Improving Lake Erie

On Wednesday, July 31, at 1:30 p.m. in the Fountain Inn Aigler Room, Carrie Jennings will present a unique project to help improve the water quality of Lake Erie.

Jennings is the Research & Policy Director at Freshwater, a Minnesota-based non-profit focused on surface-water quality and groundwater sustainability across the Great Lakes states.

In this innovative project, propelled by the Great Lakes Protection Fund, Freshwater has teamed up with several land trusts from Ohio to Minnesota on a regional approach to improving water quality in targeted Great Lakes basins.

In Ohio, they’re working on the western Lake Erie basin with the Black Swamp Conservancy in the Maumee watershed. The goal is to help the Black Swamp Conservancy identify high-priority lands for conservation using state-of-the-art watershed modeling.

This information will assist in restoring land to perennial vegetation, which will reduce runoff while improving habitat and sequestering carbon in the soil.

Jennings is a geologist who applies her understanding of glacial geology and landscape evolution to shape policy and technical approaches for managing surface water and groundwater, avoiding hazards, and using resources wisely.

Before her policy focus, she was a field geologist for a total of 24 years with the Minnesota Geological Survey & Department of Natural Resources.

Jennings is also Adjunct Graduate Faculty at the University of Minnesota. She is a former Lakeside lifeguard and long-time Lakesider and has a special place in her heart for Lake Erie.