This research project, led by Owen McKenna of the Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center and USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, aims to quantify the impact of wetlands on reducing nutrient inputs to the Minnesota River and to estimate the impacts that increased precipitation and wetland drainage have on wetland ecosystems. 

In October, researchers hosted an interagency workshop on wetland-stream connectivity and climate change in St. Paul, Minn. This workshop brought Tribal, federal, state, and NGO conservation organizations together with USGS, US EPA, and university scientists to co-develop decision support tools to help incorporate climate change into conservation planning in the Minnesota River Basin. 

Afterward, as part of ongoing Tribal engagement around this project, McKenna gave a presentation on the workshop to the Minnesota Tribal Environmental Council and attended the Tribal Water Workshop hosted by the Prairie Island Indian Community and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community.