Water Resources Center Go to the U of M home pageOne Stop MyU : For Students, Faculty, and Staff The Water Resources Center is a unit of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and University of Minnesota Extension. Water Resources Center | 173 McNeal Hall | 1985 Buford Avenue | St. Paul, MN 55108 612-624-9282 | umwrc@umn.edu Minnegram Fall 2018 Director's Corner a message from Director Jeff Peterson Features Water conference showcases soil health, social attitudes and indigenous traditional knowledge against the backdrop of the Water Resources Research Act The 2018 Minnesota Water Resources Conference returns October 15-16 to the St. Paul RiverCentre. The annual conference presents innovative water resource engineering solutions, management techniques, and current research. This year’s conference plenary speakers will address the impact of the Water Resources Research Act through the work of nationwide network of water centers, how social attitudes and behavior affect the environment, how healthy soil is essential to a healthy planet and the role of indigenous traditional knowledge in informing mainstream environmental science. Climate Change Adaptation conference to feature author Mark Hertsgaard By Shahram Missaghi The fourth Minnesota Climate Adaptation Conference will be held on Wednesday, November 14, 2018. The conference is organized by the Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership (MCAP) and sponsored by the University of Minnesota Water Resources Center. The 2018 conference will be held at the Continuing Education and Conference Center on the St. Paul Campus of the University of Minnesota, and will focus on “Climate Adaptation: Past, Present, Future, Together.” The conference will offer opportunities for participants to learn about adaptation strategies for cities, tribal communities, transportation, natural resources, human health, and agriculture. WRC unveils new strategic plan by Joel Larson The Water Resources Center staff and leadership are proud to introduce our strategic plato guide our work and collaborations over the next several years. The purpose of the plan is twofold. For our partners, it communicates the range of work we do and our specific niche at the nexus of water, land, and people. In doing so, we hope to spark conversations about how we can collaborate to address the range of water issues facing the state. For our staff, it provides a framework for their programs and activities and serves a guide for planning our work across the spectrum of research, education, outreach, training, and Extension. Conservation on the ground: planning at the sub-watershed scale By Ann Lewandowski Ann Lewandowski of the Water Resources Center and partners at the University of Wisconsin, Purdue University, and the North Central Region Water Network are developing training and support resources for users of the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF). On the water; near the water. Placed-based Extension water education programs By John Bilotta and Karen Terry What happens on the landscape (i.e., land use practices) impacts the quality and quantity of our water resources. Given this relationship, water resource education and training that provides experiences both on the land and on the water are impactful and memorable. The opportunity for participants to use all five of their senses during educational experiences strongly imprints messages and connects knowledge to potential actions or changes in behavior. News Fall 2018 Community News Fall 2018 Student News Fall 2018 Resources and Publications Fall 2018 Upcoming Events Fall 2018 CrossCurrents-Links to other water-based websites © 2020 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. Privacy Statement Report Web Disability-Related Issue Home About Us Our Work Training News/Events Publications Extension Water Resources WRS Graduate Program Water Topics Water Resources Center Go to the U of M home pageOne Stop MyU : For Students, Faculty, and Staff The Water Resources Center is a unit of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and University of Minnesota Extension. Water Resources Center | 173 McNeal Hall | 1985 Buford Avenue | St. Paul, MN 55108 612-624-9282 | umwrc@umn.edu Climate Change Adaptation conference to feature author Mark Hertsgaard by Shahram Missaghi The Minnesota Climate Adaptation Conference will be held on Wednesday, November 14, 2018. The conference is organized by the Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership (MCAP) and sponsored by the University of Minnesota Water Resources Center. The 2018 conference will be held at the Continuing Education and Conference Center on the St. Paul Campus of the University of Minnesota, and will focus on “Climate Adaptation: Past, Present, Future, Together.” The conference will offer opportunities for participants to learn about adaptation strategies for cities, tribal communities, transportation, natural resources, human health, and agriculture. Much is planned for the 2018 one day conference, starting with the opening remarks and welcoming by Jeff Peterson, Director of Water Resources Center, and a three speaker-panel led by Kenny Blumberg, the Senior Climatologist at Minnesota State Climate Office. The conference will follow with more than 25 oral presentations around timely topic areas such as human dimension, social issues, communications, and Tribal