This project helps Minnesota entities that directly or indirectly cause PFAS and microplastics contamination stop the flow of the contaminants by developing strategies to manage solid waste streams.
Funding was used to design, install and evaluate deterrent barrier options in Minnesota and to cost share a barrier in northwest Iowa to limit or slow the movement of Invasive carp.
The overall goal of this project is to perform water quality monitoring and load calculation duties to accomplish Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Watershed Pollutant Load Monitoring Network (WPLMN) monitoring efforts at the seven sites within the Redwood and Cottonwood River watersheds as well as the Minnesota River site near Morton. To accomplish this goal the requested funds will provide for technician’s time, mileage, lab costs, supplies, as well as equipment calibration and upkeep.
We will characterize environmental drivers contributing to the decline of wild rice using lake sediment cores to reconstruct historical wild rice abundance in relation to lake and watershed stressors.
The Redwood River watershed is one of the last remaining watersheds to complete Cycle I of the Watershed Restoration & Protections Strategies (WRAPS) process. The scope of this project upon completion is have two reports developed; a Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategies report and a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the entire watershed.
The goal of this project is to continue best management implementation according to the Redwood River Phase II Implementation Plan (1999) and install phosphorus and total suspended solids (TSS) reducing conservation practices that will help achieve the Lower Minnesota River dissolved oxygen Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), and the Minnesota River Turbidity TMDL. The proposed implementation of conservation practices include: water and sediment control basins, grassed waterways, grade stabilizations and streambank stabilizations.
In 2017 and 2018, Redwood-Cottonwood Rivers Control Area (RCRCA) will collect water chemistry samples from the 10 lakes and 24 stream sites identified in the Redwood and Cottonwood River watersheds. Six samples will be collected at 10 lakes from May through September in 2017; five samples will be collected at 5 lakes in 2018 from May through September. Eleven samples will be collected at each of the 24 stream sites following the Basic Regime in 2017. Sixteen samples at each stream site will be collected in 2017 and 2018 following the E.coli monitoring regime.
The Redwood and Cottonwood River Watersheds have been assessed and many reaches have been impaired for turbidity, bacteria, and low dissolved oxygen. This project will accelerate conservation efforts to reduce overland runoff sediment, bacteria, and nutrient loadings contributing to water quality impairments in targeted subwatersheds.
The Redwood River and Cottonwood River watersheds encompass approximately 2,020 square miles of southwestern Minnesota in the Minnesota River Basin. Land use in these watersheds is mostly agricultural and area geology makes them prone to erosion. Surface water issues within the two watersheds are a concern of local leaders. The counties and Soil and Water Conservation District leaders formed the Redwood Cottonwood Rivers Control Area (RCRCA) Joint Powers Board in 1983 to address sedimentation, water quality and quantity, and erosion issues.
The RIM-WRP program will expand past efforts and provide important benefits to the citizens of Minnesota by restoring and permanently protecting priority wetlands and associated upland native grassland wildlife habitat via perpetual conservation easements. This funding will leverage $12.6 million of federal WRP funds for the State of Minnesota and is expected to create and sustain 343 jobs and income to local landowners, businesses and others in the state based on USDA economic estimates.
The Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) Wetlands Partnership Phase VI protected and restored 1,391 acres of previously drained wetlands and adjacent grasslands on 15 conservation easements.
Under the CREP partnership with USDA, 71 easements were recorded on a total of 4,365 acres to restore previously drained wetlands and adjacent uplands. The easements were accomplished with local implementation done by SWCD, NRCS and FSA staff within the 54 county CREP area and leveraged federal funds for both landowner payments and cost share for conservation practice installation.
The Clean Water Fund (CWF) and Outdoor Heritage Fund (OHF) were used together to secure easements on buffer areas. 25 easements have been recorded for a total of 672.1 acres and are reported in the output tables for the final report (acre total does not include Clean Water Fund acres). The total acreage from both CWF and OHF sources for recorded easements is 1,152.4 acres. Only the OHF acres are being reported in this final report to be consistent with the approved accomplishment plan.
