Recognizing the importance of water quality in the thousands of lakes and miles of streams that provide habitat and recreation across the prairie landscape, a public television station in western Minnesota has filmed a segment on MPCA’s citizen water monitoring programs for an upcoming program. Pioneer Public Television in Granite Falls will be including the segment in its popular “Prairie Sportsman” show next January.

Producer Cindy Dorn says she got the idea while browsing featured stories on the MPCA website. She found one about a “fishy surprise” for a citizen lake monitor. It told of a volunteer monitor who noticed a lot of empty beverage cans along the lakeshore. Upon further inspection, she discovered bullhead fry trapped inside the cans.

Cindy contacted MPCA about other possible citizen monitoring story ideas for Prairie Sportsman. On July 26 videographers went to a Hawk Creek monitoring site west of Granite Falls where they interviewed citizen stream monitor Brad Froland, Hawk Creek Watershed Project technician Jordan Austin, and Forrest Peterson of MPCA. They used a drone to capture dramatic aerial video of Hawk Creek meandering among vast fields of corn and soybeans. Next stop was the south shore of Big Kandiyohi Lake southeast of Willmar where they filmed citizen lake monitor David Peterson. At both locations the volunteers were very articulate in describing their work and its important role for water quality. Photo: Brad Froland describes a Secchi tube on camera at a bridge over Hawk Creek east of Granite Falls.

The Prairie Sportsman show dates back to 1991 and became one of the most popular local productions of Pioneer Public Television. After a funding-shortage hiatus in 2016, it received a grant from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund to resume new programming. Founded in 1966, Pioneer Public Television serves southwest and west central Minnesota, northwestern Iowa, eastern South Dakota and southeastern North Dakota. A digital, over-the-air broadcast signal and can also be viewed in western Wisconsin and Twin Cities Metro area through Dish and DirecTV.

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Sharon Day received the 2017 RiverKeeper award bestowed by Clean Up the River Environment (CURE) recognizing her leadership with the Indigenous People's Task Force, and "Nibi Walks." At the “Water, Women, and Democracy” event July 28 at Wegdahl County Park on the banks of the Minnesota River she shared her thoughts during a conversation about creating a Water Ethic Charter for Minnesota. The award comes with a large, ceramic plate inscribed with a verse from the book of Amos: “May justice flow like water and integrity as an unfailing stream.” Photo by Anne Borgendale.

In 2017 Sharon led a group of walkers along the length of the Missouri River in a ceremony known as a Nibi Walk. Nibi is the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) word for water. The 2,460-mile journey began Aug. 1 at the Missouri River Headwaters State Park near Three Forks, MT and ended Sept. 22  in St. Louis.

Water walking is a modern ceremony started in 2003 by Sharon’s mentor, Josephine Mandamin of the Wikwemikong First Nation. It involves women carrying a copper pail of water from the headwaters of a river to its end while praying for the water and praying with the water. By carrying water from the beginning of the river to the end, you presumably are starting with cleaner water, and at the end of the walk, you can show the water at the end what it once was like.

Sharon has led or co-led fourteen water walks including the Chippewa River, Cuyahoga River, James River, Kettle River, Minnehaha Creek, Minnesota River, Mississippi River, Ohio River, Pokemaga Lake, Potomac River, St. Louis River, Seneca Lake, Mother Earth Water Walk (from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Superior), and, the longest river in the United States, the Missouri River. On Aug. 4 Sharon started leading a Nibi Walk along the Wisconsin River.

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Civic engagement and public participation was a major focus during the MPCA's Middle Minnesota River Watershed Approach occurring from 2013 through 2017. The MPCA worked with county and SWCD staff in the watershed, consultants, citizens, and other state agency staff to work on eight projects to promote civic engagement collaboratively in the area. Projects were tailored to local partner interest and capacity. A report is located on the Middle Minnesota River Watershed webpage.

