The goal of the Pomme de Terre River Association (JPB) is to improve the local water resources within the watershed through targeted voluntary efforts and the building of strong relationships with local landowners, producers, and citizens. The Pomme de Terre River is currently not meeting state water quality for sediment. The purpose of this project is to strategically work towards a 53% sediment reduction goal at the mouth of the Pomme de Terre River based on a Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy document.
This project involves the extension and update of the Hydrological Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) model for the Bois de Sioux and Mustinka watersheds.
This project will address United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) comments on the preliminary draft Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) study and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) comments on the pre-public notice draft TMDL study and Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) report, and produce the public notice draft TMDL study and the public notice draft WRAPS report ready for public review and comment. Conduct one public meeting for each watershed to present public notice drafts of the TMDL study and WRAPS report for each watershed.
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.
The purpose of this project is to project the ground water aquifer serving the City of Long Prairie through assisting low income landowners in the replacement of 12 sub-surface treatment systems that have been documented as failing to protect groundwater within the Long Prairie Drinking Water Supply Management Area. Although the primary driver is ground water protection, replacing these failing systems will also protect surface water of which Lake Charlotte is in close proximity.
The goal of this project is to develop and complete the Watershed Restoration and Protection (WRAP) process and report, while also enlarging and sustaining a public participation process that encourages local ownership of water quality problems and solutions (civic engagement).
Civic engagement strategies including education public participation in watershed work and expanded knowledge, technical input into and review of stressor id process and report, Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) reports, implementation plans and protecion strategies.
The project work for this effort includes watershed wide civic engagement and technical support to the final years of Watershed Restoration And Protection Strategy (WRAPS) work. Communication to stakeholders and other key civic based activities to share WRAPS information will be completed. The Cook County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) will also provide technical support to aid completion of the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) report and help define protection and restoration strategies for the watershed.
This project will collect a complete Trophic Site Index (TSI) data set for Crow Wing County lakes and a complete data set for streams and rivers for the Intensive Monitoring Program (IMP). Crow Wing County, Cass County, Wadena County, Morrison County and Hubbard County are partnering to ensure that all target lakes and rivers within the Crow Wing River watershed are monitored efficiently.
This project will conduct a 2017 revision of the South Fork Crow River, North Fork Crow River and Sauk River Watershed Hydrological Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) models and review of the Pine River Watershed HSPF model.
The Snake River Watershed Management Board (SRWMB), working in concert with other local governmental units in within the watershed, will assist the MPCA, the project consultant, and other members of the Snake River Watershed Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) technical team in the completion of tasks associated with this TMDL project. SRWMB, with assistance from members of the technical team (Kanabec Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), Pine SWCD, Aitkin SWCD, and Mille Lacs SWCD) will provide the services to complete this TMDL project.
The Minnesota DNR and the Minnesota Forest Resources Council work with forest landowners, managers and loggers to implement a set of voluntary sustainable forest management guidelines that include water quality best management practices (BMPs) to ensure sustainable habitat, clean water, and productive forest soils, all contributing to healthy watersheds. This project will monitor the implementation of these forest management guidelines and BMPs on forested watersheds in MN.
Minnesota’s use of groundwater has increased over the last two decades. An increasing reliance on groundwater may not be a sustainable path for continued economic growth and development. The DNR is establishing three pilot groundwater management areas (GWMA) to help improve groundwater appropriation decisions and help groundwater users better understand and plan for future groundwater needs associated with economic development.
The purpose of this project is to identify effective irrigation and nutrient management best management practices and technologies and the barriers that prevent irrigators, producers, and other agricultural partners from adopting them in Otter Tail County. The primary goal is to reduce nitrate in areas where groundwater is susceptible to contamination as mapped by The Minnesota Department of Health by identifying effective BMPs and addressing the barriers to their adoption.
Funding supports an Irrigation Specialist to develop guidance and provide education on irrigation and nitrogenbest management practices (BMPs). In this position, Dr. Vasu Sharma provides direct support to irrigators onissues of irrigation scheduling and soil water monitoring. She is collaborating on the development of new irrigationscheduling tools that help irrigators manage water and nitrogen resources more precisely. These tools help reducenitrogen leaching losses in irrigated cropping systems.
This project encompasses surface water quality sampling within the Snake River Watershed over a period of two years (2017-18). This is the cycle II monitoring as follow-up to the original Snake River Watershed monitoring 10 years ago as part of the Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy Report (WRAPS). This project shall provide follow-up data on the waters in the Snake River Watershed in regards to changes in water quality over this 10-year cycle. The current sampling project will entail sampling 5 lakes and 11 stream sites.
Phase 4 of the Lake Winona Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) project will finalize the draft Lake Winona TMDL, dated November 2009, by completing additional data analysis, lake quality modeling, updating the TMDL report, and supporting the public involvement process.
