The goal of the project is the development of an overall strategy for reduction of turbidity/TSS, with sets of sediment reduction initiatives and actions for various sources, to address the Minnesota River Turbidity TMDL and the South Metro Mississippi River TSS TMDL.
This project will work with the MPCA to conduct watershed pollutant load monitoring at four sites in the Chippewa River watershed and one site in the neighboring Pomme de Terre River watershed . The Chippewa River Watershed Project (CRWP) team will also aid the MPCA in measuring and comparing regional differences and long-term trends in water quality. The goal is to collect quality data and complete load calculations for the five sites using the MPCA's established protocols.
The goal of this project is to complete a two-year data set for physical, bacterial, and water chemistry sampling for the Intensive Watershed Monitoring Plan to aid MPCA’s assessment of the aquatic health of the Mississippi Headwaters(HUC 07010101) Watershed.
To provide professional development for two staff members at the national American Association for State and Local History Conference in St. Paul, September 17-20, 2014.
To provide professional development for two staff members at the national American Association for State and Local History Conference in St. Paul, September 17-20, 2014.
To provide professional development for two staff members at the national American Association for State and Local History Conference in St. Paul, September 17-20, 2014.
To provide professional development for two staff members at the national American Association for State and Local History Conference in St. Paul, September 17-20, 2014.
Two large, actively eroding gullies located a few miles apart in Amador Township are contributing tremendous loads of phosphorus and sediment to the St. Croix River. One gully (Gully A) includes a major agricultural gully, severe road erosion, and sediment deposits of a foot or more thick in a state park. The second gully (Gully B) is over 4 feet deep, adjacent to a road, and is an annual problem. Stabilizing these two gullies will greatly reduce the sediment and phosphorus loading to the St. Croix River, which will help meet the reduction goal of the Lake St.
Using a previous escarpment gully project as a model, the Chisago Soil and Water Conservation District will complete a similar inventory of actively eroding gullies along the Lower Sunrise River from the Kost Dam south to the confluence with the St. Croix, which includes the North Branch of the Sunrise, Hay Creek, and the Sunrise River main branch. There are major erosion issues along this stretch of river, no organized and efficient way to begin work in the area. The inventory report will provide the missing link.
The Chisago Soil and Water Conservation District has been successful in implementing Best Management Practices in certain targeted locations within the county, including the prioritized and assessed areas of Chisago City, Lindstrom, and Center City. However, there are many areas that want to implement conservation projects but aren't within targeted areas. This award will empower community partners, especially lake associations, to award grants for rain gardens, shoreline buffers, and other worthwhile projects to improve water quality.
The grant will use local data to develop stormwater planning options that prioritize, target, and measure the effectiveness of Best Management Practices and allow local city officials to make decisions on stormwater Best management Practices that reduce pollutants in the stormwatershed.
The Pomme de Terre River Association has targeted and identified specific areas and activities required for marked water quality improvement. This project will implement of 16 Water and Sediment Control Basins (WASCOBs), 28 Rain Gardens, 2 Shoreline/ Stream bank stabilization, 10 Waste Pit Closures, 1 Terrace Project, and the enrollment of 1900 acres into conservation practices. These practices in total will directly result in site-specific and watershed-dependent reductions of 17,801 tons of sediment and 17,784 pounds of phosphorous from entering surface waters yearly in the watershed.
This project will work to address the nutrient impairment of Two Rivers Lake through the installation of targeted best management practices as prioritized in the Two Rivers Lake Targeted Conservation Practice Plan (funded through a 2014 SEDLCP CWF Grant). The goal of this project is to implement erosion control practices within three agricultural priority subwatersheds with existing erosion concerns and also to install urban water quality practices in two of the identified sub watersheds within the City of Albany.
The Chisago Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) has had such great success implementing gully stabilization projects along the St. Croix River escarpment that all of the current grant funding has been encumbered towards projects. Two large gully projects, one in the City of Taylors Falls and a second nearby in Interstate State Park, are lined up and ready to go as soon as funding is secured. Both of these gullies are large and have been actively eroding for many years, depositing large loads of sediment and phosphorus directly into the St. Croix River.
These funds are being used to systematically collect data and produce statistically valid estimates of the rate of soil erosion and tracking the adoption of high residue cropping systems in in the 67 counties with greater than 30% land in agricultural row crop production. Designed to establish a long term program in Minnesota to collect data and produce county, watershed, and state wide estimates of soil erosion caused by water and wind along with tracking adoption of conservation measures to address erosion.
Provides grants to Soil and Water Conservation Districts that focuses on increasing capacity to address four resource concern areas?Soil Erosion, Riparian Zone Management, Water Storage and Treatment, and Excess Nutrients.
