Minnesota River Watershed Alliance

January 17, 2012 Meeting Notes

2012-01-19T08:59:00.000-06:00

Location: Ridgewater College, Hutchinson, MN

Facilitator: Audrey Arner

Minutes recorded by Sarina Otaibi

Welcome and Introductions, 7:00 pm

24 Attendees

Committee and Event Updates

Reports from Committees:

i. MN River Paddler Patch Program: This program promotes recreation within the MN River and its tributaries, by awarding paddlers with patches or decals specially designed by an artist chosen by the MRWA. During 2011 summer, the Patch Committee was present for Montevideo’s Fiesta Days, where they attended a tour of Moonstone Farm, kayaked on the Chippewa River and took part in the festivities, including holding an awards ceremony where they gave out patches/decals to those who had successfully paddled stretches of the MN River and/or its tributaries. This year, the program wants to partner with Sauerkraut Days in Henderson, Minnesota, on June 23^rd (Saturday). Two paddles will be offered – one on the Minnesota River and another as a more challenging one on High Island Creek or Rush River. They have been given time to use stage and announcement for announcing people who got patches. There is going to be a meeting about this event in Mankato. Contact Scott Kudelka or Chantill Kahler Royer about helping. (APPROVED)

ii. Cathi Fouchi. National Blueway - State project proposal/profile. It has not been approved yet. The idea of focusing federal funding that they do have towards these areas. Meeting of the partners. For example, Fish and Wildlife people can help with marketing.

1. 50 year anniversary for 2013 summer for designation of State Water Trail. Find out more by contacting Erik Wrede of DNR (see Erik’s email at the end of the meeting notes).

2. Green Corridor planning meeting. Will be compiling the info on Jan 27^th. Projects of note: Completed 193 acre of WMA – Granite Prairie Project. LCCMR grant funding just started this last fall and winter. Tatankabluffs.com, look for green corridor. No webmaster currently.

iii. TMDL Open House – Patrick Moore. The Citizen Led Conversation to learn about and discuss Water Quality Goals for the MN, Blue Earth and Mississippi Rivers on Tuesday, December 6, 2011 in Mankato, MN, was a success. Patrick thanked the fellow citizens who greeted and engaged with all parties who attended the event. The goal was to have 80 people present but 135 people attended the event. Water Quality Standards are a part of the Clean Water Act and they are there to ensure accountability! MRWA supported the event. The Bush Foundation’s InCommons initiative paid for parts of the event. The next Dialogue event is in Owatonna, MN on Feb. 2. You have to register, 50 people signed up so far. Ag leadership dialogue happening, a lot happening. Momentum moving for a collaborative project between all parties.

iv. Coordinating/Steering Committee. Chantill Kahler Royer nominated Megan Ulrich to be on the committee. Patrick Moore stepped down from the committee. (APPROVED)

Announcements:

150 bicyclist want to bike from Montevideo to St. Peter to commemorate the US-Dakota Conflict. They are in the planning stages. Patrick emailed them to find out their details.
The CURE Annual Meeting will take place on Saturday, February 11, 2012.
Be aware that additional US-Dakota Conflict events will be announced in the future.

Selected Priorities for 2012:

MN River Paddler Patch Program (continued program) - This program promotes recreation within the MN River and its tributaries, by awarding paddlers with patches or decals specially designed by an artist chosen by the MRWA. This summer, the Patch Committee was present for Montevideo’s Fiesta Days, where they attended a tour of Moonstone Farm, kayaked on the Chippewa River and took part in the festivities, including holding an awards ceremony where they gave out patches/decals to those who had successfully paddled stretches of the MN River and/or its tributaries.

MN River Documentaries – River Revival (continued and supported) – film focus on large scale collaborations. Statement of willingness to support for the next 12 months? Maybe some shorter stories? Wants more funding for filming. John may ask for assistance.

i. Chippewa 10% project

Mayor’s Fishing Opener (received 19 votes) – There is a need there that we are not capitalizing on. What can we do to foster an ongoing competition or competition between all generations, don’t need expensive boats and guides, but make it family friendly, don’t even need a boat? People and families able to represent your community somehow. Biggest fish and the most fish caught. Connect with the soul of the river (biggest fish, most caught). Could be a month or a week long. Then have a ceremony at the end with a prize to be presented. Mayors come out to represent their community. And/or other categories such as birding. Fishing is a part of our culture so it is a broad based. The fishing can be done on the shoreline. Lots of public places to fish also. Make it during each town’s event all along the river.

i. Celebrate the return of the fish populations in the river. This is a golden opportunity to reverse false information going around about the river.

ii. Minnesota River Fishing events series among the local events held in each of the cities along the river. Bring opportunities and to communicate the agenda that the fish are safe to eat. Opportunity to get communities that are not engaged with the river to get engaged through this series.

iii. Set up an email account for fisher people to send in their photos. Catch it, Click it, Post it. Use Facebook. Minnesota Mayors Fishing Opener. Media event. 1 day.

iv. Incentive component: The town that wins gets the recognition.

v. A lot of details to be fleshed out.

vi. Scott will initiate the conversation by sending out the meeting notes by email.

Focus on America’s Great Outdoors initiative and Blue Ways Program (received 15 votes) - Eric Wrede, MN DNR Water Trail Program Coordinator. The MN River State Water Trail was designated in the 60’s by the State Legislature as a canoeing and boating route. This is the first Water Trails program nation-wide as well as the largest program in the Nation. Water Trails are also known as Blue Ways, especially in the south. Erik has submitted a story on River Revival to the DNR publication, Conservation Volunteer, to be considered for the 2013 publication year. The DNR will decide early 2012. Eric shared that the Department of the Interior has selected the MRWA as “One of the Top 100 Projects in the Country” under the America’s Great Outdoors (AGO) Initiative. The Obama Administration created the AGO Initiative to get people engaged in the natural world. Eric read a portion of the press release from the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar.

i. Offer an endorsement and support. There is a youth and natural resource component.

ii. Create our own listening sessions in our project areas.

iii. Canoe, kayak and hike through newly acquire land; educate ourselves about what is there. Lay the ground work for marketing the Blue Way.

Foster friendship tour (received 5 votes) – style pilot project in the watershed. Convene all parties, talk, monitor, Beaver Creek? MN River Friendship Tour (MRFT) - Patrick Moore, Susie Carlin. The idea for the Friendship Tour began two years ago as an upstream-downstream exchange program with the Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance and farmers on the MN River. In August and September of 2011 the MN River Ag. Water Resources Coalition and the MN River Board went to Lake Pepin and folks from Redwing, MN did a MN River fall farm tour. The MRFT committee held a contest in Jan.-Mar. of 2011, held meetings in St. Peter and Redwing, MN, built relationships and took part in the River Revival documentary. The committee was able to facilitate an explosion of dialogue between Farmers and Environmentalists. Along with the Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance the committee helped to facilitate a County Commissioner Exchange Program. Co. Commissioners from the Redwing area will be visiting Mankato, MN on Nov. 10, 2011. Patrick stressed the value of having and facilitating face-to-face conversations.
Take a stand on the Minnesota Dam Issue (received 5 votes) – Alliance to make a statement or position against the dam staying.
Commemorate the 150^th Anniversary of the US-Dakota Conflict (received 2 votes) - Study, read, and/or talk?

i. Spirit Village – to build the tipi like structures along the river to represent all past people

ii. Acknowledge the Dakota people without mentioning the war

iii. The role of the Alliance is to encourage this idea.

ACTION ITEMS

Note that Sauerkraut Days in Henderson, MN, on your calendars on June 23^rd (Saturday).
Read Scott Kudelka’s MRWA Weekly Update! To sign up for the update go to the Watershed Alliance’s list serve: http://mail.mnsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/mrwa/ or to see past issues: http://mrbdc.mnsu.edu/minnesota-river-weekly-update
Check out mnriver.net at http://mrbdc.mnsu.edu/ and http://www.h2ovideos.com/index.html for MN River documentaries
Check out MN DNR website Water Trails http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/watertrails/index.html

NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, April 17^th, 2012 from 6:00-9:00 pm at Ridgewater College in Hutchinson, MN. Meeting Host: Water Resource Center.

Attended:

Scott Sparlin,
Patrick Moore,
Brad Cobb,
Lee Sundmark,
Peter L. Johnson,
Forrest Peterson,
Ron Bolduan,
Susie Carlin,
Chantill Kahler Royer,
Cathi Fouchi,
Megan Ulrich,
Elliott Schofield,
Jesse Anderson,
John Hickman,
Al Odentahl,
James Wolf,
Kathleen Wolf,
Sarina Otaibi,
Mike Lein,
Gary Lentz,
Jianhina Qium,
Audrey Arner,
Scott Kudelka

Anniversary of the MN River Trail

Brad,

That’s great news, thanks to all the MRWA folks for continuing to be champions for recreation and conservation in the watershed. The Minnesota River was one of the very first Water Trails in the nation. It was legislatively designated as one of the first four “Canoe and Boating Routes” in Minnesota in 1963 (along with the Big Fork, Little Fork and St. Croix Rivers). This designation pre-dated the 1968 federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and to the best of my knowledge was the first designation of rivers in the nation for recreation management. At the national level, I have not heard of any designations of this type that come even close to 50 years.

The 50-year anniversary of what is now called the Minnesota River State Water Trail will be in 2013, but it is never too early to start hyping it up or holding events. As you know, the U.S. Dept. of Interior’s America’s Great Outdoors initiative has suggested potential designation of the upper MN River as a National Blueway (or National Water Trail – the Dept. of Interior is still deciding on the name). Interior asked for a federal agency to serve as the project host, and had a project proposal process and deadline that didn’t allow time for seeking public input on the proposal (insiders say Secretary Salazar is pushing hard on this initiative).

Alice Hanley at USFWS and Cathi Fouchi at DNR took the lead in a recent project profile proposal to Interior laying out very broad conservation and recreation goals, and stressing the need to work closely with local units of government and interest groups in setting priorities and action plans. My sense is that the existing level of partnership and collaboration in the watershed is well beyond what Interior might expect from other projects.

It is possible that we might be able to get Secretary Salazar or his designee to visit Minnesota’s two projects identified by Interior. The Mississippi River project in the cities will most certainly try to get him out in a 24 foot cedar strip canoe with urban kids in the Urban Wilderness Canoe Adventures (UWCA) program. We may want to consider paddling or some other form of recreation for an event – that’s a discussion for later. I have heard that the Secretary likes to fish, and may even appreciate a pre or post-event guided trip without all the news hype.

Separately, the DNR Commissioner is interested in having a paddling event to raise awareness of the Water Trails program, and inviting the Governor is also a possibility. I like your idea of tying in recreation on the water with tours of recent land acquisitions, regardless of whether there are dignitaries present or not. Let’s keep talking about all of these options.

Thanks all!

Erik Wrede

DNR Water Trails Coordinator

(651) 259-5624

www.mndnr.gov/watertrails

January 17, 2012 Meeting Announcement

2012-01-05T08:41:00.000-06:00

Join the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance (Watershed Alliance) for its quarterly meeting on January 17^th (Tuesday) from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Ridgewater College in Hutchinson. This is a great chance for the public to hear what is happening in the Minnesota River Basin.

Those attending the meeting will have a chance to choose a “Clean Up the Minnesota River” project to work on in 2012. In the past years, the Watershed Alliance has strived to enroll critically sensitive land into permanent conservation easements, develop a friendship tour between citizens in the MN River Basin and Lake Pepin, and supported the effort to produce a film documentary on the Minnesota River.

The January quarterly meeting is being sponsored by the Friends of the Minnesota Valley (Friends). This nonprofit organization formed in 1982 to support the Minnesota River Valley National Wildlife Refuge through citizen action and advocacy.

One of the Friends more successful outreach programs is their “Community Cleanups for Water Quality,” which helps individuals, organizations and local governments improve water quality and river aesthetics. The clean-ups keep leaves, dirt and other junk from getting into storm water systems and reduce the amount of excessive phosphorus in the waterways. For more information on Friends, http://www.friendsofmnvalley.org/

This quarterly meeting goes from 6 to 9 p.m. at Ridgewater College (room 141) in Hutchinson. Ridgewater College is located at 2nd Century Avenue SE on the south end of Hutchinson. The Watershed Alliance encourages landowners and recreational users to be part of this effort to improve and protect the Minnesota River Basin.

We begin at 6 p.m. with a social hour and food to give participants time to interact with each other and share stories and concerns about what is happening in their part of the Minnesota River Watershed. At 7 p.m. the formal part of the meeting starts, with the group striving to wrap up all discussion by 9 o’clock.

The Watershed Alliance is an organized network of citizens, public agencies and private organizations dedicated to communicating the benefits of an ecologically healthy Minnesota River Watershed to others and are actively working toward its improvement and protection.

Our goal is to meet four times a year as we strive to communicate what is happening in the Minnesota River Watershed through many formats including the internet and print media.

For more information on the meeting and Watershed Alliance please contact Scott Kudelka at 507-389-2304 or scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu.

Watershed wide, Citizen-Led, Water Quality Conversation Scheduled for Dec. 6th in Mankato

2011-11-14T08:36:00.000-06:00

The public is invited to attend a watershed wide, citizen–led conversation on water quality issues facing the Minnesota, the Blue Earth and Mississippi River south of the Twin Cities to be held on Tuesday December 6 at the Mankato City Center Hotel from 5 to 8 p.m. The event is free, but advanced registration is required.

The conversation is being sponsored by a wide range of grassroots citizen groups, farm groups, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and InCommons. The dialogue comes on the eve of public comment periods for proposed water quality goals for the three rivers. The purpose of the meeting is to explore how citizens, businesses and government can share leadership by collaborating to restore water quality in the Minnesota, Blue Earth and Mississippi Rivers.

The meeting will feature a meal and round table discussions facilitated by InCommons - a community-based initiative that connects Minnesotans to share tools, knowledge and resources to address complicated problems. This past summer, InCommons helped sponsor a series of meetings around the state about the state government shutdown and revenue shortfall.

For this meeting, InCommons was asked by event organizers to connect with “Art of Hosting” trained facilitators to help facilitate “courageous conversations” about proposed water quality goals among farmers and environmentalists, upstreamers and downstreamers, business owners and government agency employees, urban and rural citizens.

“We hope to create a judgment free space where we can experience what it is like to really listen to each other with everybody taking on a piece of the work, based on what the proposed water quality goals are,” said one of the event organizers.

The public is invited to attend. To register for the meal and dialogue call 1-877-269-2873 by November 30, 2011. Seating is available for 80 people on a first come, first served basis. Organizers are expecting a full house, so don’t delay.

November 1, 2011 Meeting Notes

2011-11-04T13:29:00.004-05:00

Thank you to the Land Stewardship Project for hosting this meeting! Thank you to Audrey Arner for facilitating and Megan Ulrich for recording the minutes.

November 1, 2011 Meeting Notes

Location: Ridgewater College, Hutchinson, MN

Facilitator: Audrey Arner
Minutes recorded by Megan Ulrich
Social hour from 6 to 7 pm

I. Welcome and Introductions, 7:00 pm

35 Attendees

II. MN River Paddler Patch Program - James Fett

This program promotes recreation within the MN River and its tributaries, by awarding paddlers with patches or decals specially designed by an artist chosen by the MRWA. This summer, the Patch Committee was present for Montevideo’s Fiesta Days, where they attended a tour of Moonstone Farm, kayaked on the Chippewa River and took part in the festivities, including holding an awards ceremony where they gave out patches/decals to those who had successfully paddled stretches of the MN River and/or its tributaries.

III. MN River Friendship Tour (MRFT) - Patrick Moore, Susie Carlin

The idea for the Friendship Tour began two years ago as an upstream-downstream exchange program with the Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance and farmers on the MN River. In August and September of 2011 the MN River Ag. Water Resources Coalition and the MN River Board went to Lake Pepin and folks from Redwing, MN did a MN River fall farm tour. The MRFT committee held a contest in Jan.-Mar. of 2011, held meetings in St. Peter and Redwing, MN, built relationships and took part in the River Revival documentary. The committee was able to facilitate an explosion of dialogue between Farmers and Environmentalists. Along with the Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance the committee helped to facilitate a County Commissioner Exchange Program. Co. Commissioners from the Redwing area will be visiting Mankato, MN on Nov. 10, 2011. Patrick stressed the value of having and facilitating face-to-face conversations.

IV. River Revival Documentary - John Hickman, Scott Kudelka

The idea to make a movie about the MN River Board originally came from Jim Wulf. The project was taken up by John Hickman and Jon Carlson. Jon is a master film-maker who through his work experience was able to get the support of Ron Schara and his program MN Bound on channel KARE 11. Minnesota State University, Mankato sponsored the project and after 2+ years of work, excerpts from the documentary were aired 4 weeks in a row on Ron Schara’s MN Bound in April and May of 2011. This show is watched by 220,000 viewers each week. On June 12, 2001 River Revival: Working Together for the Minnesota River premiered on KARE 11 and was viewed by 85,000 people. A secondary result of the project resulted in MSU Water resources Center updating their website through funds from the McKnight Foundation and MN State Legacy Funds.

There has been much positive feedback on the documentary due to its optimism and informational content. Because of sponsors, including; Friends of the MN Valley, MN Valley Audubon Chapter and BARR Engineering, there are currently copies available for free to academic institutions or state agencies, to use the documentary for educational purposes. There are about 500 copies for distribution.

Discussion was held on the possibility of running the documentary on KARE 11 again, in the winter months and showing River Revival at the DNR building at the MN State Fair. Scott Kudelka and John Hickman are available to host a showing anywhere in the state. There will be a Feb. showing in New Ulm. Please spread the word and host a showing in your community with one of the free DVDs. The documentary can also be viewed online at: mnriver.net and http://www.h2ovideos.com/index.html.

An additional video that can be viewed on the website http://www.h2ovideos.com/index.html was done for the Natural Resources Conservation Service conference and included agriculture industry.

V. Governor’s Fishing Opener – Lee Sundmark

After extensive research and conversations, with Mankato city staff and Explore MN Tourism and possible planners, it has been discovered that there would need to be a community leader or 2 citizen co-chairs to lead this effort. It would be a massive undertaking with considerable logistical difficulties. It was discussed that perhaps the Alliance should brainstorm and consider holding a similar event that is different and unique but which would require less time and energy while accomplishing the same objectives as the Governor’s Fishing Opener, in order to keep the interest generated from the documentary River Revival. Patrick Moore suggested that we consider re-inventing the Governor’s Opener to include a MN River-wide event, concentrating on a regional focus with simultaneous celebrations and events up and down the MN River. He also noted that lack of hotel space within individual cities along the River is a limiting factor for the Governor’s Opener. Brad Cobb stated that the Committee would re-convene in late-summer/early-fall of 2012.

VI. America’s Great Outdoors - Erik Wrede, MN DNR Water Trail Program Coordinator

The MN River State Water Trail was designated in 1963 by the State Legislature as a canoeing and boating route. This is the first Water Trails program nation-wide as well as the largest program in the Nation. Water Trails are also known as Blue Ways, especially in the southeast. Erik has submitted a story idea on the Minnesota River to the DNR publication, Conservation Volunteer, to be considered for the 2013 publication year. The DNR will decide early 2012. Erik shared that the Department of the Interior has selected the upper Minnesota River watershed as one of the top 100 projects in the country[t1] under the America’s Great Outdoors (AGO) Initiative. The Obama Administration created the AGO Initiative to get people engaged in the natural world. Erik read a portion of the press release from the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar. The report will be released to the public on Thursday, November 3^rd at noon. There will also be a web chat with DOI Sec. Salazar along with the Nov. 3^rd report. The upper Minnesota River watershed was initially proposed as a project to receive this honor to the State of MN by Dennis Frederickson and Cathi Fouchi. Another project, focusing on expanding recreational opportunities at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers in the Twin Cities also received this honor[t2] . There is no money attached with these honors at this time, but it is very possible that technical and/or financial assistance will be provided in the future. Both the Dept. of the Interior and the Minnesota DNR plan to work closely with groups like the MRWA is determining the priorities under this designation.

VII. Asian Carp – Richard Carlson, citizen, Ottertail Co., MN

An Asian Carp Taskforce has been appointed by Gov. Dayton. According to Mr. Carlson there is no one on the task force to represent the MN River, and the taskforce has no plans to protect the Minnesota River from this invasive species. Mr. Carlson shared that the taskforce is researching death pills that are species-specific for Silver and Asian Carp, however this is new research and technology, with field testing being done in 2012, and it is not approved by EPA. There are currently no electric barriers installed, although it is possible that a dormant flood-plain barrier might be a good fit for the MN River. Mr. Carlson seeks MRWA support for a non-governmental entity to represent the MN River on the Governor’s Asian Carp Taskforce. Erik Wrede shared that the planning that the taskforce is doing will be completed this winter in order to take action this spring. Susie Carlin shared that the MN River Board will be meeting on Nov. 21^st at the Sacagawea Lodge in Dakota Co. and that this issue will be added to the Agenda. Audrey Arner suggested that the issue be tabled for the January meeting when the Alliance typically decides its priorities for the year. Tim stated that we need to know the protocol for appointing someone to this taskforce. Patrick Moore suggested Mr. Carlson represent the MN River and general support was given to Mr. Carlson on the issue, although it is unknown if the MRWA has the authority to influence taskforce appointees.

VIII. TMDL Open House – Patrick Moore

Patrick requests the honor of your presence and participation in a Citizen Led Conversation to learn about and discuss Water Quality Goals for the MN, Blue Earth and Mississippi Rivers on Tuesday, December 6, 2011 from 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm. Place to be decided in Mankato, MN. Look for more information to follow in the MRWA weekly newsletter. Please be there to greet fellow citizens and engage in conversation to raise awareness as a society and address the issue of reducing sediment in the MN River by 50% to 60%. The goal is to have 80 people present. Please magnify this work through your local media. Water Quality Standards are a part of the Clean Water Act and they are there to ensure accountability! Audrey shared that this meeting on Dec. 6^th will be an Open House our style: Looking Out 20 Years. Patrick asks you to Be Present, Be Yourself and Engage.

IX. Chippewa 10% Project – George Boody and Terry VanDerPol, Land Stewardship Project (LSP) and Partners

Audrey Arner shared that this project is all about landscape perennialization. Making changes on the land in order to have a positive impact on water quality. George shared a brief history and explanation of the LSP. This project is about working farmland, not ‘set-aside’ lands. Changing land use on working farmland can have multiple benefits for farmers and water quality. The goal is to help the Chippewa River Watershed Project meet its goals for the reduction of Suspended Sediment and Nitrogen (Nitrate) in the Chippewa River as well as to improve river habitat and recreational use goals. The project uses voluntary approaches to encourage new farmers or to assist current farmers in converting land from annual, row-crop production into perennial, grazed lands with grass-fed cattle and niche market pork and lamb. The project uses a combination of scientific modeling, economical benefits to producers along with the environmental benefits of land-use, land-cover changes. The LSP is involved in outreach events, workshops and forums and the team includes a 12-farmer Advisory Committee and an Economist. Economic case studies are being done and the work includes risk management. Suggestions are welcome for the farmer Advisory Committee. Please see the Chippewa 10% Project hand-out for more information at http://mavdisk.mnsu.edu/kudels/chippewa10%project.pdf.

MRWA was asked to brainstorm some ideas for support and ideas, specifically;

· Who should we (LSP Chippewa 10% Project) be talking to?

· Ideas for speakers

13 ideas were given to LSP at the meeting.

ACTION ITEMS

Read Scott Kudelka’s MRWA Weekly Update! To sign up for the update go to the Watershed Alliance’s list serve: http://mail.mnsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/mrwa/ or to see past issues: http://mrbdc.mnsu.edu/minnesota-river-weekly-update
Check out mnriver.net at http://mrbdc.mnsu.edu/ and http://www.h2ovideos.com/index.html for MN River documentaries
Check out MN DNR website Water Trails http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/watertrails/index.html
Tune into the Nov. 3^rd Web Cast with Sec, of Interior, Ken Salazar
Attend the TMDL Meeting on Dec. 6^th in Mankato
Show River Revival: Working Together for the Minnesota River in your Communities!
Let local educators and state agencies know about the fabulous resource that River Revival is!
Attend the Annual Friends of the MN Valley Meeting on Nov. 16^th at the MN Valley Country Club
Consider MRWA priorities for 2012. Have proposals ready for January!

NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, January 17^th, 2012 from 6:00-9:00 pm at Ridgewater College in Hutchinson, MN. Meeting Host: Friends of the MN Valley

Attended:

Brad Cobb,
Al Odenthal,
John Hickman,
Chantill Kahler-Royer,
Ron Bolduan,
Susie Carlin,
Cathi Fouchi,
Josh Schulte,
Tyson Rainey,
Peter L. Johnson,
Terry VanDerPol,
Franz A. Richter,
Jianhua Qian,
Megan Ulrich,
James Fett,
Anne Queenan,
Tom Berg,
Joel Wurscher,
Richard Carlson,
Lee Sundmark,
Dee Czech,
Patrick Moore,
Erik Wrede,
Dwight Swanson,
Jesse Anderson,
Barb Schutte,
Wayne Schulz,
George Boody,
Becca Bell,
Loretta Jaus,
Lansing Shepard,
Jim Wolf,
Kathie Wolf,
Forrest Peterson,
Tim Lies,
Audrey Arner,
Scott Kudelka

November 2011 Meeting announcement

2011-10-06T08:33:00.000-05:00

Join the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance (Watershed Alliance) for its quarterly meeting on November 1^st (Tuesday) from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Ridgewater College in Hutchinson. This is a great chance for the public to hear what is happening in the Minnesota River Basin.

The November quarterly meeting is being sponsored by the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) office in Montevideo. The mission of the LSP is to foster an ethic of stewardship for farmland, to promote sustainable agriculture and to develop sustainable communities.

LSP offers a number of innovative programs including the Farm Beginnings that provides participants a wide range of opportunities to learn firsthand about low-cost, sustainable methods of farming. Other LSP programs involve community based foods and economic development, local community organizing and stewardship science. For more information on LSP, http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/

We begin at 6 p.m. with a social hour to give participants time to interact with each other and share stories and concerns about what is happening in their part of the Minnesota River Watershed. At 7 p.m. the formal part of the meeting starts, with the group striving to wrap up all discussion by 9 o’clock.

Our goal is to meet four times a year as we strive to communicate what is happening in the Minnesota River Watershed through many formats including the internet and print media.

For a ride to Hutchinson contact the following organizations: Coalition for a Clean Minnesota River (CCMR) in New Ulm at 507-359-2346, Friends of the Minnesota Valley (FMV) in Bloomington at 952-881-9055 or Clean Up the River Environment (CURE) in Montevideo at 320-269-2984.

For more information on the meeting and Watershed Alliance please contact Scott Kudelka at 507-389-2304 or scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu.

July 19th, 2011 Meeting Notes

2011-07-22T10:07:00.000-05:00

Welcome and Introductions

The Tatanka Bluffs Corridor Inc. sponsored the July meeting at Gilfillan Estates between Redwood Falls and Morgan. A steak fry and social hour started the evening at 5:00 p.m. thanks to the Redwood Area Beef Producers, Revier Cattle Company, Jackpot Junction Event’s Coordinator, Redwood Area Chamber, Loran Kaardal, the Gilfillan Estate Board and the Tatanka Bluffs Corridor board.

Tonight’s meeting was facilitated by Cathi Fouchi and followed a different type of format than the usual Watershed Alliance gathering. A diverse selection of organizations and individuals made a 5 minute presentation focusing on their past, current and future efforts related to the Minnesota River Watershed activities (conservation, research/development, education, marketing/public relations, cultural history, agriculture, recreation, advocacy, and/or legislative).

Minnesota River Watershed Alliance

The mission of the Watershed Alliance is to serve as an organized network of citizens, public agencies and private groups dedicated to communicating the benefits of an ecologically healthy Minnesota River Watershed to others and are actively working towards its improvement and protection. In February of 2005, close to one hundred people including citizens, nonprofit organizations, recreational users, government agencies, political leaders among others gathered in Hutchinson to hold a comprehensive discussion on the Minnesota River and see what they can accomplish as a larger group.

According to Scott Kudelka, some of their successes include partnering with numerous organizations like the Minnesota Valley Trust, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, SWCDs and others to leverage funding to purchase permanent conservation easements in the basin. We worked with a large group to put on the Minnesota River Summit in 2007 for an extended conversion on the Minnesota River Basin, launched the MN River Paddler Program, provided ongoing support for the MN River Film Documentary and helped initiate the successful MN River Lake Pepin Friendship Tour, along with offering a number of communication initiatives including the MN River Weekly Update and River Talk newsletter.

For more information: http://watershedalliance.blogspot.com/

Tatanka Bluffs Corridor

Residents of Renville and Redwood counties formed a nonprofit organization with assistance from the Blandin foundation to build a vibrant, prosperous corridor along this portion of the Minnesota River and fill a gap between Granite Falls and New Ulm. In addition to creating economic stability for the next 20 to 30 years, the vision of Tatanka Bluffs is to protect the natural resources of the Minnesota River Corridor between the Upper Sioux Agency State park and Fort Ridgely State Park along with areas surrounding the counties.

Loran Kaardal offered the main thought behind the formation of this group had to do with the question of how can we, as a community, change this idea that these frontier counties aren’t great places to live and prosper. They want to connect people with their passion and open doors for recreational and economic opportunities. A number of committees that started out under the Tatanka Bluffs Corridor have become their own organizations like the Green Corridor Legacy Program and Minnesota Valley History Center.

For more information: http://www.tatankabluffs.com/

Green Corridor Legacy Program

This citizen-based collaboration is working in the mid section of the Minnesota River Watershed. The overall goal of the Green Corridor Legacy Program is to protect the unique natural resources found in this part of the Minnesota River Watershed and to create an outdoor recreational system (hunting, fishing, and trails) that would support an outdoor recreational economy.

Brad Cobb spoke about the main focus for the group is to purchase land for public use within the mid section of the Minnesota River Watershed. Five times the program has received funding from the Environment and Natural Resource Trust Fund and the Outdoor Heritage Legacy Fund totaling $8 million and will acquire nearly 1,500 acres of land, wetlands, and river shoreline for public hunting and fishing opportunities along with additions to a state park.

For more information: http://www.tatankabluffs.com/about-us/green-corridor/

CURE

The mission of this grassroots, citizen-based, nonprofit organization is to focus on public awareness in the Upper Minnesota River Watershed by taking action to restore and protect its water quality, biological integrity, and natural beauty for all generations. CURE works to achieve this by organizing and inspiring area youth and the general public through trips, tours and direct experiences of the Upper Minnesota River environment.

Josh Preston, board member, told the group that CURE has a two-fold approach. One is to get people outside and reconnect with the environment. The second has to do with the Minnesota River – Lake Pepin Friendship Tours, bringing together farmers, citizens, soil and water professionals and others for a constructive, honest dialogue to discuss what needs to be done to improve water quality and break down barriers between groups. They want to educate people about the environment.

For more information: http://www.curemnriver.org/

Minnesota River Valley National Scenic Byway Alliance

From the South Dakota border at Browns Valley down to Belle Plaine at the lower end of the basin, the Minnesota River National Scenic Byway Alliance promotes the diversity of attractions, communities and recreational opportunities found in the Minnesota River Basin. The Byway focuses on three themes: agricultural, natural history and beauty of the valley, and history and tradition of people who have lived here.

Brad Cobb reported how the Alliance is made up of engaged citizens and stakeholders with a special interest in funding the Byway. This group works to provide the public with tourism opportunities along the scenic highway byway and started to put up exhibits at significant historical and cultural locations.

For more information: http://www.mnrivervalley.com/

Minnesota River Board

Organized in 1995, the Minnesota River Board (MRB) is a joint powers board comprised of 27 counties within the basin. The mission of this organization is to provide leadership, build partnerships, and support existing and new efforts to improve and protect water quality in the Minnesota River Basin. Led by county commissioners, the MRB strives to seek ongoing input from stakeholders across the basin including citizens, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies.

Susie Carlin, program officer, provided a rundown of what has been happening with the MRB including hosting their annual meeting up in Glenwood yesterday and the May meeting in Olivia that featured a tour by Tom Kalahar of the Renville SWCD. The MRB has helped with numerous initiatives over the years and now working on Conservation Marketplace of Minnesota (CMM), adding additional value to the landscape for landowners to pay them for clean water and air, and recreational space. The idea is to put a value on wise land use decisions and reward them for these additional benefits. They were also a co-sponsor of the Friendship Tour, provide technical training for member county staff and offer small program grants and student scholarships.

For more information: http://www.minnesotariver.org/

Minnesota Valley History Learning Center

The Tatanka Bluffs Corridor organization began to see a need for a history learning center that would collect, preserve, and share the rich cultural and natural history of the Minnesota River. This would be first history learning center in Minnesota. Loran Kaardal said the center will be based out of the underused and former Morton High School. A 15-acre gneiss rock outcrop will serve as an adjacent learning station. Partners in this endeavor include the University of Minnesota Bell Museum and Southwest Research and Outreach Center. Kaardal promised the group they will hear more about this project down the road and the first exhibits and events are being planned for next summer.

For more information: http://swroc.cfans.umn.edu/ResearchandOutreach/K-12EducationProfessionalDevelopment/index.htm

Hawk Creek Watershed Project

Established in 1999, this watershed project focuses on implementing best management practices to correct and prevent land use challenges that negatively affect water quality and quantity. After conducting a three-year diagnostic study to identify water-related issues, Hawk Creek Watershed Project has been working with partners across the basin to improve and protect the watershed’s water resources.

Cory Netland, project coordinator, said 2010 turned out to be the biggest year for implementing of BMPs at more than $400,000 in funding. The project is going strong for BMPs, education and water quality monitoring. A total of 19 stream sites are being monitored along with MPCA doing intensive monitoring as part of their major watershed approach. Beaver Creek has seen a major reduction in sediment by 50% which is a result of CREP acres in the watershed consisting of mostly floodplain buffers. They have also been doing a fair amount of lake monitoring to see what is impaired and recently received notice for a 319 grant award for conservation work in the Middle Minnesota River Watershed.

For more information: http://www.hawkcreekwatershed.org/

Minnesota River Film Documentary

The film documentary, “River Revival: Working Together to Save the Minnesota River” is the result of years of dedicated effort and hard work by citizens, organizations, agencies and many more to protect and restore our namesake river – the Minnesota. John Hickman and Jon Carlson of EPIC Media set out two years ago to tell the story of how people have come together to make sure future generations will be able to enjoy the Minnesota River and what it has to offer.

John Hickman offered some background on how this documentary got made, including how it originally didn’t get the support of the Watershed Alliance. Once he secured funding for the documentary, the Watershed Alliance did become supportive. Funding for the project was real diverse which speaks to the heart of this documentary with monies from the private sector, government agencies and nonprofit organizations. According to John, this documentary is all about people working together to clean up the river.

