Itasca SWCD will work with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency as a collaborative effort to monitor the Big Fork River near Bigfork at State Highway 6 and Big Fork River near Craigsville at State Highway 6. Itasca Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) staff will strive to capture the peak, rising, and falling limbs of the hydrograph for spring run-off and significant storm events as well as base flow samples. Itasca SWCD staff will utilize local rain gauge readers, storm tracking weather services, and historical stage data to aid in making monitoring judgments.
The Kairos Alive! Cultural Wisdom Immersion and Sharing Project collaborates with Centro Tyrone Guzman, Augustana Open Circle, Walker West Music Academy and outstate Developmental Achievement Centers to explore and exchange joyful cultural meaning through music, dance, song and story via 2-way Zoom webcast. Project explores cultural heritage and identity expression, and how it relates to the universality of human experience, in an environment of creative safety and intercultural exchange.
This project collaborates with 1) Minneapolis Hawthorne Neighborhood Council (multi-cultural/intergenerational); 2) Minnesota Independence College and Community (MICC), Richfield (neuro-divergent young adults); 3) an established network of 20+ senior centers and organizations serving people with developmental disabilities statewide (multi-cultural and intergenerational), such as Centro Tyrone Guzman (Latinx), Ecumen Prairie Lodge, Brooklyn Park, Wabasha County Developmental Achievement Center, Wabasha, and Adult Day Services, Bemidji; 4) community collaborations in Bemidji and New Ulm servi
After completing the One Watershed One Plan planning process for the Kettle & Upper St. Croix Watershed, and having the Kettle & Upper St. Croix Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan (KUSC CWMP) approved by BWSR, the local partners of the watershed will use the implementation funds to complete the actions in the plan. These actions will help complete the 10-year goals that are laid out in the plan. This in turn will help protect and restore water and soil resources in the Kettle & Upper St. Croix watersheds.
To provide a variety of arts and cultural heritage activities at the Koochiching County Fair. Funds will be used to bring The Community of a Plate Exhibit to the fair. A Grand Rapids photographer will be commissioned to photograph local food producers in Koochiching County. Their portraits will be displayed during the fair.
To enhance the existing performance stage, install six “farm museum” murals produced by a local high school, and offer several programs promoting northern Minnesota’s agricultural heritage. Koochiching County Fair has updated their performance stage to have the capacity to offer several arts performances including a barbershop quartet, a robotic puppet show, a dogsled demonstration, and an antique machinery display. In addition to offering performance art shows, the fair has installed several murals created by local children celebrating the areas local agricultural history.
The goal of this project is to develop, implement, and evaluate the impacts of co-developed civic engagement outcomes for the Big Fork and Littlefork River Watersheds.
The Big Fork River Watershed Assessment will include the waters of the Big Fork, Sturgeon River, Caldwell Brook, Bear River, and Bowstring River. This Assessment will also include Mirror Lake, Battle Lake, Bass Lake, Larson Lake, Gunn Lake, Coon Sandwick Lake, Busties Lake, Dead Horse Lake, North Star Lake, Burns Lake, Big Ole Lake, Big Island Lake, Bello Lake, Maple Lake, Long Lake, Jessie Lake, Trestle Lake, Clear Lake, Dora Lake, Moose Lake, Shallow Pond Lake, and Island Lake.
The Koochiching County SWCD staff will collect water chemistry and field parameters at specific times to determine amount of contaminant load into each stream. These sites will coincide with locations where stream flow data is also being collected. This project will focus on watershed load monitoring in both the Big Fork and Little Fork River watersheds.
Contractor will address MPCA comments to the pre-public notice draft Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) study for the Lake of the Woods watershed and produce a revised study ready for public notice. RESPEC will also prepare for and participate in two webinar-style public meetings once the study is on public notice.
In the second phase of an oral history project, Life in Lake Sarah, four additional residents were interviewed and recorded. The recordings were transcribed along with two earlier interviews. The six recordings were compiled in booklet form and added to the permanent collection of the Murray County Historical Society.
This project will provide monitoring of four of the major watersheds (8-digit Hydrologic Unit Codes) in the western part of the Rainy River Basin. Staff from the Lake of the Woods SWCD will conduct water quality sampling, review, manage and provide collected data to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA).
The Rainy River - Rainy Lake, Rainy River - Baudette and Rapid River Watershed Assessments will include the waters of the Baudette River, Black River, Peppermint Creek, Rapid River, Rat Root River and Winter Road River in Koochiching and Lake of the Woods Counties. This assessment focuses on collection of water chemistry and field parameters at the 12 key sites identified and modified by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). Five of the sites will have extra total phosphorus and chlorophyll analysis completed as identified by the MPCA for collecting river nutrients.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is a co-sponsor and assists with a portion of the financial support for the International Rainy River-Lake of the Woods Watershed Forum.
Complete renewal of the main lakeside campground and construction of a new campground to relieve pressure on existing lakeside campground. New camping areas will open Memorial Day 2011.
This project documented the history of life and growth of Lake Sarah Township population amid regional population through the stories and recollections of its residents. A total of eight long-term residents were interviewed. Six interviews were transcribed and provided to the narrators for proofreading. The edited transcripts were printed as separate full-color booklets that, along with the CDs of the interviews, will be accessible to the public as part of the Murray County Museum's permanent collection.
