Mille Lacs Lake is recognized as one of the premier walleye producing lakes in the world. The current water quality of the lake is good, however recent monitoring of the lake and its watershed indicates the potential to develop problems. Since 1997, the Mille Lacs Lake Watershed Management Group has worked to preserve the water quality of Mille Lacs Lake. Five priority projects were identified by the Group partners in an effort to preserve water quality. Support for these projects was provided by a grant from the Clean Water Fund.
Water from an area in and near the interchange of US Highway 52 and MN Highway 55 spills onto a steep bluff face at the head of a ravine. This has accelerated the amount of sediment eroding from the ravine into the Mississippi River. In partnership with Dakota County, Dakota Soil and Water Conservation District, the City of Rosemount, Minnesota Department of Transportation, Flint Hills Resources, the Vermillion River Watershed Joint Powers Organization has been working for several years to identify a solution to this severe erosion problem.
This project is a cooperative initiative between the Prior Lake Spring Lake Watershed District, the City of Prior Lake, and the Scott Soil and Water Conservation District to implement on-the-ground Best Management Practices (BMPs) that will protect and improve water quality in Spring, Upper Prior and Lower Prior Lakes, water resources of local, regional, and state significance. Spring and Upper Prior Lakes are both impaired and have a completed Total Maximum Daily Load and Implementation Plan.
The 400-mile stretch of the Mississippi River from its headwaters at Lake Itasca to Morrison County near Little Falls is the focus of this project. Working in cooperation with the eight member counties, this project will develop implementation plans and strategies geared specifically for the Mississippi River and incorporate them into the individual County Comprehensive Local Water Plans. These recommendations will be for specific strategies, often crossing county boundaries for implementation.
The Prioritization, Targeting, and Measuring Water Quality Improvement Application (PTMA) connects the general qualitative strategies in a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) and Watershed Restoration and Protection (WRAP) and the identification of implementable on-the-ground Best Management Practices (BMPs). Leveraging geospatial data from the International Water Institute this application will be developed for two pilot areas within the Red River Basin.
This project will result in the development of three critical pieces of information. They include: 1. Development of restoration and protection strategies for all waterbodies in the district relative to the State's Non-point Source Funding plan 2. Use of PTMApp to tie the WRAPs implementation tables from the Buffalo and Red River Watersheds to targeted on-the-ground projects and practices that will provide measurable water quality improvements, and 3.
Completion of priority assessments to aid in implementing future projects. Three possible assessments have been identified for further consideration. The first is a subwatershed assessment in the South Fork Rush Creek subwatershed in Corcoran, which is adjacent to the previously completed Rush Creek Headwaters SWA. This would identify mainly agricultural BMPs for implementation in partnership with Hennepin County. The second is a feasibility assessment of re-meandering the outlet of Diamond Lake to Diamond Creek, which was identified in the Diamond Creek SWA.
Several lakes in the Shingle Creek watershed have been designated Impaired Waters for excess nutrients, and the Watershed Commission and cities continue to undertake BMPs to reduce total phosphorus and sediment to the lakes to help improve water quality. This project is the completion of subwatershed assessments in two priority areas to identify future BMPs addressing ongoing lake nutrient impairments. The areas are the drainage area to the Gaulke/ Memory Lane/ Hagemeister Pond system tributary to Middle Twin Lake; and the drainage area to Eagle Lake.
Prior Lake, the second most visited lake in the metro, and Spring Lake are both impaired for excess nutrients. The Prior Lake Spring Lake FY 2025 request would seek to fund two projects to reduce nutrients in the upper watershed:
The SWCD initiated Project Recharge to create and apply a protection strategy to address declining water quality trend reported in a 2008 large lakes analysis. The report contained watershed and trend analysis for lakes over 1,000 acres in size and led to targeting of lands located within lakesheds containing the highest ratio of impervious to pervious surfaces. These included the Cities of Breezy Point, Crosslake, and Fifty Lakes.
Granite rock outcrops along the Upper Minnesota River are among the oldest exposed rock in North America, dating back approximately 3.6 billion years. These outcrops are also home to rare and specialized plant and animal communities rarely found elsewhere in Minnesota, including several types of cactus and one of Minnesota's only three lizard species, the five-lined skink. However, these rock outcrops are increasingly threatened by mining, overgrazing, and development.
Turbidity and E.coli impairments characterize the Clearwater River Watershed and its sub-watersheds. Focused protective efforts in this watershed have helped, but more work is vitally needed to further improve the quality of water. Several recent studies on the Clearwater River watershed and its sub-watersheds, Lost River and Silver Creek will be used to direct the work.
A family dairy farm in the shoreland area of Lake Miltona has a liquid manure storage area that is not up to standards due to sandy soil and a high water table, increasing the likelihood of groundwater contamination. Lake Miltona is connected to the Alexandria Area Chain of Lakes and ultimately the water ends up in the Long Praire River. Groundwater impacts to the Long Prairie River have the potential to be significant.
A large portion of Otter Tail County has been identified as being susceptible to groundwater contamination from nitrates and other water soluble contaminants. Agriculture is the predominant land use activity in this area. Irrigation in the county has increased in the last few years. With the vast majority of the residents getting their drinking water from groundwater sources, protecting ground is a priority for the county.
This project will protect the groundwater and the city of Princeton's drinking water from nutrient contamination associated with livestock manure storage. Well water tested throughout Mille Lacs County, and specifically within the Anoka Sand Plain area of Princeton, routinely indicate the presence of nitrates in shallow drinking water wells.
Private wells provide drinking water for the rural residents of Lac qui Parle County. This project will retrofit 35 well pits allowing the homeowner to continue using a serviceable well while safeguarding the source of their drinking water. Well pits, which are similar to a below-ground cistern, were once a common practice to prevent freezing in the winter. Many of these pits remain in use today. However, well pits are subject to flooding, especially if they are located in a floodplain. Flooding can contaminate the well and groundwater with bacteria from unknown sources.