KARE 11 TV aired the documentary on prime time at 6 p.m. on June 12th (Sunday). The Watershed Alliance helped sponsor six viewing parties up and down the Minnesota River. John continues to do showings of the documentary including one scheduled for September 8th at the St. Peter Treaty Center. Minnesota Bound with Ron Schara showed four clips in March and April showing his support for the documentary. Jon and John will be producing a clip on Henderson Hummingbird event for Minnesota Bound in August.

For more information: http://mrbdc.mnsu.edu/

Renville Soil and Water Conservation District

Formed in 1955, the mission of the Renville SWCD is to insure proper management of the county’s soil and water resources. The District has enrolled the largest number of conservation easement acres in both the Reinvest in Minnesota Program (RIM) and the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). Renville SWCD works with a diverse selection of partners including local government units, state and federal agencies along with nonprofit groups like Pheasants Forever to help put conservation practices on the ground.

Jason Beckler, Farm Bill Technician, gave an overview on what Renville County has lost for its natural resources including most of its wetlands. As a result, Renville SWCD is focused on preserving what little is left and creating additional habitat. One of their more successful conservation programs is the Granite Rock Outcrop Project initiated by Tom Kalahar to protect these unique rock outcropping and associated wetlands. Funding was received three times from LCCMR with over 1,500 acres put into permanent easements so far.

The RIM program from BWSR has also been successful along the CRP Riparian Permanent Easement Program that puts in at least a 50-foot buffer on ditches. Jason said landowners seem to like this program and they feel it is a win-win situation because it protects the ditches and offers water quality improvement. Renville SWCD wants to put a 50-foot buffer all the ditches in the county. Tom and Jason are also working on an idea for a new program to make a landscape change by planting of grass for raising beef cattle. A presentation in front of the State Technical Advisory Committee found a lot of support from state agencies and agricultural groups. They have also found success in the Working Lands Initiative Program, with over 400 acres enrolled into CRP.

For more information: http://www.renvilleswcd.com/

Sportsman for Change

This 501c(4) is a grassroots organization with their mission to defend and champion Minnesota’s sportsmen’s rights, hunting, fishing, trapping and habitat issues with Minnesota’s legislators.

Garry Leaf spoke about how the group was one of the main advocates for the passage of the 2008 Legacy Amendment. The group also sponsored the Minnesota Hunting and Fishing Heritage Amendment adopted on November 3, 1998 and calls for the preservation of hunting and fishing. They were also the main force behind the creation of the Lessard-Sams Council that provides a citizen voice in how the amendment funds are spent. The biggest concern for this group is the possible diversion of funds to other unrelated areas.

For more information: http://www.sportsmenforchange.org/

Regional River History Center of New Ulm

The Regional River History and Information Center houses two distinct components. One section of the building contains natural and historical artifacts as well as river related subject displays along with archival pictures and cultural interactions with the region’s several rivers. A unique collection of items can be found at the center revealing numerous stories of how the rivers have made significant influence on the culture in our area of Minnesota.

Ron Bolduan’s goal in life is to teach people about the wonderful world of natural environment. Scott Sparlin got the City of New Ulm to donate the Riverside Park School building to be used as the office for CCMR. The two of them worked together to convert the building’s second room into an exhibit area for all of Ron’s artifacts, photos and other related MN River items to be put on display. Ron is proud of how people can touch these items. The building also serves as the headquarters of the Minnesota River Ranger program, which is nearest and dearest to his heart. Ron likes nothing better than opening up the building to give people a tour.

For more information: http://www.experiencenature.com/

Minnesota River Rangers

The mission of the Minnesota River Ranger Program is to trigger participant’s interest, passion and appreciation for the natural environment they live in. Hands-on activities increases awareness and generate long term value systems. River Ranger focuses primarily, but not exclusively upon youth participation. All young people interested in making a difference are encouraged to join.

Chad Wengert told the audience this is youth based program that gets children and adults out in the natural environment and enjoy what it has to offer. There are three requirements to become an official Minnesota River Ranger: go on a field trip, participate in projects at the New Ulm Library and help out with a river cleanup. You will receive a button and t-shirt. The program started last August with a hike on the Cottonwood River and they have expanded with trips to the Gneiss SNA, Minneopa State Park and Jeffers Petroglyphs along with doing a leaf cleanup in New Ulm. The purpose of the program is to teach kids about the environment and history of the area. This is a free program that relies on all volunteers and donations. Check out their Facebook page and “River Ranger Rachel,” the program’s mascot who gets into all of these predicaments.

For more information: http://www.experiencenature.com/

New Ulm Area Sport Fishermen

Conservation efforts, river clean-ups, and providing fishing opportunities are just a number of focuses by the New Ulm Sport Fishermen club. Formed in 1986, this nonprofit group has assisted in the development and improvement of Clear Lake in Brown County, putting on children-related activities and were founders of the Sportsmen’s Coalition for a Clean Minnesota River (today it is called CCMR – Coalition for a Clean Minnesota River). New Ulm Area Sport Fishermen meet once a month and put on fishing contests and trips.

Tony Miller told the group how he has lived within two blocks of the Minnesota River for most of his life. The New Ulm Area Sport Fishermen promote fishing and fishing events, along with sponsoring projects that increase fish habitat. They work with a variety of groups including 3M River RATS, CCMR, Minnesota River Rangers, etc. In its 25th year, the club has over 200 members.

One of biggest projects the club has been involved with was helping clean up a 68-acres auto salvage yard (tires, metal, fluids, etc.) along the Minnesota River in Belle Plaine that also involved the 3M River RATS and CCMR. The club sponsors river clean-ups each year and hosts an annual Kids Fishing Contest at Riverside Park with over 140 plus young kids coming out and has been changed to August 17th due to high water levels on the Minnesota River.

For more information: http://www.newulmsportfish.org/about_us.htm

Lower Sioux Community / Can sa yapi

Sandee Geshick expressed to the group how their people where the first to inhabit this land well before Minnesota became a state. They have a deep connection with the land and everything that people enjoy related to the natural environment. It is their sacred mission to do everything in their power to protect the land. This is nothing new they have always worked to protect Mother Earth. Honor this land, respect it, give thanks to what we find in nature and always leave something for the future. When they take something, they give a special offering and perform a ceremony as a way to honor Mother Earth and what she provides. To always remember to say a prayer to the creator.

Sandee extends an invitation to all groups to email or call her if there is anything I or my people can do to help as our mission in life is to protect Unci Maka (Mother Earth). To reiterate, our people have been protecting her for centuries and we won't stop. Forward any questions to me at this address – rsgeshick@earthlink.net

For more information: http://www.lowersioux.com/index.html

Minnesota Department of Agriculture

For over a hundred years the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) in one form or another has been assisting farmers in the production of crops and livestock. The mission of MDA is to enhance Minnesota’s quality of life by ensuring the integrity of our food supply, the health of our environment, and the strength of our agricultural economy. MDA concentrates on three general areas of responsibilities – Protecting our food supply; Protecting our natural resources; and Cultivating our agricultural economy.

Brian Williams works for the Pesticide and Fertilizer Management division of MDA out of the Le Sueur area and drives across the Minnesota River at least once a day. MDA has received $8.8 million from the Clean Water Legacy funds to be used for projects ranging from SWAT modeling, sediment and fecal bacteria fingerprinting, targeting BMPs through the use of LiDAR among others. One of the newer programs is the Discovery Farms funded by the Minnesota Agricultural Water Resources Coalition that takes a look at working farms and water quality issues. MDA oversees the monitoring effort.

MDA also has a number of water quality demonstration sites including Highway 90 south of Mankato that has operated for five years with a corn-soybean rotation. This is an offshoot of the Red Top Site in Seven Mile Creek and looking at the effect of BMPs, and University Of Minnesota nutrient management recommendations has on water quality and quantity. They also put out a Fall Nutrient Management newsletter for farmers and co-ops along with hosting an annual Nutrient Conference to be held on February 18, 2012 at Jackpot Junction. Brian said this conference is a good way for farmers and non-farmers to get information on nutrient management issues.

For more information: http://www.mda.state.mn.us/

Conservation Sportsman News / MOHA Board

Conservation Sportsman News is nonpartisan and seeks to inform the public about policies, programs and practices that affect Minnesota’s great outdoors. The Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance (MOHA) is the largest coalition of hunting, fishing, trapping and conservation organizations in the state. The mission of MOHA is to protect and guarantee the right to pursue the time-honored traditions of hunting and fishing, and related activities, for every Minnesota citizen, in perpetuity, through legislative action, public awareness, and education.

Kevin Auslund told the group that major news media ignores conservation issues which is why the Conservation Sportsman News plays an important role in filling this void. One of the major programs the MOHA Board has taken a major interest in is the new DNR Walk-in Access Program. This three-year pilot program has a goal of opening 50,000 acres of private land to public hunting funded by the USDA and DNR. Both North and South Dakota have been successful with similar programs. A total of 3,000 acres have been signed up already with the first year goal of 10,000. The local SWCD offices handle the sign-up.

For more information: http://www.conservationsportsman.org/index.html and http://www.mohahuntfish.org/

University of Minnesota Extension – Water Resources

The goal of the state’s Extension Service is to take the University of Minnesota’s research and education to the people of Minnesota. The Extension Service focuses on the areas of environment, food and agriculture, communities, families and youth.

Karen Terry gave a run-down on the Water Resources group that works together on issues as a team related to water including watersheds, shoreline education, stormwater education and onsite sewage treatment. This group will sit down with organizations and communities to work on issues that deal with water. Programs managed by the group include NEMO and “Linking Land Use to Water Quality.” They will also assistant with using native plants on projects like rain gardens to help improve water quality.

For more information: http://www.extension.umn.edu/environment/water/

Blandin Foundation

The Blandin Foundation is an independent, private foundation based in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. They are guided by a trust established through the will of founder Charles K. Blandin, who passed away in 1958 following distinguished careers in education, publishing and paper-making. This foundation works in three primary areas: grant-making, community leadership development and public policy initiatives.

In March, Tatanka Bluffs received a two-year 100,000 grant from the Blandin Foundation to develop an integrated trail plan for this area of the Minnesota River Valley. They will focus on a couple of primary outcomes including putting youth to work through the Minnesota Conservation Corps. One project will involve rehabilitating a couple of Renville County Parks starting at Skalbekken near the Upper Sioux Agency State Park. This funding will also help with the trail plan to connect Upper Sioux Agency with Fort Ridgely.

For more information: http://www.blandinfoundation.org/, http://www.co.renville.mn.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B6C6E567B-FBA7-48E2-B10F-34D7A7B17863%7D and http://www.conservationcorps.org/

Next Meeting:

• Date is October 18th (Tuesday) with location to be discussed by the coordinating team.

Attended:

• Brad Cobb,
• Loran Kaardal,
• Al Odenthal,
• John Hickman,
• Chantill Kahler-Royer,
• Gary Lentz,
• Ron Bolduan,
• Chad Wengert,
• Lori Wengert,
• Susie Carlin,
• Tom Kalahar,
• Cory Netland,
• Joshua Preston,
• Matt Baumgartner,
• Garry Leaf,
• Sandree Geshick,
• Brian Williams,
• Karen Terry,
• Ed Stone,
• Tony Miller,
• Barb Becker,
• Al Kokesch,
• Kevin Auslund,
• Joel Harmoning,
• Mary Mueller,
• Jason Beckler,
• Cathi Fouchi,
• Scott Kudelka

Upcoming events

2011-04-20T21:44:00.000-05:00

Here are three upcoming MRWA events, in conjunction with Montevideo's Fiesta Days Riverfest Rendezvous Celebration. For more information about Riverfest, visit CURE (Clean Up the River Environment) on the web at http://www.cureriver.org/ or on Facebook... search for "Cure Mnriver".

For updates and more information, please "Like" us on Facebook... search for "Minnesota River Watershed Alliance"

====================
Tour of Moonstone Farm
Friday, June 17 · 3:00pm - 4:30pm
CURE office, 117 South 1st St., Montevideo, Minn.

Audrey Arner has graciously offered to give a tour of Moonstone Farm near Montevideo. If you are interested, meet at the CURE office at 3:00 pm and we will caravan there.

====================
Chippewa River Paddle
Friday, June 17 · 5:00pm - 8:30pm
CURE office, 117 South 1st St., Montevideo, Minn.

Bring the entire family to float the Chippewa River, considered a friendly and relaxing paddle perfect for beginners!

You are invited to meet us at the CURE office in Montevideo at 5:00 pm. Transportation to and from the river will be arranged once participants arrive at the CURE office. If you don't need assistance, just meet us at the put-in point -- Lentz Landing (near the Easy Bean Farm) off of Highway 40 east of Milan. We'll go on a 9.5 mile journey down to Watson Lion’s Club Park on County Road 13 east of Watson.

====================
Minnesota River Paddler Patch Award Presentations
Saturday, June 18 · 12:00pm - 12:30pm
Lagoon Park in Montevideo, Minn.

The Minnesota River Watershed Alliance has created 3 different patches to give out to qualifying individuals who have paddled the Minnesota River and tributaries.

Once a year, we meet to present the Patches to the worthy recipients and this year the presentation ceremony is going to be part of the Fiesta Days Riverfest Rendezvous Celebration in Montevideo Minnesota.

* If you have paddled the entire length of the river; or
* If you have paddled at least 3 tributaries plus a stretch of the Minnesota; or
* If you have paddled all 23 tributaries & three stretches of the Main Stem

Don't know where Lagoon Park is? Click here! http://bit.ly/lagoonpark

January 18, 2011 Meeting Minutes

2011-02-03T10:11:00.000-06:00

Welcome and Introductions

Lee Sundmark of the coordinating team welcomed Lori Anderson of Ridgewater College and thanked them very much for hosting this quarterly meeting. Lee also encouraged the students from Lori’s Environmental Science class to have fun and participate, adding that they belong here as much as anyone else.

As a way to connect what is happening here at the meeting with the environment, the coordinating team will be reading a short message/passage about our relationship with the natural world as the beginning of each meeting. Forrest Peterson read a passage from The Language of Animals by Barry Lopez.

Audrey Arner asked each person to introduce themselves by say their name, where they are from and any affiliations they may want to mention. Each person was asked to keep it brief since we have a packed agenda. Audrey also mentioned the information packets on the Watershed Alliance and MN River Basin that Scott put together for the students to provide some background on what is going on.

The next item on the agenda was a report from each of the four projects the Watershed Alliance worked on during 2010 and one on the recently completed Communication Audit by Jenny Gieseke, a Master’s Student at Minnesota State University Mankato.

Minnesota River - Lake Pepin Friendship Tour

Patrick Moore provided some background on this initiative for the benefit of the students and others new to the Watershed Alliance. This project started with the idea of making connections between the Minnesota River and people living around Lake Pepin to see about helping each other with water quality issues. With the “blessing” of the Watershed Alliance, he began to make contacts with people in Red Wing and once they expressed interest it was off to the Twin Cities to learn about all the environmental groups working on the Lake Pepin issue. MPCA is in the process of completing a TMDL plan for Lake Pepin and everyone has been pointing at the excessive sediment and phosphorus contribution from the Minnesota River.

At around this time, Patrick began to attend meetings sponsored by the Minnesota Agriculture Water Resources Coalition, which was telling farmers to get involved in the TMDL process otherwise the long arm of the law was going to start telling them what they can and cannot do with water quality restrictions. This is where Patrick started a conversation with Warren Formo of the Coalition about collaborating together on connecting people from the two watersheds. In a Watershed Alliance meeting, Audrey came up with the title: “Minnesota River – Lake Pepin Friendship Tour.” They talked to 120 farmers from the Minnesota River Basin with 15 agreeing to go down to Red Wing to learn about the problem of Lake Pepin filling up with sediment.

The goal of the tour was not to let it be science dominated because it makes your eyes glass over but instead to make it conversation-focused. A number of organizations like the Minnesota River Board and Land Stewardship Project all donated time and resources to put on the tour including the Lake Pepin Alliance offering up free rooms. One of the ideas behind the tour was to create a different setting than people were used to. Afterwards a second tour was put on to bring Lake Pepin citizens up into the Minnesota River Basin to learn about farming including drainage, tillage practices, etc. to see what is being done to improve water quality and reduce sediment into the rivers. The group stayed overnight and toured a number of sites including a winery.

Patrick submitted the project to a statewide collaboration contest sponsored by the Bush Foundation InCommons Collaboration Challenge last November. The Minnesota River – Lake Pepin Friendship Tour was one of 200 entries, picked as one of the 20 semi-finalists and then as one of three finalists. At this stage each of the finalists got to make a video of their project to let people vote on which one should win. A videographer hired by the Bush Foundation called up Patrick to say all he needed was a river and a barn to produce the video. Patrick said no and convinced him to go down to Red Wing to interview some of the key participants. The Minnesota River – Lake Pepin Friendship Tour concept won the contest and received $25,000 to continue moving forward. To get the ball rolling the group will be meeting on February 7th and 8th in St. Peter. Now, Patrick is being invited to meetings involving the agricultural organizations like the Soybean Producers to keep the dialogue going between the two groups.

To see the video produced for the contest: http://www.curemnriver.org/

For a summary on the September portion of the Minnesota River – Lake Pepin Friendship Tour” go to http://mavdisk.mnsu.edu/kudels/septemberfriendshiptour.pdf

Minnesota River Film Documentary

John congratulated Patrick, CURE and everyone involved on the Minnesota River – Lake Pepin Friendship Tour saying it was well organized and showed how progress is happening. A brief background on the Documentary project was given by John. The original idea of doing a documentary showing the beauty of the landscape and what is being done to improve water quality was initially proposed by John’s friend Jim Wolf two years ago at a Watershed Alliance meeting as a possible “Clean Up the Minnesota River” focus but wasn’t chosen.

John felt it was a worthy project to pursue along with a web site to help people find the resources needed to improve water quality and get involved in the effort. The Friends of the Minnesota Valley followed by CURE and CCMR all jumped on board to help move the project forward. It was decided by these three nonprofit organizations that an institution like a University needed to be the overall sponsor. Fortunately, the Water Resources Center at Minnesota State University Mankato agreed to be the sponsor for both the documentary and web site. This helped pick up steam for fund raising along with the ace-in-the-hole Jon Carlson, a videographer who as a producer for WCCO TV put Ron Schara on the air. They contacted Ron about the helping out and he agreed saying, “every time I do a talk somewhere I always ask why is that our namesake river – the Minnesota – is the dirtiest.

The McKnight Foundation has provided funding to revise the Minnesota River Basin Data Center web site to become the portal for what is happening in the basin. John ran through a list of people they have interviewed since the last Watershed Alliance meeting including Ron and Lori Bolduan with their River Ranger Program; Lee Sundmark, Al Odenthal, Scott Sparlin and others involved with the High Island Lake Restoration Project; members of the Upper Sioux Tribe; Warren Formo of the Minnesota Agriculture Coalition to get the farmer’s perspective; down in Windom to talk about perennial crops for biofuel production; Dirk Peterson, the new DNR Fisheries Chief and most recently, former Vice President Walter Mondale, who as a senator in 1976 helped sponsor the federal legislation to create the Minnesota River Valley National Wildlife Refuge. They also filmed Gary Lentz and his short-grass prairie restoration project for over 5 hours involving the MN Conservation Corp, DNR, Audrey’s brother with his team of horses and the local high school football team.

Exciting news is that the documentary is scheduled to air on KARE 11 on or around April 22nd as the station’s focus gpt Earth Day. Four weeks before the airing date, Ron Schara will do up to five segments on his show Minnesota Bound to promote the documentary. This is a big deal. KARE 11 will be selling the advertising for the one hour slot allowing us to sell the sponsorships for the program. A major sponsorship will be $50,000 and a secondary $25,000 and opened to anyone who is interested. The sponsorships will pay to finish the documentary and design the web site along with distributing DVDs to schools, libraries, etc. throughout the basin. If enough money is raised there will be viewing parties on the night of the show.

John and Jon Carlson will be at the CURE annual meeting on February 12th in Montevideo and Davanni’s in Bloomington on January 25th doing a presentation on the documentary including four minute video highlights.

To check out the progress of the Minnesota River Film Documentary go to the web site: http://mnriver.org/

Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener

Lee Sundmark explained to the group how there has never been a Fishing Opener held on the Minnesota River. This would be a great way to get people out on the river since many don’t think the fish are safe to eat. Terry Sveine of the New Ulm Chamber of Commerce is willing to submit an application as long as we help with the fundraising and manpower. Originally, the idea was to go for 2012 or 2013 and Lee talked about putting together a pledge form to get the ball rolling. That is before Lee got a hold of Carol Altepeter the Events Coordinator for Explore Minnesota Tourism who said that she needs to meet with us first to explain in detail on what it takes to host a Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener. According to Carol, a lot of people need to be involved in the planning and staging of this event. Carol wants to meet with us in February to do a presentation before she gets busy with the 2011 Fishing Opener. Lee asked for names for those who are interested in setting in on the presentation or to let him know. We would be able to tap resources from all across the basin for both manpower and financial resources. The opener would probably be held in New Ulm as a central location.

Minnesota River Paddler Program

Chantill started out the update by giving some background to the program with its main focus of encouraging people to get out paddling which hopefully translates into them growing to love the rivers and wanting to protect them. There are three different patches/decals: the Tributary (paddle 3 major tributaries and one stretch of the Minnesota River); Extreme (paddle a large selection of tributaries and 3 stretches of the Minnesota River for a total of 23) and the 335 Paddler (paddle the entire length of the Minnesota River which doesn’t have to be done all at once). The initial launch of this program was held on 12th on the Rapidan Dam County Park with a paddle on the Blue Earth River and an afternoon program featuring bands, food from the Dam Store and information booths among other activities. The morning rain shower cut down attendance for the paddle but quit by the time of the bands. Jesse explained how the paddler committee (Chantill, Jesse, James, Joel, Susie and Scott K) are working to continue promoting the program and are looking to hold a second launch this summer with CURE in the upper part of the basin. He asked for help to secure funds and other ideas for the ongoing promotion of the program.

Please send Scott Kudelka at scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu any ideas you may have for promoting the Minnesota River Paddler Program.

Communications Audit/Survey Project

Scott gave a brief rundown on the completed Communication Audit that Jenny Gieseke, a Masters Student in Communication from Minnesota State University Mankato put together for the Watershed Alliance as part of a class project. A total of 38 people filled out the survey with 61% from a government agency (13 identified themselves as a current for former member of the coordinating team). Jenny was hoping to get a larger response from citizens. The Weekly Update and River Talk newsletter were singled out as the primary sources of communication among the group. One of the recommendations called for increasing the presence of the web site. Scott explained how Chantill and Tom are updating the web site on their own time. Hopefully the group will be able to dig into the audit in more detail in the future to see how we can improve our communications.

For the audit: http://mavdisk.mnsu.edu/kudels/watershedalliancecommunicationaudit.pdf

Coordinating Team Membership

Audrey provided the group with some background on being a member of the coordinating team with assistance from some of the members. Being a coordinating team member is pretty low key with the time commitment no big deal. The team helps draft the meeting agenda, assists in some aspects of the meeting, and gets together after the meeting to discuss how it went and how it could improve. Most of the commitment in between meetings is done by email and maybe a phone call. Members of the coordinating team talked about how it is rewarding and find the other members inspiring. Mike Lein expressed interest in being a part of the coordinating team saying he has been attending the Watershed Alliance meetings since the beginning and sees this as a way of getting more involved. The group overwhelming voted Mike onto the coordinating team.

2011 “Clean Up the Minnesota River" Focus

Audrey told the group to look at a list of items generated at the October meeting to pick an issue to focus on in 2011. The four focus areas from 2010 (Paddler Program, Film Documentary, Friendship Tour and Fishing Opener) all have momentum and would be tough to put on a shelf with others related to communication and fundraising activities. We are going to be voting on three of them and this will be a collective statement on what we want to be our guiding light for 2011 – how we fulfill the Watershed Alliance’s mission. Audrey also asked people to keep these three things in mind:

• Can everyone get behind the issue (most likely done on a volunteer basis and with passion)?

• What is the likelihood of success?

• Is there broad reach across the basin?

List of ideas for the 2011 Focus (including ones added at this meeting):

• Minnesota River Paddler Program (*)

• Working Together – Minnesota River Film Documentary (23 votes)

• Minnesota River – Lake Pepin Friendship Tour (*)

• Governor’s Opener (*)

• Alternative Opener (*)

• Improve and diversify Communications – Read North Country (17 votes)

• Focus on Fundraising including Federal, State and Tribal sources (19 votes)

• Minnesota Falls Dam Removal (14 votes)

• Urban Activities to Address Runoff (4 votes)

*It was decided by the group that these initiatives would continue to be move forward on their own.

Each idea was fleshed out on why it should be the Focus for 2011 by the group starting with the Paddler Program. People seemed to be motivated to own the patch or decal to put it on their kayak, canoe or backpack. The first launch seemed to be fairly successful despite the weather with people having a blast and the bands were awesome. Now the idea is to move this event around the basin to focus on other rivers. This year would be focusing on organizing another launch and promoting the program more intensely. The committee always welcomes additional help. Brad informed the group of this Clearwater paddling business on the Mississippi River that is looking to expand by establishing an office in the Minnesota River Valley.

Jim Schafer questioned whether the group should be focusing more on reaching the land user or land owner instead of the broad public saying we need to address this issue of Lake Pepin and how the landscape contributes to water quality issues. It was pointed out that we need to celebrate all the good work and a lot of the paddlers are farmers. We also need to address the urban areas with people living the Cities contributing pollution to our waterways. We need to bring attention to the good work being done in order to encourage others to get involved. Patrick said the paddlers are the people who show up to help and work. They are your volunteers. We need to provide events for these people to get them together. They are good ones to help connect people, the ones who keep the organization alive and moving forward. Another suggestion to help promote the Paddler Program was to partner with the Boy Scouts and other youth groups. It was also brought up that the DNR has a set of canoes available for rent at Upper Sioux Agency State Park. We should also look to Windom which sponsors a national windsurfing championship.

For the Minnesota River documentary, John told the group we need to do as much promotion as possible in order for people to learn about the airing of the documentary and the web site. This is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for those people looking to become involved with improving water quality. More attention will be focused on the Minnesota River Basin and will help get people to join the effort on a long-term basis. There is a need to educate the public on what is going on and provide them with information on what organizations, agencies and others are working on water quality issues. John and Jon Carlson are hoping to interview a couple of more people including Dave Minge and someone from the MET Council to talk about urban pollution contributions.

Speaking for the Friendship Tour, Patrick threw all of his support behind promoting the documentary saying hopefully we get more people to pay attention to what is happening in the basin. Patrick said we can light up the same network that voted for the Lake Pepin video to create some buzz for the April 22nd showing. The Friendship Tour will continue to move forward with the Watershed Alliance as a sponsor but not requiring a lot of energy right now. This project will continue to evolve and the Watershed Alliance will be able to take all the credit and not spend money on it. Everyone (farmers, environmentalists, upstreamers, downstreamers, etc.) will be involved in this phase two of the Friendship Tour.

For the Fishing Opener, Lee said this project will get people down to the river to see what is happening and show how the river has tremendous fishing opportunities and beauty. By getting people down to the river they will start to take ownership and want to improve and protect the resource. There is no big hurry since the 2013 application isn’t due until October. There is plenty of time to do this and taking baby steps is the key to move this forward. By centering it in New Ulm we will be able to draw from many communities and organizations. Brad pointed out that past openers have focused on a specific community or resort where the benefit of the Minnesota River is that the entire basin will be the focus.

Scott Sparlin interjected with some thoughts about thinking outside the box. What if we put on a legislature opener or an alternative opener if we can’t get into the system to host a fishing opener, which will be unbelievably tough? Scott added that he isn’t sure we have the facilities to put one on. Instead, Scott suggested we make our own Minnesota River Opener with the same amount of media, same partners and draw attention from the Governor’s Opener. Reduce the impact on the environment by keeping people fishing here in the basin and hold it the week after the official Governor’s Cup. This doesn’t have to be in competition with the Governor’s Cup. It could be extremely popular – the Fringe Opener. Lee said after the February meeting with Carol Altepeter there will be a clearer picture on how to move forward with this initiative.

A discussion on raising funds for the Watershed Alliance brought forth a number of comments from the group including the goal of becoming more sustainable as an organization. The American Great Outdoor Initiative was thrown as a potential funding idea with Brad telling the group there are no funds designated for this program yet. Scott Sparlin offered that we should be tapping into existing resources like the Legacy Amendment, only we need to have local government unit be a sponsor. Another possibility discussed had to do with approaching the various American Indian Tribes in the basin including Mystic Lake Casino, owned and operated by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community.

The group also examined the upcoming 150th anniversary of the 1862 U.S./Dakota Conflict to be held in August of 2012. Brad told the group that the historical ramification of this event is still being talked about and discussed, although it probably wouldn’t be directed toward water resources. We as a group should still be consciousness of this anniversary. On February 8th the Minnesota Historical Society is holding a meeting at the Upper Sioux Agency State Park to talk about it. Brown County is planning a number of events in 2012.

Patrick Moore told the group it is necessary to add our voice to what is happening with the Minnesota Falls Dam and potentially the removal of this structure. The removal of a dam doesn’t happen often, especially this size and the project is of national interest. There has been concern about removing the dam among some community members in the Granite Falls including the local ethanol plant and golf course. Xcel Energy who owns the dam has presented three options – removal of the dam, selling the dam and its liability to another entity and replacing it with a set of rapids. Patrick suggested we write a letter of support for the ongoing discussion revolving around the dam and avoid picking a side.

Another suggestion had to do with reading the book “North Country: The Making of Minnesota” by Mary Lethert Wingerd as a group. The idea would be to pick a week for people to read the book and get together for a discussion. It’s not that hard to initiate and wouldn’t cost any money. You can get the book at your local library or purchase it from the Minnesota Historical Society. For more information on the book: http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/W/wingerd_north.html

The last item of discussion involved promoting urban conservation activities. Mike Lein said Carver County did an expensive survey a number of years ago that identified women in the household were usually the ones who decided on whether to recycle or not and wanted to be told how to do it. Installing conservation practices is something residents in the cities can do to help improve water quality and something people can get behind. Carver County sold truck loads of rain barrels. Scott Sparlin talked about the Community Cleanups for Water Quality program being very successful but would like to see even more successful. It needs to be expanded throughout the Minnesota River Basin. The program is something that is grass roots and a way for people in urban areas to say they are doing their part. The Watershed Alliance should be involved in this effort.

The main purpose of the January quarterly meeting was to pick the 2011 “Clean Up the Minnesota River” Focus for the group to get behind over the next year. A list of potential projects were reviewed by the group and then presented to be voted on including continuation of the MN River Paddler Program, MN River Documentary, Lake Pepin Friendship Tour and the Governor’s Opener or an “Alternative” Opener along with new initiatives – Improve and Diversify Communications; Focus on Fundraising; Removal of the MN Falls Dam and Urban activities to address runoff. After additional input from the group and a vote for three focus items by everyone it was decided to move forward with the following agenda for 2011:

• As the number 1 vote getter, the group will dedicate its energy over the next three months to promote the airing of the Minnesota River Documentary on or near April 22nd (Earth Day). This is a great opportunity for the Watershed Alliance to be part of a major effort to highlight what is happening in the Minnesota River Basin when it comes to restoration activities and improving water quality.

• Continue promoting the Minnesota River Paddler Program including holding a paddling event in the Upper Minnesota River Basin with CURE this spring.

• The Lake Pepin – Minnesota River Friendship Tour will continue to move forward under the leadership of Patrick Moore and CURE with opportunities for involvement by Watershed Alliance members in the future.

• Governor’s Opener – “Alternative” Opener – Lee Sundmark and the Fishing Opener team will be meeting with Carol Altepeter of Explore Minnesota Tourism sometime in February to discuss what it takes to put on a Governor’s Fishing Opener and will look at the idea of hosting an “Alternative Opener” as a potential option.

• Focus on Fundraising had the second highest vote total and will be an ongoing effort by the Watershed Alliance members to continue paying for quarterly meeting expenses including facilitation, food and mailings.

• Improve and Diversify Communications was third with some ideas bubbling to the surface to move forward with this initiative including establishing a Facebook page and encouraging us to read together the book North Country: The Making of Minnesota by Mary Lethert Wingerd in preparation for the 150th anniversary of the US Dakota Conflict.

• Under the Minnesota Falls Dam Removal effort, the group agreed to write a letter of support for the ongoing community conservation about the possible removal of this concrete structure on the Minnesota River south of Granite Falls by Xcel Energy.

Next Steps

• Chantill volunteered to create a Facebook page for the Watershed Alliance. Chantill and Tom have put together a Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Minnesota-River-Watershed-Alliance/161305960584059

• Lee will set up a date to meet with Carol Altepeter of Explore Minnesota Tourism to discuss holding a Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener

• Scott will talk to Chris Domeier of MN DNR about a letter of support for the removal of the MN Falls Dam

• Al Odenthal and Kerry Wuetherich will put together a draft letter of support for the High Island Lake Restoration Project to be reviewed by the coordinating team.

• A fundraising team will be developed including Brad, Jesse and Lee.

Next Meeting:

• The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for April 19th (3rd Tuesday) starting at 6 p.m. at the Ridgewater College in Hutchinson.

Attended:

• Patrick Moore,

• Al Odenthal,

• Forrest Peterson,

• Franz Albert Richter,

• Qian Jianhua,

• Jesse Anderson,

• Mary Borstad,

• Randy Bullert,

• Rob Collett,

• John Hickman,

• Chantill Kahler-Royer,

• Mike Lein,

• Dale Rebetzke,

• Kristy Rice,

• Jim Schafer,

• Scott Sparlin,

• Lee Sundmark,

• Norma Syverson,

• Julia Ahlers Ness,

• Gary Lentz,

• Soonja Briest,

• Katie Peterson,

• Josh Strate,

• Kerry Wuetherich,

• Marinda Neubarth,

• Amanda Ebert,

• Lori Anderson,

• Brent Fox,

• Audrey Arner,

• Scott Kudelka

Minnesota River Watershed Alliance Communication Survey - please take the survey!

2010-11-12T08:49:00.001-06:00

Please see the previous blog post for some background on the survey.

Survey Instructions:

There are 21 multiple choice questions on the survey. The form can be completed electronically by copying the questions into your word processing software, using the highlight tool on your computer and emailing the document to Jenny Gieseke [jennygieseke (at) gmail (dot) com], or by printing the survey out, circling your answers and scanning and emailing the document back to Jenny. If you cannot submit the document electronically you can mail it to Jenny. In order to complete this project on time, Jenny is requesting that surveys be completed and returned to Jenny by November 15, 2010. All responses will be confidential.

Please return completed surveys to jennygieseke (at) gmail (dot) com or mail to: Jenny Gieseke

40322 541st Ave
New Ulm, MN 56073

1.) What is your affiliation with the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance?

NPO    Government Org     Citizen     Farmer      Other ________

2.) Are you a current member of the Coordinating Team?

Yes   No

3.) Are you a former member of the Coordinating Team?

Yes    No

4.) How long have you been active in The Alliance?

1 year or less         2-3 years          more than 3 years

5.) How many quarterly Alliance meetings have you attended in the past year?