Four stream segments, totaling over 100 miles, are impaired in the Little Fork River for Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and this study will provide local partners with project options for reduction of sediment in the Little Fork Watershed. Through the use of sediment fingerprinting determinations can be made if the sediment is from in or near channel, or the watershed and identify what sub-watershed the sediment is coming originating.
The sediment fingerprinting design will be custom fit for the unique geology and land-use history in the Little Fork River Watershed. The design will identify potential sources of sediment pollution within the watershed, including soil erosion from upland forests and wetlands from subwatersheds with different glacial deposits and bedrock geology, gullies, riverbanks, and bluffs. This will enable local partners to field verify potential BMP locations with private and public land owners to mitigate sediment inputs to the Little Fork Watershed.
This phase one project is to develop an understanding of sediment transport and fate in the Little Fork River system through the use of sediment fingerprinting and a sediment budget by setting up sampling sites for target sediments and source sediments.
The Little Fork River and Big Fork River - USGS FLOWSED project was established to collect site specific data for streamflow, SSC, and bedload at the Littlefork and Big Fork Rivers in Northern Minnesota; use the data to evaluate the use of dimensionless sediment rating curves for the rivers; and document the results of the study in conjunction with the results from other rivers in the state for the application of regional sediment rating curves to rivers in Minnesota.
Four stream segments, totaling over 100 miles, are impaired in the Little Fork River for Total Suspended Solids (TSS). This study will provide local partners with project options for reducing sediment in the Little Fork Watershed. Through the use of sediment fingerprinting determinations can be made if the sediment is from in (or near) channel, or the watershed and identify what sub-watershed the sediment is coming originating.
The Little Fork River Watershed Assessment will include the waters of the Rice River, Little Fork River, Flint Creek, Nett Lake River, Beaver Brook, Valley River, Willow River, Sturgeon River, Bear River, Dark River, and the Lost River. This Assessment will also include Little Bear Lake, Bear Lake, Thistledew Lake, Little Moose Lake, Raddison Lake, Napoleon Lake, Owen Lake, Dark Lake, Clear Lake, Long (Main) Lake, Dewey Lake, and Long (North) Lake. These lakes and streams are found throughout the Little Fork River Watershed, which spans parts of Koochiching, St. Louis and Itasca Counties.
The purpose of this project is to re-calculate the Littlefork river sediment Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) utilizing the 15 mg/L Total Suspended Solids (TSS) standard and update the associated Littlefork Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategies (WRAPS) document.
This Phase 6 request for Ducks Unlimited’s Living Lakes program will enhance 1,000 acres of shallow lakes and restore 50 acres of small wetlands by engineering and installing water control structures for Minnesota DNR and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on public lands and wetlands under easement. Structures will be used by DNR and Service partners to restore wetland hydrology and actively manage shallow lake water levels to enhance their ecology for ducks, other birds, and hunters in the Prairie Region of Minnesota.
Ducks Unlimited successfully enhanced 3,437 wetland acres and restored 83 wetland acres through this grant, which significantly exceeds our grant acre goals of 2,000 acres of wetland enhancement and 50 acres of wetlands restored for this 2017 OHF appropriation.
This Phase 7 request for Ducks Unlimited's Living Lakes program will enhance 1,160 acres of shallow lakes and restore 120 acres of small wetlands by engineering and installing water control structures for Minnesota DNR and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on public lands and wetlands under easement. Structures will help DNR and Service agency partners restore wetland hydrology and actively manage shallow lake water levels to enhance their ecology for ducks, other birds, and hunters in Minnesota's Prairie Pothole Region.
Phase 2 of Ducks Unlimited's ongoing engineering program restored and enhanced shallow lakes and wetlands by installing water level control structures to improve aquatic plant abundance and water clarity in partnership with the Minnesota DNR and U.S.
This Phase 9 request for Ducks Unlimited's Living Lakes program will enhance or restore 1,440 acres of wetlands and adjacent prairie grasslands for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Minnesota DNR on public lands and private lands under permanent easement. DU biologists and engineers will design wetland restorations and water control structures for active management of shallow lake water levels to enhance their ecology for ducks, other wildlife, and people, primarily in SW Minnesota's Prairie Pothole Region.
This Phase 10 request for Ducks Unlimited's Living Lakes program will enhance or restore 1,325 acres of wetlands and adjacent prairie grasslands for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Minnesota DNR on public lands and private lands under permanent easement. DU biologists and engineers will design wetland restorations and water control structures for active management of shallow lake water levels to enhance their ecology for ducks, other wildlife, and people, primarily in SW Minnesota's Prairie Pothole Region.
This Phase 8 request for Ducks Unlimited's Living Lakes program will enhance or restore 1,070 acres of wetlands and adjacent prairie grasslands for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Minnesota DNR on public lands and private lands under permanent USFWS easement. Where required, DU engineers will design water control structures to restore wetland hydrology and allow active management of shallow lake water levels to enhance their ecology for ducks, other wildlife, and people, primarily in Minnesota's Prairie Pothole Region.
A Level III Feedlot Inventory in the West Fork Des Moines River Watershed identified the need for a new manure storage basin. The Heron Lake Watershed District will be partnering with Murray County, Murray Soil and Water Conservation District, and Southwest Prairie Technical Service Area to construct the basin to ensure that manure and milk house wastewater will be properly stored. In addition, the project will decrease the size and usage of open lots using buffer strip and pasture to significantly reduce nutrient loading.
