Features

Water Conference topics spill over into media, ag, public health and tribal roles in creating water policy
The 2017 Minnesota Water Resources Conference offered a variety of water topics to the record-breaking 787 attendees who gathered amid the fall color display along the Mississippi River. Tribal water management, discovering the source of harmful microrganisms in our recreational and drinking water and using media to bring problems and solutions to the public were just a handful of topics offered.

Connecting Water Resources Science student skills with Cedar Lake community efforts

In the fall of 2016, Doug Malchow, since-retired Extension Educator in Water Resources, responded to inquiries from Dante Rand of the Cedar Lake Ambassadors of Rice County (CLARC) – a community of people interested in restoring, preserving, and protecting Cedar Lake in Rice County, Minnesota. CLARC is an action-oriented committee working in conjunction with the non-profit organizations of Cedar Lake Association and The Sportsman’s Club.

Lake management in a warming climate

Lakes are changing and how we protect and manage them needs to change as well. Freshwater lakes are a tiny fraction (<0.5%) of the total water on earth, and host a web of complex ecosystems, and influence the lives of the many people around them.  Lakes are part of the still or standing water (lentic) of inland waters.  But, there is a full range of water motion (flow) within lakes that makes each lake a unique dynamic system and constantly changing.  Yet, lakes with similar shapes and forms (morphometry) of the same area (climate zones) tend to respond similarly to the changes inside them and within their watersheds.

Joel Larson named Associate Director of the Water Resources Center 

Joel Larson, a top-level manager at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has been named associate director of the Water Resources Center, effective January 29, 2018. Larson recently directed the USDA Southeast Climate Hub, where he coordinated with university Extension and other science programs to provide stakeholder-relevant education on conservation planning related to climate change and water management.

For more information, please visit: UMN Extension – Water Resources Center