Both Minnehaha Creek and Lake Hiawatha are on the State Impaired Waters List and have had Total Maximum Daily Load Studies completed. The proposed work would focus on park land along Minnehaha Creek which is a highly-recreated corridor with public trail systems throughout. In 2014, the District experienced record flooding resulting in substantial erosion and tree loss along Minnehaha Creek. In 2015, the District completed an assessment of flood damage and received FEMA funding for bank repair at 31 sites along the Creek within Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board property.
A 5.8-mile shoreline assessment completed in Summer 2020 along the Mississippi River shoreline in Brooklyn Park comprehensively surveyed erosion issues and identified numerous riverfronts severely eroding into the river, contributing significant sediment and nutrient loads. The report catalogued these properties and identified a set of properties west of Banfill Island as the most critical and cost-effective for restoration.
The Riley-Purgatory-Bluff-Creek Watershed District and the City of Eden Prairie are working together to implement projects to remove Mitchell Lake from the impaired waters list. One key emerging issue is to evaluate potential internal phosphorous loading within stormwater ponds in the lakes? subwatersheds. This project will also use updated pond data from the city?s intensive pond inspection program to identify other phosphorus reduction opportunities. The proposed assessment will quantify formerly undocumented P loading to Mitchell Lake.
This project will develop a plan that identifies several stormwater best management practices (BMPs) for the City of St. Bonifacius and surrounding rural areas. Implementation of these BMPs will improve water quality in Mud Lake and Halsted's Bay. A watershed model (EPA-SWMM and P8) will be developed to determine existing phosphorus and sediment loading from the City of Bonifacius and adjacent rural areas draining to Mud Lake. Model output will be used to identify several potential locations for stormwater BMPs throughout the city and surrounding areas.
This project will consist of retrofitting a dry storm water basin, constructing a new pre-treatment cell, creating new wetland, and reconfiguring the existing inlets and the outlet for better water quality treatment. This project is specifically identified in the Twin-Ryan Lakes TMDL.
The District is seeking to further its goals of meeting multipurpose drainage management requirements under its obligations as a 103E drainage authority. Judicial Ditch 1 is the largest system in the District, and proportionally one of the largest contributors of sediment and nutrients to the downstream reaches of the North Fork Crow River.
The Nine Mile Creek watershed is a highly developed, urbanized watershed located in southern Hennepin County. The natural infiltration capacity of soils in the watershed has been diminished by significant coverage with hard surfaces such as streets, parking lots, and buildings. This leads to more rainfall making its way more quickly to Nine Mile Creek. As a result, Nine Mile Creek has experienced stream bank erosion and instream habitat loss due to increases in storm water runoff resulting in the creek to be listed on the State of Minnesota impaired waters list for biotic integrity.
This project engages private property owners in a neighborhood scale effort to install up to 180 stormwater Best Management Practice (BMPs) to protect Lake Nokomis, a water body in Minneapolis impaired for excess nutrients. An analysis of the Lake Nokomis subwatershed identified priority areas for BMP installations based on drainage pattern, land uses and presence of previously-constructed BMPs. The project will install 160-180 BMPs adjacent to alleyways to disconnect residential backyards, rooftops and driveways on 15 residential blocks.
The North Fork Crow River Watershed (NFCRWD) is mainly agricultural and has numerous public and private drainage ditches. Sub-surface drainage are major contributors to the sediment and nutrient loading into the North Fork Crow River and area Lakes. This project help reach the Rice Lake phosphorous reductions goals. Local landowners are willing to contribute land on public drainage systems to retain water and restore wetlands at three locations with total anticipated yearly pollutant removals of 200 tons of total suspended sediment and 235 pounds of phosphorus.
The primary land use within the North Fork Crow River Watershed District is mainly row crop agriculture with extensive public and private drainage systems. A large portion of existing tile lines have open intakes that directly transport sediment and nutrients to open ditches leading to the North Fork Crow River (NFCR). The NFCR flows into Rice Lake that is impaired for aquatic recreation due to excessive nutrients.
The North Fork Crow River Watershed planning workgroup has based its comprehensive watershed management plan on seven planning regions. Each planning region has a list of prioritized resource concerns, measurable goals and implementation actions. Implementation actions are targeted in locations within each planning region, prioritized based on local concerns, programs, etc.
The North Fork Crow River Watershed District will develop an inventory and inspection database for 103E ditches under their drainage authority. The district will acquire a database software solution to conduct field inspections and to track ditch maintenance projects throughout the district. This software will be used to facilitate statutory compliance including developing a process for completing annual inspection and reporting requirements.
