Nearly 90 watershed individuals volunteered their time and represented a broad cross section of the Mississippi River-Winona Watershed attended the Watershed Citizen Summit on June 26, 2012 at the Tau Center in Winona. The purpose of the event was to provide an opportunity for people to discuss concerns and ideas about ways to protect local water quality.

It may have taken 19 years for Loren Muldowney to become a Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) employee, but in her mind it was worth the wait! Muldowney became employed by NRCS Marshall, Minnesota Area Office in 2011 as a Water Quality Specialist. A career with NRCS is something she had long desired and finally her dream came true!

Minnesota NRCS employees recently spent one of their weekends sharing their passion for helping people help the land at Milkapalooza! The outreach event took place on Saturday, June 23 at the Cedar Summit Farms in Scott County, Minnesota. Cedar Summit produces organic milk products for the Twin Cities food market.

“Wine, Women and Wonderful Local Foods” was held June 21st at the Community Center in Clara City, Minnesota. This year’s program included many activities such as a matching game about pollinators; local foods and a tour of Hinterland Vineyards. Participants had a chance to tour Hinterland vineyard by cart and learn more about grapes and making wine.

Helping people help the land is something that NRCS does on a daily basis. Recently, NRCS expanded its passion for helping others by partnering with the White Earth Natural Resources Department (WENRD) and the Rice Lake Boys and Girls Club.

Soil Surveys provide a scientific inventory of one of our most basic and important natural resources, the “soil.” In Minnesota, the Lake and Cook County Soil Survey is moving forward with completing the soil mapping of the private land in these 2 north-eastern Minnesota counties by the fall of 2012. Lake and Cook Counties are situated in the NE tip of Minnesota. The area is comprised of moderately deep coarse, stony soils except for the shoreline of Lake Superior which is predominantly red clay soils.

Beginning Farmer, Cody Schmalz farms on 600 acres near Lancaster, Minnesota (Kittson County). Schmalz was born and raised on this farm which is only 1.5 miles from the Canadian border (Manitoba). His passion for farming led him to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to solve his resource concerns.

In December, 2011, the West Otter Tail Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) was recognized for their contributions to protecting Minnesota state highways through the promotion and installation of living snow fences. Living snow fences are trees, shrubs and native grasses located along roads or around communities and farmsteads.

Devotion, dedication, and determination sum up Johnny and the reasons he received the 2011 Buzz Ryan Award. To say Johnny is active is an understatement! He focuses energy on representing good stewardship and conservation in both his private and professional lives. Through these efforts, he has touched countless individuals and has made a significant impact on the land of SE MN.

The longterm use of conservation practices on the Betcher farm made the step into the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), first introduced in 2005, easy. He heard about it at a local town hall informational meeting. He made a CSP application and it ranked high enough for the farm to be enrolled in two contracts; one for his agricultural land the other for the woodland.

Who would have ever guessed that Harlen Hendrickson would be passionate about wetlands, wetland restoration and wildlife? Several years ago, Hendrickson was injured in a work-related accident. He reached a point where he had to figure out what he was going to do for the rest of his life. Then, a postcard arrived at his mailbox in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. The rest is what can be referred to as a dynamic change of passion for Hendrickson’s direction in life.

The Fond du Lac Water Management Project was a cooperative effort of the Fond du Lac (FDL) Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the Minnesota USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to conduct a hydrologic assessment of the Stoney Brook watershed. The assessment included recommendations for optimizing water levels for wild rice production on Reservation lakes.

The Fond du Lac Water Management Project was a cooperative effort of the Fond du Lac (FDL) Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the Minnesota USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to conduct a hydrologic assessment of the Stoney Brook watershed. The assessment included recommendations for optimizing water levels for wild rice production on Reservation lakes.

Across the great state of Minnesota, our farmland owners and operators face the challenge of making a living from the land, while protecting our natural resources. The key to meeting this challenge is in successfully developing a plan for managing all of the farm’s resources. To this end, NRCS has a program that can ably assist these owners and operators on solving their resource concerns, namely the Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) Program.