Freshwater Society

Do you want to reduce urban runoff and pollution that flow into lakes and rivers? Do you have a good idea for how you and your friends and neighbors could work together to clean up soil, grass clippings and leaves from streets and storm drains? And could you use $500?

Then we have a contest for you.

The Freshwater Society and InCommons are sponsoring a Work For Water “micro challenge” that will award two $500 prizes for the best short-term community projects to protect our waters from the pollution found in the leaves, grass and soil that wash into streets. Enter here.

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Fred Kirschenmann

If you missed the Nov. 10 lecture by organic agriculture leader Fred Kirschenmann, it is available on video. If your internet connection can not support the video, listen to an audio-only or downloadable mp3 version. Or read a short account of Kirschenmann’s talk published in edible Twin Cities.

An active, engaged audience of about 200 people heard Kirschenmann speak on “Water and the Challenges Facing U.S. and World Agriculture in the 21^st Century.” The lecture at the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul Student Center was sponsored by the Freshwater Society and the university’s College of Biological Sciences.

Kirschenmann, who owns a 2,400-acre certified organic farm in North Dakota, is a distinguished fellow at Iowa State University’s Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture.

As he spoke, Kirschenmann peppered his talk with references to books and journal articles on environmental sustainability. Check out his recommended reading list.

Three Minnesota experts in sustainable agriculture appeared with him. They were:

• George Boody, executive director of the Land Stewardship Project.
• Mary Jo Forbord, who operates an organic beef farm in Starbuck.
• Dr. David Mulla, a professor in the university’s Department of Soil, Water, and Climate who has worked extensively in the fields of precision agriculture and precision conservation.

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Minnesota FarmWise, an innovative program to encourage conservation and protect clean water in the Minnesota River Valley, has won a $15,000 challenge grant in the Minnesota Idea Open.

The Freshwater Society and the National Park Service will use the grant to form a farmer-to-farmer mentoring program to encourage practices aimed at reducing soil erosion and the runoff of fertilizers and pesticides into the streams and rivers that lead to the Mississippi River.

View a video about the mentoring program. Read the Minnesota Idea Open announcement of the grant.

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