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CLEAN all visible aquatic plants, zebra mussels, and other prohibited invasive species from watercraft, trailers, and water-related equipment before leaving any water access or shoreland.
The fall/winter 2023 Itasca SWCD newsletter is ready!
Take a look and see what we've been up to.
Upper Mississippi - Grand Rapids, One Watershed One Plan
In 2022, the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) awarded a One Watershed, One Plan (1W1P) planning grant to the Upper Mississippi River - Grand Rapids watershed. This will allow for a collaborative plan to look at the watershed, identify areas that might need water quality protection or improvements, and plan projects to make sure the water in this watershed is healthy for all of the important uses we rely on.
Advisory Meetings
The Upper Mississippi Grand Rapids 1W1P will be holding a series of technical advisory committee meetings which will help advise this watershed plan. They will be held the second Wednesday of each month, 9:00am - Noon.
The next advisory committee meeting will be held Wednesday, April 10th, 9am-Noon at the Hill City School (500 Iome Ave, Hill City, MN 55748).
The goal of this meeting is to review the action items from the Topic Meetings and continue to build on potential actions that can help reach the watershed goals.
Policy Committee Notifications
The next Policy Committee Meeting will be held Thursday, April 25th at the Hill City School Community Room, 11:30am - 2:30pm.
Policy Committee Meeting Agendas
Approved Policy Committee Meeting Minutes
Advisory Committee Reports
Policy Committee Minutes for 3/23/2023
Policy Committee Minutes for 4/27/2023
Policy Committee Minutes for 7/27/2023
Big Fork River
The Big Fork River watershed, which covers 1,326,947 acres, flows 165 miles from Dora Lake (45 miles northeast of Bemidji in north-central Itasca County) to the Rainy River, which forms the Minnesota/Canadian border. This confluence is 16 miles west-southwest of International Falls. Nearly 60% of the watershed is land owned or managed by the state.
Characteristics
Development pressure is moderate in most areas, with occasional farms being parceled out for development, recreation, or country homes. Soil content in the watershed varies from sand to clay glacial till, while low bog areas consist of loam over clay soils. The watershed is mostly low relief with an elevation change of about 375 feet from the headwaters to the confluence at the Rainy River. There are approximately 113 tributary streams that flow into the Big Fork River, though many are seasonal or intermittent that are present during the heavy spring runoff.
What's being done
The Big Fork River watershed is currently in its WRAPS (watershed restoration and protection strategies) Cycle II starting in 2018. Starting in 2020, a Surface Water Assessment Grant (SWAG) was provided to collect water samples from 23 lakes in theBig Fork watershed within Itasca County. Results from this study will help determine the health of the watershed and identify any possible lakes that may need restoration or protection to improve water quality. In previous monitoring, Jessie and Island lake were identified as impaired waterbodies due to excessive nutrients in the lake- current research is underway to help identify possible sources and protect the water quality of these lakes. The Watershed Pollutant Load Monitoring Network (WPLMN) measures and compares data on pollutant loads from Minnesota’s rivers and streams and tracks water quality trends. Water pollution load monitoring is currently being completed on the Big Fork River to find how much and what type of runoff pollution ends up in the Big Fork River following rain events. This helps identify if the water quality is improving, helps identify what pollutants are in the river and try to reduce them.
King Lake Weir Project
Itasca County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) is seeking proposals from qualified contractors to update a water control structure in Section 4, Balsam Township (T.58N, R.24W), Itasca County Minnesota. Notice is hereby given that sealed quotes will be received, opened, and read aloud in the Itasca Soil and Water Conservation District Conference Room, at 1895 W US Hwy 2 in the City of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, on Friday, December 3rd at Noon for the construction of the following described improvement, in accordance with the Plans and Specifications.
This project includes excavation/shaping above and below water, fencing installation in and out of the water, sub water surface inlet piping and cage installation, bank stabilization, vegetation re-establishment, and culvert end protection. The intent of this project is to reduce the damming of a water control weir, by beaver.