Northern white cedar wetland plant communities provide unique ecological, economic, and wetland functions, including high value timber, long-term carbon storage, winter refuge for deer and other wildlife, wildlife habitat, and thermal buffering for brook trout streams. However, these plant communities have been declining in Minnesota for decades mostly as a result of development impacts. The Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources is using this appropriation to continue efforts aimed at improving the quantity and quality of white cedar wetland plant communities in Minnesota.
The MWMO , City of Minneapolis and Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board are partnering to implement stormwater projects that reduce pollutant loading to the Mississippi River, reduce flooding and improve ecological function. Three regional Best Management Practices are being proposed in the northern portion of Columbia Golf Course, in Northeast Minneapolis, capturing and treating stormwater from 600-acres of mixed urban landuse.
The Northwood Lake Improvement Project will treat storm water runoff from over 110 acres of currently untreated urban land through a variety of practices at two different locations adjacent to the lake. Northwood Lake is an impoundment of the North Branch of Bassett Creek located in the City of New Hope within the Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission (BCWMC). Northwood Lake is a shallow lake with a fully developed watershed of 1,341 acres that provides very little stormwater treatment.
This project will work to install 30 water and sediment control basins (WaSCOBs) in three subwatersheds adjacent to Lake Minnewaska to reduce the amount of total phosphorus (TP) entering Pelican Lake, Lake Minnewaska, and Lake Emily. Pelican Lake and Lake Emily have been identified in an 8 lake Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) study conducted in Pope County as being impaired for excess nutrients.
Pope County Ditch 6 (CD 6) is an 18 mile channelized watershed and a primary tributary to Ashley Creek. CD6 and Ashley Creek are impaired for bacteria, dissolved oxygen and aquatic organisms. This project will address the storm water runoff concerns identified within this public drainage system in conjunction with repairs scheduled for 2017-2018. Alternative intake structures to manage nutrients and other practices, such as water and sediment control basins, will be installed to retain water on the upland properties and minimize flow rate and velocity.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Bluff Creek Watershed TMDL Implementation Plan evaluated the stream power index for each of the gullies identified in the 1996 Management Plan. Based upon this terrain analysis, sediment loading rates from the 1999 to 2008 P8 modeling results, and modeled surface runoff, known erosion sites were prioritized. This site, which is tributary to Bluff Creek and the Minnesota River, was given the highest priority ranking.
Lake Minnewaska, a highly used recreational lake, is the largest body of water in Pope County. While scientific studies show that the transparency in Lake Minnewaska has been increasing over the last 30 years, there are numerous ravines on the south shore of Lake Minnewaska that could threaten this trend. The erosion in these ravines is causing large amounts of sediment and phosphorus to be dumped directly into Lake Minnewaska. After a storm in 2011, many trees vegetating the ravines were blown down, ripping out the roots and further exposing the soil along these ravines.
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.
The Aitkin County Soil and Water Conservation District will partner with local lake associations and other eligible community partners to reduce the impacts of storm water runoff and retain water on the land. We will implement a mini-grant program that will install rain gardens and native vegetation buffers along shorelines using deep-rooted native vegetation that will filter runoff, promote infiltration, and control stormwater runoff and soil erosion.
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) Reserve Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) Partnership will accelerate the restoration and protection of approximately 4,620 acres of previously drained wetlands and associated upland native grassland wildlife habitat complexes via perpetual conservation easements. The goal of the RIM-WRP Partnership is to achieve the greatest wetland functions and values, while optimizing wildlife habitat on every acre enrolled in the partnership.
The goal of this project is to implement 10-15 medium sized projects that will infiltrate and reduce pollutant loads to the waters in the Riley-Purgatory-Creek Watershed District. The District intends to achieve this by using their Citizen Advisors who are well involved with local associations, City staff who are familiar with associations in their jurisdiction and also seek less-known association through various advertising methods. We intend to use staff knowledge to insure that the projects are suitable for the site and implemented correctly to maximize efficiency.
The Rice Creek Watershed District (RCWD) will create a web-based, mobile-compatible public drainage system inspection and maintenance database. This database system will enable District staff to create and track maintenance requests and inspections from the field, including Geo-referencing locations requiring repair via a mobile device. The system will greatly reduce the time required to identify and log each maintenance request, enabling staff to inventory more miles of public drainage system yearly thereby identifying erosion problems more efficiently and thoroughly.
