Out of 329 proposals totaling $240 million, the Legislative-Citizen Committee on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) selected 87 projects totaling $70,881,000 to recommend to the Minnesota legislature for funding from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund.
While none of the ventures were exclusively for Cook County, some will include work here, and many are of some interest to those of us who live in northeastern Minnesota. Below is a smattering of those requests that will move to the legislature in January 2021 for approval.
Making the list is a project from the University of Minnesota Duluth called “What’s bugging Minnesota’s insect-eating birds?” If funded at the $199,000 request, this project will seek to examine the relationship between insect abundance, the timing of insect availability, and breeding success for multiple bird species across land-use intensities to develop comprehensive guidelines to conserve bird and insect diversity.
The Minnesota DNR, Ecological and Water Resources Division is seeking $1,875,000 to make a County Groundwater Atlas. This project supports continuing development the County Groundwater Atlases. The goal is to provide this valuable water and resource management “information infrastructure” to every county Minnesota.
Another exciting project that made the LCCMR list came from the University of Minnesota Crookston for work on “Preserving Minnesota’s Wetlands: Our Resource For Future Medicine.” of in
In the description of the project, it says, “Our Minnesota bogs are an essential resource. As we use microbes to bio-monitor habitats, we could find the next antibacterial, antifungal, or antiviral medicinal product.”
Of great importance to any brook trout fisherman/fisherwoman is UMD’s request for $319,000 to conduct Trout Stream Habitat Restoration Success.
“Minnesota has spent millions on stream habitat improvement and restoration; we will evaluate the effectiveness and durability of project designs. Results will inform the success of future projects and improve cost-effectiveness,” states its reasons for soliciting grant money.
More locally, Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center is asking for $383,000 to increase outdoor learning for young Minnesotans. Every year, except maybe this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, kids from Cook County attend Wolf Ridge for up to three days to learn more about our natural world. In its request for funding, it is stated, “Wolf Ridge seeks scholarships for equitable access to authentic, hands-on learning experiences in the outdoors that support our Minnesota schools.”
The Superior Hiking Trail is hoping for a grant of $187,000 for a project titled “Plumbing the Muddy Depths of the Superior Hiking Trail.” This includes “plumbing” or serious and effective water management devices and techniques, to the Superior Hiking Trail. Included in the work will be “building structures and sculpting and managing soil and rock.”
Noted in the application is that the Superior Hiking Trail “was not built to modern, national trail building standards. That fact, plus extremely heavy usage of the Trail due to its popularity, coupled with the ravages of climate change, means that water is damaging the Trail either by flowing onto it or along with it and not moving off the Trail at all. The result is serious erosion and the proliferation of mud holes. Hikers tend to avoid muddy and wet spots on the Trail; by doing so, they exacerbate the problem by widening the Trail and causing more erosion and creating more mud.”
With nearly 100 river and stream crossings and many lakes and ponds along the course, the need to fix the Trail so it can shed water quickly is urgent and, if the money is approved, will help make the Trail much more enjoyable to hike.
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