Not Just for Prairies
Join the Root River Prescribed Burn Association (RR PBA)
Sunday Sept 27, 2026; 12-2:00 pm
with possible live burn demo after
• We will see woodland fire breaks, discuss break construction, firing techniques, fire ecology
• Location is Jon Kochie’s place 6934 County 20, Caledonia, MN
• Wear clothes for rugged hiking, bring water & other personal items
• No registration needed; come and go at will
• For information on whether event has been cancelled due to poor weather, email jon@kochie.com for automated message on day of event
BROWNSVILLE — From her cabin overlooking the Mississippi River, Marie Smith can see the very resource she’s helping to protect.
The 150-foot streambank stabilization in her backyard helps to keep sediment and the pollutants it carries out of the Mississippi, which, in turn, helps to improve water quality and wildlife habitat. The unnamed tributary curves around the
property and then flows under the highway before it empties into the river.
Nearly 20 years ago, a flood turned the narrow creek into a raging torrent that took down trees and sliced through the yard — coming within a foot of the cabin. The subsequent repairs excavated the creek, brought in fill and leveled out the site.
“It was starting to erode again,” Smith said. “I was afraid everything was going to fall into the creek again.”
She worked with Root River Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) staff and Houston, Minnesota-based Van Gundy Excavation on the Watershed-Based Implementation Funding (WBIF) supported project completed in summer 2023. A Technical Service Area 7 engineer designed the project; the SWCD oversaw installation.
Root River SWCD technician Jean Meiners said the challenges included removing trees and maneuvering in such a tight space, which required completing work a bit at a time.
Among its components: 500 cubic yards of excavated material, 175 cubic yards of fill, 107 yards of rock of various sizes, 140 square yards of erosion-control fabric, and 4,260 square feet of seeding and mulch.
“This was a big priority for us in the watershed,” said Dave Walter, Root River SWCD manager. “It addressed sedimentation, erosion control and water quality.”
This part of Houston County is where the six-county, 1.3-million-acre Root River watershed drains into the Mississippi River. The watershed encompasses Fillmore County, most of Houston County, and parts o Mower, Dodge, Olmsted and Winona counties. The Root River itself enters the Mississippi near Hokah, about 9 miles north of the Smiths’ cabin.
Smith’s father-in-law bought the land and built the cabin in the 1950s. Smith said she comes to the cabin from La Crosse for peace and quiet, and spends most of her time tending to the cabin, the
lawn and the flowers.
One year after work finished, moss-covered boulders lined the narrow, shaded stream that flowed in the seam between sloped lawn and trees.
“I’m very pleased with the results. Very, very happy with what they did,” Smith said. “Jean and Dave
were just super to work with.”
The project will protect the property, which was being eroded away. It will keep an estimated 53 tons of sediment out of the Mississippi River each year. And the improved habitat will benefit wildlife.
“The wildlife benefits here are the ones that you can see — with the frogs and the deer and the turtles and turkeys and birds,” Walter said. “But also the stream life — the invertebrates and the bugs.”
AmeriCorps crews improve trout streams, gain work experience via Root River SWCD
A Rochester-based Conservation Corps Minnesota and Iowa crew worked on an ongoing cedar revetment project in Riceford Creek. The crew included, from left: Lakota Kirst, 23, of Osage, Iowa; Cole Wentworth, 25, of Preston, Iowa; Alexis Schwanz, 18, of Polk City, Iowa; and Andrea Dormer, 19, of Owatonna. (Photo by Ann Wessel, BWSR)
Earth Team Volunteer Recognized – Caledonia Field Office
Thurman Tucker, an Earth Team Volunteer (ETV) at the Caledonia Field Office, was presented with a Certificate of Recognition, signed by Minnesota State Conservationist Troy Daniell, and a roadside emergency kit at the Annual Quail Forever Banquet that was held on March 31,2019. Over 100 attendees clapped and cheered for Thurman as Gary Larson, District Conservationist, presented him with the award. To date, Thurman has donated 2,920 hours as an Earth Team Volunteer, he was also nominated for a National Earth Team Award in 2018.
Thurman has been a key player in promoting conservation programs, getting conservation on the ground, and ensuring additional habitat for bobwhite quail is established in southeastern Minnesota. In the last year he has contacted approximately 50 Houston County landowners promoting bobwhite quail habitat opportunities. Thurman’s efforts have directly led to over 30 Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) habitat applications in 2018. Thurman promoted the CP-33 practice which resulted in almost 60 Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts in Houston County cumulatively. He was instrumental in working with the NRCS Biologist, and a plethora of others, in establishing the CP-33 opportunity with CRP in many Minnesota counties.
Thurman has been collecting data and tracking sightings of bobwhite quail in Minnesota for over 30 years. In addition to working to rebuild Minnesota’s quail population, Thurman also conducts Christmas bird counts with local students and gives educational lectures. He has assisted with conservation educational field trips with local high school students from Spring Grove, Houston, Caledonia, and La Crescent schools and has had many bird posters printed for a contest with students in the SE and Metro North High School regarding bird identification.
Minnesota NRCS extends our deepest gratitude to Thurman Tucker for his many hours of volunteer service and dedication to conserving Minnesota’s natural resources.
Above: Thurman receiving his award! Foreground from L to R, Gary Larson, USDA NRCS District Conservationist, Caledonia Field Office; Thurman Tucker, Quail Forever; Dave Walter, District Manager, Root River SWCD.