Water resource management happens at many scales - 

from farm or lawn to global. Land-grant universities have traditionally provided services predominantly at a local (county) and state scale, as well as contributed to regional, national and global problem-solving.  As human land and water management activities become more intensive and pervasive, cross-scale impacts emerge. Research and outreach activities that intentionally consider scale are necessary to promote positive impacts and mitigate negative ones.

As I wrote in my January 2015 Director's column, the Mississippi River Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force (Hypoxia Task Force) has been working together since 1997 to address both state nutrient management and the interstate challenge of reducing the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. While land-grant universities have been informing nutrient management decisions for decades and have been instrumental in the development of several state nutrient strategies, we recently formed a new team of researchers and extension educators from the 12 states along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to work in partnership with the Hypoxia Task Force and its members. The goal of the team (SERA-46), which includes several North Central Region states, is to "promote effective implementation of science-based approaches to nutrient management/ conservation that reduces nutrient losses to the environment." SERA-46 effectively "scales up" land-grant efforts to match the scale of a complex natural resource management problem.  

The team met for the second time on May 18-19 to finalize a list of shared land-grant and Hypoxia Task Force priorities. Priorities cover research and outreach needs that take into account environmental, social, and economic factors that contribute to nutrient loss from agricultural lands, state-level nutrient impairments, and hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Example priorities include sharing the latest research on nutrient management and adoption of best practices; identifying common attributes and gaps across state nutrient strategies, highlighting opportunities for cross state information sharing and learning; developing social measures of impact for use in priority watersheds; and strengthening a network of watershed leaders (including those that are farmers) to increase the effectiveness of strategies for reducing nutrient losses from agricultural lands.

For updates you can visit the SERA-46 web page or contact Jason Hubbart or Rebecca Power.

Web-Based Environmental Assessment Tool Expansion

Project Contacts:

Andrew Yencha
Extension Natural Resources Educator

University of Wisconsin-Extension 

(414) 256-4631

Jeremiah Asher
Director of Information Technology
Institute of Water Research, Michigan State University 

(517) 432-5586

Faye Sleeper is Interim Director of the University's Water Resources Center. Faye has been at the University of Minnesota since 2007. She partners with University and extension faculty to bring the latest University research in water resources to state and local water resource professionals. Recently she co-led the development and implementation of the Watershed Specialist Training Program, oversaw the Conservation Reserve Program Readiness Midwestern region project, and managed the Agricultural Impacts on Water Quality project.

She serves as co-chair of the University's Stormwater Linkage Committee and coordinates the Climate Adaptation Partnership and associated conference planning committee. Ms. Sleeper represents University of Minnesota Extension on the Board of Water and Soil Resources and on the North Central Region Water Network. She collaborates with water specialists in other land grant universities to work on issues that are regional and national in nature.

Ms. Sleeper received her M.A. in geography from the University of Minnesota and her B.A. in Sociology and History from Grinnell College. Prior to her current position, she worked at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in several positions, leading the development of the early Total Maximum Daily Load program, managing the nonpoint source programs and wastewater treatment grants and compliance for municipalities. She led the MPCAs Russian Wastewater Treatment Project in cooperation with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Agency for International Development.