The goal of this project is to perform water quality monitoring and load calculation duties to accomplish MPCA's Watershed Pollutant Load Monitoring Network monitoring efforts at seven sites for the Redwood and Cottonwood River watersheds as well as the Minnesota River site near Morton.
To provide professional development for one staff member at the national American Association for State and Local History Conference in St. Paul, September 17-20, 2014.
To provide professional development for one staff member at the national American Association for State and Local History Conference in St. Paul, September 17-20, 2014.
To provide professional development for one staff member at the national American Association for State and Local History Conference in St. Paul, September 17-20, 2014.
This project will accelerate production of County Geologic Atlases (part A). An atlas is a set of geologic maps and associated databases for a county that facilitate informed management of natural resources, especially water and minerals.
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.
Grassland ecosystems evolved to depend on periodic disturbances, such as fire and grazing, to maintain their health and stability. Periodic disturbances help control invasive species, add nutrients back into the soil, germinate plant seeds, enhance wildlife habitat, and more. In Minnesota habitat managers have used fire as a disturbance tool for decades but the use of grazing has been much rarer, mostly because of a lack of necessary infrastructure such as fencing.
The following table provides a short summary of the accomplishments under this appropriation. In total, the DNR enhanced and restored 283 sites for a total of 17,087 acres.
Minnesota has 9.5 million acres of public forest lands that play an important role in sustaining Minnesota’s environment and economy. The policies and programs used by public timber sale programs can impact post-harvest ecological conditions and have pronounced effects on the composition, structure, and productivity of the forest in the future. Additionally, timber harvesting revenues play an important role in economic activity, employment, and tax revenue.
Over 527,000 acres of unmanaged woodlands are being used for livestock grazing throughout Minnesota. Managing these grazed woodlands based on the use of best management practices can provide environmental and economic opportunities, including improved water quality, maximized forage production, and higher-quality timber. The best management practices involved are commonly used in other parts of the country with other types of ecosystems, but have not been widely adopted in Minnesota due to a lack of knowledge and experience with implementing them within the ecosystems of Minnesota.
Building on the exhibit development community engagement process carried through three successive Legacy grants, the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota used the 2013 direct appropriation to prepare for and begin building exhibit components for its permanent facility by combining professional museum expertise with local resources, volunteers, and community involvement.
The Minnesota DNR and the Minnesota Forest Resources Council work with forest landowners, managers and loggers to implement a set of voluntary sustainable forest management guidelines that include water quality best management practices (BMPs) to ensure sustainable habitat, clean water, and productive forest soils, all contributing to healthy watersheds. This project will monitor the implementation of these forest management guidelines and BMPs on forested watersheds in MN.
The goal of this project is to complete the calibration/validation process of Hydrologic Simulation FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed models for the Lake of the Woods/Rainy River Basin.
Minnesota has 15.9 million acres of forest land managed by a variety of county, state and federal agencies, and private landowners for timber production, wildlife habitat, and ecological considerations. Forest managers rely on inventory data to make effective planning and management decisions. Because forests are continually changing through natural and human processes, forest inventory data is periodically updated. However, doing so is an expensive and time-consuming endeavor and, as a result, much of Minnesota’s forest inventory data is currently out of date.
This project will help to improve the water quality of Lake of the Woods by providing local staff with the resources necessary for implementing best management practices that will reduce erosion in drainage ditches. The Lake of the Woods Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) will assist the County in developing a process for inventory and inspection of ditches. Public drainage is critical to the local economy and proper drainage management is critical to water quality protection.
The purpose of this project is to gain an understanding of modern and historical nutrient and thermal dynamics in Lake of the Woods using modeling, monitoring, sediment core analysis, and whole basin techniques.
The goal of this project is to determine: 1) temperature and seasonal variations in sediment chemical-textural characteristics (upper 10-cm sediment layer) and rates of P release from sediments; and 2) vertical variations in mobile P concentrations in the sediment column of Big Traverse Bay in order to better understand the role of internal P loading to the P economy of LOW and for the development of the LOW TMDL.