Nations, natural resources and infrastructure adaptations strategies. The conference keynote speaker is Mark Hertsgaard, author of “HOT: Living through the next fifty years in Earth”, with Minnesota’s own Mark Seeley as luncheon moderator and presenting the Climate Adaptation Awards. MCAP has designed these awards to recognize and celebrate leadership, education, research, policies, or practices that develop, advance, or implement climate adaptation strategies in Minnesota. Nominations are now open for the 2018 Minnesota Climate Adaptation Awards, so go ahead and submit a name. See the above conference’s link for additional information and instructions. Since 2013, the Minnesota Climate Adaptation Conference (MCAC) has worked to bring local officials, planners, engineers, natural resource practitioners, and all those working in climate adaption together to learn about each other’s successes in developing adaptation strategies. The first conference focused on Preparing Minnesota for Climate Change, with presentations on the current status of climate change in Minnesota and the potential climate changes between now and 2050. More than 250 people attended the second MCAC in 2014 to learn about the effect of climate change on weather events and its impacts on recreation, tourism, watershed management, and agriculture. Transforming Awareness into Action was the 2016 conference’s theme, with a special focus on perspectives on supply chain challenges, facilities management, product development, and marketing under a changing climate. These efforts will continue in the 2018 conference. Participants will hear and share about climate adaptation and learn about and from the recent national, regional, and local strategies. With two months until the conference, this is the time to reserve a spot by registering for the conference. Join local officials, planners, engineers, natural resource practitioners, and all those working in climate adaptation to better prepare Minnesota for climate change. © 2020 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. Privacy Statement Report Web Disability-Related Issue Home About Us Our Work Training News/Events Publications Extension Water Resources WRS Graduate Program Water Topics Water Resources Center Go to the U of M home pageOne Stop MyU : For Students, Faculty, and Staff The Water Resources Center is a unit of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and University of Minnesota Extension. Water Resources Center | 173 McNeal Hall | 1985 Buford Avenue | St. Paul, MN 55108 612-624-9282 | umwrc@umn.edu Conference showcases soil health, social attitudes and indigenous traditional knowledge against the backdrop of the Water Resources Research Act The 2018 Minnesota Water Resources Conference returns October 16-17 to the St. Paul RiverCentre. The annual conference presents innovative water resource engineering solutions, management techniques, and current research. This year’s conference plenary speakers will address the impact of the Water Resources Research Act through the work of nationwide network of water centers, how social attitudes and behavior affect the environment, how healthy soil is essential to a healthy planet and the role of indigenous traditional knowledge in informing mainstream environmental science. Concurrent sessions throughout the day will offer information on engineering projects, water research, best practices in design and application of water resource management methods, water policy and emerging issues. There will be a poster session on the first day of the conference and industry vendors will again staff exhibits throughout both days. Plenary speakers are: Earl Greene, Director, Water Resources Research Act Program, U.S. Geological Survey Water Science Direction and Perspectives of the Water Resources Research Act Program and Water Mission Area, US Geological Survey Earl Greene is a hydrologist providing science support to the Chief Scientist for Water and the Associate Director for Water on National Research Program issues since 2005. Greene began his federal career with the Research Branch of the US Forest Service in 1983 and moved to the USGS South Dakota Water District Office as a Research Hydrologist and Project Chief in 1986. From 1995 to 1998 he worked with the National Research Program, with a focus on modeling flow and transport of water in karst and fractured rock terrain. From 1998 to 2005 Greene was the Hydrogeology Section Chief and Groundwater Specialist for the MD-DE-DC Water Science Center. In 2005 he moved to USGS Headquarters staff position in the Office of the Chief Scientist for Hydrology where he provides coordination for hydrologic research and science within the Hydrologic Research and Development program and the Hydrologic and Networks Analysis Program. Amit Pradhananga, Senior Research Associate, Department of Forest Resources, UMN Achieving Clean Water through Relationship Building: A Social Scientist's Water Restoration and Protection Strategy Pradhananga's research focuses on the human and policy dimensions of natural resources in the context of water resource, invasive species, and parks and trails management, climate change adaptation, as well as understanding the drivers and constraints of conservation behavior and the community engagement in natural resource management. He is especially interested in investigating constraints and strategies