Please join us in person or online on May 16, 2024 at 10am CDT for the next Minnesota Stormwater Seminar Series event - a monthly experience featuring national, state, and local experts on stormwater and green infrastructure. This seminar series is a partnership between the University of Minnesota's St. Anthony Falls Laboratory and Water Resources Center, and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and made possible through the Minnesota Stormwater Research and Technology Transfer Program in collaboration with the Minnesota Stormwater Research Council.

Title: Trees, Ponds, and Watersheds: Long-Term Ecological Research to Understand People and Water in Cities

Speakers & Panelists:

• Dr. Sarah Hobbie is Regents Professor and Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Dept of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior.
• Dr. Xue Feng is a McKnight Land-Grant Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering and an affiliate faculty at the Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory at the University of Minnesota.

• Dr. Jacques Finlay is a Professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at the University of Minnesota.
• Dr. Diana Karwan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Forest Resources and Co-Director of Graduate Studies for the Water Resources Science program at the University of Minnesota.

Abstract: The Minneapolis-St. Paul Urban Long Term Ecological Research project (MSP LTER) is an NSF-funded project exploring interactions between people and nature in the Twin Cities to understand how urban ecosystems respond to rapid environmental and social change and inform approaches to addressing environmental inequities. After introducing the broader suite of MSP LTER research questions related to pollinator communities, urban forests, and aquatic ecosystems, this presentation will highlight research focused on urban watersheds and surface waters.

One of these projects addresses the role of urban trees in the water cycle. This work shows that urban trees can export nutrients in throughfall at concentrations 2.7 times (for nitrate) and ~ 8-11 times higher (for soluble reactive phosphorus) compared to open precipitation, and that nutrient dynamics depend on season, canopy condition, and water use, with implications for management strategies to increase the net benefits of urban trees. A second project quantifies the essential functions provided by stormwater ponds to manage impacts of urban stormwater runoff. This work shows strong effects of vegetation, including trees, tiny free-floating plants, and submerged macrophytes, on the dynamics of pond systems. Integration of study of urban ponds into MSP’s long-term ecological research agenda is bringing ecological and biogeochemical perspectives into water quality research and yielding insights into how pond functions change over time and in response to diverse management approaches. We highlight MSP LTER’s role in organizing and disseminating data and information collected by diverse organizations to generate novel insights into the functioning of urban watersheds and surface waters.

Date and Time: Thursday, May 16, 2024, 10a - 12p US Central

In-person: St. Anthony Falls Laboratory Auditorium (2 Third Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN)

Online: https://z.umn.edu/mn-stormwater-seminar-series (active 10 minutes prior)

Registration: Click here to Register

About the MN Stormwater Seminar Series:

The Minnesota Stormwater Seminar Series is a monthly experience featuring national, state, and local experts on stormwater and green infrastructure. This seminar series is a partnership between the University of Minnesota's St. Anthony Falls Laboratory and Water Resources Center, and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. This seminar comprises national experts on advanced stormwater innovation and knowledge sharing what they've learned; experts and researchers from Minnesota who have recently completed or are working on innovative and high priority stormwater research; and national, state, and local experts sharing their practical experiences on the state-of-the-science topics that are important to Minnesota practitioners. The Series is made possible by the Minnesota Stormwater Research and Technology Transfer Program in collaboration with the Minnesota Stormwater Research Council and supported through an appropriation from the Clean Water Fund established by Minnesota Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment.

See the full schedule here.