0      1      2      3      4

6.) How did you receive notice of the meetings you attended? Circle all that apply.

Phone call        Personal email           list serv generated email             River Talk

Minnesota River Weekly Update            Web Site          other __________

7.) How many smaller group meetings have you attended in the past year to work on Alliance related projects or issues?

0     1     2     3     4     5    6    7     8     8 +

8.) How did you receive notice of those meetings?

Phone call      Personal email         list serv generated email          River Talk

Minnesota River Weekly Update              Web Site         other ______________

9.) Do you receive the River Talk Newsletter? Do you read it?

Yes No                                                           Yes No

10.) What format would you prefer to see the newsletter in?

Electronic           hard copy              posted on website

11.) What features of River Talk do you enjoy the most? (Circle or highlight all that apply)

Reflections          Organizational Spotlight         What’s Happening

River Ramblings            Water Quality Features

12.) Do you receive the Minnesota River Basin Weekly Updates? Do you read them?

Yes No                                                                                         Yes No

13.) Which features of the weekly updates do you find most useful?

Event notices          job opportunities          environmental article links            other_________

14.) How often do you visit the Alliance website?

Weekly         twice a month        monthly      quarterly         never

15.) Which features of the website do you find most useful?

Meeting notes         meeting announcements       calendar         alliance info

Links             other

16.) How often do you receive list serve generated notices and emails?

Weekly      twice a month         monthly         quarterly       never

17.) How often do you read the notices and emails?

Every time      most of the time      sometimes      rarely     never

18.) How often do you post messages or respond to list serv messages?

Rarely      weekly     twice a month       monthly      quarterly      never

19.) How often do you contact other members of the Alliance in regard to Alliance activities?

Daily     weekly     twice a month     monthly      quarterly     rarely

20.) Which methods do you use most often to contact other alliance members?

Face to face     phone call     personal email         list serv

21.) For each communication channel listed below, please circle or highlight the number that best represents the amount of information you receive now, and the amount of information that you feel need to receive.

Key for Scoring Items: VERY LITTLE = VL (1); LITTLE = L (2); SOME = S (3);
GREAT = G (4); VERY GREAT = VG (5)

Amount of information I receive now             Amount of information I would like to receive

Communication Channel VL L S G VG         VL L S G VG

Face to Face                   1 2 3 4 5                1 2 3 4 5

Phone                              1 2 3 4 5                1 2 3 4 5

Personal Email                 1 2 3 4 5                1 2 3 4 5

Listserv                            1 2 3 4 5                1 2 3 4 5

River Talk                        1 2 3 4 5                1 2 3 4 5

Weekly Update                1 2 3 4 5                1 2 3 4 5

Web site                           1 2 3 4 5                1 2 3 4 5

Watershed Alliance Communication Survey - Background

2010-11-12T08:24:00.000-06:00

Here is some background information on the Communication Survey that the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance is conducting. Please see the next blog post for the survey form.

My name is Jenny Gieseke and I am currently a graduate student at Minnesota State University, Mankato. I am pursuing an MS in Communication Studies, and as part of the coursework for Organizational Communication 512, I am required to complete a communication audit on an organization. I chose the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance for the audit because I thought the voluntary nature of the organization was unique, and I thought the audit would also provide beneficial information to the Alliance. On October 19, 2010, I attended a quarterly meeting of the Alliance, and was given approval by members to complete the audit.

What does a Communication Audit provide?

A communication audit provides an objective picture of what is actually happening in regard to an organization’s communication processes compared to what an organization thinks is happening. It is a diagnostic tool that can be used to pinpoint what is working and what is not working in regard to the communication practices of an organization.

The 21 question survey and instructions are provided in the next blog post. I am requesting that all responses be returned to me by Monday, November 15, 2010. I realize this is a short turn around time and that everyone is busy, but the survey should only take between 5 to 10 minutes to complete. All responses will be treated confidentially. I know how easy it is to just ignore a survey like this, but I'm hoping that the dedication of the Alliance members to improving their organization will prove an exception to the rule.

I will provide a copy of the Audit Report to the Alliance by December 15, 2010.

How will a Communication Audit benefit the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance?

The purpose of this audit is to identify the most commonly utilized channels of communication between Alliance members. The questions chosen for the survey were developed based on input from coordinating team members during a conference call on October 27, 2010. The survey is being sent to all members of the Alliance. Please consider donating 5 to 10 minutes of your time to complete the survey. The reliability of the data collected for the survey is dependent upon a sufficient number of surveys being completed and returned. With enough input from Alliance members, the audit will provide information regarding which channels of communication are successfully utilized, which need additional efforts, and which areas can be eliminated.

Qualifications

I have over 10 years of experience working in the area of Water Resource Management, specifically for the Crow River Organization of Water (CROW) Joint Powers Board. Prior working for the CROW I worked in the area of wetland management in both the private and public sectors. I have a B.S. in Ecology/Environmental Science. My objective in obtaining a MS in Communications is to continue to work in the field of Natural Resources but to focus my efforts in areas such as organizational development and capacity building.

Thank you very much for taking the time to complete the survey, I appreciate your assistance.

Jenny Gieseke

507-276-5119

October 19, 2010 Meeting Notes

2010-11-08T15:58:00.000-06:00

Welcome and Introductions

Brad Cobb of the coordinating team welcomed everyone and joked about our new venue for the quarterly meeting.

Audrey Arner started off the meeting by pointing out the original Watershed Alliance charter and how it continues to help guide our progress and activities. Everyone introduced themselves and provided an example about the nature of the Watershed Alliance or the work it has undertaken. A number of people mentioned the magnitude of the projects that have been pulled off for a non-organization.

Erik Wrede told the group how the Watershed Alliance is one of the first groups mentioned when people talk about organizations engaged in this type of citizen-based effort. He also pointed out how the Minnesota River was one of the first four water trails (originally called canoe and boat trails) designated in the state in the early 1960s.

Announcements

Brad Cobb told the group about the event being planned to honor Senator Dennis Fredrickson legislative and conservation work in the Minnesota River Basin and across the state. According to Brad, Senator Fredrickson has been a key inspirational leader when it comes to water quality and agriculture issues in Minnesota. The event will be on December 16th at the City of Redwood Community Center from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Brad will be providing more information in the future and will draft a letter expressing to the senator oru appreciation for his work on behalf of the Minnesota River. He can be reached at 320-493-4695.

Randy Thoreson of the National Park Service provided a brief summary of the ongoing work to develop a trail plan for the Minnesota River area in Redwood and Renville counties. They have done a lot on the milestone achievement section by pulling together action steps and timeline. One action step will concentrate on working to remove the Minnesota Falls Dam downstream of Granite Falls. Barr Engineering is conducting a study on the dam for Xcel Energy who owns it. Patrick Moore asked Randy if there was a document that came out of the brainstorming session and Randy said there was an overview he could provide.

Susie Carlin reported the Minnesota River Board Meeting is on November 15th (Monday) starting at 9 a.m. at the Sibley County Service Center in Gaylord. For more information call 507-389-5491. One of the presentations at the meeting will be on the Blue Thumb Program, an outreach program to meet water quality goals developed by the Rice Creek Watershed District. For more information on the program: http://bluethumb.org/

Erik Wrede mentioned the promotion of Mike Salmon of the DNR from Area Supervisor to Strategic Leader for the Southern Region DNR Division of Parks & Trails, based out of the regional office in New Ulm. Mike is still interested in what is going on in the Minnesota River Basin.

The document “Conservation in the Middle Minnesota Valley: A Blueprint and Action Plan” for the Green Corridor Project has been completed and can be found on the Tatanka Bluffs web site at: http://tatankabluffs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Conservation%20In%20The%20Middle%20MN%20Valley.pdf

Patrick told the group that CURE has a new list of activities including two River Writers Workshops (November 4th and 8th), the Annual Fall Cleanup (November 7th) and the Annual Meeting (February 12th) featuring John Hickman and Jon Carlson who will talk about making the Minnesota River film documentary. For more information on these events and others go to: http://www.curemnriver.org/events.html

Scott informed the group that Brooke Patterson of the coordinating team and Brown County Planning and Zoning Department is leaving at the end of the month to move out to Oregon. Brooke has been a dedicated member of the Minnesota River Paddler Program and her spirit and hard work will be missed.

Minnesota River - Lake Pepin Friendship Tour

Patrick Moore with assistance from Warren Formo and Susie Carlin gave a report on the two part Minnesota River – Lake Pepin Friendship Tour. Forty-five people took part in the upstream-downstream exchange. How did it happen? Patrick gave credit to Lyndsey Weber (CURE intern), Warren Formo, Susie Carlin and Michael McKay for pulling together to make this tour a success. The dynamics that made this work had to do with who does the talking, who does the messaging. According to Patrick, all of us stood at the edge of a smaller circle and found ourselves in the middle of a larger circle.

A connector was needed and that person turned out to be Lyndsey who grew up on a farm, had communication skills and did TMDL research. She made 160 phone calls to set up this tour. Patrick said the reason for a good turnout had to do with the one-on-one contacts and how Lyndsey practiced her delivery. She had this ability and creditability to get the job done. They also worked with Action Media to have professionally crafted questions. You need to get people to answer questions like what is going right and what is good that you have done. Everyone got to weigh in with the key being transparency, openness and working together.

One of the reasons for this tour being successful had to do with concentrating on citizens and limiting any government or agency involvement along with the Media. Patrick told the group that the media likes conflict and puts things into black and white issues. As a result they didn’t include any media. You need to cultivate and develop messengers who aren’t scientists or government staff. It succeeded because people had a great time. By not using government funds they could buy alcohol, rent hotel rooms, could party, etc.

To help stimulate the conversation they had spouses sit at different tables. All of these tricks were used to get people to talk one on one and also get people to know each other as human beings. Patrick gave credit to the generous farmers of Bruce and Ann Tiffany and Brian and Michelle Hicks for opening up their operation during harvest. The fruits of this exchange is already being seen as people are already connecting. Another key has to do with no one trying to control message and the need to step back to look at it in a non emotional way.

Warren thanked Patrick for pulling all of this together and added that we need to bring together people from differ experiences to restart a different type of conversation. He brought up the speaker this morning from the Water Resources Conference to say we need to get past the hype, past the politics, past the bull to have a meaningful exchange. Susie said it was fun and a great experience working with Patrick, CURE, Warren and others. The neat thing is that people got to spend a solid day together giving them a lot of time for deep discussion. It says a lot of all these people to commit to this effort. Many of the participants have found new leaders to take the message back to others. This was definitely a success.

Now it’s time to let the results mull among people and use it as stepping stone. Susie reported that funding is an issue to continue making progress. We should make this an annual event with different people to keep spreading the word. Warren added that we need to think of doing this on different scales (build bridges between neighbors) a variation on the same theme. Patrick said we bring the power of the Watershed Alliance to move what the farmers want to do. There is a commitment to pull together one more event with the group after the harvest wraps up. We need to look at how to pull the participants into the Watershed Alliance.

For a summary on the September portion of the Minnesota River – Lake Pepin Friendship Tour” go to http://mavdisk.mnsu.edu/kudels/septemberfriendshiptour.pdf

Minnesota River Film Documentary

Scott gave an updated report on what is happening with the documentary and web site. John Hickman was unable to make it tonight due to filming down in the Lake Crystal area. The project did receive $10,000 from the Minnesota Valley Trust for the film documentary. We are hoping the Trust will be able come up with more funding for the project. John Hickman and Jon Carlson have been filming all over the basin including up in the Montevideo area on the Chippewa 10 percent Project (http://chippewa10.org/chippewa10.html), at Minneopa State Park for Ron Bolduan’s River Ranger Program and down in the Lake Crystal to shoot the effort by the MN Valley Trust to expand the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge by the Trust (http://www.mnvalleytrust.org/).

The project also received $60,000 over two years from the McKnight Foundation to update the Minnesota River Basin Data Center to bring more attention to the river and work to inspire the public to continue restoration efforts. More grants are being submitted to secure additional funding for the web site and film documentary. Jim Wolff suggested people promote the web site http://mnriver.org to anyone who might be interested in funding the project.

To check out the progress of the Minnesota River Film Documentary go to the web site: http://mnriver.org/

Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener

Lee Sundmark was unable to make it to the meeting but provided a brief summary of what is going on to Scott. Lee does plan to attend the January meeting. Right now he is working on finding a fiscal agent for collecting donations to put on a fishing opener. Two ideas are the New Ulm Chamber of Commerce and New Ulm Area Sportsmen’s Club. Prior to the January meeting Lee will touch base with Terry Sveine of the Chamber and will put together a pledge form for people to either to donate or volunteer for the event. The figure Lee threw out to put on an opener is $30,000 to $60,000.

Erik Wrede told the group about how he has tried to get the governor out paddling in the 1990s with no luck and he is thinking of trying again. With a new governor coming into the office this is the time to try since they don’t have as packed of a calendar. This might be the time to think about putting together a Governor’s Paddling Opener.

Minnesota River Paddler Program

James Fett gave a brief report on what is happening with the Minnesota River Paddler Program. The committee recently met to come up with ideas for continuing to promote the three patches/decals. At this time the biggest issue is the lack of funds/volunteers. There was enthusiasm by the group to hold a second launch of the program next summer in the Upper Minnesota River Basin with one of CURE’s river events. Patrick said we are welcome to partner with them and suggested we bring up some of the talented bands from the June 12th paddling event.

Promotion Ideas:

• Put it on the Watershed Alliance web site
• Ask the various watershed projects and nonprofit organizations to include it on their web sites.
• Create a Facebook Page (James)
• Produce a video to put on local public TV channels and You-tube
• Stock brochures at the various outdoor retail stores like Scheels, REI and Gander Mountain (Joel)
• Co-sponsor a paddling event with CURE next summer in the Upper Minnesota Basin
• Promote the program at other paddling events – Chippewa River Watershed Project, Redwood Cottonwood Rivers Control Area, Mankato Paddling and Outing Club, etc.
• Create a paddling page on the Watershed Alliance web site – list all the people who received at patch or decal
• Write up articles on paddling for the local media outlets
• Devote the spring issue of River Talk newsletter to paddling and the Paddler Program
• Develop a partnership with DNR for promotion – talk to Erik Wrede of the Water Trail Program
• Put brochures in the area DNR offices
• Talk to John Hickman about including it in the MN River Film Documentary
• Look at selling extra patches/decals to people who have earned the patch as a way to raise funds for promoting the program

Please send Scott Kudelka at scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu any ideas you may have for promoting the Minnesota River Paddler Program.

Communications Audit/Survey Project

Jenny Gieseke, a graduate student at Minnesota State University Mankato attended the meeting to present the idea of conducting a communication audit for the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance. This would be part of a class she is in. Jenny provided a brief background on how she decided to work with us and explained how this audit can be used a diagnostic tool to help us pinpoint what is working and is not working in regard to our communication practices. The group voted to move forward with the audit and charged the coordinating team to help decide what we would like to see with it.

For the full proposal go to: http://mavdisk.mnsu.edu/kudels/communicationauditproposal.pdf

What do we want to be & How we move/act/think?

Audrey broke everyone up into three groups to work on four questions revolving around three questions.

• Question 1 – What do we want to be?

The MRWA should be a group: With a watershed-wide perspective that is passion oriented and action oriented; Works together; Has multiple leaders; The Weekly Update should include more reports and stories about what is going on.

A diverse group – hope it continues, Identify common interests and opportunities for success, All members engaged in something, Many ideas and connections – spread the message, Engage in water policy conversation, Outreach for agencies.

A quasi-organization, Follow the document (Charter) or not?, Multiple items or one project?, Owe resources to former projects? A clearinghouse of MN River Projects – present an idea and look for collaboration. What is an Alliance activity? Is a thumbs up good enough? We rely on volunteers, so trust those champions.

• Question 2 - How will we be funded?

Revolving funding where different organizations take turns providing funding for meetings.

Get re-engaged – look for opportunities – focus on role, Short-term: personal and agency sources which buys time for Long-term: agency funding like PCA and DNR, Results far exceed cost – promote successes and outreach, Paddle Patch connects citizens

How to save money?, Discussion board?, List Serve?, Must pay Audrey and Scott – can give up other expenses, MRB/WRC role?, MRB delegates?

• Question 3 – What is the role of the MN River Board or the Water Resources Center (i.e. fiscal agent, funding provider, etc.)?

Create a structure where everyone is equal (currently exists in Alliance); The MRB/MSU should provide resources; The Alliance could help the Minnesota River Board by reaching out to citizens and county commissioners in an effort to help the Board.

Minnesota River Board maintain as advisory group and WRC as fiscal agent.

• What are the ground rules for authority to raise money using the Watershed Alliance name?

Final thought: Brad Cobb said we need to get reenergized, look at this as an opportunity not as a challenge. We need to find a group or agency to sponsor one of our meetings.

2011 Activities Brainstorm – Continuations & New Possibilities

Audrey had the three groups work on ideas for potential projects in 2011. The decision will be made at the January meeting. For this meeting the group came up with a list of ideas to discuss to further:

• Continue this year’s activities – Paddler Program, Film Documentary, Friendship Tour and Fishing Opener
• Expand Friendship Tour to include cities and maybe a vacation tour for tourism
• Diversify our communication tools.
• Feature use of Norse canoe and Dakota style tipi.
• Prepare now for the 150th Anniversary (2012) of the U.S. / Dakota Conflict.
• Read together: “North Country: The Making of Minnesota” by Mary Lethert Wingerd - http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/W/wingerd_north.html
• Promote the Paddler Program through another “launch” up river.
• Support the MN River Film Documentary and website development.
• Focus on the Minnesota Falls Dam Removal.
• Focus on finding funds to support the Watershed Alliance.
• Use the results of the communication audit.
• Follow up and spin offs from the Lake Pepin Friendship Tour.
• Write some operations grants for funding the Watershed Alliance
• Ask to be written into other organization/partners grants as part of an education component.
• Participate in America’s Great Outdoor Initiative (federal funds and technical support)
• Promote and support urban activities for storm water runoff issues in communities throughout the basin.
• Reference St. Cloud-based Alliance – 3 issues per year (dog poop, rain barrels, catchments, etc.)

Final thought: There is a constant evolution of the original agreement (in which we had said we would select one project per year). We can’t turn our back on the 2010 projects – we need to keep momentum for each of them.

Next Steps

• The Coordinating Team will be deciding on the location and logistics for the next Watershed Alliance meeting – January 18th (3rd Tuesday) including whether to have food or not.

• It was recommended that we ask Lee Sundmark to see about securing a free place for the Watershed Alliance to meet in January.

• Jack Lauer of the MN DNR has offered the meeting room at the New Ulm Regional Office for no charge. The room is tentatively on hold for the January 18th date.

Next Meeting:

• The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for January 18th (3rd Tuesday) starting at 6 p.m. at a new location – the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ office in New Ulm. We will be deciding what issue or issues to focus on for 2011.

Attended:
• Patrick Moore,
• Al Odenthal,
• Jim Wolf,
• Kathleen Wolf,
• Brad Cobb,
• Larry Gunderson,
• Susie Carlin,
• James Fett,
• Warren Formo,
• Forrest Peterson,
• Franz Albert Richter,
• Erik Wrede,
• Randy Thoreson,
• Steven Dubois,
• Paul Nordell,
• Qian Jianhua,
• Jim Klang,
• Jenny Gieseke,
• Audrey Arner,
• Scott Kudelka

October 19, 2010 Meeting Announcement

2010-10-12T14:35:00.001-05:00

Come out to the St. Paul’s RiverCentre for the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance’s Quarterly Meeting on October 19th. Join other river enthusiasts for a fun and informative gathering to discuss issues important to the Minnesota River Basin. The formal part of the meeting starts at 6 p.m. (with a Reception and Poster Session from 4:45 to 5:45 sponsored by the Water Resources Conference). This quarterly meeting is taking place in conjunction with the Minnesota Water Resources Conference held on October 19th & 20th (for more information on the conference: http://wrc.umn.edu/waterconf/). The meeting will give you a chance to meet and network with people from all over Minnesota.

The RiverCentre is located on 175 Kellogg Boulevard in St. Paul. Parking is available in the RiverCentre parking ramp, located on Kellogg Boulevard across the street from the RiverCentre. Event parking is $10.00 for the day.

For more information on the meeting: http://mavdisk.mnsu.edu/kudels/octobermeeting.pdf

July 20, 2010 Meeting Notes

2010-08-10T10:53:00.000-05:00

July 20, 2010 Meeting Notes:

The July Quarterly Meeting for the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance was held at Max’s Grill in Olivia to coincide with the Clean Water Council Meeting. We met at 5 o’clock in order to wrap our business by 6:30 to join the Clean Water Council meeting and support Scott Kudelka’s Minnesota River Basin Trends Report presentation. Participants of the Watershed Alliance felt this would be a great way to show citizen engagement in the Minnesota River Basin and give the two groups a chance to interact with each other.

Brad Cobb of the coordinating team welcomed everyone to the Olivia and provided a little background about the Minnesota River Tour for members of the Clean Water Council, Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources and Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council sponsored by Renville and Redwood SWCDs.

As the facilitator, Audrey Arner asked everyone to introduce themselves and give an example of hope or enthusiasm for the Minnesota River. The responses were varied: the River Ranger Program, more recreational use of the river, no longer ignored, more new people experiencing the area including young people, more news coverage of the environment, folks paying more attention, leaving things better than we found it, High Island Lake being renovated, we can do things before tipping point (climate change, etc.), dialogue with ag community, able to go swimming without getting sick, new bike trail at Big Stone Lake, “kayaking with Kate” program for women, more young farmers involved in water quality, more canoe access points, greater communication effort upstream and downstream, more people getting educated on the river, folks in this room, cooperation is making the river better for everyone, and number of proposals to the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council.

Minnesota River Paddler Program

Scott Kudelka provided the report on how the launch of the Minnesota River Paddler Program and Blue Earth River paddle went on June 12th. Despite the weather not cooperating, everyone involved felt the event went off very well. The rain came down the hardest at the ribbon cutting ceremony for designating the Blue Earth River as Minnesota’s new state water trail and right before the 25 to 30 paddlers headed downstream to Highway 90. On the river we stopped at Dead Man’s Gulch and Triple Falls to give people a sense of the Blue Earth River’s unique beauty. For the afternoon portion of the event somewhere between 100 and 120 people showed up through out to hear four different bands play. We were fortunate to have such high caliber of music with everyone volunteering to perform for free. The paddler committee awarded 21 patches/decals including a MN River 335 one to Tim Krohn and John Cross of the Mankato Free Press who paddled the entire river in 1998 and 2008.

Next the paddler committee plans to come up with ideas on how to continue to promote the program in order to award more patches/decals. One idea they have been kicking around is to hold another paddle next year only a different part of the basin like the Chippewa River. Right now the biggest hurtle has to do with funding. The June 12th event cost around $1,000 with expenses including port-a-potties, PA system, and shuttle service. The paddler committee will be meeting before the October 19th quarterly meeting to brainstorm a list of ideas for continued promotion of the program.

Minnesota River Film Documentary

John Hickman reported on the ongoing progress of producing a one-hour documentary on the Minnesota River Basin. John and Jon Carlson the videographer have been going out across the basin shooting scenes of the effort to improve water quality. There is a new highlight reel including interviews with Chris Domeier of the DNR, Audrey Arner at her pond on Moon Creek and former Governor Arne Carlson discussing why the an improved Minnesota River is important. The video made its debut on July 16th at the Mississippi River Forum sponsored by the National Park Service and the McKnight Foundation thanks to Larry Gunderson. John talked about their trip down the Le Sueur River with Carrie Jennings of Minnesota Geological Survey who provided an overview on erosion sources and what is happening to the stream banks. One of the best parts of that trip is how Jon and the camera survived without going into the water. John Hickman and the Water Resources Center continue to search out funding for the project including the development of the web site: http://mnriver.org/

Lake Pepin Friendship Tour

Patrick Moore, Michael McKay of the Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance and Lyndsey Weber, a CURE intern reported the on the plans to bring together citizens from the Minnesota River Basin and Lake Pepin area to discuss water quality issues. The first part of the tour will take place on August 23rd and 24th with a group of farmers and citizens from the Minnesota River Basin traveling to the Lake Pepin area to view firsthand what is happening to this lake as it fills up with sediment from the Minnesota River and other water quality issues including too much nutrients. They are working with Warren Formo of the Minnesota Agricultural Water Resources Coalition to recruit farmers who want to participate in this exchange. A second tour will take place in September or October with Lake Pepin resident making the journey over to the Minnesota River Basin to get a better understanding of what is happening here when it comes to effort of installing conservation practices and working on other water quality improvements. Patrick said they need help with coming up with ideas for people to participate in this exchange tour from the basin and will be looking for a diverse selection of people to attend a reception for the second tour most likely to be held in New Ulm.

Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener

Lee Sundmark wasn’t able to attend tonight’s meeting. Instead he sent an update for the group. “In terms of a future Governor’s Fishing Opener on the Minnesota River, what I need next is a fiscal agent. Someone that can handle money that would be donated through various venues supporting the cause for the next few years. I can’t in my capacity as a state worker. Once that’s ironed out, I intend to pass-the-hat to have more pass-the-hats hats made. Sounds like a Dr. Seuss line doesn’t it? I’ll be following up with the New Ulm Convention and Visitors Bureau to see that they are still interested. We do need a community champion able to accommodate all the participants. Assuming they are still interested . . . I’ll need to get the rest of my committee together for a bit more comprehensive planning. I’ve not forgotten Tim’s encouragement to broaden the scope of involvement to all folks who have a vested interest in a Minnesota River Opener, not just New Ulm folks.” To help Lee out with this initiative by serving on the committee both Ron Bolduan and Tony Miller volunteered to serve on it along with Jesse Anderson and James Fett. Scott Sparlin was also brought forward as someone who could be on the committee along with Terry Sveine of the New Ulm Chamber of Commerce.

Next Steps

• All paddlers are encouraged to get the word out about the Minnesota River Paddler Program and the three patches/decals. If you have ideas for other ways to promote this program please contact one of the paddling committee members (Susie Carlin, Joel Wurscher, Jesse Anderson, Brooke Patterson, Chantill Kahler-Royer, James Fett and Scott Kudelka).

• Log onto the http://mnriver.org/ to see what is happening with the Minnesota River Film Documentary.

• Contact Patrick Moore at 320-269-2984 or patrick@cureriver.org to submit participant suggestions for the Lake Pepin / Minnesota River Friendship Tour.

• Contact Lee Sundmark at 320-234-2550 or lee.sundmark@state.mn.us if you want to help out with planning for a MN Fishing Opener.

Next Meeting:

• The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for October 20th (3rd Tuesday) starting at 6 p.m. at a new location – the Minnesota Water Resources Conference at Saint Paul RiverCentre (175 West Kellogg Boulevard) in St. Paul. The coordinating team felt this would be a great way to attract new people to the quarterly meetings and a chance to connect with other groups engaged in citizen action. For those who want to attend the conference go to: http://wrc.umn.edu/waterconf/

Attended:

• Patrick Moore,

• Al Odenthal,

• Katharine Plowman,

• John White,

• Duane Ninneman,

• Kay Eggers,

• Jim Wolf,

• Lyndsey Weber,

• Ron Bolduan,

• Gary Lenz,

• Darby Nelson,

• Clint Knorr,

• Brad Cobb,

• Dave Czech,

• Dee Czech,

• Megan Ulrich,

• Larry Gunderson,

• John Hickman,

• Robb Collett,

• Jeff Nielson,

• Tony Miller,

• Dwight Swanson,

• Cory Netland,

• Tom Kalahar,

• Karen Flom,

• Rob Sipp,

• Michael McKay

• Audrey Arner,

• Scott Kudelka

July 2010 Meeting Invitation - new time and place!

2010-06-28T14:26:00.005-05:00

Please join us on July 20th (Tuesday) evening from 5 to 9 pm to learn what is happening with the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance and to attend the joint Legislative-Citizen Commission on Natural Resources (LCCMR) - Clean Water Council Meeting. This will be a great opportunity to show legislators and policy makers the depth of citizen involvement in the effort to improve water quality in the Minnesota River Basin.

When: Tuesday, July 20

Time: 5 pm formal meeting, 6 pm LCCMR & Clean Water Council Joint meeting

Where: Max's Grill in Olivia, MN

Max's Grill is located at 2425 West Lincoln Avenue off of Highway 212 on the west edge of Olivia next to the Sheep Shedde Inn.

Your input is needed!

Join the effort to make a difference in the Minnesota River Watershed. Celebrate recent accomplishments, make friends with your watershed neighbors, and engage in action planning for the future.

Agenda Items

MN River Paddler Program

MN River Water Trail

MN River Film Documentary

Lake Pepin Conservation Bus Tour

Minnesota Governor's Cup Opener

LCCMR & Clean Water Council Joint Meeting

April 20, 2010 Meeting Notes

2010-04-22T14:30:00.004-05:00

April 20, 2010 Meeting Notes:

Participants of the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance gathered for their April quarterly meeting to talk about the various projects they are involved in. The group discussed the upcoming Blue Earth River Paddle and Minnesota River Paddler Program Launch on June 12th. This event will kick off with a paddle down the Blue Earth River from the Rapidan Dam County Park to Highway 90 at 9 o’clock and a Post-paddle Ceremony with music starting at 2 p.m. back at the park. Other topics of discussion at the meeting included the ongoing progress of the Minnesota River Film Documentary, development of a Minnesota River Waterway Trail, Minnesota River Valley – Lake Pepin Friendship Tour for late August and the possibility of a Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener to be held somewhere in the Minnesota River Basin.

Chantill Kahler-Royer welcomed everyone to the meeting by reading a note from Justin Kolander – “Wow, I just got done reading some of your group’s plans and goals and I must say Bravo!!! I really like to see people getting together to help out the area. You guys really interest me and I will be keeping my eye on your progress and hope to help some day.” After Chantill introduced Audrey Arner as tonight’s facilitator, Audrey had everyone talk about something that motivated them to go down the path of being advocate of the river or the natural environment. This was a great way to set the tone for the meeting.

Minnesota River Paddler Program
Joel Wurscher provided an overview of the official launch of the Minnesota River Paddler Patch Program for June 12th (Saturday) at the Rapidan Dam County Park:
*We will paddle the Blue Earth River starting at 9 a.m. from the county park to the new landing at the Highway 90 Bridge. This stretch is around 9.5 miles featuring a combination of fun Class I rapids, dramatic rock outcrops, high wooded bluffs, and a pair of tributary waterfalls. Depending on water levels it should take 3 to 4 hours.
*If the Blue Earth River receives a designation from the Legislature as a Minnesota Water Trails there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony before the paddle starts. We will know more from the Erik Wrede, DNR Coordinator hopefully in May. For more information on this program, http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/watertrails/index.html
*The plan is to have people drop off their canoes or kayaks at the put-in point and park their vehicle at the take-out point. We will shuttle people back to the park for the paddle.
*After the paddle there will be a Post-paddle ceremony where the first patches/decals will be awarded. The highlight of this program will be to give Tim Krohn and John Cross of the Mankato Free Press both a Minnesota River 335 Paddler patch and decal for their 1998 and 2008 paddles where they wrote a series of articles on the Minnesota River Basin.
*The afternoon activities will also include music from Dick Kimmel and Co, Depot Creek and Lhotse. There will be information booths for area conservation, water quality, environmental, and outdoors groups and businesses. The Mankato Paddling and Outing Club will be providing canoe rides on the reservoir. The Rapidan Dam Store will be serving up their famous burgers and pie.
*Volunteers will be needed to help park cars, direct traffic, shuttle people, get people in and out of the water and other tasks. Please contact Scott Kudelka at scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu or 507-389-2304 if you want to volunteer.

Minnesota River Waterway Trail
Loran Kaardal updated the group on the effort to develop a Minnesota River Waterway Trail. According to Loran, Randy Thoreson of the National Park Service (NPS), who is helping develop a plan for the trail, thanked everyone for participating in the earlier planning meetings. There will be additional meetings in the future. Randy will also be meeting with the Renville Parks Committee since three of their parks are found on the Minnesota River. Mary Vogel of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Changing Landscapes is developing individual trails plans for each of the counties and agreed to submit a Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) trail planning grant. This planning grant will incorporate all of the regional trail plans (hike, bike, horse, Scenic Byway, etc) and plan an extensive waterway trail system from the Lac qui Parle Dam to Mankato focusing on existing public resources. This grant will “piggy-back” the initial work being developed by the Green Corridor’s NPS Waterway grant.

Tom Kalahar of the Renville SWCD has invited members and staff of both the LCCMR and the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council (LSOHC) for a July 21st bus and waterway tour of the Minnesota River Valley. More details to come.

The Parks and Trails Legacy planning effort will be hosting 16 regional workshops across the state to gather input from citizens on how state monies should be spent for trail development in the state. The MN River Valley stakeholders need a strong showing and voice at these regional workshops/meetings especially at the Mankato and Marshall locations. Most people are only interested in hiking and biking. These workshops will provide a great opportunity to promote waterway trails. Please share this information with others.
· May 20th (Thursday) from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the McColl Pond Environmental Learning Center (13550 Dakota Avenue South) in Savage
· June 8th (Tuesday) from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Bryant Lake Park (6800 Rowland Road) in Eden Prairie
· June 9th (Wednesday) from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Southwest Minnesota State University (1501 State Street, Room 117, Conference Center) in Marshall.
· June 17th (Thursday) from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at South Central College (1920 Lee Boulevard E119 and E121) in North Mankato.

Loran wrapped up by talking about how Minnesota River Valley horse trail planning and implementation efforts are gaining momentum. Horse riding groups are some of the oldest organized groups in the state of Minnesota going back some 60 plus years. We ask of your continuing support of this Minnesota River Valley tradition/activity as these groups continue their efforts to secure a place at the table for future trail planning and development funding.

Minnesota River Film Documentary
John Hickman wasn’t able to attend tonight’s meeting and in his place, Scott Kudelka provided an update on this initiative. The Water Resources Center (WRC) agreed to serve as the official sponsor of the Minnesota River Film Documentary with Scott and Kim Musser from the WRC helping John Hickman and Jon Carlson the videographer coordinate the project. Filming has already begun with the segments from last week including Dr. Bryce Hoppie installing a monitoring station on Lake Titloe, the WRC staff in action and the landscape of the Minnesota River Valley. This week filming will focus on Carrie Jennings of the Minnesota Geological Survey talking about the valley’s geology. John Hickman and Shannon Fisher of the WRC will be attending the Minnesota Valley Trust meeting on May 5th present a funding proposal for the documentary and companion web site. The web site will strive to include all research done in the Minnesota River Basin - http://mnriver.org/. A partnership with the U.S. Corps of Engineers is being pursued as they launch a Minnesota River Integrated Study. The idea would be to incorporate ours and the Corps’ web site into one showcasing all the research conducted in the basin.