to engage racial and ethnic community members in natural resource issues. Ray Archuleta, Soil Health Consulting and Soil Health Academy, NRCS (Retired) Soil: The Birthplace of a Healthy Planet Ray Archuleta is a Certified Professional Soil Scientist with the Soil Science Society of America and has over 30 years experience as a Soil Conservationist, Water Quality Specialist, and Conservation Agronomist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). During his tenure with the NRCS Archuleta served in New Mexico, Missouri, Oregon, and North Carolina. After his retirement from the NRCS in 2017, he founded Soil Health Consulting, LLC and Soil Health Academy, LLC to teach Biomimicry strategies and Agroecology principles for improving soil function on a national scale. Archuleta owns and operates a 150-acre farm near Seymour, Missouri Rosalyn LaPier, Associate Professor, Environmental Studies Program, University of Montana Traditional Ecological Knowledge Rosalyn LaPier is an award winning Indigenous writer and ethnobotanist with a BA in physics and PhD in environmental history. LaPier studies the intersection of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) learned from elders and the academic study of environmental history. As an activist, her longtime passions include the revitalization of Indigenous languages and traditional ecological knowledge. LaPier is working on her third book "Plants That Purify: The Natural and Supernatural History of Smudging." She is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana and Métis. The Minnesota Water Resources Conference is sponsored by the Water Resources Center and the College of Continuing & Professional Studies, University of Minnesota, and co-sponsored by the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minnesota Section, American Society of Civil Engineers Minnesota Sea Grant College Program, University of Minnesota and the Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota. © 2020 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. Privacy Statement Report Web Disability-Related Issue Home About Us Our Work Training News/Events Publications Extension Water Resources WRS Graduate Program Water Topics Water Resources Center Go to the U of M home pageOne Stop MyU : For Students, Faculty, and Staff The Water Resources Center is a unit of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and University of Minnesota Extension. Water Resources Center | 173 McNeal Hall | 1985 Buford Avenue | St. Paul, MN 55108 612-624-9282 | umwrc@umn.edu Conservation on the ground: planning at the sub-watershed scale Resources are available at the ACPF website: ACPFwatersheds.org By Ann Lewandowski Ann Lewandowski of the Water Resources Center and partners at the University of Wisconsin, Purdue University, and the North Central Region Water Network are developing training and support resources for users of the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF). The Pollution Control Agency and local governments have worked hard over the past decade to develop water resource management strategies for the major watersheds of Minnesota. But the process for implementing those strategies at the smaller sub-watershed scale is less well developed. The ACPF addresses this sub-watershed scale. It is an ArcGIS-based tool giving local governments the ability to quickly analyze terrain, identify high priority sites where conservation efforts should be focused, and locate specific sites where specific conservation practices would be appropriate. This information saves valuable time by making field visits and stakeholder meetings more targeted and effective. The ACPF has been used in many watersheds across Minnesota and throughout the Midwest, and Version 3 was released this summer. In the past, it has been difficult to find training workshops, but now all the support resources are available in one place. At the new website, users can find A complete set of training videos for GIS technicians, The User Guide, and technical discussion forum, The “ACPF in Action map” showing where the ACPF has been applied, and Download links for the ACPF toolbox and databases. In the next year, project collaborators will add guidance for using the ACPF as part of a watershed approach to implementing conservation. The group will present workshops and add online resources to support the field staff who interpret the ACPF output maps and use them with stakeholders to get effective conservation practices on and off the ground. An example of map generated by the ACPF showing opportunities for conservation practices in the Whitewater watershed. © 2020 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. Privacy Statement Report Web Disability-Related Issue Home About Us Our Work Training News/Events Publications Extension Water Resources WRS Graduate Program Water Topics Water Resources Center Go to the U of M home pageOne Stop MyU : For Students, Faculty, and Staff The Water Resources Center is a unit of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and University of Minnesota Extension. Water Resources Center | 173 McNeal Hall | 1985 Buford Avenue | St. Paul, MN 55108 612-624-9282 | umwrc@umn.edu Fall 2018 Community News This year’s MN Wetland Conference a special session at October 16-17 Minnesota Water Resources Conference This day-long special session is being offered at the Minnesota Water Resources