Fifteen Years Later, Restoration Stands up to the Test of Time
There is value in reflecting on past restoration projects – successes and failures – to learn what worked and what didn’t. The Black Rush Lake restoration, which occurred in the late 90s, was a complex project that required teamwork and commitment from multiple agencies and partners. Fifteen years after the project was completed, the restoration is still considered to be a big success.
Ditch Retrofits are Good News for the Red River
For many of us, ditches are a nondescript part of the landscape, but the reality is that ditches serve a vital drainage function on land throughout the state. While they do a great job in helping channel water off the land, sometimes they take sediment with them, which can cause problems. In Clay County, the Buffalo-Red River Watershed District is partnering with local landowners and using a Clean Water Fund grant to retrofit three of the county’s ditches to help keep that sediment on the land.
Database and Mapping Improvements in BWSR’s Easements Section
Since 1986, BWSR’s Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) Reserve conservation easement program has processed and recorded 6,915 easements totaling 260,931 acres. In the early days of this successful easement program, the intricate acquisition process—from application stage to agreement stage to easement stage to recorded easement—was tracked on paper with the assistance of a FoxPro database which utilized an MS-DOS user interface. Over the years, program requirements and processes evolved and a new database is now improving efficiency and accuracy for the agency.
The “Road Program”: Protecting Wetlands, Helping Local Partners
Wetland mitigation restores the lost ecological services of wetlands that are impacted during road construction. As wetlands are degraded, the local ecology suffers. Wetland restoration projects help prevent flooding, provide new wildlife habitat and protect water quality as compensation for wetlands impacted by road projects. BWSR is partnering with the City of Andover in Anoka County on one such project, restoring wetland to an area that has been drained since 1931.
Nonpoint Priority Funding Plan Approved
The Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) has completed the first-ever Nonpoint Priority Funding Plan (NPFP) and it has been accepted by the BWSR Board at their June 25thmeeting.