This project will complete the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) study and Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategies (WRAPS) for the Lake Superior North watershed. Two segments of the Flute Reed River are impaired for aquatic life due to elevated turbidity and total suspended solids. The lower Poplar River is also listed as impaired but significant progress has occurred in the last 10 years. A TMDL and implementation plan have been completed for the lower Poplar River impairment. All other waters meet water quality standards and will be considered for protection measures.
This project provides fiscal resources for Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District for civic engagement activities in the Lake Superior South, North, and Cloquet watersheds for Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategies (WRAPS). This project also includes provide funding for water chemistry monitoring assistance and diagnostic field work that will fill identified monitoring gaps and stressors within the Lake Superior South watershed.
Concern for Deer Yard and Poplar lakes centers on their current trends of decreasing water transparencies often associated with phosphorus or sediment increases. Although both lakes still meet nutrient goals, trends in Secchi depth may presage emerging issues with the state of the lakes. This has further led to questions whether the productivity of the lakes have changed over time, what the natural or historical condition of the lakes were, what the current trajectory of each lake is, and how to best set management goals.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is a co-sponsor and assists with a portion of the financial support for the International Rainy River-Lake of the Woods Watershed Forum.
This project will create a high accuracy elevation dataset - critical for effectively planning and implementing water quality projects - for the state of Minnesota using LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and geospatial mapping technologies. Although some areas of the state have been mapped previously, many counties remain unmapped or have insufficient or inadequate data. This multi-year project, to be completed in 2012, is a collaborative effort of Minnesota's Digital Elevation Committee and partners with county surveyors to ensure accuracy with ground-truthing.
This project addresses five reaches of the Minnesota River that have aquatic recreation impairments as identified by high concentrations of E. coli. The project will describe the water quality impairments, complete pollutant source assessments, establish loading capacities and allocations for the impairments, and develop implementation strategies.
Several important milestones will be completed during this phase of the Mississippi River (Headwaters) Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) project. These milestones will include the completion of the Stressor ID & Watershed Monitoring and Assessment Reports, the completion of the Zonation Modeling watershed priority planning process (through the continuation of the Civic Engagement project component), and the development of the overall WRAPS report.
Several important milestones will be completed during this Phase (Phase II) of the Mississippi River (Headwaters) Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) project. These milestones will include the completion of the Stressor ID & Watershed Monitoring and Assessment Reports, the completion of the Zonation Modeling watershed priority planning process (through the continuation of the Civic Engagement project component), and the development of the overall WRAPS report.
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 goal of this project is to refine the nutrient and algae simulation in the Minnesota River basin using all relevant available sources of information. The outcome of this work order is a revised Hydrological Simulation Program – FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed model application for the Minnesota River basin that correctly represents nutrient sources and algae.
This project is a continuation of a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) study that addresses lake eutrophication (phosphorus) in two lakes that are on the 2014 United States Environmental Protection Agency 303(d) list of impaired waters, located in the Pine River Watershed. The contractor will be responding to public comment on the Pine River TMDL.
The Pomme de Terre River Association will partner with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to conduct water quality monitoring in the Pomme de Terre River Watershed. The purpose will be to determine if waters meet the states non-point source pollution standards. The data collected will be utilized to produce the cycle two Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) report and supporting documents for the watershed. Through the utilization of this funding a total of 11 lakes and 7 stream reaches will be assessed.
This project will establish a framework with the Pomme de Terre River Association (PDTRA), county staff, Soil and Water Conservation District staff, and state agencies that will outline their involvement throughout the development of the Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) for the Pomme de Terre River watershed. This work will form the basis to establish restoration and protection strategies that local governments and watershed organizations can use to make decisions that will lead to protecting and restoring the waters in the watershed.
The goal of this project is to extend through 2016, calibrate, and validate the existing watershed model using Hydrological Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) for the Pomme de Terre River 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.
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.
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.
Numerous studies have shown that stream bank erosion can be a significant contributor to the decline of water quality in the Rock River. The Clean Water dollars provided for this project assisted in three stream bank projects that address the turbidity (muddiness) impairment of the Rock River and bring the river closer to the level of water quality required for the EPA Clean Water Act.The $25,000.00 of Clean Water dollars were successful in leveraging $30,000 of US Fish and Wildlife funding as well as $20,000 of landowner and SWCD investment.
The purpose of the project is to reduce sediment and nutrient deposition in surface waters within priority areas of the watershed. A five percent reduction goal has been established in the County Local Water Management Plan and Impaired Waters project in progress. Eleven Best Management Practice (BMP) installations are planned for this project in cooperation with local landowners, Cities, Townships and Lake Associations.
