisitions in Kanabec and Aitkin counties.
This partnership will protect, restore and enhance 2,769 acres, primarily brushland, in northeastern Minnesota. Habitat will be added to the WMA system and enhanced on existing public lands for species in greatest conservation need, outdoor recreation, and environmental benefits.
To replace the roof and windows and upgrade the interior of the historic Northern Warehouse for use as an affordable mixed-use space, located in the Lowertown Historic District, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
This program will permanently protect remnant native prairie and associated wetland complexes in western Minnesota by purchasing fee title properties and/or habitat easements. Lands and easements purchased through this program by The Nature Conservancy will be transferred to the US Fish and Wildlife Service and will become units of the Northern Tallgrass Prairie National Wildlife Refuge to be owned and managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
This appropriation allowed the permanent protection of 887 acres in western Minnesota. These properties included 664 acres of remnant native prairie, 76 acres of associated wetlands complexes, and 8,500' of streamfront. For this phase we originally planned to protect 740 acres with a minimum of 375 native prairie. Both targets were exceeded - 120% of total acres and 177% of native prairie acres.
Partner Organizations: Northfield Historical Society, Carleton College, Northfield Public Library, Rice County Historical Society and St. Olaf College.
Aquatic invasive species are a threat to the ecology and the recreational and economic viability of Minnesota’s water resources. When an invasion is confined to a distinct lake or wetland, local government units will implement localized plans to address invasions. However, when a water body crosses jurisdictions, such as with river systems, to be effective a more coordinated, regional approach is necessary that is more attuned with the natural pathways for invasive species.
Minnesota’s Legacy Amendment raises revenue for Clean Water, Outdoor Heritage, Parks and Trails, and Arts and Cultural Heritage. Libraries are beneficiaries of a portion of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Funding.
Minnesota’s 12 regional public library systems, which encompass 350 public libraries in all areas of the state, benefit from a portion of the Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Through State Library Services, a division of the Minnesota Department of Education, each regional public library system receives a formula-driven allocation from the annual $3 million Minnesota Regional Library Legacy Grant. Northwest Regional Library System (NRL) is a consolidated regional public library system in upper northwest Minnesota.
This project will improve the water quality of Northwood Lake by treating storm water runoff from over 110 acres of currently untreated urban land. The project includes the installation of a variety of practices at two different locations adjacent to the lake that will maximize storm water treatment while conserving drinking water and preserving park land.
Excess nutrients are among the most common impairments of water resources in the Red River Basin, as well as the rest of Minnesota. About 80% of the land use in the Red River Basin is for agricultural cropland and over 90% of phosphorus and nitrogen found in rivers and streams in the area originate from nonpoint sources, such as cropland. Excess nutrients are also one of the most difficult impairments to correct.
Within an 11-county area in southeastern Minnesota, two Nutrient Management Specialists will work directly with producers to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and fecal coliform runoff into surface and ground water in the region and the Mississippi River. The specialists will help producers create or revise nutrient management plans, implement Best Management Practices for manure and fertilizer use, and set up on-farm demonstration projects to support farmer-to-farmer learning.
This project will assist farmers across Southeast Minnesota by providing guidance on management of nutrient sources including livestock manure, commercial fertilizers, and legumes. This project is important because excess nutrients and bacteria are causing negative impacts to the quality of waters. Two Nutrient Management Specialists will work one-on-one with farmers to develop 70 plans each year. Over time, it is anticipated that the number of new nutrient management plans will decrease as acres with plans increase.
Offer Fond du Lac Family language camp. Receive training for Ojibwe language immersion teaching. Develop Ojibwe immersion curriculum. Publish 2,000 copies of Daga Anishinaabemodaa with illustrations and audio CD. Establish feeder college and pre K-12 school network. Draft guidelines and establish elder-student apprenticeships. Set up and announce website. Accept students and pre K-12 teachers for Ottertail language camp for summer 2011 and promise financial support. Evaluate all grant activities.
Partner Organizations: University of Minnesota, Minnesota Digital Library, Minitex.
The Ojibwe language, like many other indigenous languages, is endangered. Most current speakers are over the age of 65 and probably fewer than a thousand speakers of Ojibwe in the United States learned it as their first language.
To record, transcribe, and translate Ojibwe language oral histories that will be used to augment Oshkaabewis Native Journal, and digitally add the journal and back issues to the Bemidji State University website.
Implement and train on the new scope and sequence model for preschool-early childhood (k-3) for Ojibwe Language Instruction. Grassroots Indigenous Multimedia will provide whole staff training on the new model with follow up Skype sessions. The White Earth Band will also provide opportunities for students to demonstrate language skills to the community.Develop new scope and sequence model with curriculum framework up to fifth grade by the end of the second year of the grant.
To hire qualified professionals to replace the roof and rehabilitate the windows on the Pipestone City Hall, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The Onamia Municipal Hall is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building was in need of a historic structures report / conditions analysis to provide restoration and management goals for the property. Currently the building is experiencing interior wall condensation, plaster erosion, water intrusion, energy loss, electrical system issues, and spalling of exterior mortar. The report documents current conditions, provide appropriate approaches to the treatment of existing problems, and outline a scope of future recommended work.
To increase the availability of resources about Minnesota in the Civil War, the Washington County Library combined Legacy Funds to purchase 170 copies of three featured titles that cover the topic.
Twenty copies of the children's selection B is for Battle Cry: A Civil War Alphabet, 50 copies of the student selection Soldier's Heart: A Novel of the Civil War and 100 copies of the adult selection Pale Horse at Plum Run: The First Minnesota at Gettysburg were added to the library's collection.
In 2010, the Minnesota Historical Society researched the development of an Online Fur Trade Interactive Learning Experience as a supplement to the Northern Lights history textbook.
This web-based application, geared toward middle school students, will not only offer a glimpse of Minnesota's history, but also provides a lesson about the foundation of today's complex global economy.