Conference in lieu of the stand-alone Minnesota Wetland Conference that has been held over the past 10 years. As with past Minnesota Wetland Conferences, this special session offers participants WDCP continuing education credits. Wetlands in Minnesota’s landscapes provide important functions and values to the public including water quality improvements, floodwater attenuation, wildlife habitat, groundwater recharge, recreational opportunities, and commercial uses, among others. The complex roles of wetlands in the changing landscape continue to be studied and documented. In joining with the Minnesota Water Resources Conference, this special session provides an excellent forum to focus on wetlands subject matter to improve collective wetlands knowledge and increase understanding of how wetlands integrate with water resources management throughout the state. New funding to improve soil management in cold climates The University of Minnesota Water Resources Center was recently awarded a Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to expand soil health research and outreach at Minnesota’s Office for Soil Health. The 885,000 grant will support monitoring of soil health properties across Minnesota, filling a knowledge gap that has hampered effective cold climate soil management. A public database will house soil health measurements and provide a web portal and field events to help farmers and agricultural advisors learn from each other. Details of all CIG awards are available on the USDA website. MNDot and OSTP partner in rest area septic education signs The Onsite Sewage Treatment Program (OSTP) in the WRC has been performing septic system evaluation research at MnDOT safety rest areas. Through this work, researchers identified the rest areas best suited to educate the public about proper septic operation and maintenance. The OSTP team developed an education and outreach signage plan that discourages non-organic waste disposal into MNDot septic systems and educates the public about proper septic system use. OSTP receives additional MnDOT funding Over the last five years, the Onsite Sewage Treatment Program (OSTP), housed in the Water Resources Center, has investigated wastewater treatment at MnDOT safety rest areas and truck stations. Recently OSTP received additional funding to further explore MnDOT’s wastewater treatment. The first project will expand automated field-based verification of groundwater mounding and water levels to estimate the influence of larger wastewater treatment systems on groundwater systems. The second project will evaluate chemicals of emerging concern from five safety rest areas and one land application site. The next objective will characterize and compare the microbial communities among soil treatment areas and unaltered soils from the same site. The last objective will develop a reuse system design along with plans and specifications for truck wash down water at the Arden Hills Truck station for brine production. William Arnold (WRS faculty, CE) received the 2018 AEESP Outstanding Publication Award for his PhD dissertation: Pathways and kinetics of chlorinated ethylene and chlorinated acetylene reaction with Fe (0)particles Environmental Science & Technology, 34, (9), 1794-1805, 2000; doi: 10.1021/es990884q). The award will be presented at the AEESP Annual Meet and Greet in New Orleans, LA, October 1, 2018. Daniel Engstrom (WRS faculty, Earth Sciences) was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Paleolimnology Association (IPA) at a joint conference with the International Association of Limnogeology in Stockholm, Sweden in June of this year. IPA achievement awards are presented every three years based on contributions to the field of paleolimnology and their application to the wider fields of science and societal understanding of environmental change. Engstrom’s research of the source of pollutant loads and the mechanisms of lake repose to human stressors, as well as development of the lead-210 dating method, refined sediment coring equipment, investigating mercury deposition and cycling, siltation of waterways and the eutrophication of lakes. Karen Gran (WRS faculty, Earth and Environmental Sciences, UMD) Noah Finnegan, Andrea L. Johnson (WRS student), Patrick Belmont, Chad Wittkop, Tammy Rittenour won the Kirk Bryan Award for Research Excellence from the Quaternary Geology & Geomorphology Division of the Geological Society of America for their paper: Landscape evolution, valley excavation, and terrace development following abrupt base-level fall. The research award is given annually to a "published paper of distinction advancing the science of geomorphology or some related field, such as [Pleistocene] Quaternary geology." The paper details landscape evolution in the Le Sueur River in south-central Minnesota, and couples terrace data with numerical modeling to determine a pre-EuroAmerica settlement sediment load associated with valley widening and incision. John Gulliver (WRS faculty, CE) gave five invited presentations to local entities on stormwater ponds that become a source of phosphorus pollution: the Minnesota Erosion Control Association Annual Conference, the Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission, the Shingle Creek & West Mississippi Watershed Management Commission, a MnDOT Lunch seminar and the Minnesota Cities Stormwater Coalition. © 2020 