Category Archives: blog

22Feb/23

Launching the Women’s Woodland Stewardship Network to Support Women in Forestry

February 22, 2023forestry, Water, women landowners, woodland stewardship

As I sat at home watching a webinar in October of 2020 about an Oregon State University Extension and Outreach program that supported female woodland owners through educational and networking opportunities, I thought to myself, “Would it be possible to have a program like this in Iowa?” Fortuitously, six months later I received an email from a partner at Missouri Extension and Outreach asking if Iowa was interested in joining them in offering programming for women who are woodland owners in the Midwest. My response was an enthusiastic yes!

A complexity-aware understanding of climate-smart agricultural programming at Extension

February 21, 2023Agriculture, climate, climate-smart, Extension

A team of Extension personnel across the Midwest, in partnership with the USDA Midwest Climate Hub, aims to increase the adoption of regionally scalable climate-smart agriculture. The project, originally titled “Accelerating the transition to climate-smart strategiesRead More…

30Jan/23

Soil in a hand with earth worms in the soil

Weather, Water, and Soil Intersect in Indiana’s Climate Smart Agriculture Programs

January 30, 2023Agriculture, climate, climate-smart, Indiana, Soil Health, Water

Climate Smart Agriculture has been a buzzword over the past year, with the connotation that farms can play a large role in sequestering greenhouses gasses. In order to do so, carbon in the upper layers of soil has to be increased, methane from ruminants must be lessened or harnessed to be converted to energy, and renewable energy resources have to be incorporated into farm management considerations. In Indiana, many resources have been dedicated to progressing in this arena. We just used a variety of other terms in the process.

Embracing Clean Water One Marina at a Time

December 28, 2022clean water, coastal resilience, green infrastructure, marina, Water Quality

What mental image comes to mind when you think of boating in Ohio? Perhaps it is sailing and powerboating on the shores of Lake Erie, or jet skiing on Alum Creek Lake outside Columbus, or maybeRead More…

28Dec/22

Harmful Algal Bloom Symposium Returns for its third year

December 28, 2022algae, HABs, harmful algal blooms, research

The Algal Bloom Action Team is once again hosting the popular Harmful Algal Bloom Research Symposium next week! The symposium, which will take place entirely virtually January 5-6th, will feature the latest research from harmful algalRead More…

29Nov/22

Rebecca North and students water sampling in summer 2023

Uncovering the mysteries of cyanobacteria in inland lakes

November 29, 2022climate, cyanobacteria, harmful algal blooms, Water Quality

Rebecca North grew up on the shores of the Bay of Quinte in Belleville Ontario, a picturesque location off the coast of Lake Ontario. Known as the ‘heart of the sea and the river’ it has reputation for sailing, walleye fishing, and harmful algal blooms or HABs. “I grew up swimming in the Bay as a kid. Now, people don’t even let their dogs near it,” notes North when she talks about her hometown. For North, growing up on the water instilled in her not only a love for water, but also a fascination with phytoplankton.

Summer State of Mind: Watershed Management Outreach and Research Internship Programs Looks ahead to Summer 2023

October 26, 2022Extension, undergraduate internship, Water Resource Management, watershed management

While most of us are thinking about Halloween costumes, family gatherings, and dare I say it – holiday shopping – a team of extension professionals in the North Central Region are already looking ahead to nextRead More…

26Oct/22

NRCS staff at the South Dakota Watershed Academy in August 2022

Educating Conservation Professionals on Water Quality and Water Resource Management

October 26, 2022conservation planning, south dakota, water quality standards, watershed planning

Conservation planning and watershed planning – to the outside eye the processes can look similar, but take a closer look and you’ll find different goals, different tools, and even a remarkably different lingo. For Dave Kringen,Read More…

28Sep/22

Hard winters and lasting floods: Managing Minnesota’s water in a changing climate

September 28, 2022Agriculture, climate, flooding, Resilience

Story by Greg Klinger, University of Minnesota Extension In March of 2019, at the tail end of a long, hard winter in Rochester, Minnesota, I went for a walk along our local flood control reservoir. TheRead More…

13Sep/22

People running on a lake beach holding signs

Five Takeaways to Advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Watershed Management

September 13, 2022DEI, diversity, equity, Human Capital, inclusion, watershed management

By Jenny Seifert, Lisa Merrifield, and Anne Sawyer. Cross posted with the Human Capital blog Watershed management is an inherently participatory process. Achieving clean water goals requires the inclusion of diverse views and considering the equityRead More…