The grant will use local data to develop stormwater planning options that prioritize, target, and measure the effectiveness of Best Management Practices and allow local city officials to make decisions on stormwater Best management Practices that reduce pollutants in the stormwatershed.
The goal of this project is to use the We Are Water MN exhibit and their technical knowledge in relationship-building and storytelling to increase community capacity for sustainable watershed management in the Cannon River, Cedar River, Mississippi-Headwaters, Mississippi-Grand Rapids, Mississippi-Twin Cities, Red Lake River, Rum River and St. Louis River watersheds.
The goals of this project are to develop and implement a stakeholder and public engagement program, update the Hydrological Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) models for the Big Fork and Little Fork River Watersheds, develop Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) studies for impaired waterbodies, remove naturally impaired streams from the impairment list, develop a Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) report, and to conduct civic engagement activates necessary to ensure project success.
"This project will meet the following goals: develop, implement, and evaluate the impacts civic engagement outcomes for the Big Fork River Watershed; create a citizen understanding of the Watershed Restoration & Protection Strategy (WRAPS) and Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) process and the role citizens and stakeholders can play in attaining water quality restoration and protection; provide opportunities for citizens and stakeholders to assist local partners and state agencies in developing priorities for restoration as well projects to accomplish protection of high quality waters; and
The "Bigfork River Target Watershed Assessment – Lake of the Woods & Koochiching Soil and Water Conservation Districts" Project focuses on collecting water chemistry and field parameters at Bear River, Big Fork River (4 sites), Caldwell Brook and Sturgeon River. The project will support the biological assessments being completed by MPCA staff for this Target Watershed Assessment. This work will also train and develop Koochiching SWCD staff to enable them to continue water quality monitoring in the Rainy River Basin.
This monitoring project includes lake and stream monitoring and encompasses all of Cass County, and surrounding counties. The project will obtain water quality data for streams; in 2009, lakeshed assessments indicated that many surface waters throughout the county were data deficient. This project will address the need for sufficient data on a county-wide basis and fulfill the State’s intensive watershed monitoring program goals by obtaining water quality data at targeted lake and stream sites.
This project will collect intermediate watershed load monitoring data on the Bigfork River which is critical to the identification of stressors and assist in defining areas of concern within the Bigfork Watershed and its greater Rainy River Watershed. Itasca County SWCD will closely collaborate with Koochiching SWCD and MPCA on this project.
The goal of this project is to construct, calibrate, and validate five Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed models. The outcome will be HSPF models that can readily be used to provide information to support conventional parameter TMDLs. These models will generate predicted output timeseries for hydrology, sediment, nutrients, and dissolved oxygen which are consistent with available sets of observed data.
This project involves the water quality monitoring of, and data analysis for four major watersheds (8-digit Hydrologic Unit Codes) in the Rainy River Basin. This monitoring will assist in providing the water chemistry data needed to calculate annual pollutant loads for the Major Watershed Pollutant Load Monitoring Network (MWPLMN) and provide short term data sets of select parameters to other Agency programs.
This project will construct, calibrate, and validate two Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed models. The consultant will produce HSPF models that can readily be used to provide information to support conventional parameter Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDLs) at the Big Fork River and Little Fork River watersheds.
The project goal is to assist the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) with meeting the objectives of the Watershed Pollutant Load Monitoring Network (WPLMN). This will be accomplished by providing assistance in 2016 through 2019 to collect water samples, field data, and observations for the Big Fork River near Bigfork at MN6 in Itasca County, and the Big Fork River near Craigsville at MN6 in Koochiching County.
The goal of this project is to develop, implement, and evaluate the impacts of co-developed civic engagement outcomes for the Big Fork and Littlefork River Watersheds.
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.
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 is a cooperative effort between Crow Wing and Itasca County to contract with RMB Laboratories to generate 65 lake assessment/trend analysis reports. The watershed protection model is an innovative and proactive approach to water resource management which is geared towards prioritizing areas of concern, targeting implementation strategies, and measuring their effectiveness. These assessments are also useful and understandable tools for lake associations and the public.
The Little Fork River and Big Fork River - USGS FLOWSED project was established to collect site specific data for streamflow, SSC, and bedload at the Littlefork and Big Fork Rivers in Northern Minnesota; use the data to evaluate the use of dimensionless sediment rating curves for the rivers; and document the results of the study in conjunction with the results from other rivers in the state for the application of regional sediment rating curves to rivers in Minnesota.
