Month: February 2024

Each spring, the Mississippi River’s backwater streams gradually return to life across the Reno Bottoms south of Brownsville. (Photo by Ken Lubinski)

Essay | Spring Rising

The author fly fishing on the Root River. (Submitted photo)

Poetry | An Ode…A Shiver…A Loon

Musician Will Bjorndal offers a program of fun music and dancing for kids at Spring Grove Public Library, an example of SELCO and Legacy Funds at work. (Photo by Jana Halverson)

Libraries United: The Purpose and Power of SELCO

Pool 8, situated between locks and dams on either side of the Root River’s confluence with the Mississippi River, is a sprawling body of water providing wildlife habitat, boating, fishing and other recreational activities, as well as breathtaking blue and green hues as captured in this aerial photo by Houston County photographer Robert Hurt.

The Mighty Mississippi’s Locks and Dams — What and Why?

Prairie strip vegetation in the middle of corn fields operated by Mower County farmer Wayne DeWall south of Grand Meadow, Minnesota. (Photo by Mower County SWCD)

Prairie Strips: Small Investment, Big Benefits

Tom Scarponcini, left, and Dean Thomas look over Scarponcini’s flock of Île-de-France sheep in September 2023. With technical advice from Thomas, a regional grazing specialist, and with assistance from NRCS, Scarponcini established a strip-grazing setup within 20 acres of a blufftop pasture: “We’re really here borrowing land from future generations.” (Photos by Ann Wessel, BWSR)

Area Sheep Producer Boosts Productivity with Rotational Grazing

Sandhill Cranes along the Root River near Whalan. (Photo by Renee Bergstrom)

Winter Thaw

Natalie Vogel-Gabor, 5, of Winona, gets help from Dave Potts of Chaska, who volunteered to help teach youths to ice fish; this gathering in January was in recognition of the 100-year anniversary of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. (Photos by John Weiss unless otherwise stated)

Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge Turns 100

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