Thanks to ANREP for supporting my professional development with a travel scholarship!
This past June I traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota to present at the University Council on Water Resources (UCOWR) and National Institutes for Water Resources (NIWR) annual joint conference. This opportunity would not have been possible without a travel grant from ANREP. As a Water Resources Extension Specialist, ANREP has long been my professional home, but in the off years between ANREP meetings I search for other conferences that are well attended by Extension folks or showcase applied research with a strong community engagement component. This year UCOWR was a great fit, and I was inspired by many of the talks, conversations, and field trip opportunities that were offered.
I moderated a session called Water and Society and gave an oral presentation in that session titled “Highlighting the Success of Community-Driven Watershed Planning: The Case of Edisto Island.” It was a great opportunity to showcase my long-term research and Extension project, and feedback from the audience was helpful for connecting with others who are also working to address bacteria pollution from failing septic tanks. I walked away with some new business cards, sent some follow up emails, and have gained some potential collaborators for future outreach projects.
The conference was hosted on the University of Minnesota campus, and I took advantage of breaks in the agenda to stroll the campus grounds. While much of the campus had a typical highly manicured turfgrass-dominated aesthetic, I was pleasantly surprised to see areas on campus that were a little wilder and more dominated by native plants. There wasn’t any educational signage in those areas, so they didn’t appear to be serving as demonstration sites. This gave me hope that conservation landscaping can be increasingly integrated into public spaces without the need for justifying why it is there!
The conference organized free walking tours of the nearby Mississippi River, which were offered multiple times throughout the week. Having done my dissertation research in Louisiana at the lower end of the Mississippi River, I was really excited to see the river closer to its headwaters. Watching the river pass by and knowing it ends up draining 40% of the contiguous United States, I was reminded how intertwined much of our work is in Extension, even across states and regions.
Of course, no visit to Minneapolis would be complete without a visit to the Mall of America (or so I was told). It was pretty crazy seeing a full amusement park indoors… but I much preferred strolling the galleries at the the University of Minnesota’s Weisman Art Museum, located along the banks of the Mississippi River, and designed by renowned architect Frank Gerhy.
Thanks to ANREP for supporting my travel to the conference. I returned to South Carolina reinvigorated and enthusiastic for the work ahead. Next year’s ANREP conference in Wilmington feels so far away, but it will be here before we know it. I look forward to connecting with many of you in person then—in the meantime, please reach out if you want to chat all things water quality!
