The Pope Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) is pleased to announce the hiring of Rachel Holmes as this year’s summer intern.   As the intern, she will be assisting in many of the projects that Pope SWCD has throughout the summer such as staking of buffer zones, installing weed fabric, and teaching students about natural resources. The Pope SWCD also coordinates studies at the Rosholt Research Farm where nitrate-nitrogen research is conducted along with the Minnesota Department of Ag and the University of Minnesota. She will be working at the Rosholt farm collecting and analyzing the water samples from vacuum lysimeters under the research crop plots this summer.

Rachel stated about the internship, “I am both excited and honored to be working at the Pope SWCD this summer.” Growing up, she was homeschooled by her mom alongside her six siblings of which she is the third eldest. Her dad is the family practice doctor at the hospital in Elbow Lake where her family currently lives. She has participated in a variety of groups and activities at college including Swing Dance Club, rock climbing, hiking, and InterVarsity.

She is currently working toward an environmental science major at the University of Minnesota, Morris with the anticipation of getting a career in water quality and analysis. Therefore, she is especially excited to be able to work at the lab for the Rosholt Research Farm and gain experience in that field. She will be officially graduating at the end of this coming fall semester. She is hoping to use what she learns from her time here to better guide the details of her career choice. To learn more about the Rosholt Research Farm visit www.popeswcd.org.

Watersheds: Our Water, Our Home

On May 11^th, the fifth and sixth graders from Glacial Hills, Minnewaska, and BBE middle schools submitted their artistic environmental posters. Each student from the three schools created an informational work of art on the theme “Watersheds: Our Water, Our Home.” The dozens of amazing posters submitted demonstrated talent and intelligence from every student. The Pope Soil and Water Conservation District board members were challenged with the task of picking the best posters from each school and the best from the overall.

The winners from Glacial Hills are the fifth graders Melena Longtin with first place, Shayne Wilgman with second, and Isabelle Porter with third. The winners from Minnewaska are fifth grader Mattie Parish with first place, sixth grader Grace Larson with second, and Miaya Guggisberg with third. The winners from BBE are the sixth graders Taylor Oeltjenbruns with first place, Presley Detloff with second, and Mia Cyotes with third. In the comparison between the three schools, the overall first place winner is Taylor Oeltjenbruns from BBE while the second and third place winners are Mattie Parish from Minnewaska and Presley Detloff from BBE respectively.

Pope SWCD annually sponsors this poster contest and goes to each school district to present on each year’s theme. The overall winner of the poster contest wins a paid trip to Long Lake Conservation Camp this summer. This year’s winner of the camp is Taylor Oeltjenbruns from the Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa School.

Pope SWCD sends a big congratulations to all the winners and all those who participated! Every student did a fantastic job!

Top Left: Glacial Hills Winners, Top Right: Belgrade Brooten Elrosa Winners, and Bottom Minnewaska Winners