Small ponds in Minnesota prairies may help save minnow species

Nick Utrup sat with a team of biologists in the tall grass, straining to see through the ripples of a small, unnamed pond. An approaching rainstorm from the west, already over the red cliffs of the nearby Blue Mounds State Park, had stirred up the wind throughout the prairie. But Utrup and the others stayed focused on finding signs of an elusive minnow.