DNR Aquatic Habitat Restoration and Enhancement - Phase 5
Diverse habitat is critical to sustaining quality fish populations in lakes and rivers. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MNDNR) will complete nine fish passage projects to restore habitat connectivity for fish and other aquatic life, and restore reaches of five different rivers, creating nine miles of diverse aquatic habitat. Though the actual footprint of fish passage projects is relatively small, these projects will reconnect over 10,000 acres of lake and river habitat. Aquatic habitat projects were selected from a statewide list, prioritized by factors such as ecological benefit, scale of impact, urgency of completion, and local support.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MNDNR) annually updates a statewide list of stream habitat projects. Project proposals come both from MNDNR staff and from partner organizations. Projects are prioritized based on scale-of-impact, urgency, local support, and critical habitat for rare species. Based on this list, MNDNR and our partners are proposing nine fish passage projects and four channel restorations, leveraging a confirmed $4,016,000 from a variety of federal, state, and local sources.
Access to diverse habitats is critical for fish and other aquatic organisms to complete various life stages. The habitats they use at different life stages may all vary widely. These habitats can be fairly unique, such as high-gradient riffles favored by many spawning fish, and may be miles apart. When dams or other obstructions prevent aquatic life from reaching ideal habitat, they are forced to use less optimal locations that can reduce their success. In some cases this leads to the complete loss of sensitive species upstream of a barrier. Research by MNDNR River Ecologist Luther Aadland found that on average, species richness declined by 37% upstream of near complete barriers to fish passage. Subsequent removal of 11 barriers in this study resulted in upstream recolonization of an average of 66% of the species that had been absent.
Modifying or removing the barriers through our nine proposed fish passage projects would have a total footprint of 9 acres, but create upstream access to over 10,000 acres of lake and river habitat. Restoring fish passage will benefit fish such as Walleye and Brook Trout present in these rivers, as well as five mussel species classified as threatened or special concern. Restoring connectivity also expands fishing opportunities by acting as a conduit for recolonization following catastrophic events such as drought that may happen in one portion of a watershed.
Meandering rivers and streams naturally form diverse habitat. Deeper, slower habitat is created by scour into the bed of the river around the outside of bends, while faster water and a rockier bottom is found in the straight sections in between. Wood, overhanging vegetation, and boulders serve as cover and current breaks for fish. In degraded sections of river, these natural processes are disrupted. Some reaches have been artificially straightened, preventing the meandering that forms diverse habitat. In other places, streams have become surrounded by tall banks that prevent high flows from spilling out onto a floodplain. When floods are trapped within the stream channel, the river erodes the banks. This not only mobilizes tons of sediment that degrades downstream habitat, but results in a wide, shallow channel during low-flow periods that is avoided by adult fish. Channel restoration projects will utilize reference locations with high-quality habitat to improve habitat. Working with partners, we will restore and enhance 8.1 miles of habitat on five streams.
$5,177,000 the second year is to the commissioner of natural resources to restore and enhance aquatic habitat in degraded streams and aquatic management areas and to facilitate fish passage. A list of proposed land restorations and enhancements must be provided as part of the required accomplishment plan.
Improved aquatic habitat indicators - For the Kingsbury Creek project, we will evaluate instream habitat as well as brook trout populations to assess success. For the Rock Dam project, warmwater fish communities will be assessed before and after project completion.
Rivers and streams provide corridors of habitat including intact areas of forest cover in the east and large wetland/upland complexes in the west - Both MNDNR and PCA conduct periodic surveys of the Otter Tail River watershed. For the Phelps Mill Dam project, we will compare warmwater fish communities before and after project completion. We will also compare catch rates for critical species before and after project completion as indicators of population density changes.
Improved aquatic habitat indicators - For the Tischer Creek Dam project, we will evaluate instream habitat and use routine fish surveys to gauge changes to the fish community to compare to pre-project data.
The Whiskey Creek and Roseau River channel restoration projects in this region will improve in-channel and riparian habitat. We will use metrics that evaluate instream and floodplain habitat to assess our success. For the Buffalo River, Seven Mile Creek, and Lake Sakatah fish passage projects, we will use routine fish surveys to gauge changes to the fish community, and compare with pre-project data. For the Whetstone Creek project, we will evaluate instream habitat and use routine fish surveys to gauge changes to the fish community to compare to pre-project data
Buffalo Red River Watershed District, NRCS, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Roseau River Watershed District, flood hazard mitigation funds and Red River Watershed Management Board