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. Privacy Statement Report Web Disability-Related Issue Home About Us Our Work Training News/Events Publications Extension Water Resources WRS Graduate Program Water Topics Water Resources Center Go to the U of M home pageOne Stop MyU : For Students, Faculty, and Staff The Water Resources Center is a unit of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and University of Minnesota Extension. Water Resources Center | 173 McNeal Hall | 1985 Buford Avenue | St. Paul, MN 55108 612-624-9282 | umwrc@umn.edu Fall 2018 CrossCurrents-Links to other water-based websites Minnesota USGS Water Science Center Your source for water-resource information collected and interpreted by the U.S. Geological Survey in Minnesota. Minnesota Sea Grant Promotes the best and most current science regarding Lake Superior and inland lakes to resource users, managers, and policy-makers Natural Resources Research Institute Center for Water and the Environment Find out how the Center promotes private sector development, while protecting Minnesota's environment. Extension Water Resources Learn more about Extension stormwater, watershed and shoreland education programs,as well as NEMO (Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials.) Minnesota Water Research Digital Library MNWRL is a growing, searchable inventory of current Minnesota-focused publications on all types of water research topics, including peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed literature Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's Waterfront Bulletin This monthly bulletin features updates on impaired waters, watershed project funding, and activities related to water restoration and protection throughout Minnesota. © 2020 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. Privacy Statement Report Web Disability-Related Issue Home About Us Our Work Training News/Events Publications Extension Water Resources WRS Graduate Program Water Topics Water Resources Center Go to the U of M home pageOne Stop MyU : For Students, Faculty, and Staff The Water Resources Center is a unit of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and University of Minnesota Extension. Water Resources Center | 173 McNeal Hall | 1985 Buford Avenue | St. Paul, MN 55108 612-624-9282 | umwrc@umn.edu Fall 2018 Resources and Publications PFOA and PFOS are Generated from Zwitterionic and Cationic Precursor Compounds During Water Disinfection with Chlorine or Ozone Xiao, F., R. A. Hanson, S. A. Golovko, M.Y. Golovko and W. A. Arnold Environmental Science & Technology pp 382–388 2018 American Chemical Society The results of this study may provide important insight into the degradation mechanisms of FAs and FSs and shed light on their contribution to the secondary formation of PFOA and PFOS in natural and engineered systems. Metapopulation stability in branching river networks Terui, A., N. Ishiyama, H.Urabe, S. Ono, J. C. Finlay and F. Nakamura Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2018 Metapopulation stability is a critical ecological property. Although ecosystem size has been considered as a fundamental driver of metapopulation stability, current theories developed in simplified landscapes may not be appropriate for complex branching ecosystems, such as rivers. Here, we show that a scale-independent characteristic of fractal river networks, branching complexity (measured as branching probability), stabilizes watershed metapopulations. Bioavailability of Dissolved Organic Phosphorus in Temperate Lakes Thompson, S.K. and J. B. Cotner Frontiers in Environmental Science 2018 Freshwater aquatic systems are biogeochemical hotspots, with heterotrophic bacteria rapidly cycling the compounds that pass through them. P is a key nutrient that controls primary production in many freshwater ecosystems and is important for understanding eutrophication in lakes. Redox-induced nucleation and growth of goethite on synthetic hematite nanoparticles Voelz, J.L., W. A. Arnold and R. L. Penn American Mineralogist 2018 103 (7): 1021-1029. The iron (oxyhydr)oxides hematite (α-Fe2O3) and goethite (α-FeOOH) are natural and reactive minerals common in soils and sediments, and their adsorption of Fe(II) produces reactive surface sites that facilitate reduction of oxidized environmental pollutants. Agriculture — A river runs through it — The connections between agriculture and water quality Capel, P.D., K. A. McCarthy, R.H. Coupe, K.M. Grey, S. E. Amenumey, N. T. Baker and R.L. Johnson USGS Circular 1433 2018 A summary of a decade of intensive studies in seven agricultural areas across the United States documents how agricultural activities have altered the natural flow of water and the way that agricultural chemicals enter streams and aquifers. In wet areas, artificial drainage quickly moves water and chemicals from the root zone to ditches and streams; in arid areas, excess irrigation transports sediment and chemicals to streams, and can transport chemicals to groundwater. This publication provides a framework based on the pathways water follows—drainflow, fastflow, mixed flow, or slowflow—that can guide policy and management decisions to improve water quality. Multiplex Networks: A framework for studying multi‐process multi‐scale connectivity via coupled‐network theory with an application to river deltas Tejedor, A, A. Longjas, P.Passalacqua, Y. Moreno and E. Foufoula‐Georgiou