News & Events

Upcoming Events

Minnesota Association of Conservation Professionals Annual Conference
Camp Ripley, Training and Community Center
March 2, 2012

Listen to leading voices, network with conservation leaders. Come and participate in the MNACP Annual Conference

For complete agenda and to pre-register, visit: http://mnacp.org/annual-meeting/

Upper Midwest Stream Restoration Symposium
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Holiday Inn Metrodome
March 4-7th, 2012

The Upper Midwest Stream Restoration Symposium (UMSRS) presents a unique opportunity to bring together regional stream restoration practitioners so they may share experiences and expertise with colleagues working within similar environmental and land-use conditions. Attendees from multi-disciplinary backgrounds will hear about innovative restoration designs and approaches as well as have the opportunity to network with the region’s leading stream restoration practitioners.

To see registration options and costs, please visit the website at: http://www.prrsum.org/content/registration

Recent News

(1/17/12) Minnesota will be the nation's first test site for a novel federal program designed to stem the flow of agricultural pollution that is strangling some of the country's great waterways, including the Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River. WRC co-director Deb Swackhamer is featured in this Sacramento Bee article.

(1/17/12) Lisa P. Jackson, administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) visited the University of Minnesota at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, January 17, at Coffman Memorial Union. Administrator Jackson addressed the role of science in decision making protecting our health, and promoting a healthy economy, as well as recent challenges to national environmental laws.
Watch the event video.

(9/13/11) The article "Water study landed quietly, but helps shape debate," from MPR, featured the Minnesota Water Framework and WRC co-director Deb Swackhamer, and was also in the Winona Daily News.

(8/11/11) WRC co-director Deb Swackhamer is quoted in the Minneapolis Star Tribune Minnesota, Wisconsin adding to kill zone in Gulf of Mexico

(7/27/11) WRS researcher Shane Missaghi and his Lake Minnetonka water quality monitoring study is featured in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "One complicated lake, one giant app."

(7/11/11) The Minnesota Water Sustainability Framework was featured in two articles in the July 7 edition of Agri News, "New regulations recommended for agriculture in Water Sustainability Framework," and "Framework offers water sustainability plan."

(6/27/11) A commentary about the balance of scholarship and advocacy by WRC co-director Deb Swackhamer appeared on the Minnesota Public Radio news site, Standing up for water in the state's budget debate

(6/21/11) The Minnesota Water Sustainability Framework was highlighted during "Harmonizing People and Nature: A New Business Model," featuring Gretchen Daily, an ecologist at Stanford, who presented case studies in which organizations successfully employed principles advocated by the collaboration of experts at the University of Minnesota, Stanford University, the Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund. The group argues that preserving nature is good business in Finance and Commerce.

(5/13/11) Jean Coleman, project coordinator for the Minnesota Water Sustainability Framework, is featured in the May issue of Metro magazine.

(4/14/11) An editorial in the Rochester Post-Bulletin says "one of the promising developments in public decision making in the recent past is the use of evidence-based information as the basis for state and local actions... That is why the determination by the legislature, as part of the Clean Water Legacy Act, to request that the University of Minnesota Water Resources Center construct a water framework describing what needs to be accomplished and how to get it done was a positive step." Rochester Post-Bulletin

(2/8/11) Water Resources Center Co-Director Deborah Swackhamer presented the Minnesota Water Sustainability Framework report to a joint hearing of the Minnesota Senate's Committee on Environment and Natural Resource and Committee on Agriculture and Rural Economies on February 8.

(2/2/11) Here in the heart of southeast Minnesota farm country, everyone knows you don't drink the water… Earlier this month Deborah Swackhamer, a University of Minnesota water quality expert, presented the Legislature with a 150-page, 25-year plan to clean up the state's waters. Star Tribune

(1/26/11) WRC co-director Deb Swackhamer presented the Minnesota Water Sustainability Framework report on Wednesday, Jan. 26, at the Rochester Art Center - Rochester Post-Bulletin

(1/19/11) Nick Haig, program coordinator for the Onsite Sewage Treatment Program, gives advice on how to keep your septic system from freezing this winter - UMN News

(1/19/11) Experts urge Legislature to clean up MN waters - MN Daily

(1/9/11) WRC senior fellow Larry Baker was featured in a story about the Twin Cities Household Ecosystem Project in the Star Tribune.

(1/6/11) Clean water study presented to legislators - Twin Cities Daily Planet

(1/5/11) Framing a discussion about water - An editorial by the St. Paul Pioneer Press about the Minnesota Water Sustainability Framework report

(1/5/11) University of Minnesota Water Resources Center releases country's first long-term framework for statewide water sustainability — UMN News

(12/26/10) The Star Tribune's editorial board urges Minnesotans to seize momentum on water issues citing the Minnesota Water Sustainability Framework presentation to legislature — Star Tribune

(12/16/10) The Freshwater Society interviewed WRC co-director Deb Swackhamer about the Minnesota Water Sustainability Framework project.

(12/16/10) WRC co-director Deborah Swackhamer participated in Harvard University's conference honoring the Environmental Protection Agency's 40th anniversary on December 3, 2010. Speakers at the event included Lisa P. Jackson, EPA administrator, and former Vice President Al Gore. To view videos of the event click here.

(12/15/10) To hear an overview of the Framework's draft recommendations by project leader Deborah Swackhamer, visit the University's Water Resources Science Graduate Program seminar series page, and click on the Nov. 19 "A Sustainable Water Future for Minnesota: How to Get There" link.

(11/29/10) The Minnesota Daily Editorial Board endorsed the Minnesota Water Sustainability Framework project. MN Daily.

(11/18/10) WRC co-director Deb Swackhamer presented on the progress of the Minnesota Water Sustainability Framework project Nov. 17th at the Minnesota Environmental Initiative's "Water Policy in Minnesota: Planning the Next Chapter" meeting. Minnesota Public Radio and St. Paul Pioneer Press (.pdf)

(9/23/10) WRC senior fellow Larry Baker was featured in a story about the Twin Cities Household Ecosystem Project in US News & World Report.

(9/14/10) Deborah Swackhamer, co-director of the Water Resources Center, was a guest on Minnesota Public Radio's "Midmorning" along with Louis Guilette, whose research on endocrine disruptors and their impact on alligators has raised new awareness of environmental pollutants in our water. Minnesota Public Radio

(8/27/10) WRC co-director Deborah Swackhamer's editorial, "Minnesota's best idea -- a new roadmap for managing our water supply", was published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.