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Previous Seminars (YouTube Channel):

• Rethinking Green Stormwater Infrastructure in Place feature featuring Ashlynn S. Stillwell, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and local experts.
• Performance of Stormwater Products and Practices: Why it Matters featuring Seth Brown, NMSA, and local experts.
• Capturing and quantifying coarse organic matter in urban stormwater featuring John Chapman, Univ. of Minnesota and local experts.
• Defining the footprint of sediment in green stormwater infrastructure featuring Virginia Smith, Villanova University, and local experts.
• Harnessing Minnesota's Stormwater Data for Improved Modeling and Management of Water Quality in Cities featuring Jacques Finlay & Ben Janke, with local experts.
• Leveraging Grant Funds for Stormwater & Community Resilience Planning featuring Linnea Savereide, Paula Kalinosky, Ian Weber, Trent Imdieke, Troy Erickson, Camilla Correll, Andrea Crabtree Nayes, Mike Love.
• Ushering in a new era of TMDL compliance: Adaptive management and reducing connected impervious cover. Jamie Houle, University of New Hampshire, and local experts.
• Retrofitting existing SCMs to enter the nutrient trading market. Bill Hunt, North Carolina State University and local experts.
• Filtration media expert panel discussion featuring Erin Anderson Wenz, Mei Cai, Erik Megow, Mike Isensee, Bridget Ulrich, Andy Erickson, and Joanne Boettcher.
• Biofiltration Media – Phosphate release or capture, plant growth, chloride impacts, and more! Andy Erickson, St. Anthony Falls Lab, U of M Twin Cities.
• Biochar for stormwater management: Challenges in translating success from the laboratory to the field. Bridget Ulrich, NRRI & UM-Duluth.
• Road salt impacts: Stormwater, surface water, groundwater, ecosystems and drinking water supplies. Joel Moore, Towson University with local experts.
• Infiltration as a stormwater management practice. John Gulliver; Todd Shoemaker; Noah Czech; Mike Gerber; Forrest Kelley; Eric Lund; John Nieber; and Mike Trojan.
• Street Sweeping for Water Quality: A Panel Discussion, Sarah Hobbie, Mike Trojan, Mike Kinney, and Paula Kalinosky.
• Assessing ecological impacts from urban stormwater to rivers, streams and estuaries. Ken Schiff, Southern California Coastal Water Research Project with local experts.
• Stormwater reuse and human health: A panel discussion. Nancy Rice (MN Dept. of Health); Anita Anderson (MN Dept. of Health); Tamara Walsky (University of Minnesota); Satoshi Ishii (University of Minnesota); Sybil Sharvelle (Colorado State University).
• Prioritizing chemicals and chemical mixtures of ecological concern in Great Lakes tributaries. Steven Corsi, Research Hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Madison, WI, with local experts.
• Real time monitoring and control of green infrastructure for improved stormwater management. David McCarthy, Monash Infrastructure Institute, Department of Civil Engineering, with local experts.
• Stormwater Research Spotlight: "A simulated examination of stormwater sampling methods." Daniel Furuta and Bruce Wilson, Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of MN.
• Co-Design Sustainable, Resilient, and Just Nature-based Stormwater Solutions with Communities. Chingwen Cheng, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, and Environmental Design, Arizona State University, with local experts.
• Stormwater Research Spotlight: "Equipping Municipalities with Climate Change Data to Inform Stormwater Management." Ryan Noe, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, UMN.
• Advancing Green Infrastructure Practices through CLASIC Life Cycle Cost and Triple Bottom Line Benefit Analysis. Harry Zhang, The Water Research Foundation (WRF), with local experts.
• Stormwater Research Spotlight: Evaluation of Microbial and Chemical Contaminant Removals in Different Stormwater Reuse Systems (Satoshi Ishii) & Pollutant Removal and Maintenance Evaluation of Underground Sand Filters (Todd Shoemaker)
• The Stormwater Corps: Integrating Undergraduate Student Training into Municipal Stormwater Retrofit Planning. Michael Dietz, University of Connecticut, with local experts.
• Stormwater Research Spotlight: Pond treatment with spent lime to control phosphorus release from sediments. Greg Wilson, Barr Engineering.
• Spatial and Temporal Scaling of Biofilter Media Performance Data and Updates to WinSLAMM. Robert Pitt, University of Alabama, with local experts. 