American Geophysical Union, Geophysical Research Letters 2018 Transport of water, nutrients or energy fluxes in many natural or coupled human‐natural systems occurs along different pathways that often have a wide range of transport timescales and might exchange fluxes with each other dynamically. Description of soil micro-topography and fractional wetted area under runoff using fractal dimensions Garcia-Serrana, M., J.S. Gulliver and J.L. Nieber Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 2018 Understanding the connections between the micro‐topography of a surface and the patterns of shallow overland flow is important to the study of runoff and infiltration processes. In slopes with micro‐topographic features parallel to the flow, water tends to concentrate in channels and only a fraction of the slope contributes to the overland flow. This study aimed to formulate the relevance of the fractal approach for understanding the relation of surface roughness to overland flow patterns. Multiple linear regression models to predict the formation efficiency of triplet excited states of dissolved organic matter in temperate wetlands McCabe, A.J. and W.A. Arnold Limnology and Oceanography June 2018 The source and composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) dictates light absorption in surface waters. Sunlight absorption by chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) forms reactive intermediates and drives global organic carbon processing. © 2020 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. Privacy Statement Report Web Disability-Related Issue Home About Us Our Work Training News/Events Publications Extension Water Resources WRS Graduate Program Water Topics Water Resources Center Go to the U of M home pageOne Stop MyU : For Students, Faculty, and Staff The Water Resources Center is a unit of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and University of Minnesota Extension. Water Resources Center | 173 McNeal Hall | 1985 Buford Avenue | St. Paul, MN 55108 612-624-9282 | umwrc@umn.edu Fall 2018 Student News Minnesota Sea Grant announced that University of Minnesota Duluth Water Resources Science graduate Daniel C. Takaki is a finalist for the John A. Knauss Policy Fellowship from the National Sea Grant College Program. Takaki will spend 2019 working on Great Lakes, ocean and coastal policy issues in Washington, D.C. Nathaniel Baeumler received his MS degree in summer 2018. His thesis was entitled River Nitrogen Loads and Landscape Evapotranspiration as Influenced by Climate and Land Cover Changes in the Midwestern United States. Baeumler was advised by Satish Gupta. Anna Baker received her MS degree in summer 2018. Her thesis was entitled Phosphorus-sediment interactions and their implications for watershed scale phosphorus dynamics in the Le Sueur River Basin. Baker was advised by Jacques Finlay and Karen Gran. Mark Bushinski received his MS degree in summer 2018. He was advised by Bruce Wilson. Erik Bye received his MS degree in summer 2018. His thesis was entitled Chemical Characterization of Soil Organic Matter in a Chesapeake Bay Salt Marsh: Analyzing Microbial and Vegetation Inputs. Bye was advised by Kathryn Schreiner. Ellen Cooney received her MS degree in summer 2018. Her thesis was entitled Extreme Rain Events' Effects on the Biogeochemistry of Lake Superior. Cooney will continue for her Ph.D. and will continue to be advised by Liz Minor. Moji Fakhraee received his Doctoral degree in summer 2018. His dissertation was entitled A New Insight into The Geochemistry of Sulfur in Low Sulfate Environments. Fakhraee was advised by Sergei Katsev. Kara Fitzpatrick received her MS degree in summer 2018. Her thesis was entitled Identifying Linear Relationships between Streamflow Metrics and Benthic Macroinvertebrate Metrics in Minnesota. Fitzpatrick was advised by Joe Magner. Molly Hite received her MS degree in summer 2018. She was advised by Tim LaPara and Paige Novak. Brianna Loeks –Johnson, Seth Thompson and WRS faculty Jim Cotner presented at the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography in Victoria, British Columbia June 10-15, 2018. Jane Mazack received her Doctoral degree in spring semester 2018. Her dissertation was entitled Winter invertebrate dynamics in groundwater-fed streams in southeastern Minnesota, USA. Mazack was advised by Len Ferrington and Bruce Vondracek. Katherine McLellan received her MS degree in spring semester 2018. Her thesis was entitled Nitrate dynamics in an agricultural watershed, Minnesota, U.S.A. McLellan was advised by Joe Magner. Daniel Takaki received his MS degree in summer 2018. His thesis was entitled Enhanced Microbial Sulfate Removal Through a Novel Electrode-Integrated Bioreactor. Takaki was advised by Chanlan Chun. © 2020 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. Privacy Statement Report Web Disability-Related Issue Home About Us Our Work Training News/Events Publications Extension Water Resources WRS Graduate Program Water Topics Water Resources Center Go to the U of M home pageOne Stop MyU : For Students, Faculty, and Staff The Water Resources Center is a unit of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and University of Minnesota Extension. Water Resources Center | 173 McNeal Hall | 1985 Buford Avenue | St. Paul, MN 55108 612-624-9282 | umwrc@umn.edu Fall 2018 Upcoming Events Minnesota Water Resources Conference