This project supports monitoring and assessment activities by MPCA EAO staff and includes lab analysis, equipment, and fieldwork expenses associated with monitoring and assessment activities.
Lake Monitoring: Lakes are monitored for nutrients, clarity and other information to provide the data needed to assess the aquatic recreation use support.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will coordinate the collection of high-resolution elevation data for northeastern portion of Minnesota using Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) systems. The geographic area of the work includes Minnesota counties of Carlton, Cook, Lake, and St. Louis Counties and that portion of Koochiching County that comprises Voyageurs National Park.
This project seeks assistance from University of Minnesota in developing effective interview questions for community watershed assessments and will assist in understanding the data collected through community interviews.
Koochiching County has seven major watersheds in the county, this contract is for work in five of them: Big Fork, Little Fork, Rapid River, Lower Rainy River, and Rainy River Headwaters. The local Koochiching County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) is positioned to assist in several elements of the Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategies (WRAPS) process. This includes gap monitoring for water chemistry, sediment work, Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) development, modeling scenarios, and WRAPS development.
This project will provide an important framework for civic and citizen engagement and communication in the International Rainy River-Lake of the Woods Watershed, which will contribute to long-term public participation in surface water protection and restoration activities.
The purpose of this contract is to establish an international watershed coordinator for the Rainy River- Lake of the Woods (RR-LOW) watershed. The coordinator will assist the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) in facilitating and enhancing civic engagement and public participation activities through collaboration and integration of the efforts of groups working on watershed activities at local, state/provincial, tribal, and bi-national levels.
The University of Minnesota will develop effective interview questions for community watershed assessments in the Rainy River basin and provide assistance in understanding the data collected through community interviews.
The goal of this project is to conduct water chemistry monitoring at four subwatershed sites and two basin sites in 2016 and 2017; and six subwatershed sites and three basin sites in 2018-2019 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 the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and used in the FLUX32 model for calculating pollutant loads.
There are seven major watersheds Koochiching County, this project will work in five of them: Big Fork, Little Fork, Rapid River, Lower Rainy River, and Rainy River Headwaters watersheds. The local Koochiching County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) is positioned to assist in several elements of the Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) process. This includes gap monitoring for water chemistry, sediment work, TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) development, modeling scenarios, and WRAPS development.
The goal of this project is the continued development of an overall strategy for reduction of turbidity/TSS, with sets of sediment reduction initiatives and actions for various sources, to address the Minnesota River Turbidity TMDL and the South Metro Mississippi River TSS TMDL. The overall strategy will be used to help establish a path towards achieving the required reductions of turbidity/TSS.
This project will collect water chemistry and field parameters at the Popple River, Bowstring River, Big Fork River, Rice River, Caribou Lake and Eagle lake. It will also support the biological assessments being completed by MPCA staff for this Target Watershed Assessment. This project is a collaborative effort with MPCA, 3 SWCDs, and the well established Bigfork River Watch Program. This project is a collaborative effort with Lake of the Woods and Koochiching County SWCDs because the Big Fork Watershed encompasses both Itasca and Koochiching Counties.
This assessment will be performed using scientific volunteers, will build capacity at a technical training program at Itasca Community College (ICC), and will provide MPCA with answers providing a reasonable expectation for water quality in this under-studied region of Minnesota.
This project will provide the monitoring of reaches where there are data gaps, incorporate new data and analyze relevant data, identify pollutant sources, hold a stakeholder meeting, and gather information towards the future development of a Draft Restoration (TMDL) and Protection Plan.
This project will extend the simulation period for the Hydrological Simulation Program - FORTRAN (HSPF) models for the Grand Rapids, Brainerd, Crow Wing, Redeye, Long Prairie, Sartell, Sauk, St. Cloud, and Crow watersheds, and review and comment on the calibration.
The primary goal of this project is to examine the calibration and validation of recently extended Hydrological Simulation Program – FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed models for the Mississippi River-Headwaters, Mississippi River-Grand Rapids, Mississippi River-Brainerd, Mississippi River-Sartell, Mississippi River-St. Cloud, Leech Lake, Pine River, Crow Wing River, Long Prairie River, and Redeye River watersheds and revise the calibration.
The main outcome of the project will be the development of a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) study that address total suspended solids/turbidity impairments of the Mississippi River (Swan River to Crow Wing River). Community outreach to communicate the results and strategies for restoration will also take place during this project.
