The Oral History office worked with MNHS's Inclusion and Community Engagement staff on an oral history project related to the History Center's 2015 exhibit Inspiring Beauty: 50 Years of Ebony Fashion Fair. Interviewer Mica Anders-Turner completed 10 interviews to complement the Inspiring Beauty exhibit.
The Duluth Children’s Museum continues to grow dramatically, in large part from the investments of the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Legacy funding support over the last three years.
To document in five oral history interviews the historic use and interrelationship of the buildings on the campus of the Minnesota State School for Dependent and Neglected Children, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Grant Activities: The short term goals are to use language and traditional teachings as literacy tools through the development of an Anishinaabemowin Family Literacy program taking place throughout the 2012-2013 school years. The Anishinaabemowin Revitalization team will consist of school staff, elders, tribal government employees, parents, and community members. A written plan for revitalization will be concluded by June 2013. An increased capacity for immersion programming will result through the development of local speakers, materials, and an effective school based program.
The Otter Tail County Soil and Water Conservation Districts will work to complete individual lake assessments on thirty-eight lakes in Otter Tail County that have enough data for an assessment. These assessments will be incorporated into the County Water Plan and can be used by individual lake associations in completing a lake management plan. These assessments will greatly assist the County and the Soil and Water Conservation Districts prioritize future efforts for water quality improvements and protection projects.
The Otter Tail County Community Conservation Sub-grant Program enables community groups to go beyond planning and take action to protect their water resources. This grant program provides community groups with the means to make positive improvements now, and a venue to grow community and identify further water quality opportunities. Engaging community members in the identification of water protection opportunities helps build connections and foster a stewardship ethic.
The Otter Tail River is located in west-central Minnesota. Its Lower Otter Tail River (LOTR) reach is impaired for sediment. The LOTR begins at the dam of Orwell Reservoir near Fergus Falls and ends 48 river miles downstream at the confluence with the Bois de Sioux River at Breckenridge. No point sources contribute directly to the LOTR. Consequently, the turbidity impairment must be addressed through non-point measures. Current stream instability and bank erosion is largely a result of an 18-mile channel straightening completed by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1950s.
This restoration and protection project will reduce the loading of sediment to the Otter Tail River by 440 tons/year. This is about 6.5% of the total reduction needed to meet the goals of the Lower Otter Tail TMDL Implementation Plan. The Otter Tail River downstream of Orwell Dam is impaired due to sediment, with stream bank erosion being the primary contributor. This stream bank restoration will include the installation of woody toe debris benches and the installation of a vegetated slope along a 1,400 foot reach of the river.
The goal of this project is to construct, calibrate, and validate a Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed model for the Otter Tail watershed. The contractor will produce a HSPF watershed model application(s) that can readily be used to provide information to support conventional parameter Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs). The contractor will clearly demonstrate that this model generates predicted output timeseries for hydrology, sediment, nutrients, and dissolved oxygen that are consistent with available sets of observed data.
The Otter Tail River is impaired for turbidity. This project involves the installation of 45 side-inlet structures into Wilkin County Ditch 3-2 and 7-1 and 22 acres of buffer strips along the entire systems. Eleven miles of continuous berm will also be constructed along the ditch. When installed these water quality practices will become a permanent part of the ditch system and will be maintained by the ditch authority. These ditches outlet to the Otter Tail River just upstream from Breckenridge, MN. Together these water quality BMPs will reduce sediment loading by 1,375 tons/year.
The Division of Parks and Trails is engaged in critical work to connect people to the outdoors. As part of the work in this project area, the new touch-screen kiosk project will increase awareness about outdoor recreation opportunities at Minnesota state parks and trails among underrepresented groups by creating and installing accessible, touch-screen kiosks with information in multiple languages, in high-traffic, family-oriented locations. Connection plans deliver Minnesota State Parks and Trails' messages to new audiences.
The mission of Oyate Nipi Kte (The People Shall Live) is to support the recovery of Dakota traditional knowledge including language, spirituality, and life-ways; develop initiatives for sustainable living based on a Dakota environment ethic; facilitate an understanding of the harmful effects of colonization; and empower individuals and collective communities to more effectively resist colonization and strengthen Dakota Sovereignty.
The 17 member Park and Trail Legacy Advisory Committee is appointed by the Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources, the Chair of the Metropolitan Council and the Chair of the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission. The mission of the committee is to champion the 25 year "Parks and Trails Legacy Plan" by providing recommendations to enhance promotion, coordination, and accountability throughout implementation of the plan.
To provide grants to local units of government to support parks and trails of regional or statewide significance outside of the seven county metropolitan area. Funding for this grant program is from the Parks and Trails Fund created by the Minnesota Legislature from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment passed by the voters in 2008.
To provide grants to local units of government to support parks and trails of regional or statewide significance outside of the seven county metropolitan area. Funding for this grant program is from the Parks and Trails Fund created by the Minnesota Legislature from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment passed by the voters in 2008. Beginning July 1, 2015 (fiscal year 2016), the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission (GMRPTC) assumed management of reviewing and awarding these grants.
