VLAWMO Annual Financial Report 2018 (2)

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2018 ANNUAL REPORT WHAT IS VLAWMO? Introduction and background » IN THIS SECTION Letter from the Administrator Background Mission Statement » Map Vadnais Lake Area Water Management Organization Letter from the Administrator Greetings! VLAWMO turns 36 years old this year and we are busier than ever. In 2018 we have gained new understanding of our watershed with the completion of several large studies. We've had to say goodbye to members of our team who we will miss. Mark Graham, long time member and Chair of the Technical Commission retired as Vadnais Heights city engineer. Kris Jensen, Program manager with VLAWMO for 11 years, moved on to new and different career direction. Kris helped VLAWMO grow, spearheaded projects and touched many here in the watershed. We said goodbye to Terry Nyblom of the VLAWMO Board. We miss those no longer here but wish them well in their new endeavors. Among many highlights this year was welcoming Dawn Tanner to our staff as Program Development Coordinator. She brings a wealth of experience and continues her connection to the University of Minnesota which is already proving valuable. Watch for our series of trail camera photos of wildlife who share our habitat. The Whitaker Treatment Wetlands were installed in the spring and the first sampling results are in. Preliminary results are promising! The treatment cells are working. A full season of monitoring with the addition of the pathogen study with the U of M will be on tap this year. More to come. VLAWMO worked with Houston Eng. as they completed the survey and modeling of Lambert Creek. Maintenance activities were evaluated as part of that study. our understanding of the watershed job as ditch authority and the work needed increased. The 4-year bacteria source monitoring study was completed with the final report coming out shortly. Preliminary results point to a mostly avian source of the bacteria in Lambert creek which suffers its highest counts during wet weather. An Institutional Community Work Crew cleaned out several stretches of Lambert Creek, making a big difference. The Birch Lake hot - spot stormwater filter project kicked off in 2018 with partnership development and survey work needed to design the filter. Our goal is to be able to go out for bid this spring to hire a contractor to install the filter.The Sucker channel restoration was installed in the Vadnais/ Sucker park. Native plantings and multilingual signs are on display and worth checking out. "The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new." -Socrates The monitoring report and audit are part of this report. Data geeks — enjoy. Thanks to tremendous partnerships and grants we've been able to get a great deal done this last year. Two new grants for 2019 will let us work on the Goose Lake drainage area and partner on a research project using spent lime for in -lake treatment. The groundwork for those grants was laid in 2018. This next year, we will continue to focus on our priorities. We welcome your feedback to this report and hope to see you out and about in the watershed in 2019. Nick Voss continues to expand and tune the education and outreach program. VLAWMO is sponsoring two new Master Water Stewards who started their training this fall. We look forward to working with them! Water stewardship was also fostered through the Growing Green Hearts Connect the Drops program through several of our area churches. Thank you Heidi for your vision and energy! Workshops, community events, social media and the work of the Watershed Action Volunteers (WAV) expand our watershed community. Watch for VLAWMO again this year. Better yet, join us! - Stephanie McNamara, VLAWMO Administrator Brian Corcoran,VLAWMO (Left) Stephane McNamara, VLAWMO (Center) Kari Andrist, EIT, Burns & McDonnet (Right) 4