Minnesota’s forests provide critical breeding habitat for hundreds of resident and migrating bird species. Forest management provides an important opportunity to conserve and cultivate critical habitat for species of conservation concern including Golden-winged Warbler, Veery, and American Woodcock. These species have had significant population declines throughout their breeding ranges and all have a large portion of their breeding populations in Minnesota’s young forests.

Meaghan Anderson, Field Agronomist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, shares the top 3 considerations for terminating cover crops in the spring.

Organic producers of perennial crops are required to introduce biodiversity in lieu of a crop rotation. This webinar will cover examples of methods organic producers use to introduce biodiversity to their perennial operations, while balancing maximum benefits with minimal labor and resource concerns. Different cropping systems and climates will be highlighted.

In this session Patrick Schultz, TTCP Engineer, provides an overview of topics related to the CPS 351 Well Decommissioning. There is also a discussion of different real world scenarios, based on project experiences, as they relate to planning, design, and construction oversight of sealing abandoned wells.

While winter manure application can be beneficial for producers from a logistical, financial, and soil compaction standpoint, it has traditionally been discouraged due to concerns over runoff during spring thaws. Are there ways to spread manure in the winter months without jeopardizing water quality? This edition of The Current Webinar Series features experts from across the region discussing their research on the water quality impacts and winter manure application.

What makes a natural resource and water professional a great communicator? What can we learn from researchers and fellow practitioners to enhance the way we communicate with producers and non-operating landowners? This edition of The Current webinar series focuses on communicating conservation.

We all deserve to have safe clean drinking water that we can trust. In order to do that, we need to ensure we are protecting water at the source – whether that is groundwater or surface water. This edition of The Current Webinar focuses on this important topic. We hear about the Source Water Collaborative, learn how Kansas is working to protect drinking water through improved soil health, and hear how extension is working with communities on source water protection planning.

The agronomic benefits of improving soil health are well known, but when it comes to the specific impacts on water quality off field, many questions remain. This edition of The Current webinar series features three researchers who share their work examining how on-field soil health practices affect water quality off field.

Drought is continuing to intensify across portions of the Midwest this year, and over the past several years severe drought has plagued much of the upper Midwest and northern Plains. This edition of The Current Webinar Series discusses water management during drought – from the latest irrigation technologies to livestock water management.

Join us for this webinar during which soil health techniques such as cover crops, crop rotations, pest management, nutrient management, cash crop establishment, and water management will be discussed.