Monday, January 29, 7:00 pm via Zoom (Register)
The South Washington Watershed District (SWWD) is a special purpose local unit of government covering approximately the southern third of Washington County. SWWD was established in 1993 to address intercommunity flooding at the Woodbury – Cottage Grove border. SWWD continues work on addressing flooding concerns; however, its focus is on water quality and resiliency. Its resiliency work has been recognized by the MN Climate Adaptation Partnership for providing local leadership for climate adaptation and resiliency. SWWD is in year 8 of implementing its current watershed management plan and is beginning the process of developing its next plan.
John Loomis is the Deputy Administrator at SWWD where he is responsible for developing and managing the District’s planning and implementation programs to protect and restore the District’s 12 lakes and 120 miles of streams. John’s life and career have been shaped by water from early memories of fishing with his Grandpa on the banks of the Cedar River, losing childhood homes to floods, rowing on the Little Arkansas River in Kansas, and working on lakes throughout MN and the upper Midwest. Those places have given John his appreciation for lakes and streams and the relationship between people, land, and water.
John has a B.S. in Environmental Studies from the University of Kansas and a M.S. from the University of Minnesota in Water Resources Science. He has been at SWWD for 15 years.
With a focus on SWWD resources and projects, John will present “Watershed Districts 101”, covering the history of Watershed Districts in MN, their role in water and watershed management, and how they are uniquely able to quickly respond to emerging resource issues at the local level.