Lower Wild Rice River Corridor Habitat Restoration - Phase IV

Rivers and streams in the Red River Basin were straightened, ditched, cleared, and snagged to improve drainage. These activities destroyed hundreds of miles of aquatic habitat and eliminated thousands of acres of riparian forest, wetland and grassland. These habitat losses continue and have reduced fish and wildlife populations within channelized reaches.

The Red River Drainage Commission channelized the Lower Wild Rice River in the late 1800's with additional "improvements" completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1950's. Channelized reaches of the Wild Rice River provide little functional aquatic or riparian corridor habitat and reduce connectivity between the lower 49 miles and upper 130 miles of the river. The project vision includes establishment of a half-mile wide protected corridor along the river channel, setting back existing soil banks, reconnecting oxbows, construction of a natural meandering river channel, and restoration of riparian wetland and prairie plant communities.
The Wild Rice Watershed District (WRWD) and the MN Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) have approved a Memorandum of Understanding which details responsibilities for easement acquisition. The WRWD and BWSR partnership will use the Reinvest In Minnesota (RIM) Program to secure, maintain, and monitor easements within the corridor.

The WRWD received three prior allocations from LSOHC for ML 2015, ML 2019, and ML 2020. Using these allocations, the WRWD and partners marketed the program to property owners within the designated corridor and successfully enrolled applicants. The Lower Wild Rice Program utilizes the RIM Outside Easement Program for establishing easement payment rates. The RIM easement payment rates are established using assessed values from the Minnesota Land Economics. Until recently, the most current available RIM easement payment rates were generated in September of 2018.

Unfortunately, inflation and other unforeseen market factors resulted in significant increases in the land values within the Wild Rice project area. As a result, several applicants to the program were unwilling to proceed with easement acquisitions at the 2018 RIM easement payment rates. Consequently, the WRWD will be releasing a portion of the unused funding from the prior allocations due to grant timeline expirations.

Fortunately, in March of 2023, BWSR released updated RIM easement payment rates. These new rates were significantly higher than the 2018 rates (plus or minus 40%) in the project area and more accurately reflect current market conditions. Consequently, several prior applicants have shown a renewed interest in enrolling in the Lower Wild Rice Program. Therefore, this application to LSOHC is intended to fund approximately 420 acres from prior applications at the recent 2023 RIM easement payment rates.
Once all acquisition is complete, future channel rehabilitation phases of the project will be completed with the assistance of MN DNR and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The WRWD will be the local sponsor responsible for final design, engineering, and construction of the project. The WRWD has requested Section 1135 assistance from the USACE to begin a feasibility evaluation of the channel restoration and setback levees alignment proposed in Phase 2 and Phase 3.