28  Patty and Nora Check-in 19AUG2024

Date: Thursday, August 19, 2024

28.0.1 Agenda

  1. Recap of Thursday’s wrap-up meeting
  2. Project updates and planning
  3. Field work progress and scheduling
  4. Data management and analysis plans
  5. Future meeting scheduling

28.0.2 1. Recap of Thursday’s Wrap-up Meeting

Patty provided an overview of the wrap-up meeting that occurred on Thursday:

  • Joe recorded the meeting, and transcripts will be available.
  • The team’s collaborative work was praised, particularly their ability to work together without conflicts.
  • Discussion on the NASIS project and DSP project occurred.
  • Troy did not attend.

Action Items:

28.0.3 2. Project Updates and Planning

28.0.3.1 2.1 NASIS Project

Patty discussed her progress and plans for the NASIS project:

  • She needs to create a NASIS project and a DSP project in NASIS.
  • Currently working on populating NASIS with project map units.
  • Selected map units with centroids in the Area of Interest (AOI), resulting in nearly 200,000 map units.

Action Items:

28.0.3.2 2.2 Data Analysis Plans

Discussion on analyzing the 300 points of data already collected:

  • Plans to extract information on Ksat, particle size, organic carbon, pH, and bulk density.
  • Randy suggested recreating profiles from incremental sampling data.
  • Consideration of using “correlation boxes” for visualizing data.

Action Items:

28.0.3.3 2.3 Future Planning

  • Bi-monthly meetings with Randy to be scheduled for project updates and guidance.
  • Randy to give a presentation on Human-Transported Materials (HTM) epipedons.
  • Discussion on starting to group sites by parent material and origin of HTM.

Action Items:

28.0.4 3. Field Work Progress and Scheduling

28.0.4.1 3.1 Current Field Work

Nora provided an update on ongoing field work:

  • Continuing work in the National Wildlife Refuge, expected to finish this week or early next week.
  • Focus primarily on floodplain areas, with some upland sampling where accessible.
  • Limited Human-Transported Materials (HTM) found in the wildlife refuge areas.

28.0.4.2 3.2 Upcoming Field Work

Discussion on upcoming field work in city parks:

  • Plans to work in St. Paul Parks, Maplewood, and Roseville.
  • St. Paul permit in progress, with additional permission needed from the Pollution Control Agency for Pig’s Eye Regional Park (former landfill).
  • Nora hopes to start work in St. Paul parks next week or the week after Labor Day.

Action Items:

28.0.4.3 3.3 Field Work During School Year

  • Nora plans to help with field work on Fridays when possible.
  • Uncertainty about continued involvement of other U of M crew members during the school year.

Action Items:

28.0.5 4. Data Management and Analysis Plans

28.0.5.1 4.1 Grouping and Categorizing Data

Discussion on how to start grouping and categorizing collected data:

  • Suggestion to use Excel for initial organization.
  • Consideration of creating a flow chart or other visualization methods.
  • Plans to group data by parent material, landscape position, and HTM presence.

Action Items:

28.0.5.2 4.2 Classification of Soils

  • Discussion on when to classify soils - in the field or later.
  • Nic prefers not classifying in the field, focusing on good descriptions instead.

Action Items:

28.0.5.3 4.3 Importance of HTM Structure

  • Patty emphasized the importance of accurately describing HTM structure.
  • Discussion on the benefits of digging small pits for better structure observation.

Action Items:

28.0.6 5. Future Meeting Scheduling

  • Agreed to keep the next Monday meeting (August 26th) as scheduled.
  • Discussed potentially moving meetings to Tuesdays at 9 AM starting in September.
  • Agreed to skip the week of Labor Day (September 2nd).

Action Items:

28.0.7 Additional Action Items

  1. Patty:
  2. Nora:

28.0.8 Closing Remarks

Both Patty and Nora expressed satisfaction with the progress of the project and the collaborative nature of the team. They agreed to keep each other updated on any developments and to continue their regular meetings to ensure smooth project progression.

The meeting concluded with a mutual agreement to reconnect next Monday, August 26th, for their final Monday meeting before potentially switching to Tuesdays in September.