Audrey led the group in an exercise to identify possible subject ideas for filming. Ideas included:
*DNR Gateway Proposal that purchased 6 canoes and a trailer to be used for getting people out on the river – especially youth.
*The Lutheran Bishop Paddle on the Minnesota River sponsored by CURE.
*The LCCMR and LSOHC bus and waterway tour being organized by Tom Kalahar of Renville SWCD.
*The annual Belle Plaine River Fishing Contest that draws hundreds of anglers to that area of the Minnesota River.
*Franklin Catfish Days that draws people from all over the country.
*The New Ulm Sportsmen Club’s annual Youth Fishing Derby at Riverside Park
*Riverblast in New Ulm over Labor Day Weekend at Riverside Park which includes the Regional River History Center.
*The new Belle Plaine Wastewater Treatment Plant that uses a “reed bed” technology, a natural filtration system to treat sewage before entering the river. It was awarded MPCA’s Treatment Facility Award in 2008.
*Success stories of producers installing conservation practices – MPCA put together a series of videos called Water Success Stories.
*How CREP has been a major effect on water quality with this year’s flooding and sediment – restored an important ecosystem.
*CURE’s annual History Weekend and seeing exchange students paddle the river for the first time.
*Construction and impact of rain gardens on water quality.
*Shakopee Mdewakanton, Lower Sioux, Upper Sioux and their connection to the MN River.
*Wetland Restorations
*The story of commerce on the river like the steamboat Freighter who made it as far as 8 miles downstream of Big Stone Lake before becoming stuck. Or the mussel industry.
*Eagle nests up and down the Minnesota River including the one at Riverside Park across from the Regional River History Center in New Ulm.
*Other wildlife found in the MN River Valley
*June 12th Blue Earth Paddle Event and Lake Pepin Conservation Tour

Lake Pepin Conservation Tour
Patrick Moore wasn’t able to attend tonight’s meeting. Susie Carlin reported what she knew from working with Patrick on this initiative. No date has been finalized – they are looking at the end of August and it will most likely be a two-day event. Because it is being targeted toward citizen engagement, Friday and Saturday would be the logical days of the week to hold it on. A bus (maybe two) will pick up citizens from the Lake Pepin area to come over to the Minnesota River Valley to tour what is happening with water quality efforts. Most likely there will be a stop in New Ulm to spend Friday night with a social event to include folks from the Watershed Alliance and others. The big push is to get these two communities of river advocates together and have this as a positive kick-off for both groups to work together to improve water quality. We want to show the Lake Pepin folks there is a lot of cooperation among the two groups. Some people from the Minnesota River Valley will be invited to ride on the bus during the tour.

Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener
Lee Sundmark talked to all the DNR Regional Information Officer’s about this idea and all of them thought hosting a Governor’s Fishing Opener in the Minnesota River would present some unique challenges but no barriers they could see. Lee has also been talking to Terry Sveine of the New Ulm Chamber of Commerce who initially expressed a lot of skepticism but after talking it out feels it could happen. In order to make it happen it will cost between $120,000 and $300,000, which Lee feels we can easily collect by asking people to donate $1 to see the Governor fish the Minnesota River. Terry said it’s a unique way to raise money and it could be done that way. We would need an organization to handle the money and have a backup plan to spend it in case the fishing opener doesn’t happen.

Lee stressed we have a large geographic region with the Minnesota River being the only large body of water to raise money from and also get volunteers to help out. New Ulm would probably be the most logical place to hold it at with the convention center, motels and other facilities like Schell’s Brewery. Terry is willing to help out as long as we look at it as a 3 to 4 year project. A question about water levels was raised since the opener will be happening in May – potential for flooding. According to many at the meeting, it would have to be an exceptional year not to have access by the middle of May. Lee stressed, how could the Governor turn down hosting an opener where the money was raised one dollar at a time?

To raise the money Lee came up with the idea of producing MN River Governor’s Fishing Opener hats to give out to people who agree to help raise the money. Down the road we will be looking for letters of support along with commitments to donate time and resources. It was suggested to get the New Um Park and Recreation on board. Lee said, ultimately this event is to get more people connected to the river to build a passion among people for the river.

Tatanka Bluffs
Loran Kaardal told the group how the Tatanka Bluffs was selected as one of 16 nonprofit organizations to get a web site overhaul by the Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge. This organization specializes in creating websites for lawyers. Loran encourages the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance to apply next year to get a website overhaul, saying only one of the people from Nerdery knew about the Minnesota River. They had to pull an all-nighter, something Loran hasn’t done in years. Tatanka Bluffs’ web site: http://www.tatankabluffs.com/ . Loran also mentioned the Dakota Wicohan web site at http://dakotawicohan.com/ that was part of this Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge. The mission of this organization is to preserve Dakota as a living language. On the web site you can learn a new Dakota word every day.

Tatanka Bluffs is also working to develop a Minnesota River Valley Learning Center by acquiring the old Morton School. As part of this project they are working with the DNR to acquire the rock outcrop on the south side of the school. The Green Corridor Project has closed on 3 out of the 4 properties in the Cottonwood River near Lamberton with the 4th one being near Vicksburg Park in Renville County. For the new LCCMR proposal they are looking at purchasing ecologically sensitive areas in the Minnesota River Valley – granite outcrops, rare plant life, etc. Loran told the group if you know of any landowners who are interested in leaving their land as a legacy for the public to contact the Green Corridor Project

Next Steps
Scott reported to the group about the Water Resources Center pledging funds to pay for the upcoming October and January meetings. The Minnesota River Board is covering the cost for the April and July meetings. In October the group will need to start discussing how to continue to cover the costs for the meetings – facilitator, meeting space, food, and mailings. The group also briefly discussed the idea of holding the October quarterly meeting in St Paul in conjunction with the Water Resources Conference.

Audrey pointed out how everyone can help with the various projects the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance is involved in. You can volunteer to help out with the June 12th Blue Earth Paddle, provide ideas for the Minnesota River Film Documentary, attend one of the Regional Trail Workshops being put on by the MN DNR, come out for the Minnesota River Valley – Lake Pepin Friendship Tour’s social in August and help collect donations to put on a Governor’s Fishing Opener in the Minnesota River.

Next Meeting:
The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for July 20th (3rd Tuesday) starting at 6 p.m. at the Hutchinson Event Center in Hutchinson. We will start with a social hour at 6 p.m. with food and drink and begin the meeting right at 7 p.m. and strive to wrap things up in two hours.

Attended:
Chantill Kahler-Royer,
Al Odenthal,
Jesse Anderson,
Forrest Peterson,
Lee Sundmark,
Mike Lein,
Jim Wolf,
Kathleen Wolf,
Ron Bolduan,
Susie Carlin,
Loran Kaardal,
Joel Wurscher,
Mary Borstad,
Randy Bullert,
Jack Laur,
Tim Lies,
Duane Niinneman,
Brooke Patterson,
Gene Jeseritz,
Skip Wright,
Marv Breitkrentz,
Deane Dietel,
Audrey Arner,
Scott Kudelka

Save the Date! June 12, 2010

2010-02-22T16:56:00.002-06:00

A kickoff event for the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance's Paddler Patches will be held on Saturday, June 12, 2010 at the Rapidan Dam Park in Blue Earth County. It promises to be a fun time for all! More details will be coming soon.

A rain date of Saturday, June 19th has also been set.

January 19, 2010 Meeting Notes

2010-01-26T10:09:00.001-06:00

January 19, 2010 Meeting Notes:

The New Year has arrived along with a new focus for the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance. Thirty-four people attended the first quarterly meeting of 2010 to choose a “Clean Up the Minnesota River” issue for the group to focus on. Patrick Moore welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced Audrey Arner as evening’s facilitator. After reviewing the agenda, each person briefly introduced themselves and offered a personal connection to the Minnesota River.

Green Corridor Project
Brad Cobb shared with the group about the effort to connect public land along the Minnesota River on a 45 mile stretch from Upper Sioux State Park to Fort Ridgely State Park (Green Corridor Area). A total of 240 acres has been purchased through an Environmental and Natural Resource Trust Fund grant. Recently, the group received a recommendation for $1.65 million in funds to continue buying land in this corridor from the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, which still needs to be approved by the State Legislature. They are also looking at submitting another funding proposal to the Legislative-Citizens Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) for 2011 to focus on key environmental areas.

Minnesota River Waterway Trail
Before the Watershed Alliance meeting, Randy Thoreson of the National Park Service facilitated a meeting to start the process for developing a waterway trail plan for the Green Corridor area. The Green Corridor Project received a technical assistance grant from the National Park Service to complete this plan. Both Brad and Randy felt it was a good initial meeting with a lot of input from the various stakeholders. A series of meetings will be held to continue the process over the next two years. Randy is really excited about this project, telling the group how the Green Corridor Project has already received an award from the Mid-America Trails and Greenway Conference for what they have accomplished. They will be identifying various elements including public access, facilities, how it connects with the land trail, actions and set some timelines.

Minnesota River Paddler Program
James Fett and Jesse Anderson of the paddler committee gave a report on what has been happening with one of the issues chosen in 2009. The patches and decals are done and ready to be awarded to those who meet the outlined criteria. To officially launch the program, the committee is planning a Blue Earth River paddle from the Rapidan Dam to the new public access point at County Road 90 for a total of 8 miles from approximately 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dates have been picked with June 12th (Saturday) as the primary one and June 19th as the alternative in case of bad weather like lightning. The facilities include a park, campground and restaurant called the Dam Store at the put-in point. Blue Earth County has expressed interested in partnering with us to hold the event and they have a special events person who would help out with planning. People will be on their own to provide a canoe or kayak for the paddle. We are hoping to entice some of the local canoe and kayak rental businesses to have their own vessels on hand for people to rent. Patrick said CURE might be able to help out by bringing their canoes and kayaks (it could also be the same weekend at Butch Halterman’s high school paddle). Our plan is to invite organizations like Mankato Paddling and Outing Club, CURE, Blue Earth SWCD, Minnesota River Valley Scenic Byway, etc. to have a booth at the put-in point. After the paddle we will go back to the park to award the paddler patches/decals to people who have successfully met our criteria. We are hoping to get Tim Krohn and John Cross there to highlight their two paddles down the entire Minnesota River. Patrick mentioned how a number of people have also paddled the Minnesota River as part of the high school trips. There will also be music with one band already committed and other possibilities being pursued.

The group provided a number of suggestions for the launch including piggy-backing on an event that has already been taking place at the park. In the past there has been an event called Day at the Rapidan Dam. Lee Sundmark suggested we get the DNR conservation officers involved as someone who could provide safety tips. Invitations will be sent out to dignitaries. Other ideas include a fishing contest, kid’s activities and elementary safety course/refresher. A question was asked on how many people we expect to come out with Patrick saying if we get 100 that would be a good turnout and also a little scary to think about that many on the river at one time. There was another question about how many people could camp at the park – 20 primitive sites. The event should be advertised as a basin-wide activity. Mark Schnobrich told the group about Schell’s Brewery celebrating its 150th Anniversary and is focusing on the Mankato area including a tree planting project on April 30th. We hope to get the DNR’s Minnesota Water Trails program involved in the June 12th event. Over the next couple of months the committee will continue to work on event planning.

On a final note, the committee decided to add another river – Little Cottonwood - to the Extreme Patch/Decal to make it a total of 24 different stretches. In addition, some form of documentation will be required to be awarded the Minnesota River 335 Patch/Decal.

Region IV Conservation Focus Area
Lee Sundmark of the DNR did a presentation on the Region IV Conservation Focus Area created as a GIS tool to assist with decision-making when it comes to focusing limited financial resources. The DNR hopes citizens, sportsmen groups and others will also use this tool to help with their efforts to protect and enhance conservation areas. The darker the green color means the higher priority for conservation efforts. Each of the DNR disciplines – parks, ecological services, rare & threatened species, fisheries (except for law enforcement and lands & minerals) had input on the map, which is a blending of all the different focus areas of the different divisions. It showcases the areas the DNR wants to spend time and money on. This will always be a work in progress – continue to submit revisions – a living document. Right now it is still an internal document with the DNR planning to make it an external document for anyone to use.

For more information on the project contact Cathi Fouchi at DNR, 507-359-6034; cathi.fouchi@state.mn.us

2010 Focus
To start the discussion on choosing a “Clean Up the Minnesota River” focus for 2010, Audrey pointed out the original Watershed Alliance charter drafted back in 2005. Patrick, Ron Bolduan and Jim Wolf each read a passage from this declaration of inter-independence to the entire group. Audrey offered a number of thoughts for people to think about when picking what to focus on for the next year:
How do we feel about the work load – the idea of juggling a number of issues? How many do we feel we can take on at one time?
Broad enough to accommodate more than one in order to continue with the worthwhile initiatives.
The ongoing maintenance issues with the Paddler Program and Waterway Trail initiatives.

A number of people expressed a desire to have more than one focus for the year in order to give people an option on something they have a passion for.

Audrey outlined criteria for people to use in picking a focus for 2010 including:
Is this something we can get behind?
What is the likelihood of success (1-2 years, funding, does it need us?)
Does it have broad geographic application?
Is there leadership to move it forward?
Will it require ongoing maintenance?

The group reviewed the initiatives from 2009 – MN River Paddler Program, MN River Waterway Trail and MN River Friendly Label – to discuss their viability over the next year. Susie Carlin mentioned how it will take someone handling requests / applications for the patches and decals. At this time Scott will be taking care of it in his role at the Water Resources Center. Patrick pointed out that the Paddler Committee of James, Chantill, Jesse, Joel, Brooke and Scott – have shown a lot of leadership with moving this program forward. The group also felt the same is happening with the MN River Waterway Trail through the efforts of Loran Kaardal and Brad Cobb.

Focus Possibilities for 2010:
Continue with the Minnesota River Friendly Label:
Audrey mentioned how the effort to launch of this dropped by the wayside and asked if there was anyone here who wanted to take on the leadership role for 2010. No one volunteered and Ron Bolduan mentioned how the Minnesota River Scenic Valley Byway also looked at a label but didn’t get a lot of response.

The group suggested the label initiative go into the idea orphanage for now in case someone wants to take it on in the future.

Compare and study land use types for 50 feet setback along waterways and county enforcement process:
Dodge County was brought up as an example of local government taking on this type of an effort. Susie Carlin reported this issue has been discussed at a Minnesota River Board meeting in the past and the staff from Dodge County coming to the March meeting to tell the board how it has worked for them. Darby Nelson gave a brief rundown on the Dodge County effort, saying it was really encouraging. Instead of enforcing this state law, they notified the farmers to ask them if they were willing to do this and 2/3rds of the farmers did it on their own. Darby credits the success to the county not being hard-nosed on the issue. The law only applies to DNR waterways, not ditches. It is a law on the books but rarely enforced. Cannon River Partnership created a GIS layer to help identify these buffer areas. Patrick Moore mentioned how the Lake Pepin folks are working to enforce this law in their own watershed before asking those upstream of them to do the same including the Minnesota River Basin. Jim Schafer said the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) has done a study on this issue and Renville has done a lot of this in their own county. It is great for keeping the banks intact. The group agreed this focus will need time and money and suggested it might be an issue for the Minnesota River Board to concentrate on.

Assemble local groups on guided canoe trips:
Other groups are already doing this type of effort including CURE, Mankato Paddling and Outing Club and various watershed projects. It was suggested by the group to put it into idea purgatory.

Mark bridge crossings with signs and identification along with other water courses including ditches and awesome spots:
Gary Lentz mentioned how with the stimulus money becoming available to replace unsafe bridges this would be a great opportunity to have DOT plan in watercraft access points as part of these projects. This is a safety issue for people trying to get down to the river channel and it would eliminate people parking on the roads. There has been some effort by watershed projects and other groups to mark bridge crossings. With no champion the group moved onto the next issue.

Keep meeting quarterly – networking and speakers:
Yes – the group wants to keep holding these quarterly meetings.

Host a Familiarity Bus Tour of Minnesota River Conservation Practices to help communicate what is happening with the Lake Pepin TMDL – to act as a bridge between landowners and Lake Pepin folks:
For some background, Mike Lein explained a TMDL stands for Total Maximum Daily Load and he describes it as a single-lane road where you have some traffic that moves at a good flow but the more vehicles you add to the road the slower things go and soon it can no longer handle all the traffic. This is the same thing that happens to a river when it comes to pollution and how much can the river handle. As the champion of this issue, Patrick Moore explained there is too much sediment flowing into Lake Pepin from upstream and as a result of the upcoming TMDL, it is time to tackle this problem. Core studies have been done in Lake Pepin that shows since 1945 the amount of sediment has increased 10 times the normal rate that would have happened naturally. A huge portion – something like 80% comes from the Minnesota River. MPCA will be coming up with a number in order to slow the amount of sediment entering Lake Pepin from upstream. It looks like it could be as high as a 50% reduction which is huge. A group of citizens from the Lake Pepin have come together to research and plan on how to improve water quality in their area. They have started by taking care of their own backyard first and will be looking at citizens in the Minnesota River Basin to do the same thing. A diverse group of environmental organizations in the Metro area have gotten behind this effort because it affects 2/3rds of water in Minnesota.

Patrick said it is important this get communicated to the Minnesota River Basin citizens to frame it in a way that will move our society forward toward clean water. He suggested we offer to put on a bus tour to invite the Lake Pepin people to see all the good things that are being done in basin to reduce sediment loss. To develop a relationship - partnership between the two groups as a cross-culture thing to avoid an “us against them” stance. To cooperate with a familiarly tour for the Lake Pepin people on all the things the MN River is doing to reduce sediment. This cooperation got started somewhat during the Minnesota River Mixer at the Lake Pepin Conference in September of 2008.

Roll out the Paddler Program:
The group agreed this is already happening to continue moving forward with the Blue Earth River Paddle and program launch.

Carry one another’s messages:
Again with no champion, the group decided we already do this and it was dropped from it from being one of the issues to be picked from.

Promote the National Heritage Area status:
No champion stepped forward to talk about this issue. The Minnesota River Valley Scenic Byway has been involved with the discussion of a National Heritage Area for the Minnesota River.

Drinking water – keep it clean:
The group decided this was too big to tackle at this time.

Participate with Minnesota River documentary and interactive web site:
John Hickman explained this is a one hour documentary to be hosted by Ron Schara covering the geology and human history of the river along with problems and solutions including Lake Pepin and the Dead Zone. To highlight projects that have made a difference for water quality. They expect the film to be shown on Kare 11. The videographer has won awards for his work including that with WCCO TV and has extensive history with the Minnesota River. In terms of funding the project, Ron Schara has put up ½ and John is working on raising the rest. He said there is a good indication of support from Bob Finley, MPCA Southeast Region Manager and the St Paul Office communication staff. The manager from the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge has applied for a grant. The director of the Minnesota River Board has expressed enthusiasm for the project and said there would be funds available. They are also looking at the various foundations with deep pockets. John showed a 4-minute promotional piece recently put together to the group. In addition to the documentary, a web site – www.mnriver.org has been created to serve as the gateway for everything dealing with the Minnesota River. It will be a central collection point along with a web 2.0 site allowing people to participate in discussions about the basin. Advocating this for project, John Wolf told the group that he would be disappointed with us if we didn’t pick it as the 2010 focus.

Host Governor’s Fishing Opener:
Lee Sundmark told the group that the fishing opener has never been held on a major river, including the state’s namesake river. He asked wouldn’t that be cool to have it on the Minnesota River. There was a discussion on what it takes to host a Governor’s Fishing Opener including enough lodging for all the press and a place to launch a big boat for the Governor. People identified a number of cities that might be able to host it including New Ulm, Mankato, and Redwood Falls. Joel Wurscher recommended a place near the Cities which has the infrastructure to host the opener. It is a very competitive process with support needed from legislators, chamber of commerce’s, among others. A question was raised, what happens if the river is at flood stage on the day of the opener?

Next Steps
At the end of the meeting, the group identified four items to choose from: 1. Host a Familiarity Bus Tour of Minnesota River Conservation Practices to help communicate what is happening with the Lake Pepin TMDL – to act as a bridge between landowners and Lake Pepin folks; 2. Roll out the Paddler Program; 3. Participate with Minnesota River documentary and interactive web site; 4. Host Governor’s Fishing Opener.

Before the voting could take place, Patrick offered an alternative issue to choose from: Working together to promote, celebrate and communicate the Minnesota River Paddler Program launch on June 12th, Endorse the making of the Minnesota River Documentary, a Lake Pepin Bus Tour of Conservation Practices in the Minnesota River and advocate holding the Governor’s Fishing Opener on the Minnesota River. The group unanimously chose to go with Patrick’s suggestion. All four of the initiatives will put together committees for those people interested in working on them, with at least one coordinating team member serving on each one.

Next Meeting:
The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for April 20th (3rd Tuesday) starting at 6 p.m. at the Hutchinson Event Center in Hutchinson. We will start with a social hour at 6 p.m. with food and drink and begin the meeting right at 7 p.m. and strive to wrap things up in two hours.

Coordinating Team Committee Assignments:
Lake Pepin Bus Tour – Patrick Moore, Forrest Peterson, Susie Carlin
Paddler Program – Brooke Patterson, Susie Carlin, Joel Wurscher, Jesse Hanson, James Fett, Patrick Moore, Chantill Kahler-Royer
Minnesota River Documentary – James Fett, Joel Wurscher, Chantill Kahler-Royer, Ron Bolduan
Governor’s Fishing Opener – Brad Cobb, Lee Sundmark, Jesse Anderson, Tom Kalahar

Attended:
Chantill Kahler-Royer,
James Fett,
Al Odenthal,
Brad Cobb,
Jim Schafer,
Jesse Anderson,
Patrick Moore,
Forrest Peterson,
Lee Sundmark,
Mike Lein,
Dwight Swanson,
Jim Wolf,
Kathleen Wolf,
John Hickman,
Darby Nelson,
Ron Bolduan,
Susie Carlin,
Loran Kaardal,
Tom Keaveny,
Joe Michel,
Ronald Otto,
Mark Schnobrich,
Joel Wurscher,
Mary Borstad,
Penny Purtzer,
Julie Conrad,
Gary Lentz,
Dale Redetzke,
Grant Britkreutz,
Randy Thoreson,
Jay Krienitz,
Edwin Dumalag,
Audrey Arner,
Scott Kudelka

January 19, 2010 Meeting Announcement

2009-12-22T09:37:00.002-06:00

Please join us on January 19th (Tuesday) evening from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. to help pick the 2010 “Clean Up the Minnesota River” focus for the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance. We will choosing from a list of ideas generated during the October 2009 meeting and want to have your input!

When: Tuesday, January 19th

Time: 6 p.m. for a social hour and food
7 p.m. the formal meeting

Where: Hutchinson Event Center
The Hutchinson Event Center is located at 1005 Highway 15 South Plaza 15 on the south edge of the city.

Your input is needed!

Join the effort to make a difference in the Minnesota River Watershed. Celebrate recent accomplishments, make friends with your watershed neighbors, engage in action planning for the future.

The Minnesota River Watershed Alliance (Watershed Alliance) is a Volunteer, Active, Action-Oriented Group of Watershed Advocates. Participation is open to Every Citizen, Landowner, Organization and Agency in the Minnesota River Watershed.

Agenda Items
· 2010 “Clean Up the Minnesota River Focus
· MN River Paddler Program – Blue Earth River Paddle event
· MN River Canoe Trail Update
· Green Corridor Project Update
· MN DNR Conservation Plan for southern Minnesota

Social hour begins at 6 p.m. with food, drink and time to network with others working, living and playing in the Minnesota River Watershed. The meeting will start right at 7 o’clock and we strive to wrap up the formal discussion by 9 p.m.

We hope to see you at the January 19th meeting and are excited about the future of the Minnesota River Watershed. If you have any questions please contact Scott Kudelka at 507 - 389 - 2304 or scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu.

Check out the Alliance’s bulletin board web site at: http://mail.mnsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/mrwa

January 19, 2010 Meeting Announcement

2009-10-28T16:55:00.001-05:00

The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for January 19th (3rd Tuesday) starting at 6 p.m. at the Hutchinson Event Center in Hutchinson. We will start with a social hour at 6 p.m. with food and drink and begin the meeting right at 7 p.m. and strive to wrap things up in two hours.

October 20, 2009 Meeting Minutes

2009-10-28T16:53:00.001-05:00

October 20, 2009 Meeting Notes:

For the last quarterly meeting of 2009, Twenty-six people showed up in Hutchinson to talk about what is happening with the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance (Watershed Alliance) and hear from others about their own experiences in the basin. As the facilitator for the meeting, Audrey Arner kept the group moving forward and enjoying themselves all at the same time.

Welcome & Introductions:
Dee Czech welcomed everyone to the Watershed Alliance quarterly meeting and introduced Audrey Arner as the facilitator for the evening. Audrey had the group introduce themselves and offer an observation of something they seen for the first time related to biota in the Minnesota River this fall.

MN River Paddler Program
Chantill and Brooke showed the group the revised designs from the suggested changes for each of the three patch/decals: Tributary, 335 and Extreme. Both decals and patches will be ordered to allow people to choose what they may want to display. Chantill will be ordering them in the near future. A question came up concerning the date on the one patch – whether it should be 10 for 2010 or another number like double zeros. The group decided to let the Paddler Program committee make the final decision.

To promote the paddler program, the committee suggested holding an event kickoff next spring – May or June – at the Rapidan Dam Park and paddle the Blue Earth River. The idea is to bring in the various canoe and kayak rental businesses to allow those people who don’t have their own to rent one. There will also be cool stuff including music, information booths and other stuff to draw people in. We are also looking to award some of the first patches/decals including the 335 to Tim Krohn and John Cross for paddling the entire Minnesota River twice. Patrick said hosting an event like this is a great idea and offered CURE’s support to publicize the event. Once again, the group voted to let the committee decide on a date for the event and get back to everyone by the January meeting.

MN River Friendly Label
Scott reported that Linda Meschke had to bow out as the lead in developing a river friendly label because she has too much on her plate. A draft application form has been developed but not discussed by the committee nor has there been any effort to start pulling names of potential businesses and organizations to receive this label. With no one willing to step up to take over the leadership role, it was added to the list of potential 2010 issues.

MN River Canoe Trail
Brad Cobb spoke on behalf of a sick Loran Kaardal, telling the group about the Green Corridor Project tentatively receiving the National Park Service’s Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program grant to work on developing a plan for a canoe trail in the middle section of the Minnesota River. It will be official once they get the letter. Even though it isn’t official, this project – the Green Corridor – Minnesota River Trail – has been nominated for a Mid America Trails & Greenways Conference award.

According to Brad, a grant application will be submitted for other segments in the Minnesota River in the future. Volunteers will be needed to help promote the trail and its development in the other segments. The current stretch is for about 40 to 50 miles from Granite Falls to New Ulm. Randy Thoreson of the National Park Service will be coming to do a full presentation to the group in the future. Brad told the group to look for a press release about the grant in a couple of months. The grant pays for a National Park Service employee to work on behalf of the group on coordinating the planning process, identifying funding sources, developing a stakeholder process.

Patrick Moore informed the group about the plan to remove the Minnesota River Falls dam below Granite Falls and what has happened so far. An open house was held by Xcel Energy which owns the dam and MN DNR in Granite Falls on October 1st. Barr Engineering is currently conducting a study of the dam and lowered the water level to see what the structure looks like. According to Patrick, Xcel Energy officials are looking for help in communicating the benefits of a potential dam removal to the general public. Ultimately it is Xcel’s decision about what is to be done with the dam. Most likely the decision will come down to the cheaper option. Moore was told that Xcel has offered to sell the dam to Granite Falls and the Ethanol as long as those entities take over the liability and repair costs. A local group including the ethanol plant and golf course has spoken out against the dam removal.

The dam serves as an obstacle for migrating fish and a barrier for recreation paddling. Removing the dam would have a lot of benefits for fish migration and people using the Minnesota River. There could be a lot of economic benefit and impact to local communities by removing the dam.

Minnesota River Magazine Concept
Kay Sauck of Sauck Media Group who publishes Womeninc is now looking at doing a state-wide Minnesota Rivers magazine instead of a basin newsletter for the Minnesota River. All of this has to do with subscription numbers, she feels a state-wide magazine will attack 100,000 subscribers compared to 15,000 for the basin. They have begun to advertise in newspapers a spring launch of the magazine and looking at it coming out monthly. No one knows for sure if they will focus on a particular basin in the one of the issues. Some people felt the Minnesota River has enough tributaries for their own magazine.

Coordinating Team Membership
Because the Watershed Alliance is loosely organized there is a coordinating team to help make decisions between the quarterly meetings. The charter states there can be up to 15 members, serving up to a three term. Patrick said the idea is to infuse the coordinating team with new members to promote new leadership in the Watershed Alliance. Responsibilities of the coordinating team include participating in phone conference calls between the quarterly meetings, serving on one of the committees and helping craft meeting agendas.

Coordinating team members at the end of their three-year term are Patrick Moore, Dee Czech, Shannon Fisher, Larry Gunderson, Scott Sparlin, Lori Nelson and Charlie Guggisberg. Other members of the team are Susie Carlin, Brooke Patterson, James Fett and Chantill Kahler-Royer, who came on board last October.

A number of individuals volunteered or were volunteered to serve on the coordinating team. They are Jesse Anderson, Joel Wurscher, Brad Cobb, Lee Sundmark and Tim Lies. Both Patrick and Dee agreed to continue serving on the coordinating team unless someone else would like to step forward.

MN River Presentation by Darby Nelson
Darby Nelson got up to speak about his experiences of paddling the Minnesota River this summer with his wife. He talked about how great it is to be among kindred spirits and neat to find out what is happening in the basin. Darby said rivers really matter to him. He was pleased and surprised by the pleasant features of the MN River including the scenic beauty and rock outcrops. They paddled from Montevideo to North Redwood in 5 days. The two of them loved the sandbars where you could tell what creatures had been there, the pelicans as they glided off the river, the impressive bird life and how it wasn’t crowded on the river. Darby said nobody knows about this incredible resource, calling it a hidden treasure. He was also surprised at how many fields had at least a 50-foot setback from the river.

Disappointments for them included the Minnesota Falls dam with the DNR map being wrong about the portage. They found out quickly after spotting a large sign on the left stating – “Not a Portage.” Darby would like to see the dam gone. They also saw a number of black Angus cattle in the river, unloading a lot of phosphorus into the water. This was closer to North Redwood.

Challenges included the DNR canoe campsites. Darby said he felt sorry for the DNR to try maintaining these campsites when the river constantly changes. They had to keep moving when they couldn’t find a couple of the campsites. Drinking water can also be a problem if you don’t know how much you will need. There also needs to be some type of shuttle service to get people around. There is a need for more public land to develop campsites and signs are important because of all the private land. Darby was impressed with what the Upper Sioux Agency State Park had to offer

2010 “Clean up the MN River” Focus
Audrey broke up everyone into small groups of three to come up with ideas for the 2010 focus as a way to start the discussion on what we would want to work on as the Watershed Alliance. She told everyone to think about the possibilities and use our imagination to overcome some of the financial constraints. The group will pick the 2010 focus issue at the January 19, 2010 meeting. Audrey also highlighted Jim Schafer’s comment, “I want to leave more than I take.”

The list of ideas the individual groups came up with:
· Continue with MN River Friendly Label
· Compare and study land use types for 50 feet setback along waterways and county enforcement process
· Assemble local groups on guided canoe trips.
· Mark bridge crossings with signs and identification along with other watercourses including ditches and cool spots
· Keep meeting quarterly – networking and speakers.
· Communicate Lake Pepin TMDL – a big deal – Act as a bridge between landowners and Lake Pepin folks
· Roll out the River Patches
· Participate with Minnesota River documentary and interactive web site
· Carry one another’s messages
· Promote the national heritage area status
· Drinking water – keeping it clean
· Host Governor’s Fishing Opener and highlight possibilities

Lake Pepin TMDL
Michael McKay of the Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance came out to talk about the upcoming Lake Pepin TMDL and how the Minnesota River has a major impact on its success. He provided a commentary on how their group got going. They started out with the science to see what was real and surprised at how helpful the professionals gathering the data were. An overwhelming amount of work has been done in this area. A web site has been developed highlighting a number of different sections including science and law (setbacks and drainage rules). During this process they had to learn how to speak the government agency language. Implementing best management practices has become a major focus of the group.

Everyone around Lake Pepin has become involved in the group including marina owners, cities, townships, etc. The group has grown fast to over 400 people. They try to put out a monthly mailing and get the cities involved and educated. According to Michael, this is a true citizen group and they have been invited everywhere and as a result hold a lot of power. They realize since the science says 80 to 90% of the sediment and phosphorus comes from the Minnesota River they need to slow it down on the landscape otherwise they are wasting their time. The group understands they need to talk with the citizens in the Minnesota River.

U.S. Corps of Engineers Watershed Assessment Project
Michael Wyatt of the U.S. Corps of Engineers attended the meeting to introduce himself and get to know the people in the basin. The Corps of Engineers are moving forward with a watershed assessment of the Minnesota River Basin after funding has been put in the President’s budget for this project. They want to create a fairly intensive model of the basin to hopefully be used for TMDL projects. The government has proposed $320 million to be budgeted for cleaning up the Mississippi River on the federal level. The U.S. Corps of Engineers is hoping to coordinate this effort with the U.S. EPA along with state and local agencies. Currently there are a handful of watershed studies going on in the United States, with this becoming a focus of President Obama’s administration.

Next Meeting:
The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for January 19th (3rd Tuesday) starting at 6 p.m. at the Hutchinson Event Center in Hutchinson. We will start with a social hour at 6 p.m. with food and drink and begin the meeting right at 7 p.m. and strive to wrap things up in two hours.

Attended:
Chantill Kahler-Royer,
Brooke Patterson,
James Fett,
Al Odenthal,
Franz Albert Richter,
Brad Cobb,
Jim Schafer,
Jesse Anderson,
Patrick Moore,
Forrest Peterson,
Lee Sundmark,
Norma Syverson,
Su Beran,
Dee Czech,
Gene Jeseritz,
Mike Lein,
Tim Lies,
Dwight Swanson,
Jim Wolf,
John Hickman,
Dick Kimmel,
Darby Nelson,
Michael Wyatt,
Michael McKay,
Audrey Arner,
Scott Kudelka

Meeting Announcement: October 20, 2009

2009-10-07T14:27:00.002-05:00

The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for October 20th (3rd Tuesday) starting at 6 p.m. at the Hutchinson Event Center in Hutchinson. We will start with a social hour at 6 p.m. with food and drink and begin the meeting right at 7 p.m. and strive to wrap things up in two hours.

