This project will be the first of its kind Civic Engagement Cohort that focusses its efforts in an individual watershed. The Otter Tail River Watershed is scheduled to start a Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) in 2016 and as a component of that project, the cohort will provide the civic engagement requirement. The cohort will be comprised of 25-30 individuals located throughout the watershed who represent a broad spectrum of resource managers and citizens who are familiar with water quality and watershed management.
The goal of this project is to construct, calibrate, and validate a Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed model for the Otter Tail watershed. The contractor will produce a HSPF watershed model application(s) that can readily be used to provide information to support conventional parameter Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs). The contractor will clearly demonstrate that this model generates predicted output timeseries for hydrology, sediment, nutrients, and dissolved oxygen that are consistent with available sets of observed data.
The goal of this project is to better target restoration activities in the Cannon River watershed via a paleolimnological study of a selected set of the lakes addressed in the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the watershed. The goals are to better constrain lake phosphorus budgets, and determine the magnitude of ecological change experienced by a range of lake types.
The study will assess existing phosphorus data records and create a model to explain phosphorus loading into the Red River of the North. Studies have found that the majority of nutrient loading in the stream located in agricultural areas occurs with sediment loading since nutrients are typically bound to sediment particles.
This project will complete a Watershed Restoration and Protection (WRAP) Plan that includes a set of pollutant reduction and watershed management strategies to achieve water quality standards for the listed pollutants, and that are understood and adoptable by local units of government and other stakeholders. This project will also provide an important water quality framework for civic and citizen engagement and communication, which will contribute to long-term public participation in surface water protection and restoration activities throughout the watershed.
The City of Annandale intends to implement stormwater infiltration systems to reduce stormwater discharge volumes and to prevent the discharge of nutrients and sediment from urban runoff into local water bodies.
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.
The Prioritization, Targeting, and Measuring Water Quality Improvement Application (PTMA) connects the general qualitative strategies in a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) and Watershed Restoration and Protection (WRAP) and the identification of implementable on-the-ground Best Management Practices (BMPs). Leveraging geospatial data from the International Water Institute this application will be developed for two pilot areas within the Red River Basin.
Turbidity and E.coli impairments characterize the Clearwater River Watershed and its sub-watersheds. Focused protective efforts in this watershed have helped, but more work is vitally needed to further improve the quality of water. Several recent studies on the Clearwater River watershed and its sub-watersheds, Lost River and Silver Creek will be used to direct the work.
This grant application will focus on the construction of multiple targeted best management practices (BMPs) in priority areas which will provide measurable reductions in sediment and phosphorus loadings to cold water streams in the Mississippi River/Lake Pepin Watershed. The installation of these BMPs will also protect the existing stream habitat by reducing peak flows and reduced streambank erosion.
The Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Falls is the premier high school hockey arena in the State of Minnesota. The Arena fills two city blocks and is covered by 85-90% impervious (hard) surface. Rainfall events completely inundate roads and sidewalks, overloading the stormsewer system. Larger events cause water to stand high enough to reach the front steps to the Arena. Roof runoff produces large amounts of water running from the downspouts. Runoff has made sod establishment on the grounds difficult. Washouts have developed carrying sediment to the stormsewer.
This project will collect real-time parameter data for specific conductance, water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and stream flow at the United States geological Survey (USGS) gaging stations located at Fargo, ND and Grand Forks, ND on the Red River of the North; and publish the data both on the USGS NWIS website and in the USGS Annual Report.
The International Water Institute (IWI) will monitor 42 sites (3 basin, 12 major watershed, and 27 subwatershed) in the Red River and Upper Mississippi River Basins intensively during the contract period. There will also be 5 sites in the Red River Basin where mercury samples will be collected and sent to Minnesota Department of Health for analysis. The IWI will collect water samples across the range of flow conditions targeting sample collection at times of moderate to high flow.
The Red Lake Watershed District will collect water chemistry samples, field measurements, and photos at water quality stations in the Thief River Watershed that have been prioritized for Intensive Watershed Monitoring. This sampling effort will allow for an unbiased assessment of stream conditions for aquatic life and aquatic recreation. Eleven stream monitoring stations have been selected for this monitoring effort. Sampling will be conducted during the years 2022 and 2023 so that data is available for assessment in 2024.
This project will support water quality monitoring and data analysis in nine major watersheds (8-digit Hydrologic Unit Codes) of the Lower 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.
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.
Impaired waters in the Red Lake River 1W1P are categorized into management classes to target impaired waters that are closest to meeting water quality standards and to protect unimpaired waters close to becoming impaired. Management areas targeted in 2018 and 2019 include the Little Black River, Black River, County Ditch 96, the Red Lake River between Thief River and Crookston, Burnham Creek, and Grand Marais Creek.
This project is for Minnesota Legislative Clean Water Fund funding to engage citizens in local watershed monitoring, to work with regional partners to promote understanding and protection of watersheds, and to organize and facilitate gathering of scientific data all for the benefit of water quality in the Red River Basin.
This project is for Minnesota Legislative Clean Water Fund funding to engage citizens in local watershed monitoring, to work with regional partners to promote understanding and protection of watersheds, and to organize and facilitate gathering of scientific data all for the benefit of water quality in the Red River Basin.