October 16–17, 2018 Saint Paul RiverCentre North American Lake Management Society Symposium October 30-November 2, 2018 Cincinnati, OH Climate Adaptation Conference November 14, 2018 University of Minnesota Continuing Education and Conference Center Road Salt Symposium February 7, 2019 © 2020 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. Privacy Statement Report Web Disability-Related Issue Home About Us Our Work Training News/Events Publications Extension Water Resources WRS Graduate Program Water Topics Water Resources Center Go to the U of M home pageOne Stop MyU : For Students, Faculty, and Staff The Water Resources Center is a unit of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and University of Minnesota Extension. Water Resources Center | 173 McNeal Hall | 1985 Buford Avenue | St. Paul, MN 55108 612-624-9282 | umwrc@umn.edu On the water; near the water. Placed-based Extension water education programs Aqua Chautauqua participants sampled drinking water from three communities at The Water Bar, stimulating conversations about sources and treatment of drinking water. Park Ranger Dale Cox, National Park Service, talks about what makes the St. Croix a National Wild and Scenic River during the July 2018 NEMO workshop-on-the-water. By John Bilotta and Karen Terry What happens on the landscape (i.e., land use practices) impacts the quality and quantity of our water resources. Given this relationship, water resource education and training that provides experiences both on the land and on the water are impactful and memorable. The opportunity for participants to use all five of their senses during educational experiences strongly imprints messages and connects knowledge to potential actions or changes in behavior. This summer, Extension Educators Karen Terry and John Bilotta co-led multiple programs that accentuate the use of these principles in placed- based interactive education to communicate researched-based information to community members on a variety of scales. Two Aqua Chautauqua programs were offered in the Otter Tail River Watershed: Fergus Falls in June and Detroit Lakes in August. Chautauquas of days-gone-by were traveling shows that set up in rural communities and brought education, arts, history, and culture to citizens. Following that model, Aqua Chautauquas are Extension programs that meld the art, history, culture, and science of water to raise the level of knowledge and depth of conversations about our water resources. Each program has 20+ learning stations, each with a hands-on component to engage participants. Examples include touchscreen watershed maps that visitors can explore, the Water Bar at which guests can sample a flight of drinking water from three different sources, a station on aquatic invasive species to see the distribution of various invaders, a model stream with running water that visitors can manipulate to experiment with the shape of the river channel, and a demonstration by the Sheriff’s Dive Rescue Team. The Fergus Falls program was laid out along the Otter Tail River, with learning stations set up in three city parks connected by a river walk. The Detroit Lakes program was held in Dunton Locks County Park, nestled between two prized lakes in the community. From these vantage points, participants were able to transition from one learning station to the next at their own pace. There were approximately 600 participants at these two events this year. Presenters at the Aqua Chautauquas represented a range of organizations including Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, county soil and water conservation districts, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, county historical societies, local arts organizations, and nonprofit groups. Extension educators from across centers staffed several valuable stations, as well: educators from the Centers for Ag, Food, and Natural Resources, Community Vitality, and Youth Development all had key roles in the success of these events. Learn more about the Detroit Lakes Aqua Chautauqua by visiting the Facebook event page or reading the Detroit Lakes news article. The NEMO St. Croix workshop-on-the-water program provided another unique vantage point for policy and program leaders in the Lower St.Croix watershed. In July, more than 115 local leaders and water resource professionals set sail aboard the Grand Dutchess from Hudson, Wisconsin for an afternoon of learning on the St. Croix River. Our St. Croix - Preserving a Natural, Recreational, and Economic Amenity is one of the workshops-on-the-water delivered through the NEMO Program. NEMO (Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials) is an educational program that brings research-based information to elected and appointed community leaders to better inform their decisions on land use and water management. This effort led in part by Minnesota Extension and Minnesota Sea Grant focused on how land use and water management decisions in and along the river affect the health of the St. Croix. Partnering with multiple local organizations and state agencies, each of the three decks featured unique learning opportunities on timely topics and areas of concern including: Educating for Action – putting stormwater education programs to work for you such as the Extension Stormwater U training series and adopt-a-drain programs through the Metro Watershed Partners. One Watershed, One