• Stormwater Research Spotlight: Biofiltration Media Optimization: Phase I Results, Phase II preliminary results, and Future Work. Andy Erickson, St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota.  
• Underground Stormwater Control Measures. James Lenhart, Stormwater Northwest, with local experts.
• Stormwater Research Spotlight: Identifying Sources of Contaminants in Urban Stormwater and Evaluation of Their Removal Efficacy through Urban Best Management Practices (Heiko L. Schoenfuss, and Richard Kiesling)
• Permeable Pavement Maintenance: Designing to Reduce Maintenance, Planning for Maintenance Frequency, and Effective Techniques to Restore Pavement Hydraulics. Ryan Winston, The Ohio State University with local experts.
• Stormwater Research Spotlight: Inspiring Community Action for Stormwater Management (Sarah Roth and Amit Pradhananga).
• Green Infrastructure Strategies for Creating Sustainable Landscapes: Bioswales/’Scoop and Dump’/ CU-Soil. Nina Bassuk, Cornell University with local experts.
• Stormwater Research Spotlight: Detecting phosphorus release from stormwater ponds to guide management and design. (John Gulliver & Jacques Finlay; UMN) & Pond Treatment with Spent Lime to Control Phosphorus Release from Sediments (Greg Wilson)
• Research on Green Infrastructure at the USEPA. Michelle Simon, US EPA with local experts.
• Stormwater Research Spotlight: Pollutant Removal and Maintenance Assessment of Underground Filtration Systems (Phase I) (Todd Shoemaker & Ali Stone, Wenck) & Temporal Dynamics of Pathogens and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Raw and Treated Stormwater (Satoshi Ishii, UMN)
• Designing of the Next Generation of Sustainable Urban Stormwater Practices. Tom Schueler and David Wood, Chesapeake Stormwater Network with local experts.
• Stormwater Research Spotlight: Characterization of Stormwater Particle Size Distribution and Sediment Concentration through Evaluation of Manhole Sumps with SHSAM (John Chapman) & Developing a street sweeping credit for stormwater phosphorus source reduction (Sarah Hobbie and Mike Trojan).
• Research to Practice: Lessons in Resilience from Monitoring Urban Stormwater Transportation Systems. Rob Traver, Villanova University with local experts.
• Stormwater Research Spotlight: From Policy to Action: Community Driven Stormwater Management (Mae Davenport) & Establishing a Geodata Standard for Stormwater Infrastructure (Geoffrey Maas).
• Pathogens in Urban Stormwater Systems: Tools for the Municipal Stormwater Manager. Jane Clary, Wright Water Engineers, Inc., with local experts.
• Bioretention Soil Media, Vegetation, and Maintenance: Lessons learned from Green Stormwater Infrastructure research in Vermont. Stephanie Hurley, University of Vermont with local experts.
• National Topics in Stormwater Relevant to Local MS4 Program Managers. Seth Brown, National Municipal Stormwater Alliance and Storm and Stream Solutions, LLC with local experts.
• Bioretention and Treatment Media: A Phosphorus Story. Allen Davis, University of Maryland with local experts.
• Tree function in stormwater biofilters: the green in green infrastructure. Jon Hathaway, University of Tennessee, Knoxville with local experts.
• What happens when permeable pavements freeze? Jenn Drake, University of Toronto, with local experts.
• Optimization Modeling: Can We Plan our Infrastructure More Efficiently? Using Renfrew, Calgary, as a Case Study. Scott Struck, Geosyntec Consultants, with local experts.
• Modernizing Performance Metrics for Stormwater Infrastructure. Elizabeth Fassman-Beck, Stevens Institute of Technology with local experts.
• Innovation and Technology Evolution in Water Resources Engineering: Where are we headed and how will we get there? Marcus Quigley, EcoLucid, with local experts.
• Moving from an industry of the problem to an industry of the solution: linking scientific research to decision-making and adoption approaches. Jamie Houle, University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center with local experts.
• Investigating the Stormwater Quantity and Quality Impacts of Urban Trees. Bill Selbig, USGS Wisconsin Water Science Center with local experts.
• A New Dynamic Horizon in Stormwater. Bridget Wadzuk, Villanova University with local experts.
• It Rained Two Feet, Now What? Bill Hunt, North Carolina State University with local experts.