Lynden Township Supervisor Jerry Finch and Plum Creek Neighborhood Network leader Brian Nickolausen received the 2017 Stearns Co. Outstanding Conservationist Cooperators Certificate of Achievement Award Dec. 5. The award was presented during the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation District’s (SWCD) annual meeting held at the Double Tree by Hilton, Bloomington-Minneapolis South.

 

The award was given in recognition of the work Finch and the Plum Creek Neighborhood Network (PCNN) have done, and continue to do, in their attempt to get Plum Creek removed from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s (MPCA) list of E. coli impaired streams.

 

Plum Creek, a small stream in Lynden Township, was listed as impaired by bacteria for recreational use by the MPCA in 2012. A study conducted by the agency found Plum Creek Watershed to be impaired by E. coli, a bacterium found in the intestine of human and warm-blooded animals that becomes a contaminant when found in the food or water supply.

 

SWCD found the actions taken by Finch and the PCNN to attempt to delist Plum Creek for the impairment to be an amazing example of a grassroots effort by local citizens to protect water quality, which is what led to the award.

 

“We admire the hard work and tenacity that Jerry Finch and the Plum Creek Neighborhood Network have put into this effort,” said Dennis Fuchs, Stearns Co. SWCD administrator. “They are a great example of local citizens taking charge and figuring out how to get things done to protect their resources.”  

 

Applying civic engagement skills learned from a watershed specialist training course, Finch organized the PCNN, comprised of the Lynden Township Board  and 24 local volunteers.  The group learned as much as they could about bacterial impairment from private and government experts, then began intensive stream sampling for E. coli funded by the township.    

 

The Plum Creek testing showed the E. coli levels were increasing as it flowed downstream from Warner Lake without any apparent watershed inputs such as manure or municipal waste runoff from fields, animal feedlot runoff, or non-compliant septic systems. Warner Lake itself has never exceeded state standard.

 

The results were sent to a laboratory in Florida for NDA analysis, which came back negative for poultry, ruminant (cattle), swine, and human markers.  In addition, bacterial samples taken from both the sediment and the water column analyzed by Dr. Michael Sadowsky of the Biotechnic Institute at the University of Minnesota were found to be the same type, leading to the conclusion it has its own DNA.

 

 Finch began sharing this data with MPCA, which brought about a series of meetings involving MPCA, SWCD’s, MnDOT, Stearns Co. Public Works, Stearns Co. Parks, University of Minnesota and St. John’s University. They are now working together to expand and refine the water sampling procedure and more closely look at watershed characteristics.  

 

“We feel very honored that the Stearns Co. Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Managers thought our work was commendable enough to deserve this award,” said Finch.

 

The 2017 water samples are being completed and will be sent to the MPCA to be analyzed; by next spring they hope to have an answer. The goal is to delist Plum Creek off the impaired list.

Finch and the PCNN will also be honored at the annual Stearns Co. chapter of Pheasants Forever banquet to be held in spring 2018.