This project will identify priority management zones (PMZ), for the purposes of water quality restoration and protection, within the LeSueur River major watershed. This project is only one component of a larger effort in the LeSueur watershed to complete Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) studies while engaging citizens and landowners in land management planning.
The Society sought out potential grant applicants, led grant-writing workshops, presented at 43 public meetings statewide and conducted onsite visits in approximately 40 communities.
This project will provide complementary (same year) physical and chemical data sets for three MPCA prioritized lakes in NE Minnesota to incorporate into the overall State database for MPCA assessment purposes as well as research purposes.
This project will develop a surficial geology shapefile (map) for part of the State of Minnesota, by modifying and joining smaller existing, but separate, surficial geology maps. The resulting internally consistent geographic information system (GIS) layer will be used to support the hydrologic parameterization of Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) watershed models.
The Minnesota Historical Society recognizes the natural relationship between sustainability and historic preservation and the importance of environmental stewardship as we preserve our cultural heritage for future generations. For this reason, the Society is studying its level of sustainability, including levels of energy consumption, water usage, waste and resource use.
This project will complete the dataset required for assessment of Aquatic Recreation Use at 8 stream sites and 11 lake sites in the Sand Hill Watershed.
The Pine County SWCD project will collect complete sets of water quality data for the Kettle River and some of its tributaries and also collect complete sets of water quality data for six area lakes (Oak, Dago, Rhine, Elbow, Rock, and Lake Eleven).
This project will provide assessment data on the following five lakes: Venoah Lake, Spring Lake, Lac La Belle, Bear Lake, and Torch Light Lake (all within the Nemadji River Watershed and St. Louis River Watershed).
This project will assess lakes and streams in the Cannon River watershed that have not been assessed to determine if they are meeting their designated uses. Some of these lakes and streams have data for certain pollutants, but not enough to complete an impairment assessment. The river and stream reaches are located in Dakota, Goodhue, Le Sueur, Rice, Steele, and Waseca counties. The lakes are located throughout the Cannon watershed (Le Sueur, Rice and Waseca Counties). This project will be a continuation of past assessments conducted in 2007 and 2009.
The St. Louis River Alliance will complete the data set for the water quality assessment of six target streams in the Lake Superior Basin. These streams are the Gooseberry River, Beaver River, Lester River, Big Sucker River, Split Rock River and Knife River. In addition, the St. Louis River Alliance will complete the data set for the water quality assessment of two non-target streams in the St. Louis River watershed. These two streams are Coffee Creek and Buckingham Creek. The St.
This project involves monitoring three data deficient lakes in the Crow Wing River Watershed and one stream site at the inlet to White Earth Lake. The data deficient lakes were on the MPCA Targeted watershed list. After getting the required assessment dataset for these lakes, all targeted lakes in Becker County will be completed for this assessment cycle. The stream site is a site that the White Earth Lake Association and the Becker Coalition of Lake Associations (COLA) will monitor. It is the inlet to White Earth Lake.
This project will obtain lab and field data for waterbodies within the Wild Rice Watershed, to meet surface water assessment goals. Data will continue to be collected further upstream of some 2008 sites and enhance current assessment datasets. Some new tributaries, that lack assessment data, will also be monitored. The project goal is to complete the datasets necessary for the assessment of Aquatic Recreation Use for twelve streams in the Wild Rice Watershed.
This project will collect water quality data for 13 Hubbard County lakes located in the Crow Wing priority watershed and identified as priority lakes by the MPCA. Upon completion the project data set will include all of the necessary information for the lakes to be assessed for impairment due to nutrients. Volunteers will collect samples from 7 of the 13 lakes and paid SWCD staff will collect samples from 6 of the lakes that do not have public access or volunteers willing to sample. The water samples will be collected 5 times/year June-September in 2010 and 2011.
This project will focus on collecting stream water quality data. Citizen volunteers and SWCD staff will complete water quality monitoring on two targeted stream sites in the watershed and eight additional sites including prospective MPCA biological assessment sites and DNR-Fisheries priority sites. This project will expand citizen participation into the assessment of streams in the watershed which are not included in the current TMDL study and expand data collection to a wider set of parameters.
This project will obtain a lake data set for Douglas County while fostering lake association participation, ownership, and understanding of their lakes. A better understanding of these lakes is necessary in order to meet goals established in the 2009-2019 Comprehensive Local Water Management Plan and enable 303(d) and 305(b) assessments. Lakes included in this project are: Agnes, Alvin, Blackwell, Brophy, Charley, Cook (Cork), Crooked (East), Crooked (NW), Echo, Henry, Lovera (Lovers), Mina, Round, and Spring.
Rice County Water Resources Division will complete a Surface Water Assessment for six lakes located in the Cannon River Watershed. The lakes chosen include: Sprague Lake (66-0045-00), Mud Lake (66-0054-00), Hatch Lake (66-0063-00), Pooles Lake (66-0046-00), Logue Lake (66-0057-00), and Phelps Lake (66-0062-00). Each lake chosen is currently unassessed, and both Sprague and Mud lake are priority lakes for testing. Sampling will include testing dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, Secchi, Total phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a. The samples will be taken by volunteers and paid staff.
Residents in the Swan River Watershed have become increasingly concerned with their surface water quality. In an effort to reduce excess sediments and pollutants from entering surface waters, the Todd Soil and Water Conservation District will be identifying land owners in priority areas and working with them to install best management practices on lakeshore properties and feedlots within the watershed.Planned projects include: shoreland stabilization and restoration, river and lake bank stabilization, storm water controls, native plantings and livestock waste management projects.
