TThhee SSttaattee ooff WWaatteerr CCoonnffeerreennccee –– DDeessiiggnneedd ttoo FFiitt YYoouurr NNeeeeddss

When it comes to protecting and improving our lakes, rivers and

wetlands, citizens play a big role. Hundreds of volunteers make a difference for Minnesota’snatural resources. They are the citizen scientists surveying the state’s loon popula-tion; they are water monitors; they are activein lake associations and serve on citizen advisory committees. They could be you. Anupcoming conference – The State of Water:Minnesotans Protecting our Lakes and Rivers– will provide opportunities for citizens to sharpen their skills, learn about work beingdone around the state, and network with others.

The conference, which will be held May 1-2 at Cragun’s Resort near Brainerd, will offerfour workshops and at least three plenaryspeakers: Darby Nelson (aquatic ecologist andauthor of For Love of Lakes), John Linc Stine(Commissioner of the MN Pollution ControlAgency), and John Jaschke (ExecutiveDirector of the MN Board of Water and SoilResources). Attendees will also be able tochoose from over 30 presentations in fiveconcurrent tracks, covering topics aboutaquatic invasive species, aquatic habitatrestoration, watersheds, capacity building forcitizen groups, and runoff and groundwater.There will also be exhibits and vendors tovisit to learn about water-related products andservices, and an exhibitor reception will beheld Thursday night complete with heavyhors d’oeuvres.

Conference registration is $130/person forearly registration (until March 21) and$155/person after that. This includes meals,breaks, and all conference events. For moreinformation about the conference program

and registration, visit The State of Water website at www.conservationminnesota.org/state-of-water-conference/ or call Alex Gehrigat 651-357-7486. Cragun’s Resort is offeringa special rate of $79/night for conference participants; more information and lodgingregistration are also on the conference website. To keep up-to-date regarding theconference, “like” the conference onFacebook: www.conservationminnesota.org/state-of-water-conference/.

The State of Water conference is being organized collaboratively by the University of Minnesota Extension, The FreshwaterSociety, Conservation Minnesota, TheMidwest Glacial Lakes Partnership,Minnesota Department of Natural Resourcesand Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

www.shorelandmanagement.orgIssue # 115

A publication of the University of Minnesota ExtensionWater Resources Team

Winter 2014

IInnssiiddee......SScchheellll’’ss SSttaarrttss ww// tthhee WWaatteerr

MMiinnnneessoottaa’’ss MMaasstteerr WWaatteerrSStteewwaarrddss PPrrooggrraamm

2

UUppppeerr MMiiddwweesstt SSttrreeaamm RReessttoorraattiioonnSSyymmppoossiiuummDDaattee:: February 23-26LLooccaattiioonn:: La Crosse, WIWWeebbssiittee:: www.prrsum.org/content/home

TThhee SSttaattee ooff WWaatteerr CCoonnffeerreennccee::MMiinnnneessoottaannss PPrrootteeccttiinngg OOuurr LLaakkeess aanndd RRiivveerrssDDaattee:: May 1-2LLooccaattiioonn:: Cragun's Resort, Brainerd, MNWWeebbssiittee:: www.conservationminnesota.org/state-of-water-conference/

KKeeeeppiinngg oouurr LLaakkeess aanndd RRiivveerrss CClleeaannSpecifically for realtorsDDaattee:: May 15; 9am - noonLLooccaattiioonn:: St. Cloud, MNCCoonnttaacctt:: Kelly Travis, St. Cloud AreaAssociation of Realtors, email: kelly@stcloudrealtors.comphone: 320-253-7149

SShhoorreellaanndd BBuuffffeerrss aanndd RRaaiinn GGaarrddeennssSpecifically for realtorsDDaattee:: St. Cloud, MN; 1pm-4pmLLooccaattiioonn:: St. Paul, MNCCoonnttaacctt:: Kelly Travis, St. Cloud AreaAssociation of Realtors, email: kelly@stcloudrealtors.comphone: 320-253-7149

3

CCaalleennddaarr ooff EEvveennttssFor the most current calendar items andmore details, visit ww.extension.umn.edu/environment/water/calendar/.

WWaatteerr RReessoouurrcceess TTeeaammPPrrooggrraammmmiinngg aanndd RReesseeaarrcchh–– RReecceenntt PPaasstt && UUppccoommiinnggOOppppoorrttuunniittiieess

4

"The first thing you start out talkingabout is water quality,” says Jace Marti.“It’s the main ingredient in beer.”

