Research Forum Results in Call to Action

Researchers and practitioners assembled for a productive and enlightening day of discussion at the Minnesota River Research Forum on September 13, 2002. The day was planned by organizers to be one where researchers in the basin had the opportunity to learn from one another in an informal setting and to identify future research topics of relevance to the Minnesota River

Presenters described water quality conditions and trends in the Minnesota River from several perspectives and at varying scales. At the conclusion, forum participants affirmed the need for long term funding to support ongoing water quality monitoring, and for new and improved ways to link research findings to actions that will improve water quality. Members of the Minnesota River Basin Data Review Team pledged to develop a research and action agenda to move this effort forward.

Conclusions and Recommendations

• Develop research and action agenda listing priority areas.
• List forum attendees on the Minnesota River Basin Data Center web site.
• Include overheads, PowerPoint slides, and handouts on the web site.
• Long term monitoring data are essential; stable funding is needed to sustain data collection.

Additional research is needed to:

• Address land use issues
• Develop more effective ways to motivate changes in policy and land use practices
• Identify tools for linking research to action
• Understand physical geomorphology at different scales
• Develop messages that reduce fertilizer over application
• Inform us of the use of HSPF modeling results