Sections
- Winona County Announces Rain Garden Cost-Share Grant
- Upcoming Winter Seminar Series Spawned from October “Resilient Landscaping” Seminar
- New Energy Action Plan for Winona City
- Sustain Winona’s “Next Step Partners” Project
- Healthy Lake Winona Lakeshore Management
- Winona State University Hires First Campus Sustainability Director
Winona County Announces Rain Garden Cost-Share Grant
There are roughly 5,101 impaired streams, lakes, beaches, and wetlands in Minnesota. This number makes up 40% of our surface waters. According to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency our biggest threat to water quality is stormwater runoff. Water from rain and snowfall events runs over our lawns and streets collecting various forms of pollutants along the way before hitting our stormwater inlets, such as ditches or storm drains, and emptying into our nearby lakes, rivers, and streams. Implementing natural landscapes, like rain gardens, help water soak into the ground first to assist in filtering out pollutants.
Winona County has joined the City of Winona in offering cost-sharing grants for residents to install rain gardens. An overview of the program as well as the grant application are available on Winona County’s website. Help make a difference in keeping our waters clean by applying today!
Winona County Grant Application
City of Winona Grant Application
Additional Links Discussing the Benefits of Rain Gardens
Minnesota rain gardens go big to fight pollution, reuse water – MPR News
Burnsville rain gardens, retrofitting for water quality – MN PCA Stormwater Manual
Why you should care about water quality -MPCA
Upcoming Winter Seminar Series Spawned from October “Resilient Landscaping” Seminar
On October 3rd, Winona County sponsored a seminar on ways residents can improve landscaping practices. Popular topics included invasive species management, tips and resources for establishing a wilder or prairie yard, green infrastructure with rain gardens and trees, and various design concepts for landscaping. Speakers included Jacob Overgaard, Winona County’s UMN Extension Educator, Daryl Buck from the Winona County Soil and Water District, Winona City’s City Forester Chris Kramer, Bonnie Mahoney of Winona Nursery and Master Gardener Brenda Pohlman.
Participation in the seminar was high, with more than 50 in attendance. Based on a post-event survey, many attendees are eager to learn more. Due to this positive response, Winona County will be offering a series of winter seminars in which the four most popular topics will be discussed more in depth. The series will kick-off in January, look for more information in our December newsletter and on Sustain Winona’s Facebook page.
Winter Seminar Series Topics
Design Concepts for Landscaping
Prairies & Pollinators
Rain Gardens
Invasive Species Management
Fall Seminar “Resilient Landscaping” PowerPoint Presentation: Creating Resiliency through Improved Landscape Practices
New Energy Action Plan for Winona City
Over the past seven months, Winona’s Energy Action Team, working with Xcel Energy’s Partners in Energy, developed an Energy Action Plan aimed at reducing energy use and increasing renewable energy generation throughout Winona and the County. In order to create an Energy Action Plan, a team of experts from the community was convened to participate in the planning process. The Energy Action Plan, which will ultimately lead to an estimated 34 percent reduction in the city’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, was approved by the City Council last week.
A complete version of Winona’s Energy Action Plan can be found at the City’s website in the “Public Announcement” section. Residents across Winona County are encouraged to help guide residential outreach efforts by taking the survey available HERE. If you are interested in learning more about the plan or in volunteering to help Winona reach its goals, contact John Howard at JHoward@ci.winona.mn.us or at (507) 457-8273.
Additional Opportunity to get Involved with Saving Energy: Attend the Public Building Energy Benchmarking workshop on December 1st, 2017
Additional Stories
Sustain Winona’s “Next Step Partners” Project
Winona County citizens, local nonprofits, and government staff came together in 2016 as the Next Step Partners to help promote sustainability and climate resilience across the county. The genesis of this collaborative effort was a Rural Climate Dialogue undertaken earlier in the year in Winona County, organized by the Jefferson Center. Sustain Winona partners, Winona State University, and the City and County of Winona, along with many community partners, created a project to engage our county residents on energy, and offer low to no-cost upgrades on efficiency. With grants from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTS), project collaborators developed a program for energy audits in lower or fixed income households, a service county residents previously had minimal access to. Thirteen audits were conducted for Xcel Energy customers at discounted rates by Southeast Minnesota Community Action Agency (SEMCAC) using efficiency installation rebates. Another 80 audits were completed by Xcel’s Home Energy Squad. Next Step Partners hopes to achieve 50 additional home energy audits by June 2018 thanks to this unique partnership between Xcel, SEMCAC, and Sustain Winona Partners.
Visit Xcel Home Energy Squad to determine your eligibility, request a visit, and see available services.
Healthy Lake Winona Lakeshore Management
This past summer, members of Healthy Lake Winona, City of Winona staff, and volunteers from Winona County worked on restoring native vegetation along a section of the north shore of Lake Winona from Franklin St. west to the playground area. Native vegetation has better habitat and food value to local animals, including pollinator species.
The group started by clearing invasives, like buckthorn, and killing turf grass to make way for site-appropriate native plants. One innovative approach the group took was to utilize cut branches from woody invasives as material for a wave barrier that they later installed to protect shallow water plantings. In August, the group received a boost from the Youth Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa (pictured), as well as students from WSU and St. Mary’s Universities. The project was able to get farther much faster thanks to all their hard work.
| Healthy Lake Winona members and the Youth Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa take a break before staking the wave barriers they built into position in the lake. The bundles are affectionately known as “burritos”. Photo courtesy of Paul Schollmeier and Chris Meyer. |
The project will be a multi-year effort with volunteers needed for continual weeding of invasive species, monitoring to ensure the native species become established, and removing and replacing those that didn’t thrive. One lesson learned is that the shallow water plants need to be protected from curious waterfowl and muskrats by wire mesh. The team hopes to replicate the project, with better projected shallow water plants, to other areas of the lake.
Winona State University Hires First Campus Sustainability Director
Nathan Engstrom has joined Winona State University filling the new position of Campus Sustainability Director. Engstrom brings with him ten years of experience coordinating sustainability in higher education, previously under the title of Regional Sustainability Coordinator at Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin.
In his new position, Engstrom will be responsible for progress towards institutional sustainability goals. He will work to identify priorities for the campus and promote campus-wide sustainable practices and development. According to Engstrom, a big focus within his first year will be defining the functions of sustainability for Winona State University and determining how those fit into a work plan. There are many existing efforts in place that Engstrom will be looking to emphasize and expand, with some new pursuits added into the mix including renewable energy options and electric vehicle charging stations on campus.
Sustainability initiatives will require collaboration through many departments on both the Winona and Rochester campuses. Its clear Engstrom is passionate about working to promote a more sustainable campus to in order to build thriving communities.
Source Articles on WSU’s New Sustainability Director
WSU News: Engstrom joins WSU as Sustainability Director
Rochester Post Bulletin: New Winona State sustainability director talks new role, goals