This project will develop an effective transferable model to engage and educate watershed residents, stakeholders and others to better understand and protect watershed ecostystems through environmental monitoring, training, and formal and informal education programs in their local watershed. The project will build on the foundation of the existing Red River Basin River Watch program by strengthening three main activity areas: 1) curriculum integration and teacher training, 2) youth leadership and civic engagement, and 3) applied research collaboration and watershed science skills building.
As part of the FY 2012 funding cycle, the Board of Water and Soil Resources granted funds for development of the Water Quality Decision Support Application (WQDSA). The WQDSA will provide land and water managers with geospatial data and online tools to prioritize, market, and implement actions on the landscape to achieve water quality objectives identified in local and state water plans and to ensure that public funding decisions are strategic and defensible.
The Red Lake Watershed District will create an 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 and use the software to facilitate compliance with state statutes. The project will also develop a process for completing the annual inspection and reporting requirements under Statue 103E.
This project will monitor nine locations in the major watersheds (8-digit Hydrologic Unit Codes) of the Lower Red River Basin. The stream outlet monitoring will provide the water chemistry data needed to calculate annual pollutant loads. Staff from the Red River Watershed Management Board (RRWMB) will conduct the sampling, initially manage the data and provide the data to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) for load calculations and import into the STORET data system.
The goal of this project is to extend, calibrate, and validate the existing Hydrological Simulation Program – FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed models in the Red Lake River, Thief River, Clearwater River and Red Lake watersheds.
International Water Institute (IWI) staff will monitor 24 sites in the Bois de Sioux, Mustinka (2 sites), Buffalo (8 sites), Red Lake (4 sites), Sandhill (3 sites), Thief (2 sites), and Tamarac River (3 sites) Watersheds intensively over a 2 year period in an attempt to collect 25 samples per year at each site. If conditions allow for the collection of all planned samples, 1200 stream samples will be collected over the time period. Monitoring will include field measurements, observations, and at least three photographs during each site visit.
MN Legislative Clean Water Fund funding to engage citizens in local watershed monitoring, work with regional partners to promote understanding and protection of watersheds, and organize and facilitate gathering of scientific data all for the benefit of water quality in the Red River Basin.
The purpose of this project is to improve understanding of primary productivity in the Red River and the diversity and population structure of the algal communities occurring along the river system. This will be accomplished through taxonomic identification of periphyton and phytoplankton assemblages necessary for characterizing responses to nutrient gradients along the Red River of the North.
The goal of this project is to engage citizens in local watershed monitoring, work with regional partners to promote understanding and protection of watersheds, and organize and facilitate gathering of scientific data for the benefit of water quality in the Red River Basin.
The goal of this project is to engage citizens in local watershed monitoring, work with regional partners to promote understanding and protection of watersheds, and organize and facilitate gathering of scientific data for the benefit of water quality in the Red River Basin.
The goal of this project is to construct, calibrate, and validate a watershed model using the Hydrological Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) model for the Upper/Lower Red Lake Watershed. The contractor will produce an HSPF model that can readily be used to provide information to support conventional parameter Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Studies. The model will generate predicted output for hydrology, sediment, nutrients, and dissolved oxygen that is consistent with observed data.
The Redeye River watershed is conducting the second intensive watershed assessment. The water quality in the watershed is still pretty healthy, but the streams with poor water quality identified previously are still not meeting water quality standards. The goal during this cycle is to better identify problem areas so that parcel specific implementation can occur to achieve improved water quality. The best method available to better target implementation is through culvert inventories, visual and desktop surveys, as well as outreach.
Watershed based implementation funds will be used to target conservation practices utilizing the principles associated with Prioritize, Target and Measure as referenced in our Local Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan. The following are projects/practices, and their associated pollution reduction estimates, that are included in this budget request: (500 acres of Nonstructural BMPs) to protect/improve land management and reduce bacteria will reduce phosphorus by 65 lbs/yr, nitrogen by 520 lbs/yr, and sediment by 285 tons/yr.
Hydes Lake is the headwaters to Carver Creek and is known for its excellent fishery. However, the lake has elevated nutrient levels which lead to poor water quality. A clean up plan for Hydes Lake has identified the need to reduce phosphorus loading by 81 percent from watershed sources.
Hydes Lake is the headwaters to Carver Creek and is known for its excellent fishery. However, the lake has elevated nutrient levels which lead to poor water quality. A clean up plan for Hydes Lake identified the need to reduce phosphorus loading by 81 percent from watershed sources.
Since 2008, a ravine on the Northwest side of Reitz Lake has been eroding on a private parcel, causing sediment and nutrients to discharge into the waterbody. This project will stabilize a ravine that has formed from Airport Road down to Reitz Lake.
The Reitz Lake restoration project began several years ago when water quality samples showed the lake was impaired. Carver County and residents around the lake took action and began to develop a plan (TMDL) to clean up Reitz Lake.Once the TMDL study and the associated implementation plan (which helps to target specific projects) were completed, funding was sought to target high priority projects around the Lake. First, direct untreated run-off from a farmed area of approximately 100 acres to the north of the lake will be slowed and filtered before it enters the lake.
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.