Clearwater County's lakes provide significant environmental, economic and recreational benefits . This project will assist local water management planning efforts by collecting and analyzing available lake water quality information and watershed characteristics for Bagley, Long Lake and Long Lost Lakes. Bringing the available water quality information that has been gathered and presenting it in a manner that is understandable to lake residents and other citizens is the goal of the project.
Based on the Minnesota Waters Lake and River Association database, Crow Wing County has the highest number of lake associations in Minnesota. Currently, there are over 136 lake association groups in the county, which does not include neighborhood, resort or religious groups. These lakes aer a cornerstone to the state's tourism econmy and there is a great demand for stormwater management incentive program to protect these local water resources.
The Lost River requires ongoing protection efforts to reduce harmful runoff entering the watershed. A primary element of this project involves providing project development and technical assistance to a producer who owns approximately 1/3 mile of Lost River frontage. Severe erosion and feedlot conditions compromise water quality in this area. The restoration of this jeopardized area will be accomplished through buffers, streambank restoration and livestock exclusion.
RIM Buffers Phase 1 combined the resource benefits of the Outdoor Heritage Fund (LSOHC), Clean Water Fund (CWF), and bond funds. This program exceeded our acreage goal by 439 acres (37%), enrolling a total of 1,595.4 acres of enhanced wildlife and water quality buffers in partnership with private landowners on 46 easements.
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.
This project will provide land and water managers in the Red River Basin with data and online tools to prioritize actions on the landscape that achieve water quality objectives identified in local and state plans. This will help identify strategically important locations for implementing erosion control and water management practices. Standardized watershed-based data products will be integrated into a web-based planning tool which will be added to the Red River Basin Decision Information Network (RRBDIN) being developed as part of the Red River Watershed Feasibility Study.
PROJECT OVERVIEW The Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) Wetlands Reserve Program restores wetlands and grasslands through the purchase of permanent conservation easements on privately owned land. The easements limit future land use and put conservation plans in place for future management. The Minnesota Board of Soil and Water Resources is using this appropriation to accelerate the RIM Wetlands Reserve Program resulting in additional permanently protected wetlands and grasslands throughout the state.
The RIM-WRP Partnership permanently protected 5,559 acres of priority wetlands and associated upland native grassland wildlife habitat via perpetual conservation easements on 60 sites and leveraged over $11 million of federal Wetlands Reserve Program funds.
This pilot program protected 1,210 acres of wild rice lake shoreland habitat in the Northern Forest Section by securing 14 permanent RIM conservation easements and four fee-title acquisitions, surpassing our goal of 700 acres, and doing so $250,202 under budget.
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.
