By Anya Normandeau, Water Resources Center
On October 15-16th, 2024 a record breaking 902 people attended the Minnesota Water Resources Conference at the St. Paul RiverCentre. Participants from across the country traveled to St. Paul, Minnesota to learn about different water topics, meet exhibitors, and network with others in their related fields. With two plenary sessions, one luncheon session, 126 concurrent talks, 35 exhibitors and many research posters, there was much to learn.
Tuesday
This annual conference started Tuesday October 15th with opening remarks from the University of Minnesota’s Water Resources Center associate director, Joel Larson. He introduced the first keynote speaker, Ceil Strauss and her talk Too Much Water—Understanding Minnesota's Flood Risk and Management Strategies for Today and Tomorrow.
Strauss is the state floodplain manager for Minnesota and has been in that role since 2002. Prior to that, she worked with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), as an area hydrologist in the western Twin Cities. She is past chair of the National Association of State floodplain managers.
Strauss began her talk by speaking about past floods, lessons learned from those rain events and some successes in reducing the risk for later floods. She talked through graphics about how houses and buildings are built in such a way that they are not hurt by any flooding in the area, but rather built to withstand and anticipate potential flooding.
Strauss also spoke about how the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) develops floodplain maps to work with the community on determining each part of the flood plain, the area affected by potential floods. The first part of the map is the floodway. The floodway is the river or stream and the land that is required to be free from obstruction. The second part of the map is the flood fringe. This is the part of land that can be developed, if all standards are met such as elevation and floodproofing structures. This would include making sure buildings are built high enough from the anticipated flood height and/or having levees and floodwalls built in place.
After the morning plenary, there were breakout sessions that anyone at the conference could attend. Following the two hour breakout session and refreshment breaks, everyone convened in the ballroom for lunch and the awards presentation. There were posters created by students, faculty, and attending researchers for everyone to view at their leisure while casting votes on those participating in the conference’s second annual poster competition.
The afternoon consisted of more breakout sessions followed by a reception in the evening.
Wednesday
Wednesday morning opened with a presentation from Amy Schrank and Don Schreiner.
Schreiner works as a part time fisheries outreach specialist and educator with the Minnesota Sea Grant Program. In his work, he focuses on issues related to statewide recreational fisheries, as well as the recreation, commercial and charter fisheries on Lake Superior. Amy Schrank is the Extension program leader for fisheries and aquaculture and has 20 years experience teaching and researching in the Great Lakes aquatic ecosystems. Her current research includes understanding the impacts of dam removal on stream fish communities. She is also developing strategies to manage invasive hybrid cattail and restore near shore lake ecosystems in Minnesota, which she focused on in her presentation. Along with Schreiner, Schrank also works to understand how sustainable aquaculture practices can support communities and economies in the Great Lakes region.
Schreiner spoke about how the presence of certain fish species can be used as a tool to determine the health of the lakes here in Minnesota. He then spoke more about the local programs in place that rely on that information, including the Sentinel Lakes program, Large Lakes Program, Lake superior program, and many more.
Schrank spoke about her research on invasive hybrid cattails. This project works to examine if the removal of the hybrid/narrowleaf cattail would increase plant diversity and be beneficial to fish communities in lake ecosystems. Researchers removed sections of cattail in approximately 24 lakes across Minnesota. After removal, the native aquatic vegetation grew back due to having more oxygen.
Like Tuesday, breakout sessions followed the morning plenary with time to view posters. During the lunch hour, the poster winner was announced as Dillon Huss and a post lunch presentation was given by Matthew Rae, director of strategic partnerships for Brightstorm with The Nature Conservancy.
Rae spoke about the impact of urban development on water resources and discussed the Brightstorm programs which focuses on public policy and corporate sustainability.
“We can’t tear cities down, but we can reprogram them to act more like nature,” Rae said. Stormwater is a major cause of water pollution and adopting new technology in this field could improve the outcomes of current stormwater infrastructure.
He has spent the last decade helping to design, test, educate, permit, and install continuous monitoring and adaptive control (CMAC) systems to get them to a safe, reliable performance. CMAC systems use water level sensors, actuated valves, and an internet connection to gather information. This information is then utilized to divert a portion of the flood storage volume within a pond when the conditions allow to enhance detention time and minimize outflow rates. When it comes to floods, CMAC software can also be used to monitor rainfall and expected runoff.
The conference dispersed after more optional breakout sessions in the afternoon, following the luncheon session.