The purpose of the project is to reduce sediment and nutrient deposition in surface waters within priority areas of the watershed. A five percent reduction goal has been established in the County Local Water Management Plan and Impaired Waters project in progress. Eleven Best Management Practice (BMP) installations are planned for this project in cooperation with local landowners, Cities, Townships and Lake Associations.
The Project and Outreach Coordinator will facilitate efforts within the watershed to provide landowner support and assistance in identifying areas in need of conservation plans and best management practices. The coordinator would use the Watershed Protection and Restoration Strategy Report and county water plans to target and prioritize outreach and education to maximize water quality benefits. This will greatly multiply the number of educated landowners in the watershed and increase the number of projects implemented.
This project primarily focuses on riparian restoration (permanent vegetative buffer enhancements and plantings) on 6.5 miles (both sides) of targeted tributaries, ditches, and wetlands within five sub - watershed areas identified in the Snake River Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) Report. These plantings will consist of native perennials, trees, and shrubs where practical. In addition to the riparian plantings, this project will include fence exclusions for cattle and heavy use protections at cattle crossings in streams and ditches.
Implement cover crops, no tillage management, forestry improvements, and prescribed grazing to improve soil health, sequester carbon, and protect drinking water within the southwestern portion of the Mississippi River-Sartell watershed, including areas immediate upsteam of the St. Cloud drinking water surface intake. This will be achieved by providing financial and technical assistance paired with targeted outreach and in combination with other CWF grant programs.
The primary goal of this project is to protect public water supplies from contamination from nonpoint-sourced pollution by providing farmers with resources to implement soil health Best Management Practices (BMPs) within a set radius of municipal Drinking Water Supply Management Areas (DWSMAs) for cities within Traverse County. The secondary goal of the project is protection of public surface waters and measurable progress towards reduction of nutrient and sediment pollution to impaired watercourses.
The Minnesota Soil Survey is an ongoing effort by the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) that is systematically collecting and mapping data pertaining to soil types and other soil properties in each county of the state. Soils data is used by governments, farmers, and other businesses for a number of purposes from protection and restoration of soil, water, wetlands, and habitats to agricultural soil management to building construction.
The purpose of this project is to provide a new shared position in southeast Minnesota which will accelerate the adoption of soil health practices by leveraging the existing efforts of the National Resources Conservation Service and other organizations.
This project seeks to inventory twenty registered feedlots identified as having an Unpermitted Liquid Manure Storage Area. Specifically, this inventory would include offering cost-share for soils investigations. These feedlots are located in three townships that have also been identified as having groundwater that is vulnerable to nutrient pollution, necessitating a need for nitrate testing per MN Department of Agriculture. These townships also house the vast majority of remaining unpermitted Liquid Manure Storage Areas in the County.
The project will realign portions of the creek in its historical channel, restoring its meander pattern and in-stream habitat by using bioengineering techniques. The techniques included root wads and biologs for streambank protection, vegetated reinforced soil stabilization for streambank stabilization, boulder rock vanes for grade control and in-stream flow control, and constructed riffles and pools for in-stream habitat.
The purpose of this project is to reduce phosphorus entering South Heron Lake (SHL), which currently does not meet state standards for this water pollutant. Efforts will be focused on Jackson County Judicial Ditch 3 (JD3), which has been petitioned to the HLWD for improvement. JD3 drains 52 percent of the SHL watershed, highlighting its importance in making meaningful progress towards water pollution reduction. The practices include eleven water and sediment control basins and a 10-acre storage and treatment wetland restoration.
The South Branch Wild Rice Sediment Reduction Project will implement 45 erosion control structures and 40 acres of filter strips to reduce sediment loading to the South Branch of the Wild Rice River in Becker County. Sediment leaving the project area contributes to water quality impairments downstream where Total Suspended Solids (TSS) are affecting aquatic life and aquatic recreation. This project is projected to reduce sediment loads leaving the project area by 26% and reduce TSS in the Lower Wild Rice River by 7%.
The South Fork Crow River Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan (SFCR CMWP) identifies priority concerns, short-term and long-term goals for drainage water management, loss of water storage and altered hydrology, nutrient loading to surface waters, wind and water erosion, and soil health. Through the plan, specific details for structural and management practices are described in the implementation schedule for each of the planning regions and priority areas.
The lack of sewage treatment in some small communities in Southeast Minnesota is causing surface water and groundwater pollution. Fourteen of these communities will be the target of the technical assistance provided by this project. These communities have community or individual straight pipes discharging raw sewage directly into the environment;surfacing sewage or have sewage contaminating groundwater.
The lack of sewage treatment in many small communities in Southeast Minnesota is causing surface water and groundwater pollution. Ten of these small communities will be the target of the technical assistance provided by this project. These communities have community or individual straight pipes which are discharging raw sewage directly into the environment, surfacing sewage, or have sewage contaminating groundwater.
The lack of sewage treatment in many small communities in Southeast Minnesota is causing surface water and groundwater pollution. Fourteen of these small communities will receive technical assistance provided by this project. These communities have community or individual straight pipes which are discharging raw sewage directly to the environment, surfacing sewage, or have sewage contaminating groundwater.