The Middle Minnesota Watershed Civic engagement projects were:

• Minnesota River at Mankato: Stakeholder Identification and Analysis
• Middle Minnesota Watershed Zonation Analysis
• Minneopa and Fort Ridgely Watershed Interpretive Signs
• Middle Minnesota Watershed SWCD WRAPS Strategy
• Middle Minnesota Watershed Renville County WRAPS Strategy
• Middle Minnesota Watershed Nicollet County WRAPS Strategy
• Middle Minnesota Watershed Lakes WRAPS Strategy
• Lake Hallett Civic Engagement Project

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If a lake draw-down project works as intended, Diamond Lake in Kandiyohi County east of Willmar could see a return of some water quality lustre. Instead of draining nutrient-rich water into Diamond Lake, a chain of three nearby shallow lakes will have a draw-down intended to improve their water quality and habitat, and flow reversed away from Diamond. While less than half of Diamond Lake's watershed, the three nearby lakes contribute about 75 percent of the phosphorus load to Diamond.

On Aug. 22 state and local partners behind the project and guests toured the Hubbard, Wheeler, and Schultz lakes management project. It started in 2010 with Ducks Unlimited and Middle Fork Crow River Watershed District. Working with the DNR and local landowners, the project received Outdoor Heritage Funds complemented by funds from the MFCRWD and DU. Three water control structures are installed between the lakes, and a large subsurface pipe provides outflow. Total cost was nearly $800,000. The lakes are expected to reach full draw-down this winter. It will help remove rough fish and improve aquatic plants. Natural recharge will begin next spring. According to the DNR it is the first draw-down project to involve a chain of lakes. Photo: Tour members peer down the access to the subsurface pipe where flow from the three lakes enters a county ditch.

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DNR staff will be near the North Fork of the Crow River Aug. 23 to demonstrate how they measure stream flow and aquifer levels. They will show how the area’s two automated weather stations gather data on precipitation, temperature, wind speed and wind direction, and relative humidity. They will talk about how that data can be used to inform groundwater flow analysis in the Bonanza Valley Groundwater Management Area, which extends roughly from Paynesville northwest to Glenwood.

Enhanced data collection and analysis is one of several key actions outlined in the Bonanza Valley Groundwater Management Area Plan. Anyone interested in learning more about that plan can visit the project web page at www.dnr.state.mn.us/gwmp/area-bv.html.

When: 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 23. Where: Park at the North Fork Wildlife Management Area Parking Lot, near 44697 Johnfield Road, Belgrade, 0.5 miles southeast of Big Grove Lutheran Church on Johnfield Road. The event will be at the bridge east of the parking lot. For more information contact Mark Hauck, DNR Bonanza Valley Groundwater Management Area project manager, 320-223-7846, Mark.Hauck@state.mn.us. Photo: DNR groundwater protection hydrologist Ari Berland demonstrates a groundwater model at the Kandiyohi County fair.

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Farmers in the Cedar River Watershed gathered Aug. 17 at the Justin Krell farm to learn from local experts how maximizing soil health can economically benefit their operations while protecting water quality. The Cedar River Watershed Partnership organized the event for dozens of farmers in the watershed and surrounding region at the Krell farm near Blooming Prairie, the upper part of the Cedar River Watershed. CRWP photo: Justin Krell speaking to group.

Aimed at increasing farmers’ knowledge of soil health practices, particularly tillage and cover crops, the field day focused on the costs and benefits of adopting different land-management practices that improve the soil, water and economic health of farms. Local agricultural retailer Central Farm Service (CFS) provided a field demonstration to showcase different tillage methods and the associated profitability, yield, and soil health. Keynote speakers included Bert Strayer, a cover crop expert with La Crosse Seed who shared his deep experience of integrating cover crops into a profitable farm management strategy, and Steve Lawler, a soil scientist with Mower County Soil & Water Conservation District (Mower SWCD) who demonstrated how healthy soil can help with water retention and mitigate intense rain events.

The partnership shared with farmers how to increase agricultural productivity and profit while also protecting and improving local water resources through a panel discussion moderated by Hormel Foods. Partners encouraged farmers in the watershed to contact and work with partners like CFS, the Mower SWCD, and Land O’Lakes SUSTAIN to pursue information, services and resources that help them adopt practices that are the most effective and practical for their operation. - CRWD news release

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