Civic engagement and funding sources top the list of topics for the Tuesday, Nov. 15 gathering of the Minnesota-Crow Watershed Professionals Network. It will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Pizza Ranch in Redwood Falls. Scott Kudelka of the MSU Water Resources Center, and Denise Stromme of the MPCA, will offer a definition of civic engagement, and some specific examples. A panel with Board of Water and Soil Resources and project staff will discuss funding sources. Brett Arne of the Pomme de Terre Watershed District will share their experience with intensive watershed monitoring. Other topics include the Blue Thumb program, Minnesota FarmWise, and Discovery Farms. The event will wrap up with informal updates and news from watershed organizations and agencies.
Separate webpage for Watershed Network News
Watershed Network News is now located on separate webage: http://www.pca.state.mn.us/zihyed5.
A discussion of the LeSueur River sediment budget
study is on the agenda for the Nov. 18 policy-technical committee
meeting of the Greater Blue Earth River Basin Alliance
(GBERBA). The report is the culmination of a four-year project to
develop a sediment budget for the LeSueur River watershed.
A sediment budget is a way to measure how much sediment is
added to and removed from a river system. When more material is added than
removed, there is a “surplus” and the river’s banks build up with sediment.
When more is removed than added, there is a “deficit” and the river’s banks
erode. In the case of the Le Sueur, the river has a sediment deficit, its banks
losing much more sediment than it receives from upstream sources.
It provides a
reliable estimate of erosion from a variety of sources, particularly
near channel such as bluffs, banks, and ravines. A link to the study is located on the LeSueur River watershed page of the new Minnesota watersheds webpage of the MPCA. A preview of the report was given at the GBERBA technical committee meeting Sept. 28.
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The Water Resources Center at Minnesota State University Mankato, Clean up
the River Environment, Rural Advantage, and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) are partnering on a different approach for engaging
citizens on water quality issues and creating a stakeholder-driven process with
support from MPCA and partners. This unique collaboration will be
working together in the Le Sueur River Watershed identifying civic leaders to
lead an effort for improving and protecting the health of the river and its
watershed. The idea behind this project is to provide the technical expertise and
resources necessary for these civic leaders to engage the broader community on this important endeavor and work
towards the goal of improving water quality. Ultimately, the local
community will chart the strategy for improving water quality and carry it out
on their terms.
Newspaper subscribers in about two dozen Minnesota River basin
communities are noticing a bright green postcard inserted into their
papers. It tells them about Community Clean Ups for Water Quality, and
invites them to fill out and return the card with information about yard
clean up efforts to reduce phosphorus runoff. Nearly 100,000 postcards
are being distributed in the project, co-sponsored by Friends of the
Minnesota Valley and Freshwater Society, and funded by a 319 grant and
other sources. The card describes what to do, how, and when to collect
leaves and grass, and take it to a compost site. Returned cards will
give homeowners credit for their effort, and help measure the collective
amount of phosphorus pollution reduction. For more information visit
the Community Clean Up webpage. |
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The Land Stewardship Project is looking for an "ag lands solutions specialist" for the Chippewa 10%
Project in western Minnesota. This position will conduct outreach to farmers
and agricultural landowners to help them plan the right mix of conservation
incentives, production practices and market-based farming enterprises and/or
strategies to enhance land stewardship and farm profitability and mitigate
environmental and production risks. For a
full job description, click here.
Minnesota FarmWise, an
innovative program to encourage conservation and protect clean water in the
Minnesota River Valley, has won a $15,000 challenge grant in the Minnesota Idea
Open. The Freshwater Society and the National Park Service will use the grant
to form a farmer-to-farmer mentoring program to encourage practices aimed at
reducing soil erosion and the runoff of fertilizers and pesticides into the
streams and rivers that lead to the Mississippi River. View a video
about the mentoring program. The Minnesota FarmWise program
will identify the most vulnerable areas in the Minnesota River Valley, and work
through existing community relationships to mentor, advise and implement
farmer-proven and farmer-approved water-friendly practices that protect these
critical, high-priority areas. Read the Minnesota Idea Open announcement of the grant.
The Minnesota
Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) will conduct surface water assessments for these
watersheds in early 2012: Crow Wing River, Big Fork River, Mississippi River – Twin Cities, Mississippi River – Winona (Whitewater River), Bois de Sioux River, Mustinka River, Minnesota River – Granite Falls (Yellow Medicine
River and Hawk Creek). To be included in the assessment effort, data must be received by the
MPCA and uploaded to the state’s water quality data management system (EQuIS)
prior to data analysis. Steps involved in data storage for any project can span
more than a month. Information on how to submit data is available on the MPCA website. Data should be provided to the Minnesota EQuIS Team by Nov. 1, 2011.
A USDA study shows that farmers using combinations of
erosion-control and nutrient-management practices on cultivated cropland are
reducing losses of sediment, nitrogen and phosphorous from farm fields and
decreasing the movement of these materials to the Great Lakes and their
associated waterways. The Great Lakes Conservation Effects Assessment Project
(CEAP) study estimates that the use of conservation tillage and other
conservation practices has resulted in a 50 percent decline in sediment
entering rivers and streams, along with 36 and 37 percent declines,
respectively, in phosphorus and nitrogen loading. Read additional information
about the Great
Lakes Conservation Effects Assessment Project study, including the
full report, which was announced Oct. 12. The Minnesota
River basin is included in the Upper Mississippi River CEAP study, which was
released in June, 2010 and is available at this weblink.
EPA's Watershed Academy will hold its 60th free webcast seminar
Thursday, Oct. 27, "Conducting Effective Stormwater Outreach,"by Don
Waye, Nonpoint Source Outreach Coordinator, EPA's Office of Wetlands, Oceans
and Watersheds; Holly Galavotti, Environmental Protection Specialist, EPA's
Office of Water's Water Permit Division; and Kathy Hoppe, Environmental
Specialist, Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Watershed
Management. This webinar will help state and local agencies, municipalities,
watershed groups and others design effective outreach initiatives. It will
showcase EPA's Nonpoint Source (NPS) Outreach Toolbox, which offers a variety
of stormwater TV, radio and print ads and other tools. To register for the
webcast visit
Daily Planet, 10/5/11
Agri-News, 9/29/11
Mankato Free Press, 9/11/11
Watershed Projects
Watershed Districts
Joint Powers Boards and Associations
Citizen/Organizations
Watershed Network News welcomes
news from partners about funding opportunities, project updates and events.
Email your news to forrest.peterson@state.mn.us. Please
note that the MPCA has switched to a new service, called GovDelivery. To ensure
delivery of these messages, please add mpca@public.govdelivery.com
to your address book or safe sender list. Please forward this to any other
interested parties. Past issues are located on the MPCA Minnesota River Basin webpage
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