Marti is a brewmaster at Schell’s Breweryin New Ulm, Minnesota, and a sixth-gen-eration descendent of August Schell, whoco-founded the brewery in 1860. A nativeof Durbach, Germany, Schell came to theUnited States in 1848 and found his wayto New Ulm. Not finding any of theGerman beer he was fond of in the area,Schell started a brewery, using an artesianspring as a water source and the nearbyCottonwood River for transportation ofthe finished product.

At the time, most of the brewing wasdone in the winter, and the beer was keptin caves — staying cool with blocks of icefrom the river — for aging and fermenta-tion and to store the product for the peaksummer months.

Schell’s survived the Dakota War insouthern and western Minnesota in 1862and expanded. The brewery and groundsnow cover 40 acres with scenic gardens, a deer park (in addition to a year-roundresidency of peacocks) and a mansion,making it a popular tourist destination inthe summer as well as the site of theannual Bockfest event in the winter.

Eventually the springs were replaced bywells. In 1995 Schell’s switched to waterprovided by the city, which opened itswater treatment plant. City water comes

from the quaternary buried artesian andundifferentiated cretaceous aquifers,tapped by 13 wells, ranging in depth from62 to 247 feet.

Joel Johnson, the chief operator for theNew Ulm utility, said they feed potassiumpermanganate and chlorine for man-ganese and iron removal and have fivesand filters at the city's water treatmentplant. New Ulm averages 2.5 million gallons per day (MGD) throughout theyear with the production reaching about3.5 MGD during the summer. Of thatamount, Schell’s uses approximately 1.2million gallons per month in brewing130,000 barrels of beer a year.

Marti says the brewery is still gettingwater from the same aquifers as it hadduring the time it had its own wells. Thegroundwater, with its iron and hardness, ismore suited to brewing English-style ales,Marti explained, adding that the NewUlm water profile is similar to England’sBurton upon Trent, a major brewing city.

The German lagers and Pilsners requiresofter water, and the brewery performs itsown water treatment, which includesreverse-osmosis and an iron filter at thehead of the brewing. The water treated atthe municipal plant is then blended withmore city water with the goal of reducingthe hardness to 50 parts per million.

“There are certain elements [of the water]good for brewing and some that aren’t,”said Ted Marti, Jace’s dad and the compa-ny president. Ted attended Siebel’sInstitute of Brewing in Chicago and hasbeen a brewmaster since 1975. Jace wentto school in Berlin and became a brewmaster in 2011. Besides Ted and JaceMarti, Schell’s has two other brewmas-ters, Jeremy Kral and Dave Berg, amongits 57 full-time employees.

In addition to eight year-round specialtybrands and eight seasonal brands, Schell’snow brews Grain Belt Beer with three different labels. Grain Belt used to have alarge brewery in northeast Minneapolis,but the facilities have been converted to alibrary and space for other uses. The TwinCities also had Hamm’s and Schmidtbreweries, but Jace Marti notes that consumer preferences have been chang-ing with the craft-beer revolution.

Schell’s remains one of the few largebreweries in the state, along with ColdSpring in central Minnesota. SummitBrewing in St. Paul has also risen inprominence.

From the micro-breweries to full-scalefacilities for beer production, it all startswith the water.

SScchheellll’’ss SSttaarrttss wwiitthh tthhee WWaatteerr

2 From Shore to Shore, Issue 115Winter 2014

The following article is reprinted with generous permission from the Minnesota Department of Health's Waterline, a quarterly newsletterfor water operators, city officials, and others interested in news related to public water systems in Minnesota (www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/water/com/waterline/). Author: Stew Thornley, Health Educator with the Minnesota Department of Health.

Jace and Ted Marti in the old brewhouse, built in the 1880s.

Stew Thornley

Vats in the brewing room are used toseparate the grain from the liquid.

Stew Thornley

Clean water starts here. That’s themessage from the new Master

Water Stewards program, a partnershipbetween the Freshwater Society and theMinnehaha Creek Watershed District.Funded by a Clean Water AssistanceGrant from the Minnesota Board ofWater and Soil Resources, the MasterWater Stewards program recruits and trains volunteers to work withneighbors to protect and clean up locallakes, streams and wetlands.

Polluted urban runoff is one of thegreatest threats to the health of our surface waters. Because urban runoffcomes from everywhere, reducingurban runoff will require a whole-community effort. Master WaterStewards work with neighbors to installrunoff prevention projects such as rain gardens and water-permeabledriveways, educate neighbors about thechallenges of keeping water clean, andcoordinate community activities such asleaf and grass clean-ups to reducerunoff.

