Building Resilience in Winona County

We read a lot in the news these days about the large scale effects of climate change, from melting glaciers to intensified tropical storms. But many people are also noticing shifts in their own backyard, like the residents of Winona County. Higher temperatures, increased thunderstorms, and frequent heat waves have led to big changes in the area in recent years, including stormwater management, public health, and pest and fishery management.

In March of 2016, eighteen Winona County citizens gathered to learn more about climate change and discussed the ways their community could become stronger and more resilient. Some of the participants were farmers and had seen changes in soil, land, and crops, while others had observed noticeable changes in humidity and the severity of storms. For many, recent extreme weather events were front-of-mind — southern Minnesota has witnessed three “one thousand year” rainfall events and subsequent flash floods since 2004. These floods took a significant toll on the area: southeastern Minnesota is part of the “Driftless Area”, which wasn’t covered by the last glaciation. The result was thin soil composition, which covers porous rock that allows surface water to drain into the water table. Steep hills and bluffs in the area also cause the excess water to flood the valleys, which can sweep away infrastructure, cause erosion and water pollution, and degrade water habitat, not to mention destroy property and injure residents.

At the Dialogue

With these events fresh in their minds, participants were tasked with recommending how the county could respond and adapt to these changes. Better land and runoff management practices were identified as a top need for farmers, who work about 44% of Winona County’s total land area. Other participants recognized the importance of clean energy and energy efficiency updates and upgrades, on both individual and community levels.

Residents ended the meeting by declaring: “Individually and as a Winona County community, we need to take action by working together to prepare for the future. We need to educate ourselves, our neighbors, and our elected officials to face challenges and pursue opportunities together.”

Sustain Winona

After the dialogue, community members were enthusiastic at the prospect of putting these plans into action, and Sustain Winona, a local community group, rose to the challenge. Sustain Winona represents a collaboration of Winona’s large public and private institutions–Winona State University, the City of Winona, the County of Winona, Winona Area Public Schools, Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical, and Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota–which coordinates across institutions and with community members to implement sustainable practices. The group supported the climate dialogue and used this new publicly-created agenda to help guide their outreach efforts. With the renewed interest and energy following the event, new partnerships were launched and Sustain Winona received a grant from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to carry out the citizen-generated recommendations.

Members of Sustain Winona and Winona’s Energy Action Team have worked hard to increase community-wide adoption of energy efficiency and conservation in the area, including making energy conservation accessible to the wider community. A collaboration between Xcel Energy, Semcac, the City of Winona, Winona County, CERTs, Sustain Winona, and the Jefferson Center led to 197 low-income households served by Xcel Energy in the county receiving Home Energy Squad visits. The visits included energy audits, upgrades to LED lightbulbs, water and energy-saving showerheads, programmable thermostats, weather stripping for doors, and more — at no cost to the households.

Community Initiatives, Actions, and Events

Winona County has taken ambitious steps to remain resilient and adapt to climate change, and they’re showing no signs of slowing down. Here are just a few other examples:

• The Winona City Council adopted an Energy Action Plan for the community, which was crafted by local business representatives, universities, city and county government, citizens, and members of Xcel Energy’s Partners in Energy program. One major goal of the plan is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050!
• In 2017, Winona joined the GreenStep City program, a voluntary challenge which provides assistance and recognition to cities achieving their sustainability and quality-of-life goals.
• In January 2018, the Winona Energy Action team held an educational session to discuss the Energy Action Plan which highlighted how residents can cost-effectively reduce their energy bills.
• Winona County is kicking off a new series of workshops, beginning with identifying and managing terrestrial invasive species. The remaining three seminars will cover prairie and pollinator yards, landscape approaches to slopes and trees, and rain gardens.
• Winona County has joined the City of Winona to offer cost-sharing grants for residents to install rain gardens. Both are offering 50 percent cost-share grants with a maximum of $250 for residents to install rain gardens on their property.
• This past summer, members of Healthy Lake Winona, City of Winona staff, and volunteers from Winona County worked on restoring native vegetation along shores of Lake Winona to build a better wildlife habitat and support pollinators.
• The City of Altura worked with the Minnesota Technical Assistance Program(MnTAP) to conduct an engineering study evaluating the city’s wastewater aeration system, which resulted in cost savings and energy efficiency improvements.

To learn more about the rural dialogues program, check out ruraldialogues.org!

If you live in Winona County, stay tuned for information about an upcoming community energy event in June. The event will be free and open to the public, and will explore energy questions and goals.