Each county within the State of Minnesota is charged with the responsibility of creating a Local Water Plan. The plan outlines priority concerns pertaining to water resources (lakes, streams, wetlands, groundwater, drinking water, etc.) and identifies areas for restoration as well as protection.  Input on plan priorities is provided from county residents and a local Water Plan Advisory Committee as well as agencies such as the Department of Natural Resources, Board of Water and Soil Resources, Pollution Control Agency and Department of Agriculture.  Sherburne Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) has been delegated the responsibility of completing this task; the plan is currently being written with a completion date deadline of February 2018.

 

Within the past two years, the Local Water Plan process has included input of county residents through a number of public meetings and survey forms.  To further engage and include local participation in the plan, the Sherburne SWCD would like to feature photography taken by county residents within the plan document and associated media.  Photos of the county’s water resources may be submitted to Sherburne SWCD by 4:30pm on July 15, 2017.  All entries will be presented anonymously to the Sherburne County Water Plan Advisory Committee at their summer meeting, where they then will be voted upon.  Guidelines are as follows:

 

1. Submissions will be accepted from the publishing of this notice until 4:30pm on July 15th, 2017.

 

2. Limit of two photos per person.

 

3. All photos must originate from within Sherburne County.

 

4. Photographs will be judged and voted upon with consideration of originality, composition quality, impact and subject matter relevance to Sherburne County water resources (lakes, streams, wetlands, wildlife, etc.). Feel free to be creative with your entry!

 

5. Photographs may be accompanied with a short title or description of the image.

 

6. Sherburne SWCD reserves the rights to use the winning entry within the 2018 update of the Local Water Plan and associated marketing materials (online and in print). The author will be noted and will retain moral rights as well as the intellectual property of the image.

 

7. We do not accept digitally or otherwise enhanced or altered photos. Minor adjustments, including spotting, dodging and burning, sharpening, contrast and slight color adjustment or the digital equivalents, are acceptable.

 

8. You retain your rights to your photograph; however, by entering the contest, you grant the Sherburne Soil and Water Conservation District a royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive license to publicly display, distribute, reproduce and create derivative works of the entries, in whole or in part, in any media now existing or later developed, for any Sherburne SWCD purpose, including, but not limited to, advertising and promotion of the SWCD Services. Any photograph reproduced will include a photographer credit as feasible.

 

9. There are no monetary prizes, but you and your image will receive public recognition on the cover of the Sherburne County Water Plan and various media platforms.

 

10. Entries may be submitted to Dan Cibulka in digital format (.jpg) with a file size between 1MB and 5MB at dcibulka@sherburneswcd.org.  

 

For more information on the Local Water Plan or photo contest, contact Dan at 763-567-5369.