The Master Water Stewards program ismodeled after the successful MasterGardener and Master Naturalist programs, which are resources of

knowledge and expertise for local communities. Stewards participate in 50 hours of classes, learning abouthydrology, water policy, rainscapingtechniques and other related topics.Stewards also complete a capstone project as part of their certification. A capstone project involves designingand installing a stormwater project, anddesigning and implementing an educa-tion and outreach effort with neighbors.The goal is to give Stewards the knowl-edge, experience and confidence theyneed to be active, engaged participantsin protecting their favorite lake or river.

“This innovative program is based on a model of community support andengagement that has been very success-ful in Minnesota,” said Peggy Knapp,Director of Programs at the FreshwaterSociety. “Not only will communitiesbenefit from the Master WaterStewards’ expertise, the program creates a pool of volunteers that communities can use to meet waterquality, education and outreach goals.”

In all, projects installed by the firstgroup of certified Master WaterStewards will divert 4,761 gallons ofstormwater per one-inch rainfall. With

an average annual rainfall of 30 inches,projects installed by Stewards inMinneapolis could capture over 142,000gallons of water per year. And this isonly the beginning.

In the second year, the program isexpanding to additional neighborhoodsin Minneapolis and first-ring suburbs,including Edina, St. Louis Park,Hopkins and Richfield. In the thirdyear, the program will expand to therest of the Minnehaha Creek WatershedDistrict. Following the three-year pilotin the MCWD, the Master WaterStewards program will expand metro-wide, eventually growing into astatewide citizen-led effort to improveand protect Minnesota’s lakes andrivers.

For more information about the MasterWater Stewards program, includinghow to apply, visit the Master WaterStewards website at http://masterwaterstewards.org/ or contact Peggy Knappat 763-219-1252 or email atpknapp@freshwater.org.

MMiinnnneessoottaa’’ss MMaasstteerr WWaatteerr SStteewwaarrddss PPrrooggrraamm

3Winter 2014 From Shore to Shore, Issue 115

Stewards Sue Roedl and Bruce Jones.

Stewards Mike McCabe, Sue Roedl, Bruce Jones and neighbors install a raingarden.

By Peggy Knapp, Freshwater Society

Freshwater Society

Freshwater Society

TThhee UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff MMiinnnneessoottaa iiss aann eeqquuaall

ooppppoorrttuunniittyy eemmppllooyyeerr aanndd eedduuccaattoorr..

CCoonnttaaccttKKaarreenn TTeerrrryyUUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff MMiinnnneessoottaa EExxtteennssiioonn

FFrroomm SShhoorree ttoo SShhoorree EEddiittoorr332200--558899--11771111

kktteerrrryy@@uummnn..eedduu

PPaasstt EEvveennttss

The 31st annual RReedd RRiivveerr BBaassiinn LLaanndd aannddWWaatteerr IInntteerrnnaattiioonnaall SSuummmmiitt CCoonnffeerreennccee,sponsored by the Red River BasinCommission, was held January 14-16 inKaren Terry attended on behalf of the WaterResources Team and was excited about therange of topic being discussed. Red RiverBasin Commission Chair Joe Belford says ofthis conference, “Our goal is to foster abasin-wide educational perspective that tran-scends political boundaries and aims to facil-itate improved management for our naturalresources for current and future genera-tions.” More information is available here:www.redriverbasincommission.org/Conference/conference.html.

The BBWWSSRR ((BBooaarrdd ooff WWaatteerr aanndd SSooiillRReessoouurrcceess)) AAccaaddeemmyy was held October 28-30 in Brainerd. More than 350 naturalresources professionals attended, includingDoug Malchow and Karen Terry fromExtension’s Water Resources Team. The offi-cial purpose of the Academy is: To providehigh quality training for local governmentstaff that maintains and improves the deliv-ery of conservation work and meets theshared expectations of BWSR and localresource management boards.

UUppccoommiinngg EEvveennttss

The 5th Annnnuuaall UUppppeerr MMiiddwweesstt SSttrreeaammRReessttoorraattiioonn SSyymmppoossiiuumm will be held in LaCrosse, WI February 23-26, 2014. This tech-nical conference looks to provide a collabora-tive environment that allows an interdiscipli-nary approach to stream restoration andother related watershed sciences. More infor-mation is available here: www.prrsum.org/content/2014-umsrs.

