Kites are cool!

Creating our own aerial photography is one of the things I am learning this summer. This consists of flying a kite and attaching a camera to it, via a rig, setting it to automatically take continuous images. This meant testing out our 7 foot and 9 foot kites this week! Getting the kite to take off was quite the challenge at first but, thanks to consistent wind this week, I’ve gotten the hang of it, plus its really fun! We made a rig out of a water jug, pool noodles, and rubber bands. There were high hopes that the kite would be able to carry the rig with a digital camera to it but quickly learned it wouldn’t when we were testing it out at 11 PM one night. We did, however, attach an iPhone to it (with no protection whatsoever which was super scary and we were nervous it was going to fly off and crack), and successfully the kite took it away with no problem. Here, we learned that we needed to get a lighter camera, that will hopefully get here next week so we can finally start taking pictures. By the end of these couple of days experimenting with the kite, I can say that I’m pretty darn good with a kite. I need to put these skills to display and join some sort of kite club! If that's even a real thing. 

#TeamNels Takes the Watershed by Storm!

Two weeks in and I am feeling oh so good! It has been amazing to switch up the regular learning routine of daily classes and instead delve into the life of a researcher. I have already learned so much and become so close with my peers, it is difficult to quantify what these two weeks have meant to me. Even on the tough and long days, I am so grateful to be here! Back home in Massachusetts I attend Hampshire College and study sustainable agriculture. At Hampshire, students develop their own study of interest (rather than choosing from a list of majors) so I have also been able to foster my interest in studying community. My partner Elise and I are working with our mentor Nels Paulson (#TeamNels) on the sociology piece of this LAKES project to create social networks and examine how these social networks affect the adoption of best management practices (BMPs). Since my background is not directly in sociology, I was a little intimidated by the amount of math involved in social analysis and modeling, but after a few long days of learning statistics, the fun has begun!

Meetings, Meetings, and More Meetings

During the course of week, I’ve had the pleasure of attending various meetings pertaining to the policies in the county of Dunn as well as talking to the people who are affected by them. This also includes learning about how the county and community currently work towards land and water conservation, who gets a say when constructing certain policies, and how different boards will communicate to the public about these issues. Overall it’s quite interesting seeing how policies are perceived through the eyes of different individuals and their takes on what is actually important. Along with my group members Amber and Kayleigh we got to see a bit into the history of water use in Lake Menomin thanks to the Dunn County Historical Society. In order to improve the water quality here in Menomonie in addition to other areas I think it’s important to identify the social infrastructure as well as the community capacity that will help attain more measurable and sustainable results.

The eCOWnomics of Menomonie

Two weeks have flown by and I can tell my brain is already getting bigger! Well, maybe it hasn't actually physically grown in size, but I sure am learning a lot from this experience. From my past three years of studying economics, I certainly understood that communities are complex - but real-life research gives you an entirely new perspective on the word "complex." While exploring IMPLAN (an input-output software that allows you to analyze the effects of a given shock on an economy), my team and I discovered just how many inputs go in to the development of a community project (hint: it's too many to count). For instance, we're interested in learning more about how the TMDL will affect the local economy. TMDL stands for Total Maximum Daily Load, and the Red Cedar River Water Quality Partnership created a plan for the town of Menomonie to reduce phosphorus loads that are heavily polluting the Red Cedar watershed. While this plan is good for the environment, we want to know if it's economically feasible for the community.

Summer Learnin'

Since I am passionate about our environment and know that the Menomonie economy has a strong agricultural sector, I would like to learn more about how conservation practices in agriculture can improve water quality, which can improve tourism, which can improve the local economy. If I find that practicing conservative agricultural practices would actually hurt the Menomonie economy, I would like to learn about possible solutions that could counteract that negativity. The community here is full of generational farmers, so I'm sure it will be hard to convince them to change their traditional ways of farming, but I'm hoping with the research my team is doing this summer, we will have enough evidence to show that practicing agricultural methods that improve water quality for our community can at least benefit the well-being of the locals.

Menomonie--Through New Eyes

My name is Ryleigh Prochnow and I was born and raised in the Menomonie/Colfax area, but I study economics at UW La Crosse. Because I am a local, I honestly didn’t have much for expectations since I already know the area, or so I thought. Growing up in this small, rural area in the middle of nowhere, I always idolized the bigger and exciting cities. However, now that I have gotten more involved in the nature and history of the area, I have realized how unique and beautiful Menomonie and the surrounding area really is. By seeing the reactions to the town and nature from the other students, I have grown a new appreciation for this environment. The thick, beautiful grasses and flowers from abundant rainfall, the plentiful creatures like deer and squirrels on campus (we saw a deer right across our dorm), and the beautiful people have reached a new light in my life, and I could not be more thankful to have this new perspective. I have learned that life's most beautiful gifts can be right in front of you, you just have to look carefully. 

Menomonie I thought I knew you

A campus ordinarily teeming with people is quiet. Streets I have passed hundreds of times hold new interests and experiences. People all around me are full of questions I can’t give satisfactory answers to. Menomonie I thought I knew you. I grew up next to you. I visit you all semester long when I go to classes, when I stop by to see family, when I just need to pick up a few groceries. Yet I don’t think I ever gave much thought to what you are or what you had to offer.