Red River Basin Riparian Habitat Program - Phase I

This basin-wide initiative will establish permanent riparian and upland habitat adjacent to priority rivers and streams in the RRB of Minnesota. The RRWMB will partner with BWSR to use the RIM Program to purchase conservation easements for agricultural lands adjacent to riparian areas. These easements will restore and protect important stream and riparian habitat and have collateral benefits of reducing flood damages and improving water quality. The RRWMB is a joint power board of watershed district formed in 1976. The organization is analogous to the Mississippi Headwaters Board in that it has full authority to act as a fiscal agent on behalf of its members and can raise revenue through taxation. The organization was originally focused on providing a basin-wide perspective on flood control but has made programmatic shifts in recent years to assist its member Watershed Districts (WD) as they focus on management activities that includes the permanent protection of riparian and upland habitat. The RRWMB and the watershed districts are uniquely positioned to lead efforts at the basin wide scale to restore and protect stream and riparian habitats, given their history and current interest in implementing multipurpose projects that include habitat.

This regional project will build on and streamline established RIM programming previously implemented by individual WDs within the RRB. This project will consolidate current applications from the region as it includes: (1) Lower Wild Rice Corridor Habitat Restoration Project, Wild Rice WD; (2) Doran Creek Stream Rehabilitation Project, Bois de Sioux WD; and (3) Swift Coulee Channel Restoration Project, Middle-Snake-Tamarac Rivers WD. As proposed, the project will provide basin-wide administrative efficiency, geographic flexibility, and responsiveness to target habitat restoration and protection to priority watercourses.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between RRWMB and BWSR will establish the process for permanently protecting eligible lands in RIM while also allowing flexibility for future restoration of stream habitat when needed. The RRWMB will serve as the program manager and BWSR will act as the fiscal agent. The RIM program will be delivered targeted watercourses through local WDs and Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD). Outcomes of this effort will make substantial progress towards the RRWMB's regional and local habitat goals including permanent protection of riparian corridors fish species like Lake sturgeons and other Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) that directly rely upon these watercourse corridors for habitat ( e.g., Greater prairie chicken, Burrowing owl, Chestnut collared longspur, Dakota skipper, and Rusty patched bumble bee).