The NNEEMMOO PPrrooggrraamm wwiillll hhoosstt ttwwoo wwoorrkksshhooppss in May for local elected andappointed leaders in communities in thewestern watersheds of the Twin Citiesincluding Minnehaha Creek, Nine MileCreek, Riley-Purgatory-Bluff Creeks, andstreams and lakes in Carver County. Theseworkshops will provide basic foundationknowledge to local leaders about stormwaterplans, practices, policies and their roles asdecision makers. Details will be posted underWhat's Happening on the NEMO website atwww.northlandnemo.org.

TThhee SSttaattee ooff WWaatteerr CCoonnffeerreennccee::MMiinnnneessoottaannss PPrrootteeccttiinngg OOuurr LLaakkeess aannddRRiivveerrss will be held May 1-2, 2014 in

Brainerd. This citizen-centered conferenceserves to educate and facilitate networkingopportunities related to water resourceissues. See Page 1 story for more informa-tion.

PPaarrttnneerrsshhiippss

The Spring 2014 WWaatteerrsshheedd SSppeecciiaalliissttTTrraaiinniinngg (see article in Fall 2013 issue;http://shorelandmanagement.org/downloads/2013_fall.pdf) session is well underway.With about 20 participants, this online, interactive training provides naturalresources professionals and local leaders withdeeper understanding about working withinwatersheds.

AAllssoo ooff IInntteerreesstt ......

Extension and Sea Grant Water Educatorshave embarked on a revision of the ever pop-ular and effective WWaatteerrsshheedd GGaammee to createa K12 version and incorporate technologyenhancements that can be used to deliver andteach the curriculum. The project is fundedby a NOAA DNR Coastal Grant and will becompleted in December 2014.

Trees of the Midwest – There’s an App forThat. “Fifty Trees of the Midwest” is a handytool for students, science teachers and MasterGardeners. This mobile-device is backed bythe expertise of Purdue Extension forestryspecialists. More than 400 high-quality colorphotos show the leaf, bud, twig, flower, fruit,bark and form of more than 50 trees andinclude pop-up definitions. Users can enlargethe photos for a closer look. Among the app’sfeatures is the ability for users to identify atree by taking their own photos of it and thencomparing them side-by-side to photos inthe app. They then can answer a series ofquestions to narrow the possibilities of thetype of tree until they identify it. The app, foriPhone and iPad, costs $3.99 and is availableat the App Store.

Eagerly awaiting ice out? See From Shore to Shore article ““IIccee OOuutt DDaatteess”” from theMarch/April 2010 issue here:http://shorelandmanagement.org/downloads/mar_apr_2010.pdf.

Curious about the process of ice melting offthe lakes? See From Shore to Shore article““IIccee MMeelltt!!”” from the March/April 2009 issuehere: http://shorelandmanagement.org/downloads/mar_apr_2009.pdf.

SSNNAAPPSSHHOOTTSS:: WWaatteerr RReessoouurrcceess TTeeaamm PPrrooggrraammmmiinngg aanndd RReesseeaarrcchh –– RReecceenntt PPaasstt aanndd UUppccoommiinngg OOppppoorrttuunniittiieess

AA ppuubblliiccaattiioonn ooff tthhee WWaatteerr

RReessoouurrcceess TTeeaamm,, ddeeddiiccaatteedd ttoo

eedduuccaattiinngg MMiinnnneessoottaa cciittiizzeennss aabboouutt

wwaatteerr rreessoouurrcceess iissssuueess ttoo iimmpprroovvee

wwaatteerr qquuaalliittyy,, hhaabbiittaatt,, aanndd

aaeesstthheettiiccss ooff oouurr llaakkeess aanndd rriivveerrss..

FFrroomm SShhoorree ttoo SShhoorree iiss aa ffrreeee

qquuaarrtteerrllyy eelleeccttrroonniicc nneewwsslleetttteerr..

AArrcchhiivveedd iissssuueess aarree aavvaaiillaabbllee oonnlliinnee

aatt wwwwww..sshhoorreellaannddmmaannaaggeemmeenntt..oorrgg

TToo ssuubbssccrriibbee oorr uunnssuubbssccrriibbee,, pplleeaassee

ccoonnttaacctt HHeeiiddii OOllssoonn--MMaannsskkaa aatt

oollssoonnhh@@uummnn..eedduu oorr 332200--558899--11771111..

From Shore to Shore, Issue 115

www.shorelandmanagement.org

Winter 2014 4