Community members in Winona County, Minnesota, are noticing the impacts of climate change in their backyards, including changes in soil, land, crops, humidity, and the severity of storms. In fact, the area has witnessed three “one thousand year” rainfall events and subsequent flash floods since 2004. These floods can sweep away infrastructure, cause erosion and water pollution, and degrade water habitat, not to mention destroy property and injure residents.
In March of 2016, eighteen Winona County citizens gathered to learn more about climate change and discussed the ways their community could become stronger and more resilient. Since then, the community has taken ambitious steps to put their plans into action, and they’re showing no signs of slowing down.
Download the 2016 Winona County Climate Dialogue Report
In June of 2018, we hosted the Winona County Energy Dialogue to help residents consider the future of local energy.
Download the 2018 Winona County Energy Dialogue Report
Extreme weather in Winona County
Residents in Winona County are experiencing warmer winters, higher temperatures, increased thunderstorms, frequent heatwaves, and more mega-rain events. This has lead to adjustments in stormwater management, public health, fisheries management, change in pathogens, pests, and microbes, and increased risk of fire weather due to drought.
Winona High School student dialogue
In February 2016, about 100 Winona Senior High students heard from local experts and discussed their own priorities and concerns about climate and weather issues.
Winona Climate Dialogue
Eighteen Winona County citizens met at the Winona State University Tau Center from March 3-5, 2016. Panelists were tasked with deciding how Winona County can best address extreme weather and a changing climate in order to remain a healthy, resilient, and prosperous community. To view the complete process, and the full list of community concerns, opportunities, and recommendations, download the report.
Top challenges in Winona County
Top community concerns included adjusting farming and land management practices to adapt to climate change while remaining economically viable, flooding, erosion, degraded stream habitats, lack of information on community energy, and insurance policy increases due to extreme weather events.
Top opportunities in Winona County
Residents were excited for the local development of clean energy, water restoration projects, agricultural best management practices to maintain production and profits, and responsible land use practices to help withstand floods.
Recommendations for community action
To achieve community goals, participants recommended better runoff strategies, improving water use, supporting low impact land use policies, low impact agriculture, pursuing the Guaranteed Energy Savings Plan (GESP), addressing knowledge gaps in the community, and participation in the Minnesota GreenStep Cities program.
Winona County Commission hears recommendations
In July of 2016, Rural Climate Dialogue organizers and participants presented the dialogue results at a Winona County Commissioner meeting.
Rural Climate Dialogue State Convening
In an effort to identify common themes from the Rural Climate Dialogues held in three different communities, we invited participants and community members from Stevens, Itasca, and Winona Counties to spend two days in Saint Paul considering the work each community has done and meeting with state agency representatives to identify the best plan for collaboration. Citizens spent the days working across communities to determine the top priorities, actions, and potential obstacles to support resilience in Minnesota’s rural communities.
Winona County awarded MPCA grant
Dialogue organizers and participants received a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency grant to carry out dialogue recommendations through 2017.
Winona joins the Minnesota GreenStep City program
In 2017, Winona joined the GreenStep City program, a voluntary challenge which provides assistance and recognition to cities achieving their sustainability and quality-of-life goals.
County-wide energy contest
Sustain Winona launched a county-wide energy competition to save energy and reduce utility costs for the community.
Community energy outreach
Sustain Winona participates in community events across Winona County, helping residents take action to improve water and energy sustainability.
City of Winona Energy Plan
The City of Winona set a goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 in the city’s Energy Action Plan. The planning team was formed from a group of city staff, elected officials, local business owners, university representatives, and community members.
Free energy audits across Winona County
A collaboration between Xcel Energy, Semcac, the City of Winona, Winona County, CERTs, Next Step Partners/Sustain Winona, and the Jefferson Center, led to 197 low-income households served by Xcel Energy in Winona County have receiving Home Energy Squad visits. The visits included energy audits, upgrades to LED lightbulbs, water and energy-saving showerheads, programmable thermostats, weather stripping for doors, and more – at no cost to the households!
Winona County Energy Dialogue
On June 22-23, 2018, 13 randomly-selected community members and 6 public officials and local energy representatives gathered to learn about Winona County’s energy system, discuss energy priorities, and make recommendations to the community. Read the Winona County Summary Report to dive into their findings and action steps.
