The AIPG MN Section is requesting nominations of interested members from the Section for the upcoming 2018 Officer Election.  There are four positions up for election, President-Elect, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. A summary of each position is included below:

1.     President-Elect: The President-Elect serves one year under the President, becomes the President the following year, then serves in an advisory role as past-President the following year (a 3 year commitment in total).  All three roles encompassed by the President are described below:

• The President-Elect shall perform the duties customary to the office, those assigned by these Bylaws or by the Executive Committee, and those required of a President-Elect by the Institute. The President-Elect shall be the default Section Delegate who attends the Institute’s Annual Meeting and represents the Section’s Members.  The President-Elect position description.

• The President The President shall preside at all meetings of this Section and of its Executive Committee, and shall perform the duties customary to the office.  The President shall be the official spokesperson for this Section and shall execute all appropriate documents and official correspondence of this Section.   The President shall appoint the chairs of all committees of this Section. The President shall be responsible for carrying out all of the policies and directives of the Executive Committee, except where such responsibility is specifically assigned to another Officer. The President-Elect shall be the Section Delegate who attends the Institute’s Annual Meeting & Conference (scheduled for September 12-15, 2020 in Sacramento, CA) and represents the Section’s Members. The President position description.

• The Past-president is an advisor to the President and maintains a voting seat as a Director on the Executive Committee of the Section.  The Past-President participates in Executive Committee and Annual Business Meetings.

2.   Vice President: The Vice-President shall perform the duties customary to the office, those assigned by these Bylaws or by the Executive Committee and those required of a Vice-President by the Institute. At the direction of the President, the Vice-President shall perform the duties of the President during the absence of the President. The Vice-President position description.

3.   Secretary: The Secretary shall perform the duties customary to the office, those assigned by these Bylaws or by the Executive Committee, and those required of a Section Secretary by the Institutes.  The Secretary shall keep, maintain and have custody of the Bylaws, official documents and correspondence of this Section, the minutes and records of the meetings, and the decisions of this Section and of the Executive Committee. The Secretary is also the primary webmaster.  The Secretary position description.

4.   Treasurer: The Treasurer shall perform the duties customary to the office, those assigned by these Bylaws or by the Executive Committee, and those required of a Section Treasurer by the Institute. All Section financial resources are the property of the Institute, which are placed in the custody and under the management of the Treasurer under the ultimate authority of the Institute Treasurer. The Treasurer shall keep an accurate accounting of all Section financial transactions and account balances, and shall ensure that all funds received are properly deposited and disbursements properly made from the Section's accounts. The Treasurer shall be responsible for preparing and submitting the annual financial statements and reports of this Section, and such other financial reports as may be required by the Executive Committee or the Institute. The Treasurer position description.

Nominations are requested by November 1, 2018 by 5:00 PM.  Please send nominations to nominating@aipgmm.org. Voting will be open on November 15, 2018 until November 30, 2018.

The Section Bylaws for reference.

AIPG Minnesota Section,

We are looking for ‘testimonials’ on how people have used the county geologic atlases. We occasionally get requests to give presentations on the topic – “Just what are the County Geologic Atlas good for?” We also routinely get asked by legislators to provide examples at the local level of how they are used, and even what the economic advantages to having a county atlas are.

We know the CGA is used by a wide variety of stakeholders for many different applications and their availability often results in time and money savings on projects (high capacity wells, groundwater modeling, landfill siting, DOT uses them in structure work, counties use them for many zoning applications, and many more).

We are particularly interested to know about specific projects, but also find value in understanding in a more general sense the types of projects you use them for. Here are a couple shortened examples we have received:

Jim de Lambert, Senior Hydrogeologist, Carlson McCain, Inc: “For most projects the initial information sources include the County Geologic Atlas. For Minnesota well siting projects, the County Atlas Series will be my first source of information to help define the project area and to give the area broad hydrogeologic context. This assists in identifying potential target aquifer(s). If the supplier is a Rural Water System, there is often considerable flexibility with well field location and this type of county and regional information can be invaluable.”

Heather Cunningham, Zoning and Environmental Services Administrator, Carlton County: “I would say that I use the atlas on a monthly basis. In the last 6 months, I have used it for the review of an Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW), pollution sensitivity for a proposed mixed use development, groundwater contamination at our closed landfill, and in working with a lake association.”

Kristi Anderson, Hydrogeologist, Northwest AqwaTek Solutions: “The majority of what I do is working with the agricultural community for crop irrigation systems; I typically look to the County Geologic Atlas (CGA)….as the starting point for my work.”

Joe Hudak, Assistant Engineering Geologist, Minnesota Department of Transportation: “We typically use the county atlases for subsurface information prior to conducting any geophysical field work or drill rig borings/CPT soundings.”

Martin Larsen, Olmsted County Feedlot Technician, Landowner & Farmer, Olmsted County: “The County Geologic Atlas is an important tool for the Olmsted Soil and Water Conservation District. It is used for animal feedlot permitting and nutrient management planning to locate sinkholes, depth to bedrock and first encountered bedrock. The springshed maps included in some Part B atlases are utilized for local education and outreach.”

If you have specific application examples that you could share it would be especially useful. Or, if you have any leads of others who might use the CGAs, we would be interested in getting those contacts so that we could learn more.

We are also very interested to get your ideas about how we can improve the end-product. Maybe there is a way we can make the CGA more valuable to you.

Thank-you for your help.
Barb Lusardi, Associate Director, Minnesota Geological Survey, lusar001@umn.edu
Paul Putzier, Supervisor DNR County Geologic Atlas Program, paul.putzier@state.mn.us

As a 2017 AIPG MN Section Sponsor, your personal AIPG MN member account has been credited with 2 Luncheon Vouchers.  You can use them for anyone you register using your member account during 2017.

When you get to the payment screen, you'll see a section where you can select to use a voucher: 

Please select how many vouchers you'd like to use and click on APPLY.  You'll proceed through the registration process with a $0 balance.  If you have questions or issues using the vouchers, please contact Shanna Schmitt at past-president@aipgmn.org or 651.757.2697.  Thank you for your sponsorship!

Students from the University of St. Thomas Geology Department recently formed an AIPG Student Chapter.  Thier bylaws were signed on 02/13/2015, and AIPG Headquarters recognized them on 03/30/2015. Congratulations!

Sara Nelson of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is the AIPG MN Section liason with the University of St. Thomas AIPG Student Chapter.