Here is the agenda:

1. Welcome (One of the coordinating team members)

2. Introductions & Announcements (Audrey) – 15 minutes: 7:00 to 7:15

3. MN River Paddle Patch / Decal (Chantill) – 10 minutes: 7:15 to 7:25
· Report on three decals & ordering of products
· Promotion – Launching of the Program

4. MN River Friendly Label (Scott) – 10 minutes: 7:25 to 7:35
· Status of the program and what comes next

5. MN River Canoe Trail (Loran) – 10 minutes: 7:35 to 7:45
· Status of grant applications

6. Minnesota River Magazine (Scott) – 5 minutes: 7:45 to 7:50
· Update

7. Coordinating Team Membership (Audrey) – 15 minutes: 7:50 to 8:05

8. Presentation by Darby Nelson on his paddle down the MN River – 20 minutes: 8:05 to 8:25

9. 2010 “Clean up the MN River Focus (Audrey) – 10 minutes: 8:25 to 8:35
· To get the conversation started for the January meeting

10. Lake Pepin TMDL – Minnesota River Impacts (Patrick) – 10 minutes: 8:35 to 8:45

11. Nathan Barta (Renville County Landfill) Support Letter – 10 minutes: 8:45 to 8:55
· A five-year permit has been approved

12. Next Steps and Wrap Up (Audrey) – 5 minutes: 8:55 to 9:00

Coordinating Team meets to debrief (Audrey) – 10 minutes

July 21, 2009 Meeting Notes

2009-07-24T09:39:00.002-05:00

Twenty-seven people came together in Hutchinson to talk about the Minnesota River and how as a group of concerned citizens we can work together to protect and improve this valuable resource. The meeting was facilitated by Audrey Arner of rural Montevideo who did a fantastic job at keeping us on track and pretty much on time.

Welcome & Introductions:
Audrey reminded people of the Watershed Alliance’s goal to wrap up the meeting in two hours and said we had a full agenda to run through. First, people had a chance to promote any up coming events.
· The Minnesota River Board is holding their regular meeting and speaker’s forum on July 27th (Monday) at the Redwood Falls Community Center. The board meeting starts at 9 a.m. with lunch at 11 a.m. and the speaker’s forum at 12 noon (for only $20 per person). Speakers include Tim Palmer, Val L. Little, Sara Smith and Jim Doering. To pre-register call 507-389-5491 or send an email to karnell.johnson@mnsu.edu
· Bike Ride Across Minnesota is taking place from July 26th through July 31st starting out in Ortonville and going through Montevideo, Redwood Falls, St. Peter, New Prague and ending in Welch Village. This is a great opportunity to get out to see the Minnesota River Valley and shoot photos of the riders. For more information, http://bikemnm.nationalmssociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=BIKE_MNM_TRAM_homepage&gclid=CNzykpLE6ZsCFRINDQodpGHy4g

Audrey asked everyone to introduce themselves, say who they represent and relate an observation about the Minnesota River. The responses were quite varied with a number of people talking about the type of fish they have caught recently and others telling stories of getting out to paddle a portion of the Minnesota River.

Minnesota River Communications Funding
Scott Kudelka presented the bad news about the McKnight Foundation funding request for his communication work and Watershed Alliance meeting expenses. Some background information - at the April 21st quarterly meeting we felt there was a good chance of getting at least two more years of funding (60% of the initial grant) after talking to our program officer Ron Kroese. Unfortunately due to the economic downturn we were denied the funding request in May. Scott read a personal note from Ron, “Shannon – I am truly sorry that the Foundation’s shortage of funds means we can’t continue to support your work. It is not a reflection of the Alliance’s efforts, but a result of the big drop in Foundation’s assets.”

Due to this major cut in funding, Scott’s role with the Watershed Alliance will be changing as his time is taken up by water quality monitoring and other projects. For the next 9 months to a year, Scott will continue to produce the following communication pieces: MN River Weekly Update, River Talk newsletter, MN River Minute, Water Is Us column and MN River Calendar. He will also continue to handle the promotion of the quarterly meetings including developing the invitation and writing the press release along with taking the meeting notes.

Other duties Scott takes care of include preparing the meeting agenda, coordinating the phone conference calls between meetings with the coordinating team, coordinating with the meeting facilitator, and overseeing committee assignments for the three committees (MN River Paddler Committee, River Friendly Label Committee and Canoe Trail Committee). Audrey told the group we would talk more about this later in the meeting.

Minnesota River Paddler Initiative:
Chantill Kahler-Royer gave the group a brief review of the paddler program including how the goal of this initiative is connect people to the river by awarding the following three patch/decals to the public. The Watershed Alliance will award three paddle patches/decals to anyone who meets the following criteria:
· Minnesota River Tributary Paddler: Paddle any three of these major tributaries; Chippewa River, Lac qui Parle River, Pomme de Terre River, Yellow Medicine River, Hawk Creek, Redwood River, Cottonwood River, Watonwan River, Le Sueur River, Blue Earth River, and one stretch of the Minnesota River.
· Minnesota River Extreme Paddler: Paddle the following rivers in the Minnesota River Watershed; Little Minnesota River, Whetstone River, Yellow Bank River, Chippewa River, Lac qui Parle River, Pomme de Terre River, Beaver Creek, Yellow Medicine River, Hawk Creek, Redwood River, Cottonwood River, Watonwan River, Le Sueur River, Blue Earth River, Big Cobb River, Maple River, Rush River, High Island Creek, Sand Creek, and three stretches of the Minnesota River (Upper, Middle and Lower) for a total of 22 paddles. Documentation is required for this patch/decal – photos, affidavits from another source, etc.
· Minnesota River 335 Paddler: For anyone who paddles the entire length of the Minnesota River from the Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge to Fort Snelling at the confluence with the Mississippi River either in one paddle or by segments.

Three designs have been created by local artist, Char Kahler, and approved by the paddler committee to be reviewed by the larger group. Comments on the designs were requested of the larger group and include:
· Minnesota River Watershed Alliance will be added to the patch/decal.
· Four inches is the size we are looking at.
· Both patches and decals will be offered.
· Use the same font to give a consistence to the three patches/decals.
· Bring out the word Minnesota by using the color white.
· Make the canoe in the Tributary patch/decal look more like a canoe.
· Change the shape of the kayaks on the Extreme patch/decal to make it look less like rockets (the way they are stacked together)
The group was asked to give a thumbs up or down if they wanted to move forward with these three designs reflecting the changes offered. Over 75% of the group approved of this motion.

Scott announced good news in that the Watershed Alliance was awarded the Minnesota Waters’ River Friendly Community of the Year. This means we will get $1,000 to spend where we see fit along with two tickets to River Night Celebration on August 19th and a plaque. The group voted to use the funds to pay for the Paddler Program’s logo designs and to print up patches and decals.

The group also nominated Chantill and her Mom, Char (the logo designer), to attend the River Night Celebration.

Minnesota River Paddler Program Committees:
· Chantill Kahler-Royer (chantillka@bolton-menk.com),
· Joel Wurscher (joelw@co.sibley.mn.us),
· Brooke Patterson (brookep@co.sibley.mn.us),
· James Fett (james.fet@mnsu.edu),
· Franz Albert Richter (2161 Hwy 59; Clarkfield, MN 56223),
· Jesse Anderson (oeairq@redred.com),
· Scott Kudelka (scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu)

Minnesota River Friendly Label
Linda Meschke wasn’t able to make the meeting and there was nothing to report since the committee hasn’t met since the April 21st meeting.

committee members:
· Linda Meschke (linda@ruraladvantage.org) ,
· Dee Czech (dczech@frontiernet.net),
· Brooke Patterson (brookep@co.sibley.mn.us),
· Chantill Kahler-Royer (chantillka@bolton-menk.com),
· Joe Domeier (jadomeier@threeriversrcd.org),
· Mary Mueller (mmmc@means.net),
· Jill Sackett (sacke032@umn.edu),
· Jim Klang (jklang@kieser-associates.com),
· Scott Kudelka (scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu)

Minnesota River Canoe Trail:
Loran Kaardal provided the group with a number of points about the ongoing progress of improving the Minnesota River Water Trail.
· Encouraged people to join the Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota’s (they purchase land and advocate for parks and trails, build partnerships and energize people and create new parks and trails and raise private funds) Action Team (http://www.parksandtrails.org/take_action) to receive information on grant opportunities.
· The National Park Service has a Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program that provides assistance to locally-led natural resource conservation and outdoor recreation projects to help applicants conserve rivers, preserve natural areas, and develop trails and greenways (http://www.nps.gov/ncrc/programs/rtca/) Loran talked about how we need to improve safety, access to the river, put in more toilets, find portable water, develop more campsites, improve the existing campsites, put in more signage and help direct people on how to get on the river.
· The Tatanka Bluffs (a nonprofit in Renville and Redwood counties) is planning to submit a $½ million for the 2010 Clean Water Legacy funding as they should be the only water trail putting in for an improvement request. There are 4,500 miles of water trails in Minnesota – we should be able to get a little slice of the funding.
· Loran encourages other segments of the MN River Water Trail to see their own DNR Parks & Trails people for help with getting funding to improve facilities in the other segments. They are the guardians of the Clean Water funding of the trail monies.
· Loran reported on the Minnesota River Segment 2 (Granite Falls to Fort Ridgley) bus tour on July 9th that looked at the recreational possibilities and current canoe facilities including campgrounds, boat access points and tourism places. Randy Thoreson of the National Park Service was on the trip and expressed his excitement at how organized this effort is to improve the Minnesota River water trail.
· As a result of this tour, the Tatanka Bluffs organization is applying for the National Park’s Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program technical grant. This would allow them to work with Randy Thoreson for a year (maybe two) to develop a plan.
· Loran requested a letter of support from the Watershed Alliance for this grant application and it was approved by the group. Scott will prepare a letter with help from Loran and send it to Randy Thoreson.

Committee Members:
· Loran Kaardal (loran.kaardal.b46s@statefarm.com) ,
· Brad Cobb (1231tlc@charter.net) ,
· Patrick Moore (patrick@cureriver.org) ,
· Scott Sparlin (yasure@lycos.com) ,
· Scott Kudelka (scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu)

Minnesota River Magazine
Edwin Dumalag of MPCA reported on the status of the initiative to develop a regional magazine revolving around the Minnesota River. Right now Kay Sauck of the Womeninc magazine (http://www.women-inc.com/) is trying to line up investors to fund the magazine but ran into some snags. Kay has been talking about expanding it to be a statewide focus in order to increase the number of potential subscribers from 15,000 to 100,000 which looks better to investors. At this time they are still looking at a fall release. According to Edwin, Kay wants our help and guidance with getting the magazine up and running including putting together a list of writers and photographers along with a list of potential subscribers.

The group offered a number of suggestions for potential funding opportunities including the Southwest Initiative Foundation, Pheasants Forever, etc. There was also concern about a magazine painting the watershed in a bad light or slandering it. One positive example of a river focused magazine is Big River (http://www.big-river.com) Edwin said it is key to have another avenue for communicating what is happening in the Minnesota River Watershed. He also asked the group to submit contact information of people who would be interested in subscribing to the MN River Magazine to his email address: edwin.dumalag@state.mn.us

Future of the Watershed Alliance
Audrey introduced this point by recapping the January meeting where the group decided to move forward with the three initiatives (Paddler Program, River Friendly Label and Canoe Trail). Now with the elimination of funding for the communication coordinator, it is time for the Watershed Alliance to adjust and replan.

Patrick spoke about how the Watershed Alliance came together to speak as one voice as a watershed group to be an overarching people’s organization for the Minnesota River. We didn’t want to be an organization to compete with other groups.

Audrey spilt up everyone into four groups to talk about how the Watershed Alliance should move forward in light of the McKnight Foundation decision not to fund the communication coordinator for another two years. Each of the smaller groups reported their ideas to the larger group.
· Group 1: Coordinating team to pick up the slack and pick up some of the tasks Scott has been taking care of in the past.
· Group 2: Cut some of the meeting costs including food and rental of space to use those funds for communication coordinator.
· Group 3: Can we do with less – cut some of the communication products.
· Group 4: Raise more funds – look more creatively at funding sources – an example would be the Lutheran and Catholic churches or the Southwest Initiative Foundation.
· Group 1: Relocate the meeting to somewhere cheaper or free.
· Group 2: Coordinating team to pick up slack.
· Group 3: Secure funding from a large corporation.
· Group 4: Look at the Otto Bremer Bank Foundation (http://www.bremer.com/home/content.aspx?id=112) or other funding sources.

Patrick asked for volunteers to take on some of those roles that Scott had been doing for the Watershed Alliance. This will allow for a new leadership to emerge. The Watershed Alliance operated before the communication coordinator and will continue to do so. We want a place for river advocates to work alongside those people whose job it is to improve water quality.

National Heritage Area
Jonathan Moore presented information on the National Heritage Program (managed by the National Park Service - http://www.nps.gov/history/heritageareas/) and the idea of working on one for the Minnesota River Watershed. He explained the concept as people + story + place = a National Heritage Area.
· People: there is a critical mass of residents who feel strongly about telling a nationally-significant story through their place. Their backgrounds reflect the diversity of the area, and their numbers are large enough to attract the attention of legislators.
· Story: there needs to be a story of national importance that can only be told here and nowhere else.
· Place: there needs to be spaces and places that physically embody the story and can continue to tell the story into the future.

Jonathan pointed out that our rural landscape is changing and we need to look at how this is going to affect our communities. One way might be looking at developing and improving other economic aspects including recreational opportunities and tourism. A feasibility study could be done by the National Park Service through a legislation action. This wouldn’t become a National Park – it would continue as a living and working landscape with no limitations on what a landowner can do – keeps it under local control. To help develop a National Heritage Area, the National Park Service awards up to $1 million in grants with a 50-50 match. According to Jonathan, there are no National Heritage Areas in Minnesota and no one is currently planning one. Right now the Minnesota River Valley National Scenic Byway is interested in this concept.

Central MN River Valley Historical and Cultural Resources Conservation Plan
Patrick Moore and Brad Cobb reported on a meeting facilitated by Wayne Ostlie of Great River Greening that brought together experts to help develop a conservation plan for historic and cultural resources in the Central Minnesota River Valley. The plan will be completed by June 30th and will be a public document that everyone can use and appreciate. According to Loran Kaardal, it will be used as a selection tool when it comes to purchasing significant pieces of property in the watershed whether for culture, historic, recreational or natural characteristics. A public meeting to gather input will be held this fall. Brad Cobb will forward that date through Scott Kudelka.

Request of letter of support
Nathan Barta of rural Renville County came in front of the group to request a letter of support discouraging the expansion of the Renville County Landfill. According to Nathan, Renville County has been trying to acquire his family farm and CRP land for a landfill expansion.

Currently the county is going through a permit renewal process and will have a public meeting on July 28th (Tuesday) at the Renville County Office Building in Olivia scheduled for 6 p.m. The draft permit is open for public review and comment through August 12, 2009.

This permit renewal doesn’t call for any expansion of the landfill and according to Diane Mitchell of Renville County, they are looking at environmental alternatives to reduce the amount of waste deposited in the landfill including the use of transfer station.

The group voted to hold off any action of a support for now in order to review the information and make an informed decision.

Next Meeting:
The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for October 20th (3rd Tuesday) starting at 6 p.m. at the Hutchinson Event Center in Hutchinson. We will start with a social hour at 6 p.m. with food and drink and begin the meeting right at 7 p.m. and strive to wrap things up in two hours.

Attended:
Chantill Kahler-Royer,
Brooke Patterson,
James Fett,
Al Odenthal,
Franz Albert Richter,
Brad Cobb,
Loran Kaardal,
Joel Wurscher,
Susie Carlin,
Kristy Rice,
Jim Schafer
Joe P. Michel,
Jesse Anderson,
Edwin Dumalag,
Tom Clarke,
Jack Lauer,
Tom Keaveny,
Katie Bovee,
Patrick Moore,
Forrest Peterson,
Lee Sundmark,
Megan Ulrich,
Norma Syverson,
Nathan Barta,
Randy Thoreson,
Audrey Arner,
Scott Kudelka

July 21, 2009 Meeting Announcement

2009-07-06T09:15:00.003-05:00

Come out on July 21st - Tuesday evening – to be part of what is happening in the Minnesota River Watershed as we move forward with our 2009 “MN River Initiative” – the MN River Paddler Program and MN River Label along with a chance to network with others from around the watershed.

Your input is needed!

Join the effort to make a difference in the Minnesota River Watershed. Celebrate recent accomplishments, make friends with your watershed neighbors, engage in action planning for the future.

The Minnesota River Watershed Alliance (Watershed Alliance) is a Volunteer, Active, Action-Oriented Group of Watershed Advocates. Participation is open to Every Citizen, Landowner, Organization and Agency in the Minnesota River Watershed.

When: Tuesday, July 21st

Time: 6 p.m. for a social hour and food
7 p.m. the formal meeting

Where: Hutchinson Event Center. The Hutchinson Event Center is located at 1005 Highway 15 South Plaza 15 on the south edge of the city.

Agenda Items
· MN River Communication Effort
· MN River Paddler Program
· MN River Label
· MN River Magazine
· What’s Next for the MN River Watershed Alliance
· National Heritage Area Concept for southern Minnesota

Social hour begins at 6 p.m. with food, drink and time to network with others working, living and playing in the Minnesota River Watershed. The meeting will start right at 7 o’clock and we strive to wrap up the formal discussion by 9 p.m.

We hope to see you at the July 21st meeting and are excited about the future of the Minnesota River Watershed. If you have any questions please contact Scott Kudelka at 507-389-2304 or scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu.

Check out the Alliance’s blog web site at: http://mail.mnsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/mrwa

Paddle quietly and feel the peace. Brush your hands on the 3.8 billion year old granite outcroppings. Be startled by the slap of a beaver’s tail, and be surprised by the butterflies and the eagle soaring over head. Cast your fishing line into that deep pool shaded by the overhanging trees. The Minnesota River entices you to enjoy the water and absorb the scenic beauty. – Senator Dennis Fredrickson

April 21, 2009 Meeting Notes

2009-05-04T08:52:00.002-05:00

On one of our first real spring days of the season, thirty-one people came out for the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance’s quarterly meeting at the Hutchinson Event Center. We were fortunate to have Audrey Arner serving as our facilitator. Once again she did a great job of keeping us on task and letting everyone have a voice in the decision making process.

Welcome & Introductions:
Scott Kudelka welcomed and thanked everyone for coming out and gave a brief history of the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance (Watershed Alliance) before introducing Audrey Arner as the meeting facilitator. Audrey talked about how this is group of season river advocates and those who show up have a voice in how the Watershed Alliance moves forward with their initiatives. “We bring attention to what is happening with the river”. As a way to introduce ourselves, Audrey asked everyone to give an observation of spring. These observations included paddling a flooded field and coming within a few feet of 30 to 40 swans, the corn planter waiting to start planting, hearing the sound of frogs, and the woodpile not disappearing as fast as it had over the winter.

Minnesota River Paddle Patch/Decal Initiative:
A brief overview of this initiative was given by Scott Kudelka. The committee’s recommendation of offering three different paddle patches/decals received unanimous support from the group. The group also voted to rename it the Minnesota River Paddler Program to make it easier to promote and for the public to understand.

An interesting and fun discussion took place on what to name each of the different patches/decals. Everyone felt the names of the first two patches/decals – Minnesota River Tributary Paddler and Minnesota River Extreme Paddler made sense and voted to stick with those names.

For the third patch/decal a number of potential names were submitted to be voted on including the use of 335 (length of the Minnesota River), CRAM (Canoe the River Across Minnesota), Source to Mouth, Go the Distance the word “club” versus “paddler.” After quite a bit of discussion and two different votes, the group went with Minnesota River 335 Paddler.

The Watershed Alliance will award three paddle patches/decals to anyone who meets the following criteria:
· Minnesota River Tributary Paddler: Paddle any three of these major tributaries; Chippewa River, Lac qui Parle River, Pomme de Terre River, Yellow Medicine River, Hawk Creek, Redwood River, Cottonwood River, Watonwan River, Le Sueur River, Blue Earth River, and one stretch of the Minnesota River.
· Minnesota River Extreme Paddler: Paddle the following rivers in the Minnesota River Watershed; Little Minnesota River, Whetstone River, Yellow Bank River, Chippewa River, Lac qui Parle River, Pomme de Terre River, Beaver Creek, Yellow Medicine River, Hawk Creek, Redwood River, Cottonwood River, Watonwan River, Le Sueur River, Blue Earth River, Big Cobb River, Maple River, Rush River, High Island Creek, Sand Creek, and three stretches of the Minnesota River (Upper, Middle and Lower) for a total of 22 paddles. Documentation is required for this patch/decal – photos, affidavits from another source, etc.
· Minnesota River 335 Paddler: For anyone who paddles the entire length of the Minnesota River from the Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge to Fort Snelling at the confluence with the Mississippi River either in one paddle or by segments.

The group felt it would be good to keep the name of the Minnesota River patch/decal separate from an annual event – CRAM (Canoe the River Across the Minnesota) – to avoid confusion.

Five options on how a design should be created for each of the paddle patches/decals were presented: 1. Hire a firm or individual, 2. Hold a contest; 3. Utilize the artistic talent of the Watershed Alliance; 4. Engage the Art Department at Minnesota State University, Mankato; and 5. Use the 99 Designs web site. The group voted to have committee work with an artist to come up with a design for each of the patches/decals to be presented at the next meeting.

The Minnesota River Paddler Program Committee is made up of the following individuals:
· Chantill Kahler-Royer (chantillka@bolton-menk.com),
· Joel Wurscher (joelw@co.sibley.mn.us),
· Brooke Patterson (brookep@co.sibley.mn.us),
· James Fett (james.fet@mnsu.edu),
· Franz Albert Richter (2161 Hwy 59; Clarkfield, MN 56223),
· Jesse Anderson (oeairq@redred.com),
· Scott Kudelka (scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu)

Minnesota River Friendly Label
Linda Meschke reported on the efforts of the committee working on launching a Minnesota River Friendly Label to recognize businesses, farms, individuals, organizations, schools, etc. working to improve and protect the Minnesota River. An application is being created by the group that will paperless to go along with the river friendly idea. The group is looking at having three steps as the different businesses, organizations, farms, etc. become more river friendly (maybe red, white and blue). A check list will be part of the application to cover what they are doing now and what they would consider doing. This application is being patterned after the River Friendly Faith Program. One of the goals is to involved youth and the community.

The application is currently being developed and the committee welcomes suggestions and ideas for the checklist. One of the next steps is identify a group of 20 to 25 businesses, organizations, farms, schools, etc. that are already being river friendly to award this label as a way to launch the program. Please send suggestions to the committee members:
· Linda Meschke (linda@ruraladvantage.org) ,
· Dee Czech (dczech@frontiernet.net),
· Brooke Patterson (brookep@co.sibley.mn.us),
· Chantill Kahler-Royer (chantillka@bolton-menk.com),
· Joe Domeier (jadomeier@threeriversrcd.org),
· Mary Mueller (mmmc@means.net),
· Jill Sackett (sacke032@umn.edu),
· Jim Klang (jklang@kieser-associates.com),
· Scott Kudelka (scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu)

Minnesota River Canoe Trail:
Loran Kaardal gave a brief description of the Boy Scout Canoe Trail Program developed in 1968 and how it was rediscovered when he ran across pamphlets in Miss Tiffy’s attic. Part of this effort is to build infrastructure (access points, drinking water, toilets, campsites, etc.) and the other part is get people out on the river by holding paddles or parties like CRAM. Loran feels the MN River Watershed could be one of the top designations for canoeing/kayaking in the state.

The committee is looking to partner with the DNR to help them guide us through the process including putting in the infrastructure on this canoe trail and also being able to reserve canoes from the state parks and campsites. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for the public to use this infrastructure and get out on the water; to upgrade the trail to fit the clientele.

Erik Wrede of the DNR stated the key is building partnerships and citizens need to take the lead because legislators like citizen-driven initiatives. There are potential funding sources for this type of work including the Bonding Bill and the Parks & Trails monies from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. Although right now access to those funds are not clear but a canoe trail should fit within the guidelines.

According to Erik Wrede, our effort will help set a precedent on how other water trails are developed. The Watershed Alliance is one of the first groups to be this organized and developing partnerships to make it happen.

There was some discussion among the group about how there has been some problems with floods destroying or washing away established campsites, in particular in the lower portions of the Minnesota River. The DNR recognizes there is a need to plan and design for flooding events.

Committee Members:
· Loran Kaardal (loran.kaardal.b46s@statefarm.com) ,
· Brad Cobb (1231tlc@charter.net) ,
· Patrick Moore (patrick@cureriver.org) ,
· Scott Sparlin (yasure@lycos.com) ,
· Scott Kudelka (scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu)

Minnesota River Magazine
Scott Kudelka, Linda Meschke, Forrest Peterson and others have been working with the publishers of Womeninc and Midwest Caregivers from the Fairmont area to develop a Minnesota River Valley magazine. The owner – Kay Sauck – is excited about the possibilities of getting this regional magazine off the ground and has a fall launch planned if they can line up enough advertisers.

At this time they are planning for a circulation of 15,000 copies making up a readership of 60,000 to be mailed out to a list of potential subscribers from across the Minnesota River Watershed. Departments will include Lifestyle (River Life), Environment, Arts, Recreation, and Business. In addition, there will be an online edition. They are thinking of setting the subscription rate at $12.00 per year to make it affordable.

Kay Sauck wants to have the Watershed Alliance as a partner because the idea for this magazine came from Forrest Peterson who presented it to Scott Kudelka. After the idea made it into the MN River Communications Plan, Linda Meschke mentioned it to Kay Sauck who jumped at the chance of publishing this magazine. Our role would be as an advisory board to help with story ideas, identifying potential advertisers and how to promote the magazine. As the communication coordinator, Scott would have a half page column to write about the Minnesota River. There is also the possibility of having a portion of the profits funneled back into the watershed for community grants including for efforts of the Watershed Alliance. This is what they do with the magazine Womeninc.

The group thought it was a great idea and voted to have the Watershed Alliance continue supporting this magazine concept and help move it forward. Some of the ideas we can help with include providing story ideas, potential writers, artists and photographers and providing mailing lists from the various nonprofit organizations since these people are already interested in the river. This would help keep the start-up costs down.

Loran Kaardal asked if this would stop us from working with other people interested in putting together a publication about the Minnesota River. There is a local editor looking to develop a Minnesota River newspaper. The group felt this would be ok as long as we do not try to sell articles, photographs and other material to two or more publications.

Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Funding:
Lori Nelson planned to give an update on what is happening with a list of projects from the Minnesota River Watershed that were forwarded to Senator Dennis Fredrickson but had an early morning commitment. Scott Kudelka explained how a group of organizations and individuals gathered on March 6th in Mankato to talk about the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment on the advice of Senator Fredrickson and Representative Terry Morrow to discuss how we could work together to advance project ideas for this funding source.

As a result, a list of projects were put together for the Clean Water portion of the funding and tied to various TMDLs in the Minnesota River Watershed and forwarded to Senator Fredrickson. Unfortunately, the funding mechanism still hasn’t been decided for the Arts and Trails funds and they were left off the project list. Scott read an email from Lori Nelson explaining how she and Scott Sparlin have talked to Senator Fredrickson’s legislative assistant. The Minnesota River project list will most likely be put into a larger omnibus bill covering the Clean Water funding.

To help promote this bill the group was encouraged to sent a letter, or an email or call Senator Fredrickson and Representative Morrow along with their own legislators. If a legislator gets at least 10 calls, emails or letters on a particular issue they feel the need to address it in some form or fashion.

Upcoming Events
· The annual Nobel Conference will be happening on October 6 & 7 at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter. This year’s topic is water and the committee organizers are looking for local / regional water-related topics for booths, posters and evening presentations. Some suggestions included Traverse de Sioux site, Minnesota River Long-time Residents interviews, MN River Trends Report and Senator Dennis Fredrickson.
· Check out Minnesota Waters’ Lakes and Rivers Conference at the Mayo Convention Center in Rochester on May 7th & 8th. For more information go to their web site at www.minnesotawaters.org. Scott Kudelka, Kim Musser and Rick Moore along with Art and Barb Straub will be doing a presentation on the Long-time Residents of the Minnesota River web site on Friday at 1 o’clock. This web site includes stories on Audrey Arner and Richard Handeen of Moonstone Farm and Joe Michel. Minnesota Waters is dominated by lake’s people – they need river people.

Next Steps:
Contact Senator Fredrickson and Representative Morrow to thank them for their support of Minnesota River Projects and advocate the list of projects for the Clean Water funding. In addition, contact your own legislators.
Develop ideas on how to promote the Minnesota River Paddler Program – when and how to unveil. At the July 21st meeting, the group will have a chance to review designs for the three paddle patches/decals.
Consider developing a CRAM for 2010 committee
Develop a list of potential businesses, organizations, farmers, individuals, schools, etc. for the MN River Friendly Label. Send any contact information to Linda Meschke along with criteria for the application. A marketing plan will be developed for the group to review at the July 21st meeting.
The Canoe Trail Committee will continue to work with MN DNR on leg work for developing a Minnesota River Canoe Trail.
Think about the Minnesota River Valley Magazine – input, layout, history, art, poetry, regions, writers, etc. Franz Albert Richter brought up the Minnesota River Currents magazine that was published in the 1990s. Scott Kudelka has all the copies of this magazine.

Meeting Evaluation:
At the end, Audrey asked for comments on the positive and negative aspects of tonight’s meeting. Everyone felt it was a very productive meeting and gave Audrey a round of applause for facilitating the meeting.

Next Meeting:
The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for July 21st (3rd Tuesday) starting at 6 p.m. at the Hutchinson Event Center in Hutchinson. We will start with a social hour at 6 p.m. with food and drink and begin the meeting right at 7 p.m. and strive to wrap things up in two hours.

Attended:
Dee Czech,
Jim Wolf,
Kathleen Wolf,
Chantill Kahler-Royer,
Mike Lein,
Brooke Patterson,
James Fett,
Al Odenthal,
Franz Albert Richter,
Dwight Swanson,
Linda Meschke,
Brad Cobb,
Loran Kaardal,
Joel Wurscher,
Charlie Woehler,
Susie Carlin,
Larry Gunderson,
Ron Otto,
Gary Lenz,
Duane Ninneman,
Ron Bolduan,
John Hickman,
Erik Wrede,
Kristy Rice,
Gene Jeseritz,
Mark Schnobrich,
Jim Schafer
Joe P. Michel,
John Rodeberg
Audrey Arner,
Scott Kudelka

April 21, 2009 Meeting Announcement

2009-03-24T14:52:00.001-05:00

Be part of the effort to protect and promote the Minnesota River Watershed as we move forward with our 2009 “Clean up the Minnesota River” initiative: MN River Friendly Label and MN River Paddle Patch/Decal Program at the next Minnesota River Watershed Alliance meeting on April 21st (Tuesday evening). The meeting will be held at the Hutchinson Events Center (1005 Highway 15 South, Plaza 15, Hutchinson, MN 55350). The quarterly meeting begins at 6 p.m. with a social hour to give participants time to interact with each other and share stories and concerns about what is happening in their part of the Minnesota River Watershed. At 7 p.m. the formal part of the meeting starts, with the group striving to wrap up all discussion by 9 o’clock. For a ride to Hutchinson contact the following organizations: Coalition for a Clean Minnesota River (CCMR) in New Ulm at 507-359-2346, Friends of the Minnesota Valley (FMV) in Bloomington at 952-881-9055 or Clean Up the River Environment (CURE) in Montevideo at 320-269-2984. For more information on the meeting and Watershed Alliance please contact Scott Kudelka at 507-389-2304 or scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu.

January 20, 2009 Meeting Announcement

2009-01-05T10:02:00.003-06:00

Be part of the process for picking the 2009 “Clean Up The Minnesota River” issue at the next Minnesota River Watershed Alliance meeting on January 20th - Tuesday evening!

We are excited about all the possibilities to improve this valuable resource and for the passage of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

When: Tuesday, January 20th

Time: 6 p.m. for a social hour and food
7 p.m. the formal meeting

Where: Hutchinson Event Center - The Hutchinson Event Center is located at 1005 Highway 15 South Plaza 15 on the south edge of the city.

Your input is needed!

Join the effort to make a difference in the Minnesota River Watershed. Celebrate recent accomplishments, make friends with your watershed neighbors, engage in action planning for the future.

The Minnesota River Watershed Alliance (Watershed Alliance) is a Volunteer, Active, Action-Oriented Group of Watershed Advocates. Participation is open to Every Citizen, Landowner, Organization and Agency in the Minnesota River Watershed.

Potential “Clean Up the Minnesota River” issues for 2009:
· An event focus with nontraditional constituents,
· Produce a TV documentary on the MN River incorporating aerial photography,
· MN River Friendly Label and MN River Paddle Patch / Decal Program,
· Cross fertilization between Lake Pepin and MN River groups,
· Backyard drainage awareness campaign.

Social hour begins at 6 p.m. with food, drink and time to network with others working, living and playing in the Minnesota River Watershed. The meeting will start right at 7 o’clock and we strive to wrap up the formal discussion by 9 p.m.

We hope to see you at the January 20th meeting and are excited about the future of the Minnesota River Watershed. If you have any questions please contact Scott Kudelka at 507-389-2304 or scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu.

October 21, 2008 Meeting Minutes

2008-10-30T13:50:00.000-05:00

October 21, 2008 Meeting Notes:

Twenty-six people attended the quarterly meeting of the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance (Watershed Alliance) in Hutchinson. Members of the coordinating team took turns facilitating the meeting.

Welcome & Introductions:
· Patrick Moore welcomed everyone and asked that no one sit with their back to someone else. Each person introduced themselves, where they were from and why they like coming to the Watershed Alliance meetings. Comments ranged from: they saw this group as a model for other watersheds in the state to there is always something interesting being discussed to it helps them keep up on what is going on in the watershed.
· Next, Patrick reviewed the agenda and stated each of the coordinating team would be taking turns leading the discussion for that particular item:
o Welcome & Introductions
o Reviewing the Agenda
o Communications Report
o Review Watershed Alliance Agreement
o Coordinating Team Membership
o Revising Priority Issue – Living Systems Project
o 2009 Focus
o Announcements
· There was a discussion about getting the word out on the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment with the November 4th election coming up. Due to Scott Kudelka being an employee of Minnesota State University, no promotion of the amendment can be done through him.

Communications Report
· Scott Kudelka talked about Michael Groh not being able to facilitate tonight’s meeting because of his ongoing health condition. Michael recently went through more chemo and radiation which shrunk the new tumor growth. Unfortunately, the treatments took a heavy toll on Michael and the next steps would be even tougher. According to his CaringBridge Site, with further decreased quality of life; none of the treatment options sound very good to Michael. With the kind of brain cancer that dad is battling, we know there’s a very high likelihood of regrowth fairly quickly (in a matter of months) without ongoing treatment. Right now, dad is taking a break from all of the doctors, appointments, etc. and trying to regain some strength and see if he can get to feeling a little better. Thanks for your continued support as we go through this journey. Dad is feeling increasingly private and non-communicative, so his preference is for people to send their messages through the Caring Bridge site (or through e-mails to me).

