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tmdl training for water resource professionals - a multi-state pilot
This project piloted the first in a series of workshops to bring together professionals with various backgrounds from federal, state and local agencies, academia, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the consulting sector. Goals for the workshop series include 1) increasing understanding of the biological, chemical, and physical interactions at a watershed scale, 2) identifying and recognizing the gaps in knowledge among the many specialists, and, most importantly, 3) developing synergistic interactions among professionals with common TMDL and water quality goals. Participants in the first workshop indicated that their knowledge of the TMDL process and the importance of an interdisciplinary approach increased from fair to good. The evaluations also clearly reflected the ongoing need for regular, basic TMDL process training. The workshop also led to a research symposium that brought together decision makers at the state and federal level, active implementers, researchers, and non-governmental organizations who focus on science to identify the current state of knowledge and research needs to manage surface waters. This initiative is establishing a research agenda for the next five to ten years that will provide a foundation for multi-state work.
Contact:
Faye Sleeper
University of Minnesota
(612) 6254-3738
fsleeper@umn.edu
midwest cover crop council seeks systemic change
The energy from a multi-state Cover Crop Summit in August 2006 resulted the pooling of resources from the Great Lakes Regional Water Program and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation to support a strategic planning meeting in April, 2007. The strategic planning meeting resulted in an official name for the multi-state initiative – the Midwest Cover Crop Council (MCCC). The mission of MCCC is to improve the ecological and environmental functioning of the predominant annual cropping systems in the upper Mississippi and Great Lakes basins by incorporating cover crops on 30 percent of these acres in 15 years. Participants included a diverse group from academia, production agriculture, nongovernmental organizations, commodity interests, private sector, and representatives from federal and state agencies, all collaborating to address soil, water, air, and agricultural quality concerns in the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins. The Council has identified five major priority areas under which a series of activities and initiatives over five years will be undertaken to fulfill the overall goal of increasing cover crops adoption in the Great Lakes/Upper Midwest region. These priorities include policy, communications, research, education/outreach, and fundraising. Members of the Council’s network have developed five-year action plans in each of these areas that will increase funding for research and development, enhance public awareness and support for cover crops, develop policy incentives and programs to increase farmer adoption of cover crops in the region, and provide education and training necessary to farmers and agencies to make the appropriate shifts to facilitate this adoption.
Contacts:
Dale Mutch
Michigan State University
(269) 671-2412 ext. 224
mutch@msu.edu
Eileen Kladivko
Purdue University
(765) 494-6372
kladivko@purdue.edu
serving the wastewater treatment needs of small communities
All Great Lakes Region states are facing the issue of how to implement decentralized wastewater treatment for small communities. Small communities in this context include unincorporated towns and clusters of homeowners on lakeshores. As the decentralized option is increasingly recognized, as a viable approach, policy makers, engineers, local government officials will need assistance. In addition, universities have differing capacities and expertise that, if shared, may increase the overall service they are able to provide to small communities. In response, the Great Lakes Regional Water Program has formed a multi-state team consisting of the primary educators from across the region to identify collaboration opportunities that address small community needs. The team has 1) summarized existing Land Grant research and outreach capacity in the region, 2) developed a list of potential projects, and 3) identified topic leaders that are drafting project description for three priority areas (educational materials, tracking and inventory of decentralized systems, and research) to be used in discussions.
Contact:
Jim Anderson
University of Minnesota
(612) 625-0279
ander045@umn.edu
learning from tmdl approaches across the great lakes region
Current regulations require the determination of total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for surface waters. According to critics, this determination of loads often is determined from incomplete information. Depending on what models are used and what the data requirements are, results can vary for the same impaired water or watershed. Success of the implementation of practices to reduce loads within the TMDL is at least partially dependent on the degree that parties subject to the load allocation agree with the methodologies used and the answers they provide. Each of our states face this problem in establishing TMDLs.
A work group was formed at the University of Minnesota to develop a model curriculum for a comprehensive training program on evaluating effectiveness of TMDLs at addressing water quality concerns. The curriculum involves three elements: 1) training on why TMDLs need to be evaluated and effective evaluation methods, 2) incorporating information on a comparative regional economic analysis of best policies for TMDL development and implementation , and 3) evaluation of TMDL development and implementation plans/strategies (what is working and what isn’t). This draft curriculum will be shared with a broader regional group and finalized in 2007.
Contact:
Jim Anderson
University of Minnesota
(612) 625-0279
ander045@umn.edu
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