Pope Soil & Water

Providing Quality Conservation Resources since 1949

Providing Quality Conservation Resources Since 1949

Sauk River Habitat Protection Program Informational Meetings

The Pope SWCD would like to share that landowners located in the Sauk River Watershed have a current opportunity through the Sauk River Protection Program in partnership with the Minnesota Land Trust.

There will be a meeting held on Wednesday, January 25 from 7 -9 pm and Wednesday, February 8th from 7-9pm at the Sauk Centre City Hall: 320 Oak Street S, Sauk Centre, MN 56378. Click on the information below to RSVP if you are interested.

https://mnland.org/2021/05/21/sauk-river-watershed-habitat-protection-restoration-program-2/

Public Input Wanted as County Updates Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan

POPE COUNTY NEWS RELEASE

August 8, 2022

Public Input Wanted as County

Updates Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan

Pope County residents, business owners, nonprofit members, and community leaders now have an organized opportunity to share how severe weather events impact their property and lives. There is also an opportunity to share their ideas on how to reduce the impact in the future.

The Pope County Office of Emergency Management is working with U-Spatial at the University of Minnesota Duluth to update the county’s Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan (MHMP). The plan assesses the natural hazards that pose risk to the county, such as tornadoes, straight line winds, ice storms, blizzards, wildfire, flooding, and extreme temperatures and identifies ways to minimize the damage of future events. As the county works to update the plan, it wants to hear from the public.

The Pope County MHMP is a multi-jurisdictional plan that covers Pope County, including the cities of Brooten, Cyrus, Farwell, Glenwood, Long Beach, Lowry, Sedan, Starbuck, Villard, and Westport. The Pope County MHMP also incorporates the concerns and needs of townships, school districts, and area agencies or organizations participating in the plan. The plan will be updated by a planning team made up of representatives from county departments, local municipalities, school districts and other key stakeholders.

“Hazard mitigation planning is a central part of our emergency management program,” said Tim Riley, Pope County Sheriff and Emergency Management Director.  “Understanding the natural hazards that can cause serious impact to our communities and taking action to reduce or eliminate the impact of future disasters makes us more resilient.  Hazard mitigation helps us to break the cycle of damage and repair caused by things like flooding, ice storms, and severe wind events that can damage property, stress economies, and threaten life safety in our county.”

Examples of hazard mitigation include:

  • improvement of roads and culverts that experience repetitive flooding
  • construction of safe rooms at campgrounds, public parks, mobile home parks or schools to protect lives in the event of tornados or severe wind events
  • burying powerlines that may fail due to heavy snow, ice, or windstorms
  • ensuring timely emergency communication to the public through warning sirens and mass notification systems
  • conducting public awareness and education campaigns to help people be prepared to take safe action before, during, or following a hazard event.

Some mitigation activities may be eligible for future FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance grant funding.

Public input is an essential part of the plan update. As part of the planning process, Pope County is seeking feedback from residents and businesses from across the county to incorporate into the plan:

  • What are the natural hazards you feel pose the greatest risk to your community?  
  • What concerns do you have, and what sorts of actions or projects do you feel would help to reduce the damages of potential future events for your personal property, your community, or the county as a whole?

Comments, concerns, or questions regarding natural disasters and potential mitigation actions to be included into the plan update process should be submitted to Pope County Emergency Management by phone or email. Comments may also be submitted on the Pope County Emergency Management Facebook page where this news release will be posted.

There will be additional opportunities for public feedback throughout the planning process. A draft of the plan will be made available for public review prior to submission of the plan to the State of Minnesota. Future news releases will be shared with the media to notify the public of these opportunities.

The Federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA 2000) requires counties to update their plan every 5 years to maintain eligibility for FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grant programs.

Contact

Tim Riley

Pope County Emergency Management Director

320-634-7797

Email:  tim.riley@popecountymn.gov

Kim Joos

Pope County Deputy Emergency Management Director

Phone:  320-634-7798

Email:  kim.joos@popecountymn.gov

Plantskydd Available at Pope SWCD

Plantskydd was originally developed in Sweden to protect their large tree plantations while remaining in compliance with their firm environmental laws, now it is produced in the United States. It is a dried blood-based (porcine or bovine) animal repellent that contains no synthetic additives and therefore is the first animal repellent to be listed by the OMRI the Organic Materials Review Institute making it suitable in the production of organic food and organic gardening by the USDA. In the United States, “dried blood” is an EPA (Environmental and Protection Agency) exempted product/minimum risk pesticide. The science behind it is simple. Plantskydd is an order based repellent that prey animals associate with the smell of predatory activity triggering a fear-based response causing the prey animal to avoid the associated areas. The National wildlife Research Center has found that over 20 products tested “repellents with active ingredients that emitted sulfurous odors i.e., blood meal or egg solids, generally provided the best results.”  Not only that but because Plantskydd’s active ingredient is blood-based it also a source of fertilizer in the form of nitrogen. A farmer from Pennsylvania had this to say after the use of it “I normally harvest 5 or 6,000 lbs of the corn every year but I didn’t know how much I was losing until I harvested 20,000 lbs of sweet corn on my 2 acres after using Plantskydd last summer. And that’s with a single application.” Furthermore the repellent is rain and snow resistant and does not require for immediate re-application after rain or snow fall. Prime application occurs in before animal browsing begins-in spring or fall and treat new growth during the active growing season or every 3 to 6 weeks. Granular can be applied anytime and reapplied every 4 to 6 weeks and must be watered to active.  Liquid concentrate is most effective against large herbivores such as deer, and comes in pre-mixed or concentrate and granular is most effective against small herbivores such as rabbits or voles.

PLANTSKYDD 2.2 lb/1 kg Soluble powder concentrate Treats approx. 400-600 plants 1 ft high $37.00