The project involves installation of a number of stormwater best management practices in the road right-of-way and on adjacent public property during reconstruction of Johnny Cake Ridge Road and installation of the Dakota County North Creek Greenway. Practices implemented will include boulevard raingardens, tree trenches, and underground sediment collection practices.
Otter Tail County will partner with the Buffalo-Red River Watershed District and the West Otter Tail and Wilkin SWCDs to stabilize the outlet of Judicial Ditch No. 2 which has become the most critically eroding gully contributing sediment to the Otter Tail River. When stabilized, sediment to the river will be reduced by 988 tons per year, and total phosphorus will be reduced by 840 pounds per year. The sediment reduction associated with this project is 7 percent of the 6,868 tons per year goal set by the Lower Otter Tail River Total Maximum Daily Load.
In 2010, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency listed Keller Lake as impaired for excess nutrients. An in-lake alum application was identified as the primary phosphorus load reduction option for controlling internal phosphorus load in Keller Lake. A recently completed in-lake management feasibility study report indicates that the in-lake alum application is the most cost-effective implementation project that remains for Keller Lake.
The purpose of this work is to develop Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs; a federal clean Water Act requirement) for streams and lakes in the Kettle River and Upper St. Croix watersheds. This and other technical information will be used to develop a separate report called a Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) report.
The Kettle River is a major tributary in the St. Croix River Basin. It is a State Wild and Scenic River and designated canoe route. Reducing sediment and nutrient pollution to the Kettle will protect water quality within the watershed and will also benefit the St. Croix River and help to address excess nutrient loading in Lake St. Croix. This project is a partnership between Carlton, Pine, Kanabec, and Aitkin SWCDs, with the Carlton SWCD acting as the project administrator.
Minnesota's twelve 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 $2.5 million Minnesota Regional Library Legacy Grant. Kitchigami Regional Library (KRL) is a consolidated regional public library system in north central Minnesota.
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.
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.
We assessed, designed rehabilitation features and permitted 7200 linear feet of river reach in prime spawning areas. We completed construction on over 2200 linear feet of the reach.
SPECIFIC ITEMS:
*Installed approx. 400 feet of toewood bench.
*Graded approx. 500 feet of shoreline to allow river access to floodplain.
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.
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.
The purpose of this project is for Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District to continue to assist with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s watershed approach and Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) process in the Rainy River Headwaters and Cloquet River watersheds. As part of this, Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District will lead efforts to increase levels of civic engagement and community participation in support of the current WRAPS process.
The goal of this project is to reduce peak stormwater flow discharge, sediment and phosphorus from directly entering Lake Pepin by installing two stormwater infiltration basins treating a total of 15.8 acres of developed residential and commercial area in Lake City in conjunction with the Highway 61 road reconstruction project scheduled for 2020 reducing total phosphorus by 13 pounds per year and sediment by 2 tons per year.
A watershed assessment and water quality treatment plan was completed for the impaired Lake George . This project will address the watershed practices portion of the water quality treatment plan. One regional underground stormwater detention/filtration treatment facility treating a 47-acre drainage area will be installed in partnership with the Tech High School Redevelopment Project. The underground facility will target phosphorus reduction reducing an estimated 27 pounds of phosphorus and 7 tons of sediment annually.
This project proposes to address the largest phosphorus loads discharging from 885 acres to Lake St. Croix through the installation of targeted stormwater treatment best management practices ranked in the top 10 of those prioritized in the 2018 Lake St. Croix Direct Discharge South Stormwater Retrofit Analysis. The goal of this project is to reduce pollutant loading from four small communities to Lake St. Croix by at least ten pounds phosphorous.
The project will increase lake and river access e.g. dock and carry-in portage; provide trails and small gathering space on Echo Point; restore and re-naturalize the park with trees, shrubs and native perennials; improve the layout and/or capacity picnic ground and campground; and other master plan approved improvements. The project includes design, engineering, construction and construction administration.
Minnesota's twelve regional library systems, which encompass more than 350 public libraries in all areas of the state, can 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 library system is eligible to receive a formula-driven allocation from the annual $2.5 million Minnesota Regional Library System Legacy Grant. Lake Agassiz Regional Library (LARL) is a consolidated regional public library system in northwestern Minnesota.
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 goal of this project is to finalize the Lake Pepin Watershed phosphorus total maximum daily load (TMDL) report by using the existing information and documentation prepared under previous contracts to prepare one TMDL report that addresses the impairments on the mainstem of the Mississippi River. Information developed to date for draft TMDLs on the Minnesota River mainstem will be documented for later use by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
This project is to conduct water chemistry monitoring at two subwatershed sites and two major watershed sites based on flow conditions, targeting runoff events using protocols defined in the Watershed Pollutant Load Monitoring Network (WPLMN) Standard Operating Procedures and Guidance. The data collected will be submitted to Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and used for calculating pollutant loads. This loading information, in turn, will be used at both the state and local level to guide policy and strategies for the restoration and protection of Minnesota’s waters.
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.
The Riley-Purgatory-Bluff-Creek Watershed District and the City of Eden Prairie are working together to implement projects to remove Lake Riley and Rice Marsh 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 Rice Marsh Lake and Lake Riley.