Lakes and streams located in Blue Earth, Le Sueur, and Waseca Counties provide important public benefits such as hydrologic storage, economic and recreational opportunities, and regional water quality improvement. However, several of the lakes and streams have been listed as impaired because of excess nutrients and sediment from runoff.
This grant opportunity would increase practices that are associated with groundwater quality and increasing soil health and nutrient management for producers with row crop operations within Drinking Water Supply Management Areas within four Southwest Minnesota counties. A soil health assessment will be conducted to gain insight on the current operation of the farmer, then a strategy can be created to move the farmer toward soil health goals they would like to achieve.
Wakefield Lake is in the Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District (RWMWD) and is impaired for excess phosphorus. Through the Wakefield Lake TMDL process, implementation activities have been identified which include partnerships with the City of Maplewood to install BMPs in the watershed to directly benefit Wakefield Lake. RWMWD has researched, monitored and field tested the use of spent lime for stormwater quality treatment.
Spring Park watershed is over 225 acres. Most of the watershed has been fully developed into a variety of residential, commercial, and institutional land uses. Project funds would be utilized to conduct a watershed analysis with the goal of identifying pollutant load sources and potential areas for structural stormwater BMPs for future retro-fit projects to reduce instances of localized flooding, reduce peak storm flows, and improve the quality of stormwater runoff discharging into Crocker's Creek.
Imminent Health Threat (IHT) systems are those that are discharging improperly treated human waste onto the ground surface or into surface waters. In addition to the potential water quality impacts, untreated sewage has the potential to introduce bacteria and viruses into the environment. When IHT systems are identified, county or city staff assist the homeowners through the process required to bring their systems into compliance with the septic ordinance.
Imminent Health Threat (IHT) systems are those that are discharging improperly treated human waste onto the ground surface or into surface waters. In addition to the potential water quality impacts, untreated sewage has the potential to introduce bacteria and viruses into the environment. When IHT systems are identified, county or city staff assist the homeowners through the process required to bring their systems into compliance with the septic ordinance.
Successful long-term treatment of sewage depends on a system capable of providing adequate treatment and effective on-going operation and maintenance. Clean Water Fund Subsurface Sewage Treatment System (SSTS) Program Enhancement funds are used by counties to strengthen programs dedicated to SSTS ordinance management and enforcement. These funds are used for a variety of tasks required to successfully implement a local SSTS program including inventories, enforcement, and databases to insure SSTS maintenance reporting programs.
Successful long-term treatment of sewage depends on a system capable of providing adequate treatment and effective on-going operation and maintenance. Clean Water Fund Subsurface Sewage Treatment System (SSTS) Program Enhancement and Inventory funds are used by counties to strengthen programs dedicated to SSTS ordinance management and enforcement. These funds are used for a variety of tasks required to successfully implement a local SSTS program including inventories, enforcement, and databases to insure SSTS maintenance reporting programs.
The Washington County Department of Public Health and Environment is seeking funds to conduct countywide records catalog and subsequent risk analysis of subsurface sewage treatment systems, or septic systems, in the county. The records catalog will involve the collection, digitization and review of historical permit records from 1972-2004. The risk analysis will utilize information from the historical review, in addition to other pertinent available data.
Successful long-term treatment of sewage depends on a system capable of providing adequate treatment and effective on-going operation and maintenance. Clean Water Fund Subsurface Sewage Treatment System (SSTS) Program Enhancement and Inventory funds are to be used by counties to augment available funding dedicated to SSTS ordinance
Eroding streambanks along Bassett Creek are reducing the water quality of the creek and the Mississippi River. This project consists of stabilizing a 3,100 foot reach of Bassett Creek mostly located within Theodore Wirth Regional Park. The proposed stabilization measures will result in an estimated reduction of 52 tons of sediment and 60 pounds phosphorus per year.
The Highland Ravine is a large bluff area in central St. Paul that has become highly eroded due to hydrologic changes associated with urban development. During rain and snow melt events, water and sediment moves down slope onto private residential properties causing significant flooding and sedimentation. In addition, sediment-laden water from the gullies goes into the St. Paul storm sewer system which discharges, untreated, directly to the Mississippi River.
This project contains several activities that will implement effective, shovel ready conservation practices on multiple water bodies. The goal is to reduce the erosion impacting stream bank stability. Three initiatives will be implemented, including the installation of four shoreland restoration/stabilization projects, completion of two stream bank stabilization projects on the Middle Fork Crow River and a rain barrel program. An education program will provide outreach to lake and city residents throughout the Middle Fork Crow River Watershed.
This project will implement numerous Best Management Practices (BMPs) to correct erosion concerns occurring adjacent to Kost Dam Trail and County Road 81, two public roads in Chisago County. Both of the sites have been of concern to Chisago County, the Chisago Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), Sunrise Township, and private landowners for many years. Because of
The City of Eden Prairie and the Riley Purgatory Bluff Creek Watershed District are jointly developing and implementing a restoration plan for Staring Lake that includes nutrient reductions and carp management. The City of Eden Prairie, through a comprehensive pond inspection program, identified high priority ponds and subwatersheds for nutrient reductions in the Staring Lake watershed. Several ponds were identified as excellent candidates for iron enhanced sand filtration.
