• Rochester – July 31
• Mankato – Aug. 16
• Marshall – Aug. 17
• Crookston – Sept. 5
• St. Cloud – Sept. 6
• Ely – Sept. 12
• Bemidji – Sept. 13
• Minneapolis – Sept. 26
• Burnsville – Oct. 4
• Stillwater – Oct. 5

For details, see the Environmental Quality Board website.

Related media coverage:

• Governor wants to know … how can water quality be improved? in the Rochester Post-Bulletin
• Governor Dayton in Rochester on Monday for first water quality town hall meeting on KAAL TV 6 News 

The Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR) plans to open its Conservation Partners Legacy grant cycles Tuesday, Aug. 1.

The Conservation Partners Legacy grant program funds conservation projects that restore, enhance, or protect forests, wetlands, prairies, and habitat for fish, game, and wildlife in Minnesota. Funding for this grant program is from the Outdoor Heritage Fund, funded by the Legacy Amendment.

The DNR manages this reimbursable program to provide competitive matching grants from $5,000 to $400,000 to local, regional, state, and national nonprofit organizations, including government entities.

The deadline for traditional/metro projects is Sept. 12. These grants range from $5,000 to $400,000. The deadline for expedited conservation projects is Sept. 25. These grants range from $5,000 to $50,000.Use the CPL grant cycle comparison chart to determine which grant cycle best fits your project. 

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and local Little Fork River watershed partners recommend restoring 100 miles of the river from the damaging effects of excess sediment, according to a recently released draft report now available for comment through Aug. 23. 

Intensive water monitoring and assessment along the river found that soil erosion and pollution runoff have created cloudy water conditions that can affect aquatic wildlife, except for lake sturgeon that find it a perfect spawning habitat.

Located in the Rainy River-Lake of the Woods River Basin, a majority of the watershed’s water quality is considered good to excellent and lake water quality is very good in 15 assessed lakes. This is due to the watershed’s significant acreage of forests and wetlands, as well as limited development pressure. As a result, the Little Fork Watershed is one of Minnesota’s most treasured resources.

Protecting the watershed’s water quality is also dependent upon the continued use of best management practices when managing timber harvests and other forest activities to prevent erosion and other detrimental impacts.

Comments on the draft report should be sent to Mike Kennedy, 525 Lake Avenue South, Suite 400, Duluth, MN, by email at mike.kennedy@state.mn.us, or by phone at 218-302-6629 or 800-657-3864.

Written comments must include a statement of your interest in the report, a statement of the action you wish the MPCA to take, including specific references to sections of the draft report you believe should be changed, and specific reasons for your position.

Fish that spend most of their time in the Red River will, during spawning season, go searching for good habitat by swimming up the Red’s tributaries. Some of the best spawning habitat in the basin is located upstream in the Sand Hill River in what’s known as the beach ridge area. This area is a transition zone where thousands of years ago, a glacial lake called Lake Agassiz retreated and left behind gravel and other features that make fish today “hot to trot.” The problem for the fish was getting there.

In more recent history, people have straightened and channelized the Sand Hill River’s natural shape. Doing this sped up the flow of water, increasing erosion and flooding. In an attempt to control these impacts, four concrete drop structures were installed in the 1950s (photo above right). These structures did not really do much to prevent problems, but instead caused several environmental issues, including preventing fish from accessing many miles of prime spawning habitat in the beach ridge area.

This issue came to light in the Sand Hill River Watershed Biotic Stressor Identification Report completed a few years ago. Scientists from the MPCA conducted on-the-ground surveys to record conditions in the watershed that pose a threat to aquatic life: fish, aquatic insects and other creatures. The report showed many species of fish were only found downstream of dams or other control structures, including larger fish such as channel catfish, walleye, rock bass, goldeye, and sauger.

To help reduce erosion problems called head cutting and bank sluffing, and at the same time address the fish barrier problem, local partners installed a series of rock riffles bordered with riprap that replaced the concrete drop structures. (Photo above right shows the new riffles.) The stretches of riffles have flat enough slope to allow fish passage upstream across each structure.

Reconnecting this substantial spawning and rearing habitat will improve the composition and quality of the fishery both in the Sand Hill River and the entire Red River basin. The work is also expected to help efforts to reestablish lake sturgeon in the basin.

For details, including drone footage of the riffles and riprap, see the project webpage on the watershed district’s website or the full story on the MPCA website.

Federal scientists forecast that this summer’s Gulf of Mexico dead zone – an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and other marine life – will be about 8,185 square miles, or about the size of New Jersey. This would be the third largest dead zone recorded since monitoring began 32 years ago – the average Gulf dead zone since then has been 5,309 square miles, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration news release.

This year’s predicted large size is due mainly to heavy May stream flows, which were about 34% above the long-term average and carried higher-than-average nutrient loads. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that 165,000 metric tons of nitrate – about 2,800 train cars of fertilizer – and 22,600 metric tons of phosphorus flowed down the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers into the Gulf of Mexico in May. The USGS operates more than 3,000 real-time stream gauges, 60 real-time nitrate sensors, and tracks trends in nutrient loads and concentrations throughout the Mississippi-Atchafalaya watershed, which drains parts or all of 31 states.

To help reduce nutrient runoff, NOAA provides information to farmers through its Runoff Risk Advisory Forecasts, which tell them when to avoid applying fertilizers to their croplands. Minnesota and other states in the region have developed strategies toward achieving the goal of a 45% reduction in phosphorus (by 2025) and nitrogen (by 2040, with interim goal of 20% by 2025).