Plan for the St. Croix – collaborating across jurisdictional boundaries - discovering what’s next to move implementation forward in the basin. Into the Wild – celebrating the unique characteristics of the St. Croix as a National Wild and Scenic River While the evaluations from this year’s program have yet to be summarized, evidence from the previous years indicated that ~90% of participants find great value and learn much from NEMO workshop-on-the-water programs. In all cases, participants note that WOW or workshops-on-the-water greatly enhance their learning experience. Placed-based water education programs, specifically those outdoors, truly provide rich learning environments for Extension program participants to increase their knowledge, share experiences, and discover actions they can take to protect and improve Minnesota’s water resources. In these programs, STEAM or science, technology, engineering, art, and math are integrated into the approaches and content to effectively reach participants with a range of learning styles. © 2020 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. Privacy Statement Report Web Disability-Related Issue Home About Us Our Work Training News/Events Publications Extension Water Resources WRS Graduate Program Water Topics Water Resources Center Go to the U of M home pageOne Stop MyU : For Students, Faculty, and Staff The Water Resources Center is a unit of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and University of Minnesota Extension. Water Resources Center | 173 McNeal Hall | 1985 Buford Avenue | St. Paul, MN 55108 612-624-9282 | umwrc@umn.edu WRC unveils new strategic plan By Joel Larson The Water Resources Center staff and leadership are proud to introduce our strategic plan to guide our work and collaborations over the next several years. The purpose of the plan is twofold. For our partners, it communicates the range of work we do and our specific niche at the nexus of water, land, and people. In doing so, we hope to spark conversations about how we can collaborate to address the range of water issues facing the state. For our staff, it provides a framework for their programs and activities and serves a guide for planning our work across the spectrum of research, education, outreach, training, and Extension. As many of you know, the Center started developing this plan in the fall of 2016. A significant part of the process was gathering input from a range of external stakeholders, University partners, and our own staff. The plan and its content reflect the range of feedback that we received. Based on what we heard, we identified a formal mission for the WRC: “To advance the science of clean water for Minnesotans through innovation, workforce development, and knowledge exchange.” The mission is supported by a foundation of five values: Excellence, creativity, partnership, teamwork, and results. The plan also notes that our current expertise falls into several topic areas, each of which focuses on the intersection of land, water, and people: Urban stormwater Agriculture and rural watershed Decentralized wastewater Groundwater and drinking water Surface water and aquatic ecosystems The remainder of the plan details a series of goals that apply to each of these areas of expertise: Research: Lead and enable innovative problem-driven research, building a trusted knowledge base to inform water resources management in Minnesota and beyond. Convey: Convey results of water-related research in Minnesota and beyond, working in partnership with University of Minnesota faculty and other organizations. Train: Invest in Minnesota’s clean water future by developing the current and next generation of water resources professionals. Connect: Connect diverse stakeholders, including underrepresented voices, to generate new insights across fields of knowledge and enable innovation along the spectrum from research to practice. Communicate: Maximize the impact and visibility of the Water Resources Center across the state and within the University through robust communication. Each goal includes a selection strategies for achieving it, metrics that we will use to measure progress, and programs and projects to highlight our current work. As you read the strategic plan, we hope that you can identify opportunities to collaborate with our partners, both within and outside of the University. The plan is intentionally short and is meant to be a document that our stakeholders and staff can return to as they consider how to advance our goals over the next several years. Our activities and programs will use this document to guide their work, and we hope to work with our partners across the state to build on our strong foundation of technical expertise and community connections. We owe a tremendous thanks to the many people who provided advice and input on the plan, and over the next few months, we will be reaching out to those individuals and groups to review it with them. In the meantime, if you would like to talk about the plan, including how we might work together, please send a note to Jeff Peterson (jmpeter@umn.edu) and Joel Larson (jplarson@umn.edu). We look forward to hearing from you. © 2020 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. Privacy Statement Report Web Disability-Related Issue Home About Us Our Work Training News/Events Publications Extension Water Resources WRS Graduate Program Water Topics