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/

Story Maps Are Interactive Way to Learn About Our Watersheds

Pope SWCD has been participating in watershed planning for all three of the watersheds within Pope County. The North Fork Crow River Watershed One Watershed One Plan was finished in 2018 and now implementation is being done. A story map was created to share with the public what we know about the watershed and where the partners will be working over the next 10 years to improve and protect resources in the watershed. Click Here to learn more about the North Fork Crow River Watershed!

The Sauk River Watershed plan was fully adopted in 2020 and implementation work is underway in this watershed as well. A story map was just finished in 2022 to share information with the public what we know about this watershed and the work planned by the partnership over the next 10 years! Click Here to Take a Walk Through The Sauk!

The Chippewa River Watershed is the final watershed going through a planning effort in Pope County. This planning effort began in 2022 and will take till 2024 to complete. Information is being reviewed and compiled like these other planning efforts have done. Watch our website for more updates on this planning effort.

Barchengers Named Pope County 2022 Outstanding Conservationists

Pope Soil and Water Conservation District has selected Jim and Karen Barchenger as this year’s Pope County Outstanding Conservationists.  Each year SWCDs across the state select landowners that are great stewards of our soil and water resources, serving as excellent examples in their communities.  

They operate a 300-acre Minnesota Department of Agriculture Water Quality Certified farm raising corn, soybeans, wheat, and cover crops.  From 1972-2005 they operated a 40 head Holstein dairy milking operation and finished the calves.  From 2005-2008 after selling the dairy cows they continued to custom raise calves to finish weights for local dairies.  They have implemented: an ag waste storage facility, field borders, shelterbelt, cover crops, reduced tillage, no-till, rock intakes, side inlet structure, woodchip bioreactor, saturated buffer, raingarden, pit closure, and soil health practices.  They are active members in the watershed district, township, church, corn growers, serving in leadership roles in most of these organizations.  The Barchengers are innovators willing to try new practices, share their knowledge with others, and are great stewards of the land. Congratulations to the Barchengers!

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