· To send Michael a greeting go to: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/michaelgroh
· Everyone who attended the Minnesota River Celebration at the Lake Pepin Conference last month in Mankato felt it went over very well. According to Scott Kudelka, over 175 people came out to see three presentations from Tim Krohn and John Cross. Michael Lein talked about how it came down for it and was impressed with the number of people who showed up. Patrick Moore related how he was able to connect with all these people in the Lake Pepin Watershed and who want to collaborate with us on water quality issues.
· Scott reported on the efforts of the MN River Friendly Label and MN River Paddle Patch Committee. Paula Marti of Morgan Creek Vineyard is very interested in the River Friendly Label and feels her Wine, Beer and History Tour group would be interested in being a partner in this venture. Right now she is busy with the grape harvest and has promised to invite Scott to their next meeting. Patrick mentioned a similar group is being organized in the Upper Minnesota Watershed by Audrey Arner of Moonstone Farm.
· The Paddle Patch committee formed last meeting has met three times to discuss ideas revolving around awarding a patch/decal to those people who paddle a specific number of river stretches. The committee has gathered information on a number of aspects including web site development, education programs, identifying routes and publicity.
· Funding for Scott Kudelka is secure through December of 2009 through the remaining McKnight Foundation funds and other projects. Ron Kroese of McKnight Foundation has expressed their organization is favorable of funding the communication coordinator position for another three years, just not at 100%. Scott said there are a number of funding possibilities in the works including a conversation with Womeninc out of Fairmont, who are interested in publishing a MN River magazine. Lori Nelson asked if the magazine “Big River” was brought up because it could serve as a template.

Watershed Alliance Agreement:
· Scott Sparlin led the next agenda item and started out by giving a quick history lesson on how the Watershed Alliance formed and read the original agreement with a few editorial comments. Scott stated he saw the Watershed Alliance as being able to collectively do big things like CREP where you work hard on that issue with everyone pulling together you get it done. He sees us as being the anti-organization, a loosely network of people all pulling together.
· The Watershed Alliance’s first initiative – enrolling more acres into permanent easements – has been accomplished. For 2008 we picked the Living Systems Project. Scott Sparlin asked for a discussion on where we should continue with the original agreement or go in a new direction by taking on multiple issues.
· Lori Nelson said we want to get some new perspectives on this agreement and good to see new people at the meeting. Over the last two years we have lost a lot of people because we’ve stuck to one issue. For her self, Lori likes one issue because all of us have a lot of things to do. She referred to MEP – Minnesota Environmental Partnership – and how it’s like herding cats and they take on 4 issues a year. Lori also expressed that we have diluted our purpose by trying to be a mile wide an inch deep instead of the other way around. Once again she stated the strength of the Watershed Alliance is picking that one issue and working on that only.
· Scott Sparlin talked about how originally there were large numbers of people who attended the meetings with the hope the group would pick their issue but once it didn’t happen that way, attendance has fallen off. A lot of people have left. Scott also talked about how the communication coordinator Scott Kudelka has broadened the scope of his position further than the original intent. Both Scott Sparlin and Lori Nelson felt the communication coordinator should focus solely on the Watershed Alliance’s main initiative and Scott Kudelka’s efforts have gotten away from that.
· Mike Lein said the Watershed Alliance Agreement is like a regulatory issue – once you get out in the field and start working, its original purpose goes out the door. He likes the Living System Project because it is broader than the CREP issue which was too exclusive. Mike also said he likes having one major focus but shouldn’t limit our efforts to just that. As an example, he talked about how great the MN River Celebration went over and was able to do some networking and pick up some new ideas.
· The consensus of the group is that nothing is etched in stone when it comes to focusing on just one issue.
· Ron Bolduan said he likes the freedom of doing a lot of other things and gives the ability for people to have an interest in a specific project or take a break from attending the meetings.
· Scott Sparlin reminded the group; originally we wanted to aggressively seek out people in charge of networks to come here. Where is the Izaak Walton League, Pheasants Forever, Ducks Unlimited? Are we not announcing to others that we can be a powerful organization?
· Jim Wolff said he approves of the one issue concept and feels communication is a strength; we just need to broaden it more in order to open the door to the one issue.
· Scott Sparlin replied that Scott Kudelka would have enough to talk about if the issue was compelling enough. The McKnight Foundation was excited about the one issue concept.
· Patrick asked for clarification on what the Watershed Alliance has focused on. He brought up the letter to the governor about the Big Stone Drawdown. Scott Sparlin said the letter went beyond the original agreement.
· Scott Sparlin talked about Scott Kudelka getting tapped into participating in a lot of issues and projects because of his affiliation with Minnesota State University. He brought up the Mussel Weekend and how a number of people asked him how the Watershed Alliance got involved in this event. Scott Sparlin said it gets too confusing. Ron Bolduan brought up how he thought it was a good event and plus the Watershed Alliance got publicity.
· There was a discussion on how the Watershed Alliance should be involved in events like the Mussel Weekend and MN River Celebration. It was suggested the event should be approved at a quarterly meeting and/or be co-sponsored by another organization. Each of the events put on by the Watershed Alliance has fallen into these two categories.
· Tim Lies asked for the 10 second explanation on the Living Systems Project. When no one could come up with it, Tim offered his opinion that we could be going down the wrong road and how larger organizations have gotten off track by large projects like this.
· Patrick stated he likes the smaller size of the meetings now better because people have more of a voice and we get more accomplished. We are now connected with a large group of people – over 300 - through Scott’s MN Weekly Update and as a result become more diverse. In a grassroots organization like this it is inevitable that we branch out into other activities like hosting the MN River Celebration. I am happy with what Scott has accomplished, like helping us host Carrie Jennings and bringing in over 120 people.
· Scott Sparlin said the problem is that it creates a façade of what people are doing. We are not that big. There are already three major organizations (CURE, CCMR and Friends of MN Valley) working on numerous issues in the watershed. Scott said it is harder for him at CCMR because Scott Kudelka is my backyard compared to the Upper Minnesota.
· Lori Nelson brought up that we don’t have a lot of engagement by people in the one issue. How do we get Scott Kudelka out there to promote the project? There isn’t a lot of involvement when we end up choosing an issue. How do we maximize Scott Kudelka’s efforts?
· Scott Sparlin asked for a show of hands on whether we should continue with the original agreement or develop a new. A major of people raised their hands in support of maintaining the original agreement.

Coordinating Team Members:
· Lori Nelson facilitated a discussion on the responsibilities of the coordinating team and how a member should serve no more than three consecutive one-year terms. Currently, all the members – Scott Sparlin, Shannon Fisher, Dee Czech, Patrick Moore, Larry Gunderson, Charles Guggisberg, and Lori Nelson – were appointed in October of 2006.
· Two members – Loren Engelby and Kylene Olson – asked to be taken off the coordinating team due to other commitments.
· Lori invited anyone who wants to serve on the coordinating team to put their names forward. Four people were nominated – Chantill Kahler-Royer, James Fett, Brooke Patterson and Susie Carlin – and approved to serve on the coordinating team.
· The group discussed the original purpose of the coordinating team was have monthly phone calls to check in, discuss issues, make decisions and move things forward in between the quarterly meetings. Scott Kudelka agreed to aggressively to hold these monthly phone calls again.

2008 Focus – Living Systems Project:
· Dee Czech explained what the Living Systems Project is all about with help from other coordinating team members. This project is a coming together for a conversation among all the stakeholders in the Basin – it is a living MN River. What does it look like? In the stakeholder’s interest they will be listening to each other. There will be face to face conversations with people listening and seeing each other’s view points. The end result will give people the impact of each other’s role in the basin – one living system. How does it all come together? Data is collected on economic, social and water quality aspects, which is used to build a model. Everyone who has a livelihood in the watershed will be at the able for this conversation. This will give people an understanding of each other’s part and place they came from.
· The process involves collecting data on economic, social, water quality and other aspects to be used to create a model. The model would assist government and entities change people’s behavior. This is something that has only been done a few times on this scale and a first for an environmental focus.
· Mike Lein talked about his experience with a “living systems” type of project that MPCA did a number of years ago with waste management. According to Mike, it was frustrating experience for everyone including the MPCA staff who felt the system was shoved down their throat by management.
· Susie Carlin asked what if we create this model and none of the leaders in the basin buy into the project.
· In a reply, Patrick asked if we do create the model, will it change people’s behaviors. He is leery of investing a lot of time and money with creating a model. Instead he is more interested in doing the conversation part, which as a community leader has more impact.
· Dee said she comes from the perspective of education and likes the idea of seeing people connecting at a table with this conversation.
· Lori sees the Living Systems Project as intriguing and has a lot of value. She has been trying to sell it to other organizations but with it being very process orientated it doesn’t seem to be creating a lot of enthusiasm. To her this is a MPCA project with the Watershed Alliance playing more of a supporting role. The funding sources don’t seem to be there. It might be more of a use to the Watershed Alliance after the model has been created.
· Mike Lein offered that MPCA has a hard time getting big budget items like the Living Systems Project through their agency.
· Patrick reminded the group the Watershed Alliance picked this issue three months ago, with a sub committee (Steering Team) formed to move the project forward. At the last meeting of the project’s steering committee the funding issue was brought up. With no commitment by the people around the table to push the project forward it has thrown the process into a lot of confusion.
· A question was raised by the group on whether this is the type of project we want to pursue.
· There was a suggestion that the Watershed Alliance needs a few more years of just a one-year focus.
· Patrick Moore talked about one of the interesting parts of the Living Systems Project has been sitting across the table from Warren Formo, who was hired by the agricultural organizations to help usher the TMDL process through. He was surprised at how much the two of them agreed about. In terms of the Watershed Alliance, Patrick stated raising money isn’t our strength, creating a social network is our strength. Maybe we need to preserve the Living Systems Project by focusing on the people connection aspect and not be responsible for raising money. Patrick also expressed how tough it is raise funds for a project like this when you are responsible for your own organization fundraising.
· Jim Wolf stated when we took the vote about the Living Systems Project being our main focus fundraising wasn’t part of the picture; it wasn’t part of the vote.
· Tim Lies brought up how it is hard to gather soft data and quantify the hard data. This is complex project for an anti-group. If you take this project on, you than have to reexamine the group’s mission because it’s not built for taking the lead on this type of a project. Tim also said this is the future – Living Systems Model – and probably as worthy as any project the group would want to take on. He felt the Watershed Alliance shouldn’t abandon it. It’s a lofty goal.
· Brooke Patterson suggested we take out the fundraising aspect and let the project be a sub priority. We could put on mini workshops to explain what the Living Systems Project is all about and help sell the issue. Brooke said she thinks it is really important.
· There was a discussion on whether the Watershed Alliance should continue with the Living Systems Project as our main focus or keep it on the table only in a modified version. A question was raised how we can keep the Living Systems Project on the table without raising funds.
· Patrick offered the suggestion we keep the communication piece of the Living Systems Project but not the model aspect. We can bring people together to talk about the issues and will get a lot further. He said more data isn’t going to change people’s opinion. Government agencies like data because they can manage it. Patrick said the biggest issue right now is raising funds for the project, something MPCA expected of the Watershed Alliance but isn’t realistic when we are responsible for raising funds for our own organizations.

2009 Watershed Alliance Focus:
· The group decided to put off making any decision for the 2009 Focus until the January meeting. Instead the group came up with a number of other issues the Watershed Alliance might be interested in:
o An Event focus with nontraditional constituents (7 votes),
o Produce a TV documentary on the Minnesota River incorporating aerial photography (9 votes),
o MN River Friendly Label and MN River Paddle Patch/Decal Program (6 votes),
o Cross Fertilization between Lake Pepin and MN River groups (2 votes),
o Backyard Drainage Awareness Campaign (8 votes).
· The group voted on two different issues they are interested in pursuing for the Watershed Alliance.
· The Living Systems Project and the 2009 Watershed Alliance Focus will be discussed in greater detail at the January 20th quarterly meeting.

Announcements:
· Patrick Moore invited everyone to come out this weekend to help with a couple of CURE cleanup projects. On Saturday is the “Hungry Hollow” stream clean up in East Granite Falls from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Met at Carl’s Bakery on Main Street at 11 a.m. On Sunday is a highway cleanup from 2 to 4 p.m. on a 2-mile stretch of Hwy 212 between Granite Falls and Montevideo. Meet at the Minnesota River landing in Wegdahl at 2 p.m. For more information call Brooke Herling of CURE at 320-269-2984.
· Lori Nelson announced the 2008 Friends of the Minnesota Valley Annual Dinner on October 30th (Thursday) from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the Minnesota Valley Country Club in Bloomington. Tim Krohn and John Cross of the Mankato Free Press will be doing a presentation on their 10th anniversary canoe trip down the Minnesota River. To reserve a ticket call Lori at 952-881-9065 or lnelson@friendsofmnvalley.org
· Dee talked about the Web of Life, Way of Life: Exploring Solidarity with Earth Conference at the School Sisters of Notre Dame Mankato Provincial House Conference Center from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Registration is required by November 10th by calling 507-389-4272 or sending an email to lcoons@ssndmankato.org. The cost for the event is $20 or $15 for students. Look for morning coffee and locally grown lunch. This event is sponsored by Center for Earth Spirituality and Rural Ministry.
· Scott Kudelka reminded everyone all of these events and more are promoted on the MN River Weekly Update and MN River Calendar.

Next Meeting:
The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for January 20th (3rd Tuesday) starting at 6 p.m. at the Hutchinson Event Center in Hutchinson. We will start with a social hour at 6 p.m. with food and drink and begin the meeting right at 7 p.m. and strive to wrap things up in two hours.

Attended:
Patrick Moore,
Dee Czech,
Jim Wolf,
Kathleen Wolf,
Lori Nelson,
Chantill Kahler-Royer,
Mike Lein,
Susie Carlin,
Lee Sundmark,
Brooke Patterson,
James Fett,
Su Beran,
Scott Sparlin,
Ron Bolduan,
Jim Schafer,
Rick Schoening,
Randy Bullert,
Tom Clarke,
Rich Glenne,
Al Odenthal,
Tim Lies,
John Hickman,
Martin Moore,
Jason Scmrit,
Scott Kudelka

October 2008 Meeting

2008-09-16T16:59:00.001-05:00

Explore ~ Learn ~ Participate at the next Minnesota River Watershed Alliance meeting on October 21st - Tuesday evening!

Lend your voice, expertise and commitment to a viable and healthy Minnesota River Watershed. Everyone’s voice is heard and appreciated.

When: Tuesday, October 21st

Time: 6 p.m. for a social hour and food
7 p.m. the formal meeting

Where: Hutchinson Event Center (The Hutchinson Event Center is located at 1005 Highway 15 South Plaza 15 on the south edge of the city)

Social hour begins at 6 p.m. with food, drink and time to network with others working, living and playing in the Minnesota River Watershed. The meeting will start right at 7 o’clock and we strive to wrap up the formal discussion by 9 p.m.

We hope to see you at the October 21st meeting and are excited about the future of the Minnesota River Watershed. If you have any questions please contact Scott Kudelka at 507-389-2304 or scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu.

Your input is needed!

Join the effort to make a difference in the Minnesota River Watershed. Celebrate recent accomplishments, make friends with your watershed neighbors, engage in action planning for the future.

The Minnesota River Watershed Alliance (Watershed Alliance) is a Volunteer, Active, Action-Oriented Group of Watershed Advocates. Participation is open to Every Citizen, Landowner, Organization and Agency in the Minnesota River Watershed.

The MN River Watershed Alliance sponsors:
· MN River Talk newsletter,
· MN River Weekly Email Update,
· MN River Minute (news release),
· Public Events,
· Quarterly Meetings,
· Educational Programs for all ages,
· MN River Calendar

Minnesota River Celebration!

2008-09-10T08:04:00.000-05:00

On September 23rd (Tuesday evening) you are invited to gather at the Hilton in Mankato for a “Voyage down the Minnesota River” presentation by Tim Krohn and John Cross of the Mankato Free Press and the chance to hear more about river and recreation opportunities.

· Social Hour starts at 6 p.m. with cash bar and a taste of locally grown food
· “Voyage down the Minnesota River” presentation starts at 7 p.m.
· MN River & Opportunities for Everyone at 7:30 p.m.
· Second presentation of “Voyage down the Minnesota River” at 8:30 p.m.

This event is sponsored by the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance (Watershed Alliance) and the Minnesota River Board. The Watershed Alliance is an organized network of citizens, public agencies and private organizations dedicated to communicating the benefits of an ecologically healthy Minnesota River Watershed to others, and are actively working toward its improvement and protection.

The mission of the Minnesota River Board is to provide leadership, build partnerships, and support efforts to improve and protect water quality in the Minnesota River Basin. As a joint powers board, it is comprised of one county commissioner from each of the counties in the watershed.

If you have any questions please contact Scott Kudelka at 507-389-2304 or scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu.

July 15, 2008 Meeting Minutes

2008-07-17T15:14:00.000-05:00

Twenty people attended the quarterly meeting of the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance (Watershed Alliance) in Hutchinson. Michael Groh served as the meeting’s facilitator.

Opening Announcements:
· Su Beran of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency announced the Lake Pepin State Conference will be held in Mankato on September 23rd and 24th. More information will be forth coming.
· As a fun fact on the Minnesota River, Scott Sparlin said there are 670 miles of beach compared to 300 miles on Leach Lake.
· Dee Czech told the group about the upcoming Earth Community Event to be held on November 16th in Mankato at the SSND Mankato Provincial House Conference Center. More information will be forth coming.
· Rural Advantage is sponsoring a round of Third Crop Walk and Talks running from July through September, reported Linda Meschke. This includes one on Vineyard Establishment and 3rd Crop Demo Plot Tour.
· Larry Gunderson talked about how teaching his daughter to fish is a whole new experience and he spent most of this time just helping her out.
· The $1,000 flathead catfish has been caught, according to Lee Sundmark of the MN DNR. No one expected the fish would actually be caught. The New Ulm Sportsmen Club and local radio station donated the prize money.
· Susie Carlin put in a plug for the upcoming Minnesota River Board Annual Meeting and Tour to take place in Mankato next Monday – July 21st

Fundraising Efforts
· Scott Kudelka presented information from Rose Consulting Service about a grant opportunity for the River Friendly Label initiative through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). There would be two phases to this grant. The first phase is to secure a Planning Grant for $100,000 with a 50% match to do a Feasibility Study and Marketing Plan.
· The second phase has funding up to $300,000 to pay for implementation activities outlined under the Business/Marketing Plan. The one sticking point is that an agriculture-related organization needs to be the applicant.
· Kellye Rose of Rose Consulting had a number of recommendations for the Watershed Alliance if we want to pursue this type of grant.
o Create a limited partnership with an agricultural-related organization like the Land Stewardship Project.
o Work with a university or community college to write the Feasibility Study and Marketing Plan.
o In order to apply for the implementation grant or second phase, this study and plan need to be completed by March of 2009.
o For Rose Consulting to prepare the grant application would be in the $4,000 to $5,000 range.
· Linda said this type of grant has been used by many of the ethanol plants to conduct feasibility studies. The USDA provides funds to the Agricultural Research Institute to give money to producers, including for an oils lab.
· Patrick Moore reported how the idea behind the River Friendly Label came out of the 2007 MN River Summit. He feels this label would give the watershed a sense of place and we would be able to market ourselves and expand economic opportunities. To coordinate this program, Patrick would like to see us secure funding in the range of $45,000 to $60,000.
· The group discussed whether we should hire an outside consultant like Rose Consulting to write a grant to fund the River Friendly Label or do it in house with Scott taking on a leading role and also receiving help from others with experience in writing grants.
· In the end, the group decided to pursue other options and grant opportunities before hiring an outside consultant. A committee was formed to work on it with Linda Meschke, Chantill Kahler-Royer, Susie Carlson, Patrick Moore, Dee Czech, Michael Lein and Scott Sparlin all agreeing to help out.
· A couple of ideas were floated out to move the label forward including looking at a partnership with the Regional Sustainable Farming Network. Everyone agreed it needs to be broader than just agriculture-related.
· Another idea for the label project is to work with the MN River Wine Producers like Paula Marti of Morgan Creek Vineyard to dovetail on their efforts to create a special marketing region.
· Linda brought forth the notion of working with the local Resource Conservation and Development offices – Three Rivers and West Minn – on the label project. They have the expertise in grant writing.
· Action Item: The River Friendly Label committee will research a larger selection of grant opportunities and contact other groups to see about their interest in the project and report back to the group at the October 21st meeting.

Living Systems Project
· Steering Committee member Linda Meschke gave a report on how this project is moving forward. They are looking at funding opportunities with Patrick Moore preparing the background piece, Linda the narrative and Larry taking care of the budget.
· The committee is also working on identifying and recruiting 100 community leaders to take part in the process, with these champions taking back what they learn to their different sectors and communities.
· Right now a number of steering committee members are meeting with some of agriculture sector people to get them engaged in the process and in general with Minnesota River activities. The agricultural sector needs to be part of the project.
· To apply for funding, the steering committee is gathering support letters from as many entities and individuals to have a nice stack of them when they go to the McKnight Foundation and other organizations. Scott Kudelka informed the group there is a memo and support letter example for those people who want to take the information back to their organization.
· Linda mentioned how she has been thinking of a theme for the project, maybe something like “Minnesota River for the next generation.”
· The Living Systems Project is expected to be a three-year process with the first nine months to secure funding and gathering the 100 community leaders to participate in developing a MN River model. This project doesn’t focus solely on environmental issues but also business and social.
· Scott Sparlin reminded the group, this is the top priority for the Watershed Alliance over the next two years.
· Action Item: A fact sheet, memo and example of a support letter have been put together to help solicit letters of support. Members of the steering committee are also willing to attend meetings and other events to explain the Living Systems Project.

Minnesota River Paddle Patch:
· Scott reported on this potential new initiative for the Watershed Alliance and his conversation with members of the Mankato Paddling and Outing Club. The original idea came from Patrick Moore and the Prairie River Paddle Patch offered by Clean Up the River Environment (CURE) for paddling six CURE rivers (Minnesota, Lac qui Parle, Pomme de Terre, Chippewa, Yellow Medicine and Hawk Creek in the Upper Minnesota Watershed.
· One thought for this initiative is to have two different patches, including an “Extreme” one where you had to paddle something like 22 different stretches including most of the tributaries to the Minnesota River.
· Patrick said we need to make the patch hard to get, this is what will draw people’s interest to the Minnesota River. He experienced it first-handed at the Winnipeg Folk Festival this last weekend.
· Besides paddling, we could reward people for other river uses like fishing. This could help give the Watershed Alliance an identity and fill a niche no one else is doing in the watershed.
· To market the patch it needs to be web-based said Patrick. This is what appeals to young people who are looking for places to paddle. It needs to be interactive like Rich Smith’s Web 2.0 where people can share their experiences with others.
· The patch could also be part of a grant opportunity along with the River Label concept to showcase the possibilities in the MN River Watershed.
· The group voted to continue pursuing the idea of sponsoring a paddle patch and look at rolling it out in February and March. We already have a teaser for the patch through an article in the Mankato Free Press.
· Linda suggested we contact David Vogel of Minnesota Tourism to ask for his help with the patch concept and with grant money. Other groups to look for help includes the MN River Scenic Byway Committee.
· Action Item: A committee of Franz Albert Richter, Chantill Kahler-Royer, Brooke Patterson, Joel Wurscher and James Fett has been formed to research the paddle patch initiative and provide a report at the October 21st meeting.

Communication Report
· To save on time at the quarterly meetings, Scott prepared a report on his activities over the last three months and sent it out to group prior to the meeting. Scott also sent out the latest edition of the River Talk newsletter and the McKnight Foundation report.
· Some of the group said they are overwhelmed with email and felt we need to look at other ways to improve communications.
· Michael Groh provided a number of recommendations on how to improve an organization’s communication skills. One is to look at our sub-group interaction outside the quarterly meetings. He suggested we look at initiating a conference call where people would get a chance to talk with each other in an informal setting.
· To make it easier for newcomers to become part of the Watershed Alliance, Michael suggested we pair a veteran with one of the new people.

Other Items of Interest:
· Patrick Moore asked to hear from some of the new people who have just started to attend Watershed Alliance meetings. James Fett reported about his duties as the technician of the Maple River Watershed Project. He does all the monitoring and is starting a storm stencil project, along with helping sell some of the conservation practices. James will also be doing a presentation during the Minnesota River Board field trip.
· Brooke Patterson talked about her work as the coordinator of the Rush River Clean Watershed Partnership. She has been on the job for about a month and is working on the report for the first implementation grant phase. A Fecal Coliform Bacteria TMDL open house will be held for the Rush River and High Island Creek watersheds on July 28th (Monday) at the Sibley County Courthouse in Gaylord from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Brooke said Joel Wurscher of the High Island Creek Clean Water Partnership has been a lot of help.
· Patrick asked if any of them have been trained in community organizing to help turn out the public to events like the TMDL open house. There was a suggestion to spend some time at a Watershed Alliance meeting to share information about community organizing and the social side of water quality work.
· During a spirited conversation the group came up with an idea to hold a MN River Gathering to bring together all the newcomers and veterans working in the water quality field. One idea is to use the World Café format where people move from one table to another for a conversation on different topics.
· Action Item: Su Beran will look into organizing a MN River gathering with help from Scott Kudelka.
· Linda Meschke reported Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources will be putting out the 2009 Request for Proposals Phase 2 by the end of July. She also mentioned how the State Conservation and Preservation Plan will decide the direction of environmental funding for the next 10 years. People still have a chance to comment on the plan by going to http://environment.umn.edu/scpp/. Linda said there the document has some very good resources including excellent maps.
· Susie Carlin reported on the upcoming Minnesota River Board meeting and tour to be on July 21st (Monday) in Mankato. The tour will include visits to the Rapidan Dam, streambank erosion on the Le Sueur River, Maple River Clean Water Partnership and urban stormwater.
· Jim Wolf talked about how a collection of aerial views of the Minnesota River Watershed would be a great way for people to lean about the resource. He brought up a documentary on the Red River Watershed that was shown on Minnesota Public TV. The show had a great selection of aerial photos.
· Scott Kudelka mentioned the MN River Voyage by Tim Krohn and John Cross of the Mankato Free Press. Their series of articles have focused on people with a strong connection to the Minnesota River including Del Wehrspann, Patrick Moore, Scott Sparlin, Tom Kalahar and Joe Michel. There is a possibility of getting John Cross to do photo presentations of their trip later this fall. The group discussed the idea of setting up a web site with all the articles to promote what is happening on the Minnesota River.

Next Meeting:
The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for October 21st (3rd Tuesday) starting at 6 p.m. at the Hutchinson Event Center in Hutchinson. We will start with a social hour at 6 p.m. with food and drink and begin the meeting right at 7 p.m. and strive to wrap things up in two hours.

Attended:
Patrick Moore,
Dee Czech,
Larry Gunderson,
Jim Wolf,
Kathleen Wolf,
Lori Nelson,
Chantill Kahler-Royer,
Franz Allbert Richter,
Joel Wurscher,
Mike Lein,
Susie Carlin,
Linda Meschke,
Forrest Peterson,
Lee Sundmark,
Brooke Patterson,
James Fett,
Su Beran,
Scott Sparlin,
Scott Kudelka

July Meeting - Location Change!

2008-07-08T13:45:00.000-05:00

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have moved the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance’s July 15th meeting to the Hutchinson Event Center at 1005 Highway 15 South, Plaza 15. It is on the south edge of Hutchinson. For a map and directions: http://www.hutchinsoneventcenter.com/howtogethere.htm

As always, we begin at 6 p.m. with a social hour and food. The meeting starts at 7 o’clock and we strive to be done by 9 p.m.

Hope to see you there!

2008 Upcoming Events

2008-02-28T15:41:00.002-06:00

Photo of the "Geology of the Minnesota River" presentation.

· January 17th (Thursday) – “The Geology of the Minnesota River” This presentation by Carrie Jennings, MN Geology Survey brought out over 120 people from as far as Bloomington to the Chippewa County Courthouse in Montevideo. They were treated to an informative and easy to understand talk on how the Minnesota River formed. Co-sponsor: Clean Up the River Environment (CURE).

· February 14th (Thursday) – “Rock Outcrops – Treasures of The Valley” Twenty people braved the cold to hear Tom Kalahar, Renville SWCD and see photos by Ron Bolduan, Minnesota River Valley Photographer in a discussion about the importance of the unique rock outcrops found in the Minnesota River Watershed. We are planning to host future presentations in other communities including Mankato, Henderson, etc. Co-sponsor: Regional River History Center of New Ulm.

· April 8th, 9th and 10th (Tuesday – Thursday) – “Conservation Drainage Symposiums” in Montevideo, New Ulm and Bloomington. Learn how this new technology is being advanced to allow farmers to selectively meter tile drainage, keep nutrients from leaching into tile lines, improve yields and reduce excessive streambank erosion. Each one goes from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Co-sponsors: Minnesota River Board, MN Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Drainage Management Coalition and MN Pollution Control Agency, CURE, Friends of the MN Valley and CCMR.

· April 17th (Thursday) – “Rain Gardens for Water Quality.” Join Gregg Thompson, Landscape Restoration Specialist with Association of Metropolitan SWCD for a look at how rain gardens soak up storm water runoff and provide other environmental benefits. Starts at 7:00 p.m. at the Ney Nature Center, outside of Henderson. Co-sponsors: Minnesota Earth Sabbath, Ney Nature Center, High Island Creek Clean Water Partnership and Minnesota River Board.

· June 14th (Saturday) - “Nature hike at the Gneiss Scientific and Natural Area” for a tour by Ron Bolduan, Minnesota River Valley Photographer. Ron has spent many hours exploring this SNA and shooting amazing photos. On the hike Ron will show off some of his favorite spots and demonstrate techniques for photographing wildlife. Starts at 9 a.m. at the Gneiss SNA and will wrap up around 12 noon. Co-sponsors: Regional River History Center of New Ulm.

· September 5th & 6th (Friday & Saturday) – “Explore the Wonderful World of Mussels” weekend for a presentation and hike about mussels by Mike Davis and Bernard Sietman, MN DNR. On Friday a presentation will begin at 7 p.m. in the Chippewa County Courthouse Assembly Room, Montevideo and the hike will take place on the Chippewa River on Saturday morning from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Co-sponsored by Chippewa River Watershed Project.

Photo from Mussel Hike on the Cottonwood River in Flandreau State Park, New Ulm – September 23rd, 2007

For more information on these events contact Scott Kudelka, communications coordinator at 507-389-2304 or email scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu

April 15, 2008 Meeting Announcement

2008-02-26T09:26:00.000-06:00

The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for April 15th (3rd Tuesday) starting at 6 p.m. at the New Century Charter School in Hutchinson. We will start with a social hour at 6 p.m. with food and drink and begin the meeting right at 7 p.m. and strive to wrap things up in two hours.

Minutes from February 19, 2008 meeting

2008-02-26T09:06:00.000-06:00

Twenty-four people attended the quarterly meeting of the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance in Hutchinson. Members of the coordinating team took turns facilitating the meeting and keeping it on time.

Opening Comments:
Scott Kudelka, communications coordinator welcomed everyone to the meeting and went over tonight’s agenda:

Welcome & Introductions,
Communication Report,
2008 Events,
Winter issue of the "River Talk" newsletter,
2007 Annual Report,
MN River Friendly Program,
Michael Groh,
Other
2007 "Clean Up the Minnesota River" issue – Conservation Initiative,
How We Got Here,
Living Systems Program,
2008 "Clean Up the Minnesota River" issue,
Communications Strategy,
Other

Each of the participants introduced themselves and stated who they represented.

Gerald Woodley of U.S. Senator Coleman’s office mentioned the school bus crash in Marshall earlier in the afternoon and promised to give us an update as he learned more.

Communications Report:
Scott set out a number of documents for people to pick up as they came in. This included an overview of the events sponsored by the Watershed Alliance in 2008. Two of the events – "Geology of the Minnesota River" in Montevideo and "Rock Outcrops – Treasures of The Valley" in New Ulm have already taken place with various degree of success.

The "Rock Outcrops – Treasures of The Valley" presentation by Ron Bolduan and Tom Kalahar is going to be done again this spring, either Mankato or at the Ney Nature Center in Henderson.
Two flyers for upcoming events were available: On April 17th (Thursday evening), Gregg Thompson will be doing a presentation titled "Rain Gardens for Water Quality" at the Ney Nature Center.

Ron Bolduan will be leading a hike in the Gneiss Scientific and Natural Area on June 14th near Granite Falls. Ron will be showing off some of his favorite sites and how to take photos of wildlife and plants.

A fourth handout was the most recent "River Talk" newsletter featuring articles on Del Wehrspann of rural Montevideo, Geology of the Minnesota River and Scott Matteson, water quality coordinator with the Water Resources Center.

The final handout was an annual report for 2007 prepared on the Watershed Alliance activities for the past year including the Minnesota River Summit, Conservation Lands Easement Initiative and Minnesota River Friendly Label.

The Minnesota River Friendly Label committee of Chantill Kahler-Royer, James Klang, Edwin Dumalag, Joe Domeier and Scott Kudelka will be meeting with Su Beran to talk about next steps to move this initiative forward.

Michael Groh, facilitator suffered a seizure Thanksgiving night and they found a tumor in the front part of his brain. This is why the strategic session in December had been cancelled. At this time Michael has gone back to work but no word on when or if he still wants to facilitate meetings for the Watershed Alliance.

Scott reported on a request by Ken Varland of the MN DNR for a support letter from the Watershed Alliance on the Marsh Lake Study funding through the U.S. Corps of Engineer. The group agreed to have Scott send a support letter to Senators Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman, along with Representative Collin Peterson.

CapX 2020, a group proposing to build a new electric transmission lines in the state asked if a member of the Watershed Alliance could attend a meeting tomorrow – February 20th – in Henderson. Scott Sparlin was planning to be there.

Leigh Pomeroy of MSUM sent an email to Scott asking if the Watershed Alliance wants to get involved with the Mankato Million Tree Project. The group asked Scott to see what type of involvement they are looking for.

2007 "Clean Up the Minnesota River" issue – Conservation Initiative
Scott Sparlin reported on the "Conservation Lands Easement Initiative the Watershed Alliance became involved with two years ago. Due to the partnership with numerous of organizations including the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Minnesota Valley Trust, 539 acres of critically sensitive cropland will be put into permanent easements across the Minnesota River Watershed. This translates: for every $1.00 from the Watershed Alliance equaled $9.00 spent for the easement project.

A report has been sent to the Schmidt Foundation. This summer they plan to take photos of the easements to document this important effort. A press release will sent out once all the easements are in place. Right now they are waiting for the last piece in Jessenland Township of Sibley County to be worked out.

Patrick Moore feels a press release / media event would be a great way to sell the project and show the Watershed Alliance’s strength.

A summary of this initiative can be found in the Annual Report.

How We Got Here
Larry Gunderson talked about how the Minnesota River Summit held last January is only the beginning of the effort to bring people of diverse interests to talk about improving water quality in the basin. The Summit has only been the first step as we look to show the big picture on what is happening in the Minnesota River Watershed.

One product is a communication strategy being developed by Edwin Dumalag and David Hayes, MPCA interns to help organizations, agencies and individuals implement communications projects in the Minnesota River Watershed.

The coordinating team of the Watershed Alliance and others have been meeting over the last few months to look at the Minnesota River as a living system or as a whole. The idea is bring all of this together and influence diverse issues like the Farm Bill.

