When coworkers find exciting career opportunities that entice them to move on, we share in their excitement, while also lamenting that we won't be working with them any longer. Having accepted a position with Hennepin County, Outreach and Engagement Coordinator Emily Johnson's last day with ACD is November 12, 2021.

Emily originally joined ACD in September of 2017 as a MNGreenCorps member and accepted a position with ACD one year later as our first Outreach and Engagement Coordinator. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Biology with a minor in Geology from Macalester College and a Certificate in Environmental Education from Hamline University. Emily coordinated the newly established Anoka County Water Resource Outreach Collaborative, created outreach materials and programs, connected with target audiences, and built efficiency in achieving outreach goals throughout the county.

Emily's work general fit into three categories:

• Outreach – connecting with people;
• Information – enhancing the public's understanding of our shared natural resources; and
• Engagement – providing the public with opportunities to take action to make a difference.

In Emily's first 15 months on ACD's staff, she set an unimaginable standard by:

• tabling 40 event booths and interacting with nearly 5,000 people;
• coordinating 27 presentations to a combined audience of over 1,600; and
• hosting 15 conservation action oriented workshops for over 300 residents.

COVID-19 swept across the country in 2020, severely limiting the ways in which Emily was able to connect, inform and engage the public. During that time, Emily prepared the Community chapter in ACD's new 10-year comprehensive plan, which focuses on how to tap into Anoka County's human resources to result in positive conservation outcomes. Emily also enhanced ACD's visibility in the community by initiating monthly digital snapshots of our work as well as more comprehensive quarterly newsletters. Quickly adapting to virtual meetings and events, Emily forged ahead with outreach and engagement despite COVID-19 barriers. She redirected her attention to enhancing social media content, mastering virtual meeting technologies, refining digital web content, and creating outreach materials.

Emily created durable outreach materials in the form of displays, brochures, videos, articles, and website/social media content. The impact of these materials grows with each reading, viewing, and/or use. By the end of 2020 Emily's three videos received over 10,000 views. As of today, that has grown to nearly 22,000.

Whether tabling a booth on a frigid day on one of Anoka County's frozen lakes or engaging with a landowner at a community event, Emily always did so with an inviting smile, an infectious energy, and a compelling understanding or our natural resources.

Emily brought to ACD a talent set that will be hard to replace: social media and communications coordinator; outreach technologies engineer; sociologist and public engagement expert; event organizer; and natural resources steward. Brimming with talent, intelligence, dedication, professionalism, and a personable disposition, Emily is bound to succeed at whatever endeavor she tackles. Staff and supervisors at ACD wish her the very best and hope to collaborate with her in her new position at Hennepin County. 

I noticed my neighbors doing this in their backyard. At first, I thought it was odd and might attract unsavory characters to the neighborhood and bring down property values. Now, I'm a card carrying member of the Rewild Club. It's best to explain.

I took a hard look at my yard and ask myself…What do I want from this space?

• A peaceful shady retreat?
• Home grown food?
• Entertainment central?
• Ruckus area for kids and pets?

What do I need to make that happen? A patio, a water feature, play area, shade trees, garden plot, privacy screening, a lawn area for recreation, disco ball and dance floor, an amphitheater for Shakespeare in the Park night?

I realized that my yard was mostly seldom-used lawn and none of the other fun stuff.

Amphitheater and disco balls aside, I started to pull together a plan. The biggest surprise was how much better my yard would be if I did less work. I opted to rewild unused space. Along the perimeter of my yard I stopped mowing, I stopped raking, I stopped fertilizing, I stopped weeding, and I stopped watering. In other words, I released by inner teenager. I let trees and shrubs that popped up keep growing, and planted a few for fall color, nesting, fruit and flowers. In a few years, instead of staring at a fence that needed maintenance, I had a living screen of trees and shrubs. Birds and butterflies came back to enjoy the flowers and fruits of my lack of labor, and they turned out not to be the unsavory characters I had imagined. The shade makes hot summer days in the yard enjoyable and cuts my lawn watering in half. There still plenty of lawn for kids and pets, but now the space is a haven for the family and a little wildlife.

Tips for the would-be rewilder.

1. Just mow less.
2. Baby steps. Pick a small area to try first. Consider it a journey of many years, not a mountain to climb on a single trek.
3. Forget tidy. Wild areas can be messy. You can keep the edges formal if you want.
4. Pick up ID books for birds, flowers, and trees so you can get to know your new neighbors. Books? Did he say books? I think he meant App.
5. Avoid using chemicals where the wild things are.
6. Think vertically if you have a small space. Tall trees, medium sized trees, shrubs, wildflowers and grasses can call have a place in a very small area.
7. Add a water feature to ramp up the wildlife appeal.
8. Plant diversity is good. Variety will make the space more interesting and resistant to stressors like disease and drought.
9. Speed up the process with affordable bare root trees and shrubs from your local conservation district annual tree sale.
10. Avoid invaders. Learn a few of the invasive plants in your area and try to keep them out of your wild space.
11. Let your neighbors know why you would do such zaniness.

District Capacity funds (DCF) have made the greatest difference in Anoka Conservation District (ACD) operations by serving as a highly adaptable funding source. We use DCF to tackle critical but small tasks that elevate our overall function and efficiency. Most individual projects and activities funded with DCF cost less than $5,000.

Inventory: ACD completed riverbank and lakeshore condition photo inventories for our major rivers (Rum and Mississippi) and many lakes, totaling over 50 miles of shoreline. Photos are uploaded to Google maps where they are available by using the StreetView function for the public, and ACD staff when fielding calls from landowners.

Planning and Analysis: Streambank and lakeshore photos were analyzed to determine erosion location and severity, enabling ACD to identify and rank potential projects based on cost-effectiveness for water quality benefits. This was the foundation to secure many grants. Similar analysis of wetland restoration opportunities facilitates targeted outreach efforts.

Technical Capacity: Building staff expertise through training and technology upgrades, including design software and survey equipment.

Technical Assistance: In 2020, DCF was used to help complete 198 site consultations, 19 surveys and designs, and construction management for 20 projects for landowners. Technical assistance is a critical service to achieve conservation on private lands.

Cost Share: DCF is used to supplement other funding to help projects such as shoreline and riverbank stabilizations over the finish line.

Project Life Extension: Approximately 25 landowners annually are provided project management guidance to extend the benefits of their project beyond the contracted life.