North Fork Crow River Watershed District Alternative Drainage Practices
The primary land use within the North Fork Crow River Watershed District is mainly row crop agriculture with extensive public and private drainage systems. A large portion of existing tile lines have open intakes that directly transport sediment and nutrients to open ditches leading to the North Fork Crow River (NFCR). The NFCR flows into Rice Lake that is impaired for aquatic recreation due to excessive nutrients. The District is planning on implementing agricultural conservation practices including 100 Alternative Inlets (Rock inlets or dense pattern tile intakes) and two saturated buffers, to reduce the nutrients, sediment and volume of water being transported by field tile. Implementation of these practices will reduce the nutrient loading from field tile and reduce pollutant loading into the NFCR and Rice Lake.
Please reference following link: http://www.bwsr.state.mn.us/aboutbwsr/boarddirectory.pdf
Bill Thompson-MPCA, Bruce Henningsgaard-MPCA, Mark Dittrich-MDA, Adam Birr-MDA, Greg Eggers-MDNR, Jim Solstad-MDNR, Gary Feyereison-USDA-ARS, Rick Moore-MSU-M, WRC, Sonia Maassel Jacobsen-NRCS, Tim Gillette-BWSR, Al Kean, BWSR
Nicole Clapp
Laws of Minnesota 2011, 1st Special Session, Chapter 6, Section 7, and Laws of Minnesota 2012, Chapter 264, Section 7
100 alternative tile intakes and 2 saturated buffers will help reduce phosphorus by 140 pounds/year before it enters Rice Lake.
The source of additional funds varies from project to project, but generally consists of federal, local and non-public sources.