Photo By Patrick Moes | Tammy Johnson, St. Paul District park ranger, prepares to adjust a gate at the Big...... read more read more
GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. - For many people, the winter months in the Upper Midwest mean indoors projects. That’s not the case for some district employees. While the mercury drops out of site on the thermometer, district employees continue working despite battling the frigid conditions from one of the coldest winters during the past 30 years.
The staff remains focused as they continue preparing for the inevitable arrival of warmer weather.
Whether working at any of the district’s reservoirs, project worksites or facilities along the Mississippi River, district staff are busy performing maintenance and preparing for the upcoming recreation, navigation and construction seasons.
“While campers may not be knocking down the door come January 1st, we aren’t in total hibernation mode up here in the [Mississippi River] Headwaters,” said Tammy Johnson, site supervisor for Big Sandy Lake Recreation Area, near McGregor, Minn. “Winter is our time to do some behind the scenes work, preparing for next season’s ‘production.’” During the winter months, recreation areas such as the ones in North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin still need to be accessible to the public for ice fishing, snowmobiling and other recreation activities.
Johnson added that in addition to preparing for the upcoming recreation season, one of the other big responsibilities reservoir staff have is to be prepared for the spring snowmelt. This preparation entails taking weekly snow and ice depth measurements and determining what the water content is within the snowpack. Johnson said they report the information to the district’s water management office in St. Paul, Minn.
In addition to using this data to manage reservoir levels, the district shares this information with the National Weather Service, or NWS, and the U.S. Geological Survey.
Brian Johnson, engineering and construction, said the snow and ice measurements help the water management staff determine what needs to be done at each of the district’s reservoirs.
He said the water management team works closely with the dam tenders throughout the winter to gather the data that will help the NWS determine the potential flood threat for the spring snowmelt.
“The park rangers serve as the eyes and ears for the district,” he said. “They are the on the ground at the various reservoirs and their observations are critical.”
| Date Taken: | 02.25.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 02.25.2014 14:49 |
| Story ID: | 121133 |
| Location: | GRAND RAPIDS, MN, US |
| Web Views: | 54 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Dam tenders work through frigid temps, by George Stringham, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT