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September 2018
The
Basin Alliance for the Lower Mississippi in Minnesota (BALMM) will meet
Wednesday, Sept. 19, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, 18 Wood Lake Drive
S.E., in Rochester.
Agenda
as follows:
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9 a.m.: “Saturated buffers as a strategy for N abatement in tile drainage” – David Legvold, farmer and educator; Claire Hinther, guest faculty, St. Olaf College; and Laura Bender, PhD candidate, University of Minnesota
- 10:30 a.m.: Break
- 10:45 a.m.: “2018 Clean Water Accountability Report” – Jeff Risberg and David Miller, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
- Noon: Adjourn
Three researchers will present their findings on “Saturated Buffers as a strategy for N abatement in tile drainage” at the Sept. 19 BALMM meeting. Dave Legvold is an environmental educator, farmer and mentor. Legvold has devoted his life to teaching, learning about, and improving the quality of the environment. He has been working his family farm of 800 acres of rolling land outside of Northfield, Minn., since 1976. Claire Hinther, guest faculty at St. Olaf College in Northfield, has been researching saturated buffers on Legvold’s farm. She has worked in partnership with the Minnesota Dept. of Agriculture, Ellingson Drainage, Ecosystem Services Exchange, and St. Olaf College to amass a significant amount of data to verify the efficacy of various kinds of buffer plantings. Laura Bender, PhD candidate working with Dr. Chris Lenhart of the University of Minnesota on phosphorous abatement in buffers, will discuss a novel approach to methodologies to remove nutrients from agricultural runoff.
At the Sept. 19 BALMM meeting, David
Miller and Jeff Risberg, of MPCA’s Watershed Division, will present a new
online data tool to help track Minnesota’s watershed work: The 2018 Clean Water Accountability Report --
www.pca.state.mn.us/healthier-watersheds.
Instead of a typical report document, starting this year, the report consists
of online data for Minnesota’s major watersheds. The Clean Water Legacy Act
requires the MPCA to report actions taken in Minnesota’s watersheds to meet
water quality goals and outcomes. The MPCA’s first report in 2016 covered eight
WRAPS-approved watersheds. This year’s report provides more data online and
covers all 80 watersheds statewide, including status of WRAPS/TMDLs, wastewater
loading, best management practices, and spending for implementation projects.
The data is easily searchable in a number of ways through an engaging new
webpage, Healthier
watersheds: Tracking the actions taken.
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 Up to $20 million in loans with 0% interest is available for local partners to address non-point source pollution through the Clean Water Partnership program.
Eligible projects include:
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Urban green infrastructure such as rain water reuse, green roofs, porous pavement, or any stormwater best management practice (BMP)
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Buffers: purchase of native seeds and vegetation
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Septic system upgrades and replacements
- Technical assistance, outreach, and education
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Equipment such as conservation tillage equipment
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Any nonpoint source BMP
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Feedlot upgrades and replacement
Project sponsors can use the loans to implement projects directly or to set up a loan fund for landowners and other stakeholders. Government entities may apply to the MPCA at any time.
See the program webpage for more information, or contact:
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- Sept. 15: 10th Annual Cannon River Watershed-Wide Cleanup, 9 a.m.-noon in Northfield (two sites), Faribault, Owatonna, Cannon Falls, Shields Lake, Waterville, Welch, Medford and Red Wing. For more information, visit www.crwp.net/cleanup.
- Sept. 20: Minnesota Erosion Control Assoc. field seminar, New Tech High School, St. Cloud.
- Sept. 20: Friends of the Mississippi hold “An Evening Celebrating the Mississippi River," Minneapolis.
- Oct. 2-3: Nobel Conference: Living soil - a universe underfoot, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter.
- Oct. 16-17: Minnesota Water Resources conference, St. Paul RiverCentre.
- Oct. 29-31: BWSR Academy, Breezy Point Conference Center, Brainerd.
- Nov. 8: Minnesota River Congress, Jackpot Junction (scheduling in process), Morton.
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