AIPG Invited Speaker November 6, 2007 - Eric Mohring, Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources

Abstract

Tracking Conservation And Natural Resource Management Accomplishments Achieved Through State-Local Partnerships

The Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) works cooperatively with local units of government, such as counties, soil and water conservation districts (SWCDs), and watershed districts, on natural resource management. BWSR directs funding and technical assistance to these organizations to accomplish a variety of management and planning functions.

During the last two decades, there has been a steadily increasing expectation that the resulting accomplishments and benefits be measurable and measured. This was especially true for projects in place on the ground, such as erosion control or water quality improvement practices. In order to justify funding requests, BWSR needed to quantify the benefits of water quality and soil conservation spending.

By the mid-1990s it was clear that the annual reams of paper reports received did not provide an efficient way to determine measurable benefits. In cooperation with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and others, BWSR began work on an automated reporting system. The system became known as the Local Government Annual Reporting System (LARS).

The late 1990s saw large-scale proliferation of communication technology, increasing computing capacity, and use of the Internet at the local government level. The LARS system rapidly became outdated. Options for improving the reporting software and process ranged from making the existing program Internet based to including Internet mapping capability. SWCD employees put BWSR in touch with Linnet Geomatics and their software product Watershed, The System. The district employees liked its mapping features and that it was built for local conservation organizations. BWSR began to talk with Linnet about the possibilities of having something like this software replace LARS.

Starting in 2001, BWSR worked with a steering committee representing local governments to design the new system - eventually called eLINK. In particular, local government staff made the strong point that they do not organize their natural resource management activities by state program. Rather, their natural resource management activities fall into the following categories:

* Reporting/ Work plans / Budgets
* Land & Water Treatment Practices (Best Management Practices)
* Inventory and Mapping
* Regulatory Programs
* Monitoring / Data Collection
* Planning
* Education projects

They wondered whether a reporting and tracking system could be designed to support these categories, fitting state, local, and federal programs into them rather than the other way around. This idea became central to the development of the eLINK system. The eLINK system was put in place for local government use in 2003.

What is eLINK?
eLINK is a Web-based, GIS-enabled software package designed to help state and local government cooperate in natural resource management. Its goal is to provide an integrated system that supports the daily business of local governments in their natural resource management activities. Through its use, local governments also accomplish tasks such as applying for state grants and reporting results and accomplishments. eLINK enables the state to more efficiently manage programs and to quantify positive advances in water quality and soil conservation.

eLINK was designed to meet the needs of multiple users including local governments, state agencies, and local field staff technicians as they work cooperatively to manage natural resources. Using eLINK, local governments can:

* Plan and track conservation projects and grants;
* Prioritize and target financial assistance programs;
* Map locations of projects;
* Evaluate the cost and benefits of conservation practices;
* Estimate pollution reduction benefits from conservation practices and easements;
* Track projects for long-term monitoring.

State agencies can:
* Evaluate effectiveness of programs;
* Compile and analyze data on a county, watershed, state-wide, or individual-project basis;
* Track cumulative grant funding over a period of years;
* Review and evaluate competitive grant applications.

Field staff technicians can:
* Use the system's on-line aerial photography to identify and map problem areas;
* Plan and budget Best Management Practices using menu-driven templates;
* Manage landowner contact information;
* Assemble a customized package of materials for individual landowners to consider in
* conservation planning;
* Generate reporting data that funding organizations require.

How's it going?
In spite of the many technical and administrative problems that have caused much pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth, the benefits have exceeded the costs. eLINK and its predecessor LARS have enabled the collection of a large and very useful set of data on local government accomplishments. These include data on tens of thousands of land and water treatment practices (also known as best management practices or BMPs), over 5000 conservation easements, as well as data on education, monitoring, and inventory projects accomplished through local water management. If nothing else the data demonstrate the sheer magnitude of the accomplishments.

The ability to use and analyze the data, as well as to communicate the accomplishments to funding sources vastly exceeds what existed in the past. Needed improvements revolve around speed and making the accumulated data more readily accessible to users.

Biography

Eric Mohring has been a hydrologist with the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) since 1990. His interests are applying hydrogeologic knowledge to natural resource management at the state and local levels, water resource training and education, wetland hydrology and soils, ground water - surface water interactions, and engineering geology.

Currently he works on providing technical assistance to local government, conducting training programs in ground water and wetland hydrology, data base management, and hydrologic monitoring of wetlands.

From 1985-90 he was a hydrologist with the Department of Natural Resources. From 1983-85 he was a geologist with the Chicago office of Woodward-Clyde consultants.

He has a BS in geology from Princeton University and an MS in hydrogeology from the University of Minnesota.

Eric Mohring, P.G., CPG #7828
Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources
520 Lafayette Road North
St Paul, Minnesota, 55155
651-297-7360