Rich Smith, a culture anthropologist has been working on the concept of a living system and looking at the river as a whole organism, building it off the web as an open system platform. This concept would allow all this knowledge to be shared and it help us to make big leaps forward. This type of big thinking will let us understand all the different relationships. All of this is a result of the MN River Summit and Watershed Alliance quarterly meetings.

A number of participants felt we need to give this Living Systems a try because it fits right into what we are doing as the Watershed Alliance

Living Systems Model
Bill Kell of MPCA provided an overview of the Living Systems Model they are putting together with help from a number of people in the watershed including Scott Sparlin, Dave Craigmile, Lori Nelson, Dee Czech, Patrick Moore and others.

"Minnesota River Basin: Living System" is a system dynamics group model building approach or building the capacity to act.

Aspiration: ability for work toward what we truly care about as individuals and as organizations,
Reflective Conservation: ability to talk about underlying assumptions, to work through defensiveness and to engage others this way,
Understanding Complexity: systems thinking, ability to think causally, to focus on trends over time and to think experimentally about the forces driving them.

The idea is to bring together 100 people from diverse backgrounds to talk about the Minnesota River and use the information to build a model. These people are the ones living and working here. To get our hands around what is happening in the watershed.

All this information will be plugged into a computer with 6 objectives:
Developing a understanding of systems to create enduring solutions,
Articulate a Shared Vision,
Action and Implementation,
Embed Local Capacity for Leadership and Organizing,
Create a Social Movement,
Disseminate the Process

This will fit with the hydrologic model being created for the Turbidity TMDL in the Minnesota River.

Most of us don’t see the entire situation – just what area we are working on – the hope is we can all get to the same place.

The initial process of building the model will take 7 to 9 months and another 2 years to implement what comes from the model. Again this will be built by the people living and working in the watershed.

Larry Gunderson said this will build on the work from the past and will be driven by the people – not by state agencies like MPCA.

Anyone involved in the process will be compensated for time and other expenses including food, mileage and lodging if need be.

The conversation is going to be as important as the modeling process.

How will this work – how will this look? It will show what could happen if,
Lake Pepin fills up with sediment,
Increase row crop production,
Put 30% of highly erodible land into grass for biodiesel production,
Expansion of urban areas and increase stormwater flow.

The model will lead us to help identify situations/ideas that will benefit the river.

There was a number of questions about this model compared to one developed by MPCA for the waste management system in Minnesota. Bill and Larry said that model was driven from the top – Legislators – down, where this one will be driven from the bottom up. This will bring in fresh ideas from people who haven’t participated in the past because this isn’t their job.

People like the idea of the participants getting reimbursed for their time and expenses.
This will be establishing relationships which aren’t static – always in motion.
This will draw out what is already known and create order of the chaos running around in our head.
Involves what the people think – know – want and meant to be part of the movement.
This program is something for the people in the MN River Watershed – to clean up the river – need to get the stakeholders involved.
Focus on one thing together and move onto the next thing.

There was a discussion concerning how the Living System Model fits with why the Watershed Alliance had been formed and three issues came out of it,
This is a big project – all of us involved with the Watershed Alliance will need to work on it,
Some of us are already committed to working on this project,
Funding will be needed for the project with a letter of inquire already sent to the McKnight Foundation

The participants voted to concentrate on promoting and working with this program as the 2008 "Clean up the Minnesota River" issue.

Communication Strategy
David Hayes and Edwin Dumalag from MPCA provided an overview of the Minnesota River Communication Strategy they have been working on since this summer. In the process of developing the strategy they:
Defined the Public Relations Issues by going out to interview citizens, organization staff, government officials and others in the Minnesota River Watershed.
Planning & Programming – they are now coming up with strategies and implementation ideas to enhance communication work already being done in the watershed.

In the future this communication strategy will:
Allow people to take action
Assess and evaluate how the different strategies worked or didn’t work
In the process they conducted 35 interviews and reviewed historical documents from the work that has been done in the Minnesota River Watershed. This helped them define patterns and than turn those patterns into ideas. They also removed the weak links and concentrated on the strong possibilities.

Situation Analysis:
Where we are now
How do we move forward

Develop Implementation Options:
Strategically address the problem at hand
Research viability of each method

Unify the Message
To develop a message that all stakeholders can use to help communicate what is happening the watershed

Leverage Media
To use the broadcast media to effectively inform the public on issues and efforts in the Minnesota River Watershed

Link the conservation groups
To persuade more joint conservation structures and collaborate resources between themselves

Connect with Government
To create meaningful relationships with elected government officials

Promote Alternative Land Stewardship
To inform and promote alternative agriculture products including grass-fed beef

Advocate for Social Change

Integrate information through the internet

Improve Conservation Program Access
Provide an easier way to sign-up for BMPs

Edwin and David provided two examples of how this communication strategy will work:
Volunteering in the Minnesota River Watershed
Develop a clearinghouse to let people interested in volunteering find out opportunities for volunteering
Educate for Social Change
Promote river trips, environmental education in the classroom, river cleanups,
Involve citizens in personal aspects of the river

The Vision for this communication strategy is to let groups or organizations in the Minnesota River Valley pick one of these options to do how they want. Provide a menu of options for people to pick – customize to what that particular group or organization wants to do

Farm Bill:
Gerald Woodley of Senator Coleman’s office was asked about the status of the current Farm Bill. Right now they are waiting to see what Ed Schafer says as the new Agriculture Commissioner. Over 250 amendments have been added to the bill. President Bush has threatened to veto the bill in its current form.

Next Meeting:
The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for April 15th (3rd Tuesday) starting at 6 p.m. at the New Century Charter School in Hutchinson. We will start with a social hour at 6 p.m. with food and drink and begin the meeting right at 7 p.m. and strive to wrap things up in two hours.

Attended:
Patrick Moore,
Dee Czech,
Larry Gunderson,
Jim Wolf,
Kathleen Wolf,
James Fett,
Lori Nelson,
Scott Sparlin,
Chantill Kahler-Royer,
Jim Schafer,
Franz Allbert Richter,
Joel Wurscher,
Ron Bolduan,
Darrell Ellefson,
Richard Fish,
Mike Lein,
Gerald Woodley,
Davie Craigmile,
Suzie Carlin,
Bill Kell,
Edwin Dumalag,
David Hayes
Tom Berg,
Scott Kudelka

October 16, 2007 Meeting Minutes

2008-02-05T11:42:00.000-06:00

Nineteen people attended the quarterly meeting of the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance in Hutchinson. Michael Groh, Independent Consultant served as the facilitator. Thanks Michael for keeping us on task and on time.

Opening Comments:
Dee Czech introduced the upcoming presentation: “Changing The World – One Bite at a Time” on November 3rd (Saturday) at the Center for Earth Spirituality and Rural Ministry (170 Good Counsel Drive, Mankato). For more information contact Lisa Coons at 507-389-4272 or lcoons@ssndmankato.org.

Action Item: Scott Kudelka will send out the information on the presentation via the MN River Weekly Update and put it on the MN River Calendar.

Scott Sparlin reported on the status of the “Clean Up the Minnesota River” issue – enrolling critically sensitive land into permanent easements. To date, 430 acres of formerly cropped CREP eligible flood lands have been permanently protected in the Minnesota River Watershed, leveraging 5.3 dollar match for every dollar from the Schmidt Foundation. In addition we are targeting 220 floodplain acres in Jessenland Township, Sibley County.

Action Item: More information will be forthcoming from Scott Sparlin.
Patrick Moore asked the group to submit a video to the ‘Green’ Carpet You Tube Video Contest sponsored by CURE on November 16th and 17th. The video needs to be 5 minutes or less and with today’s technology it’s easy to do. Patrick said the goal of the contest is to engage and inspire the next generation to take an interest in the Minnesota River Watershed.

Action Item: Scott will forward the information via the MN River Weekly Update and put it on the MN River Calendar.

Shannon Fisher talked about the future CRP with the high price of corn and development of more ethanol plants. He said one landowner in Le Sueur County has already decided to take out 120 acres of CRP to plant more corn. On the flip side, according to Shannon, the $150 million ethanol plant originally planned for Erskine, MN will not be built because corn prices are too high and not enough demand for ethanol.

Jim Schafer said only 1.7 acres of CRP land has been taken out in Renville County and reported the Federal Match for this conservation programs is going up. Rick Schoening, a farmer in High Island Creek Watershed, said he will be keeping his land in CRP because he doesn’t want to farm it.

Scott Sparlin offered that fishing is good on the MN River. Walleyes are really hitting.

Review of July 17th Action Items:
Scott Kudelka asked the participants to read the proposed action items from the July Quarterly meeting and for any questions regarding the status of each one.

Patrick Moore asked about MN River Music CD Project. Scott Kudelka explained we are still moving forward with this project to produce a CD on the music influences of the Minnesota River Watershed. A future meeting will be set up with Bill Kell and Larry Gunderson of MPCA to discuss potential funding sources. Another component of the project will be to produce three, 25-minute radio broadcasts with the assistance of the Minnesota State University, Mankato public radio station.

Scott Kudelka gave a brief timeline of the MN River Friendly Label. An on-line survey has been developed to gage the interest of businesses, organizations and individuals in this program and will be sent out in the near future. Patrick Moore feels this is a worthwhile program and needs to move forward no matter what the survey says. Su Beran asked if we talked to the coordinator of the MN Friendly Farmer Program to help design the MN River Friendly Label Program.

Action Item: Su will provide contact information for the MN River Friendly Program to Scott Kudelka.

Scott Kudelka provided copies of the fall issue of the River Talk Newsletter and flyer for the Carrie Jennings’ presentation on the “Geology of the MN River” in Montevideo on January 10th.
Larry Gunderson reported that the communication strategy for the MN River Watershed is still being put together by the MPCA interns. Further information on this strategy will be forthcoming.

Participant Survey:
Michael Groh presented the results of the Participant Survey sent out to 100 people who have attended at least one Watershed Alliance meeting. 39 people responded, giving us almost a 40% return rate and high enough to draw inferences. Of those who didn’t respond, the Watershed Alliance is doing a good job, people are boycotting the organization or they don’t have an opinion one way or another.
Overwhelming the respondents rejected the idea of focusing on just one issue by a margin of 3 to 1. They want to have 2 or more issues to work on. From the top 8 issues chosen by the participants we need to par it down to 2, 3 or 4 issues for 2008.
Clean Water,
Sustainable Agriculture Development & Promotion,
Marketing & Communicating about the Watershed,
Farm Bill Policy,
Drainage Reform,
Mobilizing Citizens to Speak as One Voice,
Energy Issues as They Affect the Minnesota River,
Funding for Organizations Working in the Watershed

Action Item: Michael will take out the individual comments on Scott Kudelka’s performance and review them with Scott one-on-one. The group agreed this is appropriate and worthwhile for Scott’s ongoing development.

A significant number of the respondents have participated in Watershed Alliance activities. The top reasons for people being de-motivated:
Time constraints/busyness – 10
Egos, hidden agendas and self promotion – 8
Lack of progress/lack of concrete actions – 6
Travel distance to meetings (partially a aspect of a. above) - 5

Lori Nelson brought up the original Watershed Alliance agreement and how this was done with a major consensus among the people who attended the first meetings. She felt we are losing sight of the original agreement and diluting it.

A number of questions were proposed to the group about the survey and future:
Are people not coming because they are confident the work is being done?
Do we stick to the original premise of the Watershed Alliance? After two years do we need to change our original premise?
Where are the county commissioners, the people who make the decisions?

Scott Sparlin said communications in the MN River Watershed is the number one purpose of the Watershed Alliance and focusing on one issue is just icing on the cake. Scott said Scott Kudelka is doing a good job at pulling together information on what is happening in the watershed but the rest of us aren’t getting the information to Scott.

Jim Schafer talked about how people don’t know all the good work the Soil and Water Conservation Districts are doing.

Michael said the respondents want to continue with Michael Groh as the facilitator. They also said,
We like the idea of having guest speakers,
Meeting 4 times a year got 27 votes. No one wants to meet less and interestingly, 7 people want to meet more,
Michael said the respondents are either very satisfied or satisfied with Scott Kudelka’s performance and offered a variety of complimentary remarks.
A large majority of people are willing to participate in a strategic session.

Lori said the survey results should be related to the original agreement and we can’t lose sight of why the Watershed Alliance was formed. To communicate what is happening in the Minnesota River Watershed.

Other questions proposed to the group included:
What are we trying to accomplish as an Alliance?
Are we missing specific people?
How fundamental is that to our mission?
What are the implications of changing our mission?
What is the best way to use Scott Kudelka?

Dee Czech feels as an organization we need advocate adopting a kinship with the river.
Patrick said the survey is a feedback mechanism. We didn’t know if our original organization framework is working.

There was a feeling among some of the group that things are starting to germinate and come together.

Rich Smith pointed out that the Minnesota River Watershed is different than other basins because of its communication network and it’s the reason we are succeeding compared to other basins in the state. He talked about CURE – Patrick Moore and Duane Ninneman – being very effective in stopping the construction of the Big Stone II Plant and it was done through communications.

Both Patrick and Duane said it just wasn’t just them but an effort by a lot of people including the Watershed Alliance.

Jim Schafer asked why don’t we survey all the people to see what they want, what they can live with. Get a broad public input.

Strategic Planning Session:
Because the survey results call for a strategic planning session, a vote was taken by those attending on whether to hold one this year. There were a number of concerns about holding it too close to the holidays and whether to wait until next year. Scott pointed out Michael Groh wouldn’t be available in January or February.

Action Item: The group voted to hold a strategic planning session on December 4th (Tuesday) from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the New Ulm Public Library.

Action Item: A planning committee was formed of Patrick Moore, Lori Nelson, Chantill Kahler-Royer, Shannon Fisher, Scott Kudelka and Michael Groh.

Action Item: An invitation will be put together and mailed out to all the participants of the Watershed Alliance. We will ask people to RSVP if they are planning to attend the session.

Action Item: Patrick Moore asked the group to get started on planning for this strategic session at tonight’s meeting. The group came up with a list of Weaknesses, Strengths and Questions:

Weaknesses:
· We have never developed a communication plan/template – how to hit the general public
· Declining Attendance
· Insufficient Diversity
· Sustainable Funding

Strengths:
· Passion
· Talented Core Group
· Agreement / Mission
· Diversity / Potential
· Increasing consciousness of a land ethnic
· Access to media, communication professionals
· Alliance communications coordinator

Questions:
1. How can we broaden our communication of events and activities,
2. How do we work with MRB, BWSR, strategic partnerships, etc. to advance our mission,
3. Energy issues as part of sustainable agriculture,
4. How important is scenic beauty – mining strategy to address Dunnick legislative strategy initiative,
5. Water protection / filter strips
6. Air quality / mercury,
7. Atrazine (corn herbicide)
8. How do we address CRP Acres Pull Out,
9. How can we help promote sustainable Agriculture,
10. What is the major problem with the river,
11. What will be the number of issues we will be focusing on,
12. Communication,
13. How do we design ourselves to be an 21st Century Information Attitude Changing Entity

Next Meeting:
We will be hosting a Strategic Planning Session on December 4th starting at 5 p.m. at the New Ulm Public Library. This strategic session will help us identify issues we want to focus on for 2008. This will replace the January quarterly meeting. Michael Groh will be facilitating.

Attended:
Patrick Moore,
Dee Czech,
Larry Gunderson,
Jim Wolf,
Kathleen Wolf,
James Fett,
Lori Nelson,
Scott Sparlin,
Duane Ninneman,
Su Beran,
Shannon Fisher,
Chantill Kahler-Royer,
Forrest Peterson,
Rick Schoening,
Rich Smith,
Jim Schafer,
Franz Allbert Richter,
Joel Wurscher,
Scott Kudelka

February 19, 2008 Meeting Announcement

2008-01-16T14:07:00.000-06:00

Please come out for the next Minnesota River Watershed Alliance meeting on February 19th as we continue to move forward with a strategic plan and picking a new issue to concentrate on for 2008.

When: Tuesday, February 19th
Time: 6 p.m. for a social hour and food
7 p.m. the formal meeting starts and we try to wrap up by 9 p.m.
Where: New Century Charter School in Hutchinson
The New Century Charter School is located at 45 W. Highland Park Dr. NE on the campus of Hutchinson Technology Inc.

Your input is needed!

Join the effort to make a difference in the Minnesota River Watershed. Celebrate recent accomplishments, make friends with your watershed neighbors, engage in action planning for the future.

The Minnesota River Watershed Alliance (Watershed Alliance) is a Volunteer, Active, Action-Oriented Group of Watershed Advocates. Participation is open to Every Citizen, Landowner, Organization and Agency in the Minnesota River Watershed.

Last fall, participants of the Watershed Alliance took part in a survey to help the organization move forward by looking at potential “Clean Up Minnesota River” issues for 2008, moving the meeting site to different locations and utilizing guest speakers at the quarterly meetings. At the February 19th meeting we will continue to prepare for an upcoming strategic planning session to be held in April or May. Let your voice be heard!

Social hour begins at 6 p.m. with food, drink and time to network with others working, living and playing in the Minnesota River Watershed. We will start at 6 p.m. with a few house-cleaning items. The meeting will start right at 7 o’clock and we strive to wrap up the formal discussion by 9 p.m.

We hope to see you at the February 19th meeting and are excited about the future of the Minnesota River Watershed. If you have any questions please contact Scott Kudelka at 507-389-2304 or scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu.

Check out the Alliance’s other blog web site at: http://mail.mnsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/mrwa

Come to the October 16, 2007 Meeting!

2007-09-13T13:11:00.001-05:00

Help decide the new “Clean Up the Minnesota River” issue by attending the next Minnesota River Watershed Alliance Meeting on October 16th from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the New Century Charter School in Hutchinson.

Michael Groh will facilitate the meeting as we chose a new issue to concentrate on for 2008.

The 2006-07 “Clean Up the Minnesota River” issue of raising funds to protect critically sensitive lands has been a success. Due to our efforts over 1,000 acres of former cropland will be put into permanent easements.

Your input is needed!

Join the effort to make a difference in the Minnesota River Watershed. Celebrate recent accomplishments, make friends with your watershed neighbors, engage in action planning for the future.

The Minnesota River Watershed Alliance is a Volunteer, Active, Action-Oriented Group of Watershed Advocates. Participation is open to Every Citizen, Landowner, Organization and Agency in the Minnesota River Watershed.

The New Century Charter School is located at 45 W. Highland Park Dr. NE on the campus of Hutchinson Technology Inc.

Meeting Agenda:
· 6 p.m. We will start with a report on the Minnesota River Communications Strategy by Edwin Dumalag and David Hays of MPCA. They have been traveling around the Minnesota River Watershed gathering input on communication strategies.
· Updates on the MN River Friendly Label and MN River Music Project, and Participant Survey Results.
· 7 p.m. We will begin discussing ideas for a 2008 “Clean Up the Minnesota River” issue.

Social hour begins at 6 p.m. with food, drink and time to network with others working, living and playing in the Minnesota River Watershed. We will start at 6 p.m. with a few house-cleaning items. The meeting will start right at 7 o’clock and we strive to wrap up the formal discussion by 9 p.m.

We hope to see you at the October 16th meeting and are excited about the future of the Minnesota River Watershed. If you have any questions please contact Scott Kudelka at 507-389-2304 or scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu.

October 2007 Meeting

2007-09-13T13:11:00.000-05:00

July 17, 2007 Meeting Notes

2007-07-24T19:07:00.000-05:00

Twenty-three people attended the quarterly meeting of the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance in Hutchinson. Michael Groh, Independent Consultant served as the facilitator. Thanks Michael for keeping us on task and on time.

Michael went over the agenda for tonight’s meeting and explained the norms we would be following: keep it clear, share air time with the entire group, go for candor and we will keep it on time and on track.

Everyone was given a chance to introduce themselves and share any FYIs they wanted with the group in 30 seconds. Topics included the ongoing effort to raise awareness about water issues with the construction of the Big Stone II Coal Plant, upcoming public meetings on the Carver Creek Fecal Coliform Bacteria TMDL, the potential for a MN River booth at the MN State Fair and the Blue Earth 3rd Crop Initiative.

Review April 17th Action Items:
· A support letter concerning the proposed Marsh Lake Study was sent to U.S. Congressman Collin Peterson.
· The summer issue of the River Talk newsletter has been finished and can be downloaded from the web site: http://www.watershedalliance.blogspot.com/
· Scott Kudelka has been working with a number of partners including the Greater Blue Earth Alliance, Mankato Paddling & Outing Club and MPCA to hold a “U.S. Congressman Tim Walz paddle. Unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts and low water, this event will be postponed until either water levels rise or next spring.
· The Watershed Alliance will be sponsoring a MN River Geological Talk by Carrie Jennings of the MN Geology Service on January 10th in Montevideo. Look for more information in the future.
· Scott Kudelka has been working on a guidebook of the MN River Watershed and will be meeting with Adventure Publications.
· A core group of people – Chantill Kahler-Royer, Jim Klang, Edwin Dumalag and Scott Kudelka have started working to move the MN River Friendly Label from a concept to reality. One of the first tasks will be talking to businesses, organizations and others to gage their interest level.
· Patrick Moore reported that a number of the Watershed Alliance members did contact Kent Lokkesmoe of the MN DNR about the water drawdown issue with the proposed Big Stone II Coal Plant. There was enough pressure for Kent to send yet another letter to South Dakota proposing the reconvening of the SD – MN Boundary Waters Commission. The 3.2 billion gallon drawdown of Big Stone Lake would use twice as much water as all 16 ethanol plants currently use each year in Minnesota. According to Patrick, this is crisis situation and we need to keep the pressure on Governor Pawlenty to have him sit down with the South Dakota Governor. The Big Stone II Coal Plant also recently was granted a permit for another 3.2 billion gallons of groundwater for the Veblen Aquifer in northeastern South Dakota. In essence this amounts to a private corporation having control of more than 6 billion gallons of public water in an increasingly water scarce climate, creating what looks like an exploitative 3rd World situation in South Dakota – all so Minnesotans can have more dependence on coal fired electrical power..

Memo of Understanding:
· Scott Sparlin stated there has been a lot of misunderstanding or confusion on how this entity – Minnesota River Watershed Alliance – was originally organized and designed. We have gotten away from the original intent and need to examine whether it should be revised.
· According to Scott Sparlin, participants of the Watershed Alliance should be spending 40% of our time on the “Clean Up the Minnesota River” issue we designate each year and the other 60% communicating with each other on what is happening in the MN River Watershed. This should be done outside the quarterly meetings through the internet and other communication forums.
· Michael offered that if this is the case, maybe we shouldn’t be doing the 30-second introduction at the quarterly meetings and the agenda would only cover the one “Clean Up the Minnesota River” issue designated annually by the participants. If you don’t stay focused on specific issues there is the distinct chance nothing will get done. Scott Sparlin agreed with this comment while others had a different opinion.
· It was also pointed out that other potential items to be discussed at the quarterly meetings could be interrelated to the annual issue. Another question had to do with the funding strategy for the McKnight Foundation and when do we discuss this important item.
· Larry Gunderson said the Watershed Alliance helped sponsor the MN River Summit and there should be a happy medium between the original intent and how the quarterly meetings have been conducted.
· The bulletin board or list server set up the Watershed Alliance should be used for communicating our own issues but no one is doing it. There were also complaints the list server is not working properly and bouncing back messages.
· Scott Sparlin reported this isn’t a formal organization, we are a network, and otherwise we are just building an empire. If this is the case than he is out.
· There was a show of hands on how many people in attendance was part of the original signatures to the Watershed Alliance agreement. Only a handful of people in the room raised their hands.
· A question was proposed on whether we need to meet that narrow focus or broaden the intent of the Watershed Alliance.
· The group had a number of opinions on this question, including reinforcing the idea of having one issue to focus and allowing people to share their own issues. To go with a happy medium by allowing for people to talk about their own issues if time permits at the end of the meetings.

McKnight Foundation Fundraising Effort:
· Scott Kudelka reported the $5,000 match for the first year of the McKnight Foundation fundraising challenge has been met through a grant from Xcel Energy. For year two of the grant, we will be able to use the $4,600 from sponsors of the MN River Summit held in January. This means another $5,400 needs to be raised by November to meet the $10,000 total. For year three it will mean $15,000. Because it is a match grant we need to raise the entire $30,000 or we lose twice as much money. The McKnight Foundation wants see individual donations.
· A number of ideas have been proposed to raise the remaining funds including holding a raffle, putting together a book on the MN River Watershed and operating the MN River Friendly Label. Scott Kudelka said he is looking for other ideas and help with raising the funds. One proposal is to create a task force to work on the fundraising effort.
· A spirited discussion was held on whether it should be up to the communications coordinator to raise the funds needed for his position. Or should it be up to the members of the Watershed Alliance to help with the fundraising effort for the McKnight Foundation grant and not put solely on the communication coordinator’s shoulders to raise those funds.
· Richard Fish offered the idea of writing a check for $50 as a way for the Watershed Alliance members to help with the effort. Patrick Moore talked about how members of MEP (Minnesota Environmental Partnership) are assessed a fee depending on whether they are an individual or organization.
· Scott Sparlin said communications is the heart of the organization and the question is how do we make money off of a communications strategy – it has to be worth something.
· Another potential fundraising idea deals with the MN River Friendly Label. Shannon Fisher spoke about Jim Klang pushing this program in his work on the BMP Challenge and has gotten some positive feedback.
· Holding a raffle is one idea to raise funds instead of just asking people to write a check. Scott Kudelka said his proposal for the raffle is to use the talents of the Watershed Alliance participants like Scott Sparlin to take someone fishing on the MN River for a day. John White has offered to secure a cabin for a fly fishing expedition. It was felt there should be a combination of activities and prizes.
· It was recommended a task force should be set up to help Scott Kudelka raise the funds for the McKnight Foundation grant challenge. Scott Sparlin and Patrick Moore volunteered. Shannon Fisher said the fundraising effort should be part of the responsibilities of Watershed Alliance’s coordinating team.

The Minnesota River Communication Strategy:
· Larry Gunderson said the Minnesota River Summit and other communication avenues are not just for MPCA – it is for the entire Minnesota River Basin and the Watershed Alliance. The purpose of this strategy is to take a step back to look at the communication issues in the Minnesota River Basin and how to address them. To put together a product all stakeholders can use in their efforts. They should have a draft plan ready for the Watershed Alliance to review at the October meeting.
· Edwin Dumalag and David Hays of the MPCA provided a report on their work to gather information for the communication strategy. They are interviewing a number of people across the MN River Watershed to collect background information and data on current communication efforts to make an analytical analysis. The end product will be a plan of recommendations they believe will help organizations and individuals with their communication efforts.
· Edwin and David are looking for input to make sure they aren’t overlooking anything. They used the list of participants from the MN River Summit and in the process have been given other names to interview. Members of the Watershed Alliance would like to see a list of people being interviewed, a brief synopsis of the communication strategy and list of questions.
· Scott Sparlin talked about how he saw the Watershed Alliance opening the lines of communications about the issues we are all working on in the Minnesota River Watershed, along with interested public. He feels we need a vehicle to allow everyone the ability to talk with each other. Scott asked how do we accelerate the movement and said he was hoping this is what the Watershed would do. We need to be more aggressive on reporting what activities and actions that are going on in the Minnesota River Watershed. To get the information out to the greater public as quickly as possible.
· Scott Sparlin also spoke about the work Rich Smith is doing on the Internet II for creating a web site like Wikipedia. He said the technology is out there. Patrick Moore brought up the issue that the 20-somethings are the ones who know how to use this technology but they aren’t the ones making the decisions. He stated this isn’t the only forum we need to use, that we still need to reach out to everyone across the MN River Watershed. This isn’t the end all.
· There were a number of comments on how to move communication efforts forward in the MN River Watershed. This included hiring a 20-something intern to create a blog like Wikipedia. To form a task force to provide recommendations on how to turn this into action of what is happening on the ground. To make this a recommendation in the MN River Communication Strategy.

Minnesota River Music Project:
· Ross Gersten presented his idea of putting together a CD on the music influences of the Minnesota River. It is modeled after “The Mississippi; River of Song,” a Smithsonian Institute series for public television and radio that studied the music along the course of the Mississippi River. He sees this project as audio photography of the MN River and his way to give back to the MN River Watershed.
· Ross has proposed a budget of $10,000 which covers the production of 3,000 CDs to sell and than use the funds for MN River efforts. Ross is donating most of his time and effort to the project. At this time MPCA is looking at providing some funds – maybe half – for it. The other funds could come from other organizations and individuals. Patrick Moore said a total of $10,000 doesn’t seem to be enough money to do the project.
· Some of the group thought this could be a fundraiser for the McKnight Foundation Grant challenge. For a certain donation level people would get one more CDs just like the fund drives of National Public Radio.
· Mark Schnobrich talked about how many businesses, organizations, cities, etc are taking advantage of the Minnesota River name including Henderson, Fort Snelling and JAVA Coffee. He felt we should put together a list of all these entities and ask for their support to improve the watershed. It could also be a way to sell the CDs.

Clean Up the Minnesota River Issue – Conservation Enhancement Reserve Program:
· Scott Sparlin provided background on the fundraising efforts of the Watershed Alliance to help enroll critically sensitive land into permanent easements. This includes the $250,000 we received from the Schmidt Foundation. After talking to Board of Water and Soil Resources, Scott found out they couldn’t roll out CREP again for anything under $400,000. By using this program it would have meant getting a ratio of $3 out of every $1, which is what had been promised to the Schmidt Foundation. They looked at RIM (Reinvest In Minnesota) but that only provided a 2 to 1 output.
· Instead we will be using the MN River Refuge Trust Fund – Airport Settlement along with other organizations to leverage $2.9 million to put critically sensitive land into permanent easements. It means a $5 to $8 per dollar payback. This will include 820 acres of former row crop land and along Perch Lake in Blue Earth County. Scott said we have hit a home run on this effort and there was a lot of help getting this accomplished, especially from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
· After everything is finalized there will be a major communication effort to get out the word including an open house, most likely some time in September. Scott Sparlin will keep the Watershed Alliance updated on what is happening. Scott hasn’t talked to the Schmidt Foundation about the change but doesn’t see it being an issue. All the land is CREP eligible and we are getting more for each dollar spent.
· Scott Sparlin again talked about how this effort has been a success no matter how much money was raised and gave Shannon Fisher credit for getting it started at the Shallow Lakes Forum.

Next Steps:
· Scott Kudelka will have the meeting notes sent out to the Watershed Alliance members within a week.
· Scott Kudelka will put together a list of fundraising activities for the McKnight Foundation Grant and get it to the Coordinating Team for their review and assistance.
· Scott Kudelka will develop a marketing piece on the MN River Music CD Project to raise funds by asking for contributions to produce the product. Scott and Ross Gersten will come up with a formula on how many CDs a person or organization will get for their donation (example: donate $100 and you get 10 CDs).
· Scott Kudelka will contact Rich Smith about the Internet II idea and see about its status.
· Lansing Shepard and Paula Westmoreland will send Scott Kudelka the map and information on the Blue Earth 3rd Crop Program. Scott will send out to the Watershed Alliance members by e-mail.
· David Hays and Edwin Dumalag will send their contact information along with information on the MN River Communication Strategy to Scott Kudelka and he will get it out to the Watershed Alliance members by e-mail.
· Scott Kudelka will begin a list of organizations, businesses, cities, etc. who are using the MN River as a slogan.
· Scott Kudelka will start putting together a list of organizations, people, agencies, etc. to get information on what is happening in the Minnesota River.

Next Meeting:
· The final meeting for this year has been set: October 16th, to be held at the New Century Charter School. Please come prepared to make a decision on the next “Clean Up the Minnesota River” issue for 2008. Michael Groh will be the facilitator again.

Attended:
· Patrick Moore,
· Dee Czech,
· Michael Lein,
· Larry Gunderson,
· Bob Hartkopf,
· Al Odenthal,
· Jim Wolf,
· Kathleen Wolf,
· James Fett,
· Richard Fish,
· Ross Gersten,
· Mary Peters,
· Mark Schnobrich,
· Rick Schoening,
· Scott Sparlin,
· Justin Valenty,
· Amanda Sneed,
· Su Beran,
· Paula Westmoreland,
· Lansing Shepard,
· David Hays,
· Edwin Dumalag,
· Scott Kudelka

Come to our July 17, 2007 meeting in Hutchinson!

2007-06-28T19:11:00.000-05:00

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD the July 17, 2007 Alliance meeting poster (1MB PDF file)

Attend the next Minnesota River Watershed Alliance Meeting on July 17th from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the New Century Charter School in Hutchinson (see map in poster). The meeting will be facilitated by Michael Groh.

We hope to see you at the meeting and are excited about the future of the Minnesota River Watershed. If you have any questions please contact Scott Kudelka at 507-389-2304 or scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu.

April 17, 2007 Meeting Minutes

2007-04-24T13:14:00.000-05:00

April 17, 2007 Meeting Notes:

Eighteen people attended the quarterly meeting of the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance in Hutchinson. Patrick Moore of Clean Up the River Environment served as the facilitator of the meeting. Thanks again Patrick.

Patrick explained the purpose of the Alliance and the meeting norms the group follows – Maintain clarity, keep it candid, remember humor, we strive to finish on time / on task, everyone shares air time and we have a bias toward action.

During the introductions, each of the participants was given an opportunity to throw out a discussion topic for the group to talk about. Topics ranged from the MN River Friendly Award to the “Relationship Naming” concept to Camp Release, Dakota War of 1862.

Review Action Items:
· Ron Bolduan has gone to four schools to do presentations on his CREP education program. There has been interest by teachers but they don’t want to focus on the CREP issue or interested in the fundraising aspect. Most say they are fundraised out. The teachers are more willing to do something in their backyard, whether it is planting trees or restoring prairie. Ron Bolduan and Scott are adapting the education program to fit with the needs and wants of the teachers. A grant request has been submitted to Xcel Energy to help with the costs, including travel, printing and postage.
· Lori Nelson and Lauren Klement are compiling a spreadsheet on potential funding sources for the Alliance and will be meeting soon with the rest of this group to discuss it in greater detail. Lauren talked to Three Rivers RC&D in Mankato and was given a web site to check out.
· Kevin Bigalke wasn’t able to make it tonight and sent an e-mail to the Alliance members through our Bulletin Board site. “Greetings, I wanted to update everyone about getting Pheasants Forever involved in the CREP fundraising efforts. I have talked with Aaron Kuehl, PF Regional Biologist in Southern Minnesota. I also sent him the flyer. He stated we would pass along the information. I am also going to be talking with Matt Holland, PF Conservation Director for MN, about it as well. The best though is for everyone to go to their local chapter and present the information in person.”
· A CREP flyer was developed by the group of Kudelka, Kahler-Royer, Thelen, White, Moore and Bigalke and sent out to all the Alliance members with the invitation to this meeting. This issue will be discussed later in the meeting under the topic of CREP fundraising campaign.
· At this time there is no action to report on contacting John Schneider and Bob Usguard of Ducks Unlimited.

