Large-lake screening for future watershed protection efforts

Itasca County is about to begin their water plan update process, which will be finished in 2017. This plan will be watershed protection oriented following a similar format to what Crow Wing County has done. We are currently in the process of have lake screening reports completed for 38 Itasca County lakes, and we would like to continue this program to add reports for an additional 34 lakes. After completing the first and this second grant we would have a total 72 of our largest; most developed and used lakes prioritized through a screening process to see which lakes have improving, declining and stable trends. These reports combine a water quality data analysis with a lakeshed analysis to identify priority impacts for each lake, and incorporate water quality projection analyses. This information would be incorporated into our water plan update and guide the next ten years of implementation projects in the county. The Itasca COLA and Itasca Water Legacy Partnership (IWLP) will be partners in gathering past lake data and distributing the reports when completed. The reports will be completed by RMB Environmental Laboratories.