This project will provide a means of identifying and prioritizing areas in the Two Rivers Watershed District (TRWD) and the Kittson County Ditch system to implement conservation practices that reduce overland runoff contaminant loadings contributing to water quality impairments. Flow paths, in conjunction with land use and soils information, will be used to analyze the potential for contaminant loading. This information will be available to Kittson County Ditch Authorities, landowners, resource managers and others.
The Knife River is a state protected water and a Designated Trout Stream. It is nationally known as a prime fresh-water steelhead fishery and is managed as a cold-water trout fishery for native species including brook trout. The Knife River is characterized by steep gradients, multiple water-falls and cascades, tea-colored water, and remnant old-growth forest cover types including white pine, Norway pine and white cedar.
To provide a variety of arts and cultural heritage activities at the Koochiching County Fair. Funds will be used to bring The Community of a Plate Exhibit to the fair. A Grand Rapids photographer will be commissioned to photograph local food producers in Koochiching County. Their portraits will be displayed during the fair.
The Koochiching County SWCD staff will collect water chemistry and field parameters at specific times to determine amount of contaminant load into each stream. These sites will coincide with locations where stream flow data is also being collected. This project will focus on watershed load monitoring in both the Big Fork and Little Fork River watersheds.
To create a mural depicting Lake County's history, build a stage to accommodate performances, and provide a venue and supplies for painting, pottery, spinning, and other fine art workshops and demonstrations. Workshops and necessary supplies will be free to the public.
This project will compile and review previously conducted studies and will prioritize best management practices (BMPs) based on a cost-benefit analysis of their pollutant load reductions and life cycle costs. It will also support the design and construction of BMPs, such as rain gardens and infiltration practices, within the Villa Park subwatershed of the Lake McCarrons watershed.
Minnesota’s 12 regional public library systems, which encompass 350 public libraries in all areas of the state, benefit from a portion of the Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Through State Library Services, a division of the Minnesota Department of Education, each regional public library system receives a formula-driven allocation from the annual $3 million Minnesota Regional Library Legacy Grant.
Lake Seven is located in Otter Tail County and is a waterbody of statewide significance, often leading the north central hardwoods forest ecoregion in water clarity. Lake Seven has also been identified by DNR Fisheries staff as one of 77 refuge lakes with the potential to maintain tulibee populations into the future given sufficent watershed protection and the only one in Otter Tail County.
Lake Bronson State Park is one of only a handful of state parks in the Northwest corner of Minnesota. The Friends of the Lake Bronson State Park met with Watershed District staff to explore how to improve the water quality of the lake. The lake is subject to sediment and nutrient loading from several upstream ditches. A significant algae bloom during July of each year, at the height of the seasonal use of the lake, is most likely due to the current inflow conditions.
Boy and Swift Lakes are connected lakes on the Boy River, the major tributary stream to Leech Lake. In cooperation with funding from the Boy/Swift Lake Association and the Initiative Foundation Healthy Lakes and Rivers program, this project will result in Subsurface Treatment System (SSTS) compliance inspections on up to 290 properties on Boy Lake and 69 on Swift Lake. The project will also result in an SSTS record review and inventory of all properties on the two lakes.
The Lake Superior Beach Monitoring and Notification Program exists to test recreational beach water and notify the public if bacteria levels become unsafe. This project will expand the Beach Program to include additional outreach efforts, sanitary surveys and testing of new technologies to improve the Beach Program. Monitoring results will be used to inform the public, find the sources of bacterial contamination and address polluted runoff from improper waste disposal.
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.
Minnesota’s 12 regional public library systems, which encompass 350 public libraries in all areas of the state, benefit from a portion of the Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Through State Library Services, a division of the Minnesota Department of Education, each regional public library system receives a formula-driven allocation from the annual $3 million Minnesota Regional Library Legacy Grant.
This project will help to improve the water quality of Lake of the Woods by providing local staff with the resources necessary for implementing best management practices that will reduce erosion in drainage ditches. The Lake of the Woods Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) will assist the County in developing a process for inventory and inspection of ditches. Public drainage is critical to the local economy and proper drainage management is critical to water quality protection.
