At the June BALMM meeting, Kevin Kuehner (MDA) and Britt Gangeness (MPCA) introduced draft educational videos, animations and infographics that bring to life the geology and groundwater movement unique to southeast Minnesota. These tools are now ready and available to be used. At the Sept. 16 BALMM meeting, Kuehner will provide an overview of how these tools can be accessed and future plans for training and application. See the MDA Southeast Minnesota Groundwater video series on YouTube, and the MPCA’s karst educational materials on the agency’s website.

The Watershed Health Assessment Framework (WHAF) provides an organized approach for understanding natural resource conditions and challenges, and for identifying opportunities to improve the health and resilience of Minnesota’s watersheds. Recent framework enhancements have been added to aid in the identification of catchments within the 8 HUC watershed which would benefit from detailed channel stability and sediment supply assessments. The presentation at the Sept. 16 BALMM meeting by Nick Proulx and Beth Knudsen, DNR will provide an overview of the WHAF tool as well as the Geomorphic Triage approach and how this will aid in clean water efforts in southeast Minnesota.