Infrastructure is the mechanical heart of a community, and although it’s not exciting to talk about, water and wastewater infrastructure is one of the most important pieces. This week on Rural MN Radio, Jim and Marnie talk about some of the issues with water infrastructure in rural communities.
Category Archives: 2014
Cheap as water
In the land of 10,000 lakes, is it possible that we can run out of water? Not likely, but our ability to access it seems to be changing. Last year, the dropping levels of White Bear Lake in suburban St. Paul made a great deal of news. The lake is a bellwether for the aquifers that lie below the Twin Cities. But communities in some parts of Greater Minnesota are starting to hear warnings about their water supplies, and other communities have been dealing with water issues for years. The Center’s next policy brief will be on the issue of groundwater and rural communities’ complex relationship with it. It’s necessary for everything. Without it, life would be a lot more difficult, and a rural economy would be all but impossible.
This week Marnie and Jim talk about aquifers, those giant underground sponges that hold water. Next week we’ll talk about our water infrastructure.
USDA Rural Development in the community
This week on Rural MN Radio, Jim and Marnie continue their talk with USDA Rural Development state director Colleen Landkamer. Rural Development helps communities with infrastructure and other programs, but one exciting new mission is local foods.
What a little bit of seed money can do…
Rural MN Radio this week is the first in a two-part conversation with Colleen Landkamer, state director for USDA Rural Development in Minnesota. Ms. Landkamer discusses the role Rural Development and the Farm Bill play in working with Minnesota communities to help them grow.
Taking a snapshot of rural Minnesota’s voice
This week on Rural MN Radio, Jim and Marnie discuss network mapping. A group of community development practitioners from foundations, the U of M Extension, rural development commissions and other groups in central and west central Minnesota get together on a regular basis in LIttle Falls to share information and talk about what’s going on in rural Minnesota. After last year’s Finding the Voice of Rural Minnesota report, this group, Friends in the Field, decided to work out just what that voice looks like. The preliminary data is in and the group plans to have a report out later this summer.
Who owns rural Minnesota?
“Who owns rural Minnesota?” is the topic of this year’s Rural Minnesota Journal, but this year the Journal will be coming out in a new online, quarterly format. Jim and Marnie discuss the decision to go all online and this first quarter’s articles on the ins and outs of forestry and mining in Minnesota, especially timely topics for today.
Rural Reality MN 