April 2018 Letter from the Director
Hello from MAISRC!
A lot has been accomplished in MAISRC’s short life, and I hope you have all had a chance to see the highlights in our recent five-year report. As we have taken stock in our progress, equally as impressive has been the statewide reach of the research efforts. From Lake of the Woods up north to Pool 8 of the Mississippi River – and hundreds of locations in between – MAISRC researchers and citizen scientists have been working all across the state to understand and solve our AIS problems. Check out this interactive map to see what has been done in your area!
Unfortunately, the threats posed by AIS are also statewide. Common carp in southern Minnesota and spiny waterflea in the northeast. Zebra mussels in lake country and Eurasian watermilfoil in the metro. Of course, those lines can blur together, but you get the idea: strategic and impactful research to address all of Minnesota’s AIS problems can be a challenge. This is why MAISRC is important – bringing researchers, managers, and many other diverse stakeholders together to work towards solutions in a coordinated and prioritized way.
Funding to make all this happen has primarily been provided by the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). We recently submitted another proposal to the LCCMR to extend this base funding for the Center to 2023 and continue to offer competitive research grants on high-priority research needs. If you, your lake association, agency, or other group is interested in providing a letter of support for this proposal, please let us know at maisrc@umn.edu – it would really help!
To everyone that has made our research progress (and those ‘dots on the map’) possible – thank you!
Time to get back to the lab…
Nick