The Lake St. Croix Rural Subwatershed Project Implementation Clean Water Fund Grant will allow the Washington Conservation District and its partners to carry out the implementation of 8-10 of the top 50 highly ranked conservation projects already identified in the Top50P! rural subwatershed analysis. Implementation of the conservation practices will work towards achieving an estimated 80-160 pounds of phosphorus load reduction to Lake St. Croix.
As lake-focused development continues these high quality waters will see increasing amounts of land use change. The State Demographer projects that the targeted lake catchments will see population increases of 25-62% within 20 years. Isolating these contributing areas permits the Lake Protection Analysis project to perform multiple GIS analyses to accurately inform water quality discussions. The final framework will allow local water managers to prioritize across their water bodies, target activities to specific subsheds, and develop measurable goals.
This project, beginning in Spring of 2014 and lasting until December 2015, will collect water quality data for 16 sites (7 lakes and 4 stream sites) within the Rainy River - Headwaters Major Watershed as part of the 10-year cycle for monitoring Minnesota's waters. Due to the large number and geographic extent of monitoring sites Lake County Soil and Water Conservaion District (SWCD) has coordinated site selection with North St. Louis County Soil and Water Conservaion District (SWCD) and will monitor sites within the southwestern (Kawishiwi River) portion of the watershed.
The purpose of this project is to gain an understanding of modern and historical nutrient and thermal dynamics in Lake of the Woods using modeling, monitoring, sediment core analysis, and whole basin techniques.
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.
Restore asphalt surface on the Wobegon Trail. This involves removal of substandard asphalt, repacking and resurfacing of segments of the trail. The section of trail is Albany to Morrison County.
The goal of this project is to determine: 1) temperature and seasonal variations in sediment chemical-textural characteristics (upper 10-cm sediment layer) and rates of P release from sediments; and 2) vertical variations in mobile P concentrations in the sediment column of Big Traverse Bay in order to better understand the role of internal P loading to the P economy of LOW and for the development of the LOW TMDL.
This project constructed a new group camp at Lake Bemidji State Park that features an area for tent camping, an area to accommodate RV units, a large fire ring, and a large screened picnic shelter equipped with electricity.
The biological communities present in a lake are the result of cumulative effects of natural and human-caused influences within the entire area of land and water that flows into the lake (i.e., the watershed). Biological assessments are used on lakes to identify water pollution and habitat concerns based on the type and abundance of selected animals and their habitats. Certain species cannot survive without clean water and healthy habitat while other species are tolerant of degraded conditions.
to construct .5 miles of a 10 foot wide bituminous trail beginning approximately at 64th Avenue East near Highway 61 in Duluth, cross either over or under the highway with a pedestrian bridge or culvert and terminate at Brighton Beach
to construct a 1 mile, 10 foot wide bituminous trail beginning at approximately 60th Avenue East, crossing the Lester River on a new bridge and terminating prior to Highway 61 near Brighton Beach
Attempted to Acquire 108.5 acres of land adjacent to the 555 acre Janet Johnson WMA. The land is a mix of forest (29 acres), wetlands (35 acres on the NWI), and agriculture (44.5 acres).
The University of Minnesota’s Landscape Arboretum is the largest and most diverse horticultural site in Minnesota. It features gardens and natural areas representative of Minnesota and the upper-Midwest that can be explored using several miles of trails. Additionally it conducts fruit and plant breeding research to develop cultivars that have particular desired characteristics, such as cold hardiness or disease resistance. The arboretum has a long-term goal of protecting the entire watershed of which it is a part.
This program is to restore acres of state parks and trails land to native plant communities. MS 86A.05 directs PAT to preserve, perpetuate and restore natural features in state parks that were present in the area of the park at the time of European settlement. Approximately 31 restoration projects have been completed, are in progress, or will be implemented in the spring of 2012, at over 20 state park units. These projects total 1,283 acres.