Letter Writing Protocol:
· The fundraising letter has been updated to include information on the Schmidt Foundation’s grant of $250,000. This issue will be discussed later in the meeting when we come to the CREP fundraising campaign subject.
o A letter writing protocol has been established and posted on the Alliance’s web site;
o If an individual or organization is interested in having a policy letter sent by the MinnRivWA it needs to be submitted to the communications coordinator two weeks prior to the next quarterly meeting.
o Due to time constraints the policy letter will be e-mailed to the participants of the MinnRivWA for their review prior to the quarterly meeting.
o MinnRivWA participants will vote at the quarterly meeting on whether to approve, modify or deny the policy letter. A 75% majority of participants at the quarterly meeting is required for the MinnRivWA to take action on any issue.
o If a policy letter needs an expedited turn around, it will be reviewed and acted upon by the coordinating team of the MinnRivWA. A copy of the letter will be posted on the MinnRivWA web site: www.mrwa.blogspot.com
o Reviewed and approved policy letters will be sent out by the communication coordinator utilizing the MinnRivWA letterhead.

· A letter of support was submitted on the behalf of Minnesota Environmental Partnership grant called “Advancing Conservation” to the MPCA. This grant would pay Audrey Arner of Moonstone Farm to work on promoting strategies for achieving continuous living cover on the working agricultural land in the Minnesota River Watershed. Due to the short timeframe and important nature of the project, it was handled by the Alliance’s coordinating team.
· Scott Sparlin has asked the Alliance to send a letter to U.S. Congressman Collin Peterson for an appropriation in the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act to have the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conduct the initial phase of a Feasibility Study for the reconstruction of an existing dam on the Minnesota River at Marsh Lake and for the restoration of the last mile and half of the Pomme de Terre River to its original channel.
· There was some discussion among the members about individuals from government agencies like MPCA and DNR being able to sign their names to some support letters due to a conflict with an agency policy. Chris Domeier of the DNR spoke about how he sees his role in the Alliance as a technical advisor and not one of making policy decisions. The support letters are being signed as in behalf of the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance and not as individual members.
· In accordance to the Alliance’s Letter Writing Protocol, a vote was taken on the Marsh Lake among the members present and a conscience of 75% was reached.
· Action Item: Scott Kudelka will send the support letter from the Alliance to U.S. Congressman Collin Peterson.

MN River Summit Follow-up:
· Larry Gunderson gave a brief description of what happened at the MN River Summit held in January and how this extended conversation will continue with a follow-up event on June 6th and 7th in New Ulm. An invitation to this event has been sent out to all the original participants to have four people from each of the ten stakeholder groups strategize in greater detail about what was discussed at the first meeting. Two system people have been hired to facilitate the meeting.
· The last ½ day will be open to all the participants who are interested in attending to look at the big picture, to talk about all the issues surrounding the Minnesota River Watershed, not just water quality. We will not be making any decisions; instead the idea is to keep this conversation moving forward.

The Minnesota River Newsletter:
· Scott handed out copies of the newsletter he put together covering issues about the Minnesota River Watershed. Under the McKnight Foundation grant, this is the one task spelled out.
· The newsletter highlights a number of regular topics including an organization spotlight, what is happening in the watershed and water quality issues. Scott would like to see a different member of the Alliance write about a well-known leader in the conservation field under the heading “Conservation Thoughts.”
· We are still discussing how to print and distribute the newsletter. One idea is to print 5,000 copies in black and white, then work with a group like the Corn Producers to get it mailed out to their members and than move to another group for the next quarterly newsletter. Each member of the Alliance will be mailed a color copy. The newsletter will also be available in the electronic form and on the Alliance’s web site.
· Action Item: Scott will begin working on the summer issue of River Talk. If you have any suggestions or thoughts for an article please contact Scott.

Upcoming Events:
· Scott has talked to U.S. Congressman Tim Walz about going on a paddle down the Blue Earth River this summer. Congressman Walz was very enthusiastic about this idea and has asked his District Director, Nathan J. Arch to set it up. Congressman Walz talked about how he has paddled in the Boundary Waters. The plan is to schedule the event on a Saturday in June (preferably this month), July or August and start below the Rapidan Dam on the Blue Earth River to Fords Crossing, a 2 to 3 hour trip. A lunch will be served either before the paddle or afterwards at the Rapidan Park. Lauren Klement recommended we include the Blue Earth Alliance in this event
· Action Item: Scott will contact the Blue Earth Alliance and continue to work with various partners including the Mankato Paddling Club on the event.
· Scott has also talked to Mike Davis, the DNR Mussels expert to do a mussels presentation in New Ulm on September 21st (Friday) and go out the next morning (Saturday) to look for mussels on the Cottonwood River. There are plans to serve lunch at Flandru State Park. This will be held in conjunction with the Regional River History & Information Center. Ron and Scott are still working out some of the details and logistics.
· There was discussion about doing a third event for this year in the upper portion of the Minnesota River Watershed. One idea floated among the group, is to have Carrie Jennings of the MN Geological Survey do her MN River Geology presentation.
· Action Item: Scott will contact Carrie Jennings to see if she is interested and set up a date and location.

Next Meeting:
· The last two meeting for this year have been set: July 17th and October 16th, to be held at the New Century Charter School. Michael Groh has been hired to facilitate the meetings.

Fundraising Update:
· As part of the McKnight Foundation grant, the Alliance agreed to raise $5,000 the first year, $10,000 the second year and $15,000 for the third year as a match. We need this match in order to receive another $30,000.
· For the first year, Scott has applied for a $5,000 Xcel grant to provide environmental educational programs to schools and other groups in the Minnesota River Watershed. Lori Nelson and Scott felt there is a good chance we will receive the funds.
· Scott has secured a contract with Sibley County to do some work in High Island Creek and Rush River watersheds including creating a quarterly newsletter, web site design and water quality monitoring. If the Xcel grant doesn’t come through, these funds will offset any shortfall for Scott’s salary.
· Other ideas for future fundraising efforts include putting on a raffle and offering once-in-a-lifetime prizes like fishing for a day on the Minnesota River with Scott Sparlin or paddle with Patrick Moore on the Chippewa River or spend a day photographing scenes of the Minnesota River Watershed with Ron Bolduan. The idea is to feature something unique that members of the Alliance can offer. We could have ten different prizes and offer ten chances at winning in a year. There was a lukewarm interest among the Alliance members; some felt it is too much work for the amount of money we would be able to raise.
· There were a number of recommendations to continue with grant writing for securing this match and to use the money brought in from sponsors for the MN River Summit as part of the first year match.
· Scott brought up the idea for putting together a guidebook on what the Minnesota River Watershed as a stable funding option for the communications coordinator position. He has approached Adventure Publications in Cambridge, MN about the idea and they are interested. This idea was well received by those in attendance.
· Action Item: Scott will begin to work on the guidebook.

Discussion Topics:
· Chantill asked about the status of the idea for a River Friendly Business program in the Minnesota River. An initial meeting was held with Jim Klang, Larry Gunderson, Bill Kell, Scott Sparlin and Dave Craigmile. Unfortunately most of the people interested in the program weren’t able to attend. Members of the Alliance are very interested in making this happen and it could be part of our fundraising efforts for the McKnight Foundation grant.
· Action Item: Scott will work with Chantill, Duane, Patrick, Rich, Ron, and others interested in this concept to put together a grant to help fund the organizing and planning stage. Everyone felt this would make an ideal grant application and be self-sustaining by having the businesses pay for the label.

· Big Stone II Coal Plant: Patrick Moore and Duane Ninneman provided the latest highlights on this controversial issue. The plant has now applied for permits to withdraw groundwater in addition to the lake drawdown. This permit asks for 3.2 billion gallons of water, or 8.5 million gallons every day from the Veblen Aquifer on the South Dakota side. The aquifer spring feds the Big Stone Lake and the amount of water they are asking for is more than what is drawn out at this time from the Veblen Aquifer. This has to do with U.S. Corps of Engineers requiring Big Stone to have a water permit for drought years. The cost for the permit is $2,500.
· Four pieces of legislation have been introduced this year in the Minnesota Legislature that deals with energy and the environment. The topics of the bills are renewable energy, energy conservation, biofuels and global warming. Governor Pawlenty’s energy imitative calls for no new energy that creates carbon. We need to stop importing power from plants that produce carbon. This is what the governor has called for in his drive to become a leader in this field, like the Governor of California. Minnesota already gets 75% of its power from coal sources.
· According to Duane and Patrick, the partners building Big Stone Plant are running scared and have been pushing this media campaign to influence MN legislatures by warning them the world will come apart if the plant is built by saying there will be rolling blackouts and 30% increase in utility rates.
· Air permits have not been issued. The U.S. EPA said it wouldn’t issue the permit the way it is written. Now the partners are asking South Dakota for a change of venue to build the plant without a permit. If this happens the Sierra Club says they will pursue a lawsuit to stop it.
· Where will we get our power if Big Stone II isn’t built: The seven partners who want to build this plant have done such a bad job implementing conservation methods, part of what this new plant would produce could be handled under this action, along with other alternative energy sources including wind.
· Action Item: Patrick and Duane are asking Alliance members to contact their legislators to ask them to support the Global Warming Initiative.
· Action Item: some of the meeting participants asked CURE for a template to be used to send to their legislatures on the Big Stone issue. Duanne will send materials to the Alliance members.
· Action Item: Patrick asked the Alliance members to contact Kent Lokkesmoe of the DNR to see what has been done with reconvening the South Dakota – Minnesota Boundary Waters Commission. They need to hear from someone else besides CURE.

· Middle Minnesota Watershed: Lauren Klement provided a brief report on the success of getting a number of grants for this watershed to improve water quality. This includes a Clean Water Legacy grant and funding from the 319 Program.
· Lauren also commented on the news report about Linda Meschke and the Madelia Project and how it got her husband Richard and co-workers talking about conservation and environment.

· Productive Conservation: Dennis Gibson passed around the 2006 Chippewa River Watershed Monitoring Report and talked about how it recommends putting 34% of the land base into a conservation model. At this point, 25% has already been done, with 9% or 123,000 acres to go. He said this needs to be understood as an opportunity for solar collection and now we need to bring it into a cash reality. This means putting together an infrastructure otherwise nothing will happen. We need to look at the Madelia Project. To plant switch grass to produce diesel and get out of the ethanol box. Diesel is more environmental friendly and uses less energy, which is what the Europeans are using. It also uses less carbon and a more friendly fuel due to the sulfur issue.

· High Island Lake: Kerry Wuetherich talked in depth about how they are running into a lot of road blocks with their efforts to improve water quality on this shallow lake. He provided his own example of moving to the lake 11 years ago and being able to swim; now they wouldn’t even let his dogs go in the lake. There have been some problems surrounding the Lake Association and Conservation Club. Now a meeting has been scheduled with the Attorney General to talk about it. They have also been working with the DNR to do a drawdown of the lake but nothing has been approved.
· Chris Domeier said they need to go to the watershed district and restore wetlands up in the watershed. This will provide the biggest impact for improving water quality in the lake. Patrick Moore said it’s going to be a long haul and not to get discouraged. You need to focus on the positive and figure out what do. Ultimately it is a culture change. Patrick recommended the lake association hire a college student as an intern for 10 weeks to go door to door for selling conservation programs.

· Local Government Accountability: Al Odenthal talked about his desire to see MPCA hold local government, in particular Sibley County accountable for the individual septic enforcement program. He provided a number of examples of how septic system installations are being regulated.

· Relationship Naming: Dee brought forth the concept of attaching names to ditches because it than attaches a character to it. Dee said we have done so much negative to the land and need to recognize we are dealing with a living land. She said, I can relate to the pain of Dry Weather Creek.

· How do we reach more people: In terms of what is happening in the Minnesota River Watershed and water quality, there is more interest.

· Rain Gardens: People are becoming more interested in putting in rain gardens but are struggling to find someone to do the work.

· LCMR: Jim Wolf asked what is happening with citizens becoming involved in the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources. Five citizens have been appointed to the commission, including Mary Mueller from Winthrop and Dawn Hegole in the western part of the watershed.

· Camp Release and Dakota War of 1862: Patrick talked about how the monument built in 1892 for the release of both white and half-breed captives by the Dakota Indians is under threat by the construction of a truck garage. According to Patrick, new documents and research have surfaced on how the Dakota Indians were treated after they released the prisoners and surrendered to the U.S. Army.

Attended:
· Ron Bolduan,
· Patrick Moore,
· Dee Czech,
· Michael Lein,
· Larry Gunderson,
· Lori Nelson,
· Chantill Kahler-Royer,
· Dennis Gibson,
· Lauren Klement,
· Bob Hartkopf,
· Al Odenthal,
· Kerry Wuetherich,
· Chris Domeier,
· Robert Finley,
· Duane Ninneman,
· Jim Wolf,
· Scott Kudelka

Spring 2007 Newsletter

2007-04-18T21:09:00.000-05:00

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD the Spring 2007 Minnesota River Watershed Alliance newsletter (1MB PDF file)

April Meeting Announcement

2007-03-27T07:19:00.000-05:00

The next meeting will be held on April 17th, 2007 (Tuesday) from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the New Century Charter School in Hutchinson. The school is located at 45 W. Highland Park Dr. NE on the campus of Hutchinson Technology Inc.

Social hour begins at 6 p.m. with food, drink and time to network with others working, living and playing in the Minnesota River Watershed. The meeting will start right at 7 o’clock and we strive to wrap up the formal discussion by 9 p.m.

If you have any questions please contact Scott Kudelka at 507-389-2304 or scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu.

The focus of our efforts in 2007 is to raise funds to enroll an additional 15,000 acres in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program or CREP. Restored prairie, wetlands and forested areas improve water quality and provide additional wildlife habitat, along with offering agriculture producers’ a chance to remove marginal farmland from production.

In addition to the CREP fundraising effort, the Alliance members discussed a wide range of subjects at the January 23rd meeting. Topics:
Ø How productive conservation utilizes perennial crops to improve water quality,
Ø The Minnesota River Turbidity TMDL Study continues to move forward,
Ø Rain gardens are being installed in New Auburn to help restore High Island Lake.

CREP Fact Sheet

2007-02-15T23:30:00.000-06:00

Learn more about the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program!

Click here to view a full version of the fact sheet.

Policy Letter Writing Protocol

2007-02-15T14:21:00.000-06:00

The Minnesota River Watershed Alliance (Alliance) is a Volunteer, Loosely Organized, Action-Oriented Group of Watershed Advocates. Participation is open to Every Citizen, Landowner, Organization and Agency in the Minnesota River Watershed.

· If an individual or organization is interested in having a policy letter sent by the Alliance it needs to be submitted to the communications coordinator two weeks prior to the next quarterly meeting.

· Due to time constraints the policy letter will be e-mailed to the participants of the Alliance for their review prior to the quarterly meeting.

· Alliance participants will vote at the quarterly meeting on whether to approve, modify or deny the policy letter. A 75% majority of participants at the quarterly meeting is required for the Alliance to take action on any issue.

· If a policy letter needs an expedited turn around, it will be reviewed and acted upon by the coordinating team of the Alliance. A copy of the letter will be posted on this Alliance web site: www.watershedalliance.blogspot.com

· Reviewed and approved policy letters will be sent out by the communication coordinator utilizing the Alliance letterhead.

January 23, 2007 Meeting Minutes

2007-02-05T15:54:00.000-06:00

Thirty one people attended a quarterly meeting of the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance in Hutchinson. Patrick Moore of Clean Up the River Environment served as the facilitator of the meeting.

Patrick started it off by explaining the purpose of the Alliance and the meeting norms the group follows – Maintain clarity, keep it candor, remember humor, we strive to finish on time / on task, everyone shares air time and we have a bias toward action.

Communications Coordinator Report:
· Scott Kudelka provided a written report on the tasks he has been working on since starting on September 27th. Close to 95% of his time has been devoted to preparing for the Minnesota River Summit and follow up tasks. He also mentioned the MN River Stories booklet complied for the Summit and the goal to collect additional stories and also video tape people talking about their experiences with the Minnesota River and its tributaries. The report also highlighted tasks Scott will be working on over the next few months.

Minnesota River Summit:
· Larry Gunderson reported on the success of the Minnesota River Summit held in New Ulm on January 10th and 11th. The event was well attended both days with a total of 179 people participating. The summit celebrated the progress of improving water quality, people’s concerns and visions, along with using the Tipping Point methods to show how a few people can get things accomplished. Once the summary report is finished it will be sent out to all the participants and whoever might be interested in the results.

· An evaluation of the event was presented by Larry in a graph format. Overall there was a general positive feeling from the participants on the Summit. The group agreed a lot of good ideas / action items were brought forth by the participants.
· The next step is to strategically think about the top ideas or action items that came out and decide which ones to tackle. A meeting in April is being planned to bring three people from each of the stakeholder groups to continue the discussion. The hope is for people to look at these ideas generated at the Summit and use them in their own life or in organization.

· In late April the MPCA will be working with system people to put together a model to see how these action items might work. It allows for mapping things out and using people’s visions about the Minnesota River Watershed. Some of the group felt action on the results would be better than using them for system modeling. Patrick stated the Summit worked as the mining of collective intelligence. By bringing people together to work in a group situation we were able to gather a diverse selection of ideas and action items.

· On the second day Chantill Kahler-Royer thought it was good that each of the stakeholder groups got together and hopes this interaction can continue. She would like to see action on the idea of a river friendly business program. If a business met a specific criteria (an example would be the River Friendly Farmer program) they could highlight this label. This would let the public look for this label and a River Friendly business to refer their customers to other business with the label.

· The next step for the action items could be test marketing the collective wisdom by boiling them down and seeing how well it flies on a smaller scale with the public before rolling it out to the entire watershed. A form of niche marketing. To do this we need to generate a set of questions to ask the public about our findings.

· It was felt the Summit worked because of the structure dialogue with people who normally don’t talk to each other. This was historical for MPCA to bring in an outside facilitator to coordinate the discussion. Now it needs to be done on all levels, whether for county commissioners, DNR, etc.

Schmidt Foundation:
· Scott Sparlin and Bill Stangler of the Minnesota River Board met with the Schmidt Foundation board to discuss the CREP fundraising project. As a result the board has given $250,000 over two years for the CREP program. This money will be matched by another $500,000 by the federal government for permanent conservation easements. It is a 2 to 1 match. Scott felt the $3,000 raised at the Shallow Lakes Forum was also a success.

· Scott will be meeting with BWSR and Kevin Lines to map out a strategy for utilizing these funds. It is not the job of the Alliance to get landowners signed up – this will be taken care of by the local USDA field offices. There is a waiting list of people wanting to enroll land and critically sensitive land that fit the criteria of this program. It is on a first come, first serve basis. BWSR pays for restoration costs.

· We only have until December to raise additional money for CREP. The idea is to use the Schmidt Foundation money to build on the fundraising momentum. In order for the administrative costs to work out for BWSR a total of $400,000 may be raised. Scott Sparlin will be checking on this.

Big Stone II Coal Plant:
· Patrick reported on the letter approved by the Alliance and sent to the Governor and the two administrative judges. We raised the issue of allocating 3.2 billion gallons of water from the Minnesota River by the state of South Dakota without first talking to Minnesota. We received a response back from the Governor’s office through the DNR. The DNR has been charged with talking to the South Dakota DNR to reestablish Boundary Waters Commission. According to Patrick this is testimony to the power of a group like the Alliance. It showed how pressure from the public got the state to act. Letters were also sent by CURE, the Minnesota River Board and others.

Review of last meeting action items:
· Work is progressing on the school education campaign with Ron Bolduan. He has been working on the power-point presentation with help from Scott Kudelka. A list of schools in the Minnesota River Watershed was complied by interns at the Water Resources Center. Lori Nelson and Friends of the Minnesota Valley have been searching for individual contacts from each school.

· Action Item: Ron will begin making CREP presentation in schools located in the MN River Watershed. An informational letter on Ron’s CREP presentation will be sent out to all the schools and a follow-up phone call will be made.

· Lake Pepin’s annual conference will be held on February 7th in Arlington Hills. Patrick Moore has been asked to sit on a panel discussion and will talk about the CREP fundraising project. He will discuss how sediment from the Minnesota River Watershed has been a major impact on water quality issues with Lake Pepin. The people working on Lake Pepin have an invested interest in what is happening in the Minnesota River.

· Shannon Fisher talked about the matching funds we need to raise for the communication coordinator position. For the first year we need to raise $5,000, something that Shannon doesn’t see as a problem. He pointed out that Scott has been working on other grant projects like the Minnesota River Summit. Currently he has a call into Ron Kruse of the McKnight Foundation to see what works for a match. The first year match needs to be clarified through MSUM. He will be asking if the funds from the Schmidt Foundation can be used. There has been a question if we can use funds from another foundation as a match but nothing in writing. Shannon approached Excel Energy hoping to get funds for CREP but they don’t give money for land acquisitions. A question was raised if we need to set up a fundraising campaign or due structure to secure the match. The match will be $10,000 for year two and $15,000 for the third year.

· Patrick Moore contacted the Southeast Regional Foundation about using their facilities for our meetings but they have no procedures set up for night events. Instead he found the New Century Charter School facility. The group agreed to continue using this facility as a meeting location.

· We will continue to offer food during the social hour since money is budgeted for this expense. If people want to donate to the cause that would be great.

· Lori Nelson reported the application deadline for the Beldon Foundation is in the fall. The Beldon Foundation is going out of business in two years and currently spending down its principal. Minnesota is a priority area for the foundation. There was discussion about looking at other national foundations for grant money. It was suggested to develop a strategy on who is contacting whom. Another suggestion was for the completion of one well written grant application to be sent out. There should be interface with Shannon and Scott at the Water Resources Center on this issue. Lauren Klement mentioned how there are grant libraries located throughout the state that should be checked out.

· Action Item: Lori will take the lead on coming up with a strategy for approaching / researching foundations for grant money with help from Patrick Moore, Lauren Klement, Linda Meschke and Rich Smith.

CREP Campaign – Who will do what:
· The Alliance agreed to work on the CREP fundraiser because these permanent easements on the flood plain showed instant benefits and the state wasn’t going to provide the matching monies. We can raise up to $7 million for 15,000 acres and have $253,000 pledged for CREP. One goal is to raise another $150,000 to reach a total of $400,000.

· A list of potential organizations – Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, Waterfowl Association, Rough Grouse – to contact about CREP funding were suggested by the group. We need to stress how this a program pays for permanent easements that provide great habitat and will double a group’s contribution.

· Action Item: Kevin Bigalke volunteered to contact Pheasants Forever through the state biologists and coordinator. The idea will be to pitch the fundraising effort to the local chapters through their spring banquets. Our goal of $400,000 can be reached if 30 chapters gave $5,000 each. The group felt Pheasants Forever is a big player even if they are primarily interested in buying land for public use.

· Action Item: A communication piece to be developed by Scott Kudelka, Chantill Kahler-Royer, Michelle Thelen, John White, Patrick Moore and Kevin Bigalke by February 17th will be sent out to the Pheasants Forever chapters. We will stress how giving $5,000 can translate into $15,000.

· Action Item: Joel Anderson, Rob Collett, and Shannon Fisher will contact John Schneider and Bob Usguard of Ducks Unlimited. Currently Ducks Unlimited is involved in their $10 million Shallow Lakes Initiative. Scott Sparlin reported that the state chapter is opposed to permanent easements while the national office and local chapters support them.

· Other groups to contact could include the Nature Conservancy, Wild Turkey Federation and sport fishing clubs. No action or decision to contact them by the group was made.

· Action Item: The fundraising letter put together by the planning team will be updated to include the Schmidt Foundation grant by Scott Kudelka and sent out to the Alliance participants to be used for the CREP fundraising efforts.

Letter Writing Protocol:
· In regard to the letters sent out to the Governor and Administrative Judges on the Big Stone Coal Plant project, Scott Sparlin felt there needs to be a set of safeguards in place to make sure the Alliance participants have a say in what is being sent out by this organization. The group felt they want to continue sending letters as a positive vehicle for expressing our concerns about a particular issue.

· Action Item: Scott Kudelka will put together a protocol for future letter writing campaigns. The group recommended if a person is interested in having a letter sent by the Alliance they would submit it Scott two weeks prior to the next Quarterly meeting. Scott would send it out to the Alliance participants for their review and than voted on by the group at the next meeting. A majority – 75% of those assembled – would be needed if the letter would be sent out from the Alliance.

Other Issues:
· Productive Conservation: it is another conservation-related tool to be used like the third crop initiative, which plants perennial crops like prairie grasses for biomass or hazelnuts. Linda Meschke gave a brief report on the Madelia Project. To solve water quality problems in the Greater Blue Earth Watershed they are using a model to plant 20% of 9.1 million acres of cropland into perennial crops for biomass. Eventually they want to bring this model to other places in the Minnesota River Watershed.

· Turbidity TMDL: Larry Gunderson was asked to report on the status of this project. In the Minnesota River Watershed 18 reaches have been identified as not meeting the water standards for this pollutant. A technical committee has been meeting for just over a year and is looking to develop a model to see what BMPs could affect water quality. Larry would like to see more representation from environmental groups, tribal members and elected officials.

· Rain Gardens: Al Odenthal reported on the New Auburn project to install 41 rain gardens for treating stormwater runoff and improve water quality in High Island Lake. Chantill has worked on a number of rain garden projects including New Auburn and volunteered to talk with any group interested in this concept.

· CURE annual meeting: Patrick Moore invited people to annual meeting on February 10th (Saturday) at the Hollywood Theater, Main Street in Montevideo from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Mark Seely, U of M Meteorologist will talk about Minnesota weather patterns. The event will also feature food, drink, door prizes and a silent auction.

· Ecological System Restoration: Rich Smith talked about how 150 years ago we started on a path of degrading the prairie ecosystem, a valuable ecosystem just like the rain forest. In order to improve water quality in the Minnesota River we need to restore the ecosystem around it. This means focusing on something other than subsidized farming. It includes replacing cattle with bison, an animal meant to graze. Utilize wind power over coal. We are the Saudi Arabia of potential wind production with the Buffalo Gap. Instead of building ethanol plants for corn we need to use prairie grasses. Some people felt this was a polarizing concept and could lead to others dismissing the idea completely.

· Septic System Funding: Michelle Thelen talked about a loan program available through the Minnesota Tourism Department to replace out-of-compliance systems for tourism business.

· SWCD Conservation Farmer of the Year Program: Lauren Klement talked about how Sibley County SWCD has only picked conservation farmers who used a bulldozer to complete projects and haven’t looked at those farmers who plant filter strips, restore wetlands or utilize conservation tillage.

· Watershed Management Legislative Audit: Kevin Bigalke reported how the State Auditors office looks at programs on a policy basis and recently conducted one on watershed management by examining watershed districts, SWCDs, joint power boards, BWSR etc. There could be ratification in terms of legislative oversight when it comes to watershed management, specifically how BWSR oversees watershed districts and how joint powers board have no oversight.

· Minnesota River Joint Powers Board: Shannon Fisher reported a bill has been jacketed by Terry Morrow to provide an annual appropriation of $92,000 to the MN River Board. This would replace the funding lost in 2001. The counties will bump up their match. Letters of support about this funding to local representatives would be greatly appreciated. At this time Terry Morrow is looking for co-sponsors on both sides of the legislature.

· Clean Water Legacy: A question was raised if any bill has been put forth to continue funding for the Clean Water Legacy program. The Governor has $40 million in his budget and $11 million for two years has been put in the BWSR budget. Patrick Moore mentioned CURE will have a bus lined up to go to the capital for the February 21st Clean Water Rally.

· Next Meeting; April 17th (Tuesday) at the New Century Charter School, 6 p.m. Social Hour and 7 to 9 p.m. Meeting (subject to change).

Attended:
· Ron Bolduan,
· Richard Fish,
· Patrick Moore,
· Scott Sparlin,
· Dee Czech,
· Michael Lein,
· Larry Gunderson,
· Loren Engelby,
· Lori Nelson,
· Chantill Kahler-Royer,
· Tom Royer,
· Greg Mikkelson,
· Rich Smith,
· Richard Harp,
· Margaret Harp,
· John G. White,
· Dennis Gibson,
· Robert Collett,
· Dick Kroger,
· Michelle Thelen,
· Lauren Klement,
· Shannon Fisher,
· Joel Anderson,
· Linda Meschke,
· Bob Hartkopf,
· James Fett,
· Al Odenthal,
· Kerry Wuetherich,
· Kevin Bigalke,
· Forrest Peterson,
· Scott Kudelka

January meeting announcement

2007-01-03T18:09:00.000-06:00

Hello!

You are invited to attend the next quarterly meeting of the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance, a Volunteer, Active, Action-Oriented Group of Watershed Advocates. Participation is open to Every Citizen, Landowner, Organization and Agency in the Minnesota River Watershed.

The next meeting will be held on January 23, 2007 (Tuesday) from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the Galileo Room of the New Century Charter School in Hutchinson. The school is located at 45 W. Highland Park Dr. NE (see links at bottom of this message).

The Minnesota River Watershed Alliance needs you to help us follow up on the momentum generated by the Minnesota River Summit. Please consider joining this network of citizens, public agencies and private organizations dedicated to communicating the benefits of an ecology healthy Minnesota River Watershed to others and are actively working toward improving and protecting this valuable resource.

The focus of our work in 2007 is to continue raising funds to enroll an additional 15,000 acres in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program or CREP. CREP acres improve water quality and restore wildlife habitat, along with offering agriculture producers’ a chance to remove marginal farmland from production.

Recently the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance approached the Carl and Verna Schmidt Foundation requesting up to $1.5 million in funds for the CREP project. This request was positively received by the Schmidt Foundation and a decision is anticipated in January.

The Minnesota River Watershed Alliance has also been an integral part in the planning of a Minnesota River Summit to be held on January 10th and 11th in New Ulm. This event is bringing together participants from across the watershed for an extended conversation and discussion on Minnesota’s namesake river.

In December 2006, the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance sent letters to Governor Tim Pawlenty and two administrative judges concerning the draw down of water on Big Stone Lake by the proposed Big Stone II Coal Plant. The Minnesota River Watershed Alliance is concerned this power plant will negatively impact the Minnesota River Watershed. We hope to hear soon from the Governor’s office on this issue.

We hope to see you at the January 23rd meeting and are excited about the prospects for the Minnesota River Watershed in 2007. If you have any questions please contact Scott Kudelka at 507-389-2304.

YAHOO! MAPS to 45 W. Highland Park Dr. NE

GOOGLE MAPS to 45 W. Highland Park Dr. NE

Wanted: Meeting Facilitator

2006-11-01T09:20:00.000-06:00

The Minnesota River Watershed Alliance is seeking someone to facilitate ten quarterly meetings between January, 2007 and June, 2009. Each quarterly meeting will normally take place on the third Tuesday or Thursday of the month and run approximately 2 to 3 hours between the hours of 5:00 p.m. and 10 p.m. depending on location, agenda and if there is a scheduled event. The location of the meetings will vary between Hutchinson and a number of cites in the Minnesota River Watershed. A cap of $500 per meeting has been set to include time and expenses. Time commitment includes limited prep, service at the meetings, and limited follow up.

The Minnesota River Watershed Alliance is a network of citizens, public agencies and private organizations dedicated to communicating the benefits of an ecologically healthy Minnesota River Watershed to others and are actively working toward its improvement and protection. Currently, Alliance participants are focusing on raising $7 million for the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP).

Please submit a letter of interest to Shannon Fisher, Director of the Water Resources Center; 184 Trafton Science Center South; Mankato, MN 56001.

January 2007 Meeting - Updated

2006-10-31T07:21:00.000-06:00

Subject: Minnesota River Watershed Alliance Meeting

Date: January 23, 2007 (Tuesday)

Time: 6:00 p.m. Social Hour
7:00 p.m. Meeting

Where: Galileo Room of the New Century Charter School at 45 W. Highland Park Drive NE in Hutchinson, MN

Minnesota River Watershed Alliance

January 17, 2012 Meeting Notes

January 17, 2012 Meeting Announcement

Watershed wide, Citizen-Led, Water Quality Conversation Scheduled for Dec. 6th in Mankato

November 1, 2011 Meeting Notes

November 2011 Meeting announcement

July 19th, 2011 Meeting Notes

Upcoming events

Here are three upcoming MRWA events, in conjunction with Montevideo's Fiesta Days Riverfest Rendezvous Celebration. For more information about Riverfest, visit CURE (Clean Up the River Environment) on the web at http://www.cureriver.org/ or on Facebook... search for "Cure Mnriver".

For updates and more information, please "Like" us on Facebook... search for "Minnesota River Watershed Alliance"

====================Tour of Moonstone FarmFriday, June 17 · 3:00pm - 4:30pmCURE office, 117 South 1st St., Montevideo, Minn.

====================Chippewa River PaddleFriday, June 17 · 5:00pm - 8:30pmCURE office, 117 South 1st St., Montevideo, Minn.

====================Minnesota River Paddler Patch Award Presentations Saturday, June 18 · 12:00pm - 12:30pmLagoon Park in Montevideo, Minn.

January 18, 2011 Meeting Minutes

Minnesota River Watershed Alliance Communication Survey - please take the survey!

Watershed Alliance Communication Survey - Background

October 19, 2010 Meeting Notes

October 19, 2010 Meeting Announcement

July 20, 2010 Meeting Notes

July 2010 Meeting Invitation - new time and place!

April 20, 2010 Meeting Notes

Save the Date! June 12, 2010

January 19, 2010 Meeting Notes

January 19, 2010 Meeting Announcement

January 19, 2010 Meeting Announcement

October 20, 2009 Meeting Minutes

Meeting Announcement: October 20, 2009

July 21, 2009 Meeting Notes

July 21, 2009 Meeting Announcement

April 21, 2009 Meeting Notes

April 21, 2009 Meeting Announcement

January 20, 2009 Meeting Announcement

October 21, 2008 Meeting Minutes

October 2008 Meeting

Minnesota River Celebration!

July 15, 2008 Meeting Minutes

July Meeting - Location Change!

2008 Upcoming Events

April 15, 2008 Meeting Announcement

Minutes from February 19, 2008 meeting

October 16, 2007 Meeting Minutes

February 19, 2008 Meeting Announcement

Come to the October 16, 2007 Meeting!

October 2007 Meeting

July 17, 2007 Meeting Notes

Come to our July 17, 2007 meeting in Hutchinson!

April 17, 2007 Meeting Minutes

Spring 2007 Newsletter

April Meeting Announcement

CREP Fact Sheet

Policy Letter Writing Protocol

January 23, 2007 Meeting Minutes

January meeting announcement

Wanted: Meeting Facilitator

January 2007 Meeting - Updated

====================
Tour of Moonstone Farm
Friday, June 17 · 3:00pm - 4:30pm
CURE office, 117 South 1st St., Montevideo, Minn.

====================
Chippewa River Paddle
Friday, June 17 · 5:00pm - 8:30pm
CURE office, 117 South 1st St., Montevideo, Minn.

====================
Minnesota River Paddler Patch Award Presentations
Saturday, June 18 · 12:00pm - 12:30pm
Lagoon Park in Montevideo, Minn.