This project targets nutrient reductions within the Mayhew and Big Elk Lake watersheds. The Benton Soil and Water Conservation District will work with farmers in implementing a variety of conservation practices including, but not limited to cropland erosion control projects, riparian pasture management, and nutrient management and feedlot pollution control systems. These strategies were identified through Total Daily Maximum Load Studies.
Little Rock Lake experiences severe algae blooms due to excess phosphorus and these blooms are the worst known regionally. The goal of this project is to reduce algae blooms, improve water clarity, and avoid risk of drinking water contamination. The project will result in installing one farmer nutrient management project , four cover crops, two lakeshore buffer strips, six septic systems that also demonstrated an imminent threat to public health, six erosion control projects , one wetland restored, and one feedlot runoff control system.
The goal of the Pomme de Terre River Association (JPB) is to improve the local water resources within the watershed through targeted voluntary efforts and the building of strong relationships with local landowners, producers, and citizens. The Pomme de Terre River is currently not meeting state water quality for sediment. The purpose of this project is to strategically work towards a 53% sediment reduction goal at the mouth of the Pomme de Terre River based on a Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy document.
A completed Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) study has identified mid to late summer phosphorus loading as a significant stressor to lakes and streams within the Big Elk Lake watershed. While this comprehensive study serves its role as the unifying document that identifies pollutants and sources, further work is required in order to develop site-specific Best Management Practices, design these practices, and oversee their implementation in order to reach clean water goals.
Goose, East and West Rush Lakes are not meeting state water quality standards due to excessive phosphorus. These are three of the worst lakes in Chisago County in terms of water quality, yet also some of the most heavily used lakes for recreation. The quality of the water in the St. Croix River is directly influenced by the poor quality water leaving East Rush, West Rush, and Goose Lakes.
This project will address nutrient impairments of the Sauk River and Sauk River Chain of Lakes (SRCL) by minimizing runoff from 5 high priority feedlots. Specifically, contaminated runoff from 5 feedlots upstream of the SRCL will be eliminated. The sites were prioritized based on the Minnesota Feedlot Annualized Runoff Model index ratings and the location of these feedlots are within a Drinking Water Supply Management Areas.
The Benton County Water Plan advisory committee has the goal of protecting groundwater resources in Benton County. One of the methods identified is to seal unused wells. In 2013, Benton Soil and Water Conservation District completed an aggressive campaign to identify unused wells. We used several sources to locate potential wells, completed site visits for many wells and collected site information to assisting in prioritizing limited cost share resources.
These funds are being used to systematically collect data and produce statistically valid estimates of the rate of soil erosion and tracking the adoption of high residue cropping systems in counties with greater than 30% land in agricultural row crop production. Designed to establish a long term program in Minnesota to collect data and produce county, watershed, and state wide estimates of soil erosion caused by water and wind along with tracking adoption of conservation measures to address erosion.
Provides grants to Soil and Water Conservation Districts that focuses on increasing capacity to address four resource concern areas?Soil Erosion, Riparian Zone Management, Water Storage and Treatment, and Excess Nutrients.
These funds will be utilized in cost-share for landowners to install Agricultural Best Management Practices following Little Rock Lake TMDL Implementation Plan. Example of projects include Feedlot Improvements, Waste Storage Facilities, Erosion Control BMPs, Filter Strips and Streambank Stabilizations. An estimated 830 pounds per year of phosphorus and 800 tons of sediment will be reduced annually.
The Chisago Lakes Chain of Lakes watershed in southern Chisago County is made up of 18 lakes and outlets to the St. Croix River through the Sunrise River. The top 20 urban and rural projects around North and South Center Lakes that are identified in the Rural Subwatershed Assessment and Urban Stormwater Retrofit Analysis reports will be the top priority of this application. The goal is a phosphorus reduction of 100 pounds (4%) to North and South Center Lakes.
The Mallery Jerseys dairy farm is critically located along the bluff of the St. Croix River escarpment and drains directly to the St. Croix River. In 2018, a Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan was completed and identified a number of additional practices that should be implemented to improve the water quality of the St. Croix River. The proposed practices will reduce the phosphorus and nitrogen by 76 pounds (83%)and 265 pounds (85%) respectively.
The goal of this project is to achieve a 10% reduction in overall sediment discharge to the Mississippi River from the Northeast St. Cloud Drainage Area by installing one regional underground stormwater detention and treatment facility in partnership with a Neighborhood Redevelopment Project. The project will have over 16,000 cubic feet of water storage capacity treating 35 acres of stormwater runoff and is modeled to reduce sediment by 4.5 tons, which is 10% of the sediment reduction goal for this drainage area.
