To construct the Arts and Cultural Celebration Center at the Rice County fairgrounds. This heated, year round and handicap accessible building with ADA bathrooms and presentation stage will be home to arts presentations by regional individuals and performances by county arts and theater organizations.
This program is a part of a comprehensive clean water strategy to prevent sediment and nutrients from entering our lakes, rivers, and streams; enhance fish and wildlife habitat; protect groundwater and wetlands. Specifically the Riparian Buffer Easement Program targets creating buffers on riparian lands adjacent to public waters, except wetlands. Through the Reinvest in Minnesota Program (RIM) and in partnership with Soil and Water Conservation Districts and private landowners, permanent conservation easements are purchased and buffers established.
Nitrogen is a serious problem in Minnesota's Mississippi River Basin and the Dodge Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) plans to address this problem through the instillation of six nitrogen reducing agricultural best management practices in the Dodge/Steele Joint County Ditch No. 11 system, also known as the Ripley Ditch system. Agriculture drainage, through the use of agricultural tile drainage systems, has been identified as the number one leading source of nitrogen in the Mississippi River Basin.
To restore Rock County Fair's Floral Hall. Built in 1911 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Rock County Fair will restore its interior. Funding will not only preserve this historic building, but also create an enhanced space to showcase regional artwork.
To provide an outdoor performance and demonstration space in the highest traffic area of the fairgrounds, which is located between the 4-H Exhibit, Open Class Exhibit, and the Rock County Historical Society Exhibits buildings. The fair plans to hold Dutch Oven cooking demonstrations, Buffalo Days celebrations, and dance performances in this area.
The Rock River Watershed encompasses runoff from the four counties of Rock, Pipestone, Murray and Nobles. The Rock River Watershed, along with the adjacent Elm Creek are listed as impaired by turbidity and fecal coliform. With limited funds available for restoration projects, targeting tools to pinpoint locations where projects stand to have the highest effectiveness are increasingly important.
This project is a partnership with farmers, livestock, commodity and conservation organizations and agencies to install, demonstrate and expand water drainage conservation within the Rock River Watershed. Up to four sites will be chosen based upon local selection criteria, installed and demonstrated to the public in 2013 and 2014.
The Root River Watershed Pollutant Load Monitoring Network (WPLMN) project will continue existing efforts to calculate seasonal pollutant loads for the Root River. The Fillmore Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) will assist the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) with water quality monitoring and pollutant load calculations for five subwatershed sites. Samples will be collected using procedures described in the WPLMN standard operating procedures.
The goal of this project is to develop a Roseau Lake Water Quality Improvement Report that will include a prioritized, targeted, and measurable implementation plan that will improve water quality in the Roseau Lake watershed. The project will result in development of site specific implementation actions through use of the Prioritize, Targeting, and Measuring Application (PTMApp) and the Drained Wetland Basin Inventory terrain analysis methods.
The purpose of the project is to collect data to represent the ambient condition of the lakes and streams of the Rum River Watershed within Mille Lacs, Isanti and Sherburne Counties that is needed to determine if thresholds set to protect designeated uses, such as aquatic recreation and aquatic life, are being met .
This project will gather watershed data necessary for the development of a Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy with parameter-specific targets that will maintain or improve water quality in the Rum River Watershed. Local Partners will lead various portions of this project and a hired onsultant will be subcontracted to write selected TMDL protection plans.
This project will focus on Watershed Restoration and Protetion Strategy (WRAPS) and Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) report development for the Rum River Watershed, which includes Mille Lacs Lake (the second largest lake in Minnesota) and the Rum River of which Mille Lacs Lake is the headwaters. The project will produce a plan that partners and citizens will be able to implement, a framework for citizen engagement, and a set of watershed management activities that will achieve water quality standards for all impairments within the watershed.