This project will be a joint effort between the Todd Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) and the Sylvan Shores residents. Todd SWCD will organize and coordinate the project in full partnership with the Sylvan Shores residents. The actual monitoring will be a cooperative effort between Todd SWCD staff and citizen volunteers at Fawn and Pine Island Lakes.
The Sauk River watershed was selected to participate in the federal Mississippi River Basin Initiative (MRBI) program in 2010 to decrease nutrient contributions to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. The MRBI program provides federal cost share funds to landowners to install conservation practices.
With the approval of many ACHF projects and partnerships that include a component of enhanced online access to Minnesota Historical Society information and materials, the Society needed to increase the capacity of its technology platform.
This funding enabled the Society to help deliver web development services, and to purchase servers and equipment to meet the increased demands created by the ACHF programs.
Here are examples of three web sites created through this project that allow the general public to learn about other ACHF-funded history projects:
The Greater Blue Earth River Basin Alliance (GBERBA), a nine County/SWCD JPO has identified buffers as a basin priority. This initiative will work towards the goal of identifying all DNR protected shoreland in the GBERBA counties without a 50 foot vegetative buffer. Buffer strips protect surface and groundwater from a multitude of pollutants. During stormwater run off events buffers can remove between 50 and 100 percent of nutrients, pesticides, pathogens, and sediment. The estimated sediment reduction for this project is 756 tons per year prevented from entering our waters.
The Minnesota Historical Society is developing an extensive, hands-on exhibit designed to bring the rich cultural tapestry of Minnesota into vivid focus. Visitors to “Then Now Wow” (the exhibit's working title was "Our Minnesota") at the Minnesota History Center will explore the state’s distinctive places and meet the people who have made their homes here.
The Minnesota Historical Society is developing a major, new, hands-on exhibit designed to bring the rich cultural tapestry of Minnesota into vivid focus. Visitors to “Then Now Wow" (the exhibit's working title was "Our Minnesota") at the Minnesota History Center will explore the state’s distinctive places and meet the people who have made their homes here.
In 2011, Arts and Cultural Heritage funds supported staff time devoted to creating the exhibit which opens in fall 2012.
The SRWD, with assistance from local volunteers, will conduct water quality assessments on William Lake, Long Lake, Cedar Lake, Bass Lake. Felix Lake, Little Osakis Lake and Trout Creek to attain the necessary data to determine impairment status.
Partner Organizations: Fond du Lac College, Carlton County Historical Society.
More than 130 Ojibwe tribal leaders were interviewed for the award-winning Waasa Inaabida television documentary series, about the second largest tribe in North America, the Anishinaabe/Ojibwe nation of the upper Great Lakes region.
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.
Pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are found in surface waters in Minnesota and nationally. CECs can cause adverse ecological and human health impacts, and occur as complex mixtures in the environment. One of the greatest barriers to addressing the problem of CECs is a lack of understanding of where these compounds come from and which sources dominate in different locations and at different times.
This project will provide the monitoring of reaches where there are data gaps, incorporate new data and analyze relevant data, identify pollutant sources, hold a stakeholder meeting, and gather information towards the future development of a Draft Restoration (TMDL) and Protection Plan.
This project will support the monitoring of reaches where there are data gaps, incorporate new data and relevant data, continue identification of pollutant sources, complete load duration curves, coordinate and encourage participation in stakeholder meetings. The information gathered during Phase IIB will be utilized towards the development of a Draft Restoration (TMDL) and Protection Plan (Plan).
Upper Mississippi, North Fork Crow River Major Watershed TMDL Project led by CROW with assistance from local partners North Fork Crow River Watershed District (WD); Middle Fork Crow River WD; Wright Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD).
Portions of the South Branch of the Buffalo River are currently overloaded with sediment. Two primary waterways in the watershed, Deerhorn Creek and the South Branch, are listed as impaired for turbidity. Due to sediment deposition in the channel, the waterways have lost much of their capacity. Historical attempts by landowners and others to restore the capacity of the channel by removing sediment have had limited success due to additional excess sediment being washed into the channel.
This project will develop a watershed restoration plan that provides quantitative pollutant load reduction estimates and a set of pollutant reduction and watershed management strategies to achieve water quality standards for all impairments within the watershed. It will also an important framework for civic and citizen engagement and communication, which will contribute to long-term public participation in surface water protection and restoration activities throughout the watershed.
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.
Funds used to address water infiltration of museum collections storage by improving exterior drainage.
Water from melting snow and rainfall has been leaking into the museum's agricultural wing artifact storage room and Main Street exhibit gallery due to inadequate drainage and insufficient landscaping on the building's north side.
DNR regional clean water specialists and area hydrologists work with regional staff from other state agencies and with local partners to help identify the causes of pollution problems and determine the best strategies for fixing them. We collect and analyze stream channel stability and streambank erosion data to help identify root causes of certain water quality impairments in streams.
The Watershed Health Assessment Framework (WHAF) is a web-based tool for resource managers and others interested in the ecological health of Minnesota's watersheds. The framework uses five ecological components to organize and deliver information about watershed health conditions in Minnesota. The five components are hydrology, connectivity, biology, geomorphology, and water quality. Statewide GIS data from DNR and partner agencies are used to calculate health scores that reveal similarities and differences between watersheds.
