A key area of funding for conservation in Minnesota is the Clean Water Fund, which receives constitutionally dedicated sales tax proceeds approved by Minnesota voters in 2008. The Clean Water Council is a 28-member board that advises the Governor and Legislature on these funds, representing organizations with a role in achieving the state’s clean water goals. Renville SWCD Administrator Holly Hatlewick represents SWCDs on the council. Jen Kader became the new administrator of the Clean Water Council in May. She brings key experience in the public and private sectors to this role – including a leadership role as a facilitator for One Watershed, One Plan statewide.

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This month, we’re getting to know Jen and her priorities for the Clean Water Council as she settles into her role in this Q&A.

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As you get oriented to your new role, what do you see as opportunities and challenges for locally led water quality efforts?

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I think there is a lot of opportunity. The whole approach that the Clean Water Fund (CWF) has teed up has increased data at our fingertips, awareness of strategies to improve or maintain water quality, partnerships to prioritize and collaborate on implementation through state-approved plans, and then money to actually do that implementation through competitive and non-competitive grants. We’re looking at accelerating implementation across the board while focusing on priority actions or locations that can produce measurable outcomes, and that’s further enhanced by leveraged funding from non-CWF sources. That’s huge. That’s also a lot of work, especially if new relationships are needed to invite participation from private landowners. That gets to the challenges that are top of mind for me — staffing capacity and consistency, and engagement.

 

How does your experience with facilitating comprehensive watershed planning partnerships influence how you approach this role?

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I am so grateful that I worked on a number of different One Watershed, One Plan (1W1P) efforts before becoming the Council Administrator. With the role that 1W1P plays as a part of the overall Water Management Framework, it really helps to illustrate the interconnected nature of Clean Water Fund-supported programs. At a more personal level, as a Plan Facilitator, I had the opportunity to navigate the whole process with the various committees and saw the way that staff and policy committee members were thoughtfully engaging in the process, weighing different tensions or opinions, and figuring out how to agree to what they want to work on together versus what they would continue to work on individually. I saw the way that professional colleagues built genuine relationships with each other through the process and how those connections across the length of a watershed led to new collaborations that extended beyond 1W1P. And then I got to see how strategically developed plans led to implementation that was making a difference for water and local communities. The process works. Having a first-hand understanding of that process, as well as the relationships I was able to build through it, will serve me really well in this role.

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Based on your past work with MASWCD and your time partnering with SWCDs, what insights do you have for SWCDs as they increase our pace of progress for improving water quality?

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Keep up the good work! And help us to tell your stories. You are all doing incredible work, far beyond what was happening before the Legacy Amendment. And it is happening in a different way. While I was still at Freshwater, I had the fortune of working with SWCDs across the state in a variety of capacities. When I got to talk with people about the work happening or share stories from your newsletters, Board of Water and Soil Resources Snapshots, or otherwise, people were excited to hear about it! Those stories challenge the notion of “random acts of conservation” and show how all the pieces, over time, contribute to that clean water future we’re all working toward. And being able to talk about the constraints helped to humanize and build empathy for what would otherwise just be a number in a budget spreadsheet. As you continue to capture and tell your own stories, please keep us in the loop (I’m happy to share links in our semi-regular newsletter as an easy way to amplify). And please feel free to invite me or Council members to join you for events or field days!

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What’s on the horizon/what are you and the Clean Water Council focused on for the next few months?

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We are in the process of wrapping up what we generally call the “strategy year”— the year between budget development processes that can be used to more deeply dive into emerging or challenging topics, clarify priorities, and make any adjustments to our approaches with an eye toward continual improvement. This year, we adopted the Council’s first-ever Public Participation Plan, engaged in a Field Tour in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, developed and adopted a revised budget development process that will use the Council’s first-ever scoring rubric, conducted a survey regarding Clean Water Fund uses and priorities, and hit on a variety of topics:

• Nutrient Reduction Strategy

• WBIF tracking

• Reduced tillage

• PFAS

• Large-volume water users

• Wake boats

• Drinking water (especially private wells and SE Minnesota)

• Forest management for water quality

• And more!

In the coming months, we will go over the results from our survey; hear about a different survey conducted by the University of Minnesota regarding knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of private well users; wrap up work on a new policy statement regarding large-volume water users and provide an update to our chloride policy statement, and update our strategies for monitoring outcomes from CWF efforts. We’re looking forward to being a part of the Annual Convention as well in December, before we launch into the next round of budget development in January.