A Salted Lake: Lake Johanna
Even after the winter’s snow has melted, our lakes and streams will not forget what we have done to move about at summer speeds during the winter months. Salt we … Read more
Freshwater Society
It’s complicated
A friend and I took a long walk through Nerstrand Big Woods State Park on the last balmy weekend in December. The 2,884-acre forest straddles Prairie Creek, which is set … Read more
Water, nature’s solvent
A Brazilian colleague of mine moved her family to my town for her sabbatical year. The big questions were predictable: where to take English classes; how to get the teenagers … Read more
New and improved blog feed
The times they are a’changing, and sometimes that means improved communications. We are moving away from using an RSS feed to share our blog, in favor of a simpler, more … Read more
Is Minnesota prepared for a Hurricane Harvey?
It’s been almost two weeks since Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas, and a week since the rains stopped. All told, more than 50 inches of rain fell in Houston … Read more
Need to lose 10-34 lbs?
Nitrogen is a critical input for agricultural productivity and a potent pollutant in the water environment. Significant private investment is made in the former, but significant state investment is required … Read more
Making the right connections
This week Freshwater Society convened a dozen people for a day-long meeting and field tour addressing the seemingly unlikely intersection of muddy rivers, landslide hazards, and NASA satellites. In Minnesota, … Read more
A question of epidemics
What’s the solution to the opioid epidemic? Can we really just rely on treatment for the addicted or do we have to address the over-prescription of painkillers, and target the … Read more
This spring really sprung ahead
Phenology is the observance of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena, especially in relation to climate (ice out!), plants, and animals. We include a ton of such information in each year’s … Read more
Future of Midwest Agriculture Think Tank and Scenario-Planning Workshop
I recently participated in a two-day workshop, led by future iQ and funded by the University of Minnesota, to explore a 20-year hypothetical future for agriculture. Participants from Minnesota, Iowa, … Read more