Lake Miltona is considered one of the finest lakes in Central Minnesota and its 15 miles of lake shore make it the largest lake in Douglas County. Smokey Timbers Youth Camp, owned by the Smokey Timbers Foundation, is located on the north side of Lake Miltona. There is currently an erosion problem at the camp where a large gully has developed that drains into the lake.
Resort owners and recreational enthusiasts rely on Bostic and Zippel Bays to provide them with protected access to Lake of the Woods. Without these bays, access to the large lake would be very limited. Tourism, specifically water recreation, is a mainstay of the local economy. Complaints of limited navigability within the bays and reports of annual dredging made these watersheds the priority concern in the Local Water Management Plan.
Del Clark Lake is a regionally unique resource in the Lac qui Parle Watershed. This grant contains both restoration and protection strategies aiming to maintain the quality of this rare and valuable resource in addition to restoring the recently impaired Canby Creek, which feeds into Del Clark Lake. Three grade control structures will be implemented just upstream of Del Clark to protect against sediment and aid in regulating flows. An estimate 240 pounds of phosphorous and 2,700 tons of sediment will be reduced annually.
This project will review highly erodible land plans for landowner/operator compliance and update plans with landowners that are not meeting plan requirements due to changes in their operations.
This project will, over a 27 month period, fund a 0.75 Full Time Equivalent Conservation Planning Specialist position to update approximately 400 United States Department of Agriculture Highly Erodable Lands conservation plans on 40,000 acres in high priority areas within the Root River watershed. Currently, only 5% of the USDA conservation plans -approximately 40 per year - are being checked for compliance, and this project will increase that number to 150 or more per year.
This grant application will focus on the construction of multiple targeted best management practices (BMPs) in priority areas which will provide measurable reductions in sediment and phosphorus loadings to cold water streams in the Mississippi River/Lake Pepin Watershed. The installation of these BMPs will also protect the existing stream habitat by reducing peak flows and reduced streambank erosion.
The glacial geology of Ramsey County includes many layers of impermeable and semi-permeable material that can protect aquifers from contaminated waters. Many municipal public supply wells exist to draw water from these aquifers to supply thousands of consumers on a daily basis. Unfortunately, abandoned/unused wells also penetrate the protective layers of glacial material and can "short-circuit" the natural protection our glacial geology can provide allowing unfettered movement of contamination to even deeper aquifers below the ground.
Two permanent RIM Easements on 494 acres of high quality, riparian habitat in the Little Nokasippi WMA area of influence have been recorded and will provide lasting wildlife habitat.
Golden Lake does not meet state water quality standards due to high phosphorus levels. The proposed iron enhanced sand filter basin was identified in the Golden Lake Subwatershed Stormwater Retrofit Analysis to be one of the most cost effective remaining practices for reducing external phosphorus loads to Golden Lake. This project, paired with two previously installed upstream Best Management Practices, will achieve on average, 84% of the phosphorus reduction goal for the watershed.
Realizing the need for increased technical capacity in the field offices, the Becker, East Otter Tail and West Otter Tail Soil and Water Conservation Districts have developed an agreement that will increase technical capacity while minimizing costs to each district. The first step was taken in this agreement through the recent hire of a shared engineer. Currently, minimal survey grade equipment is owned by the districts. This grant will be used to purchase an integrated survey system.
This project will reduce sediment to the Minnesota River, control erosion and reduce sedimentation in a local DNR Protected Water and protect private land and public infrastructure. The County Road (CR) 6 ravine (Quarry Creek) cuts through the Minnesota River valley bluff in Blakeley Township. Active channel incision and erosion within the ravine has caused large amounts of sediment to be deposited under the bridge at CR 6 such that the road is frequently flooded and sediment has to be removed several times a year.
In 2007, the City of Lakeland and the Middle St. Croix Watershed Management Organization identified water quality issues related to the existing drainage on Quixote Avenue, a paved north/south roadway directly adjacent to the St. Croix River bluffline. Currently, Quixote Avenue collects and drains stormwater runoff from residential lots and roadways before it concentrates at the end of the roadway and discharges over the bluffline directly into Lake St. Croix.
This program will develop and implement stormwater management plans and shoreline restoration projects with community partners. Community partners for this program will include but are not limited to: non-profits, businesses, and faith organizations within the Rainy River-Baudette watershed.
The Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Falls is the premier high school hockey arena in the State of Minnesota. The Arena fills two city blocks and is covered by 85-90% impervious (hard) surface. Rainfall events completely inundate roads and sidewalks, overloading the stormsewer system. Larger events cause water to stand high enough to reach the front steps to the Arena. Roof runoff produces large amounts of water running from the downspouts. Runoff has made sod establishment on the grounds difficult. Washouts have developed carrying sediment to the stormsewer.
Ramsey County has over 3,500 acres tied to faith based organizations and schools. On average, these properties contribute one billion gallons of stormwater runoff, 3,000 pounds of phosphorus, and 1,000 tons of sediment to local water bodies. The Ramsey Conservation District (RCD) in partnership with local property owners and watershed districts/water management organizations will install 6-12 stormwater projects that will help protect and improve water quality of surrounding lakes.
Ramsey County has 3,500+ acres tied to 358 faith organizations and 304 schools. On average, these properties contribute 1 billion gallons of stormwater runoff, 3,000 lbs of phosphorus, and 1,000 tons of sediment to our local water bodies. The Ramsey Conservation District (RCD), working with community partners and Watershed Districts/Water Management Organizations, will install 6-12 stormwater best management projects that will help protect and improve water quality of surrounding lakes.
