We will assess movements, survival, and causes of mortality of Minnesota elk while developing a non-invasive, safer method to estimate population size. This information is important for long-term management efforts.
This project sustains momentum from the pilot project funded previously by the ENRTF for growing environmental education opportunities for learners from outside of Austin.
Previous research by the St. Croix Watershed Research Station (SCWRS) has identified lake physics (temperature and oxygen) and nutrient recycling (nitrogen and phosphorus) as key drivers of lake algal blooms. SCWRS will conduct monitoring consistent with the prior research efforts by re-deploying three moored buoys to collect data throughout the 2019 ice-free season, including surface water samples. Additionally, SCWRS will deploy an in situ flourometer to measure total algae and cyanobacteria concentrations and will collect and analyze cyanobacterial toxins.
Lake Bronson is the only major recreational lake in Kittson County. The project is a continuation project from FY2012 and will reduce runoff and decrease movement of sediment, nutrients and bacteria by targeting, prioritizing and installing vegetative practices and installing Side Water Inlets within the Lake Bronson watersheds. Emphasis will be placed on the South Branch of Two Rivers. There is a portion of impaired stream reach as identified by the Minnesota Pollution Control, which directly feeds Lake Bronson.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) will partner with the Science Museum of Minnesota Saint Croix Watershed Research Station (SCWRS) - to collect sediment cores from six basins in the Lake of the Woods (LOW) to analyze the total sediment phosphorus inventory in each basin and compare those results to results from a similar study conducted in 2012.
This project will determine pre- and post-settlement nutrient trends from sediment chronology, fossil diatom assemblages, and from sediment profiles representing human history in the region (i.e., at least 150 years). Project activities include sample collection; sample preparation; diatom analysis; database creation and management; and data interpretation. Sample cores will be taken on the Lake of the Woods in five major bays (i.e., Four-mile, Muskeg, Sabaskong, Little Traverse, and Big Traverse) in the southern basin.
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).
This project will support the collection of water-quality samples and gauge streamflow near the mouths of the Rainy and Warroad Rivers; collect water-quality samples at 10 sites in LOW; and measure streamflow velocities and cross-sectional areas of 5 channel constrictions in LOW.
This project will gather watershed data necessary for the development of a Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy to maintain or improve water quality within the LoW Watershed; and establish project and sub-basin work groups and/or focus groups to guide the MWRPP process.
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.
With a perceived increase in the frequency and intensity of cyanobacterial algal blooms in Lake of the Woods (LOW), there has been an increased effort to collect information about the nature of algal blooms, nutrient concentrations and sources of nutrients to the LOW.
This project will initiate the process of community engagement in the LeSueur River watershed by assessing the needs and interests of the community and bringing a diverse set of stakeholders together to determine how best to foster action in improving and protecting water quality.
The MPCA has selected the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) watershed model to simulate watershed hydrology and water quality to assess various restoration scenarios in the Little Cannon River watershed. The SWAT model is an important tool in developing an understanding of existing conditions and simulating conditions under various management scenarios to inform the development of implementation strategies and plans to restore and protect streams and lakes.
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.
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.
In this Phase 4 of our ongoing "Living Lakes" program to enhance shallow lakes and restore wetlands, DU successfully enhanced 5,952 acres of shallow lakes and wetlands and restored 59 acres of wetlands by completing 16 separate projects for waterfowl and other wildlife in the Prairie, Transition, and Metro Sections in partnership with Minnesota DNR, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and private landowners.
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.
Provide approximately 15 matching grants for local parks, trail, acquisition of natural areas and trails to connect people safety to desirable community locations and regional or state facilities.
Repointed mortar joints, repair/replaceed bricks and inspected south wall on Lodge Zare Zapadu #44, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
This project will include analysis of existing and newly collected water quality data to verify the impairments on the currently listed reaches and to determine the status of the remaining river reaches as being either impaired or currently meeting standards. Stakeholder involvement and public participation will be a focus throughout the Watershed Approach Project. The project provides an opportunity to assess and leverage the capacity for the local community to engage in the process of watershed management and to adopt protection and restoration practices.
The Lower Mississippi River Feedlot Management in MN project will be leveraging State funding from BWSR to provide match for a United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) Regional Conservations Partners Program (RCPP). BWSR will provide technical and financial assistance to plan and design projects to mitigate feedlot runoff from smaller (less than 300 animal units or AUs*), open lot feedlots in southeastern Minnesota.
This project will address Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), United States Environment Protection Agency (EPA), and public comments on draft Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) studies and Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) reports, preliminary draft TMDL studies, and public noticed TMDL studies and WRAPS reports for the Lower Red River Watershed and the Lake of the Woods Watershed and produce final versions of the TMDL studies and WRAPS reports for each watershed.
This project will support water quality monitoring and data analysis in the Red River Basin. The monitoring will assist in providing water chemistry data needed to calculate annual pollutant loads for the Major Watershed Load Monitoring Program (MWLMP) and provide short term data sets of select parameters to other MPCA programs.
Leveraging new statewide climate data, we will assess future change in the duration, frequency and magnitude of heavy precipitation and drought events and engage communities to prepare for these extremes.
The ENRTF grant will introduce 12 young people to conservation careers through full-time, paid internships and apprenticeships on the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge (16 FTEs over 2 years).
