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A River Runs Through Us: a Water Quality Strategy for the Land and Waters of the Red Cedar River Basin Chapter 1

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A River Runs Through Us: a Water Quality Strategy for the Land and Waters of the Red Cedar River Basin Chapter 1 A RIVER RUNS THROUGH US: Red Cedar River near Colfax A Water Quality Strategy for the Land and Waters of the Red Cedar River Basin Produced by the Red Cedar River Water Quality Partnership July 2015 Contents Chapter 1 – Introduction . 3-7 Acknowledgments The Red Cedar River Watershed . 3 The Purpose of this Water Quality Strategy . 6 This Water Quality Strategy was written by the Red Cedar The Red Cedar River Water Quality Partnership . 7 River Water Quality Partnership . The Partnership came together in 2013 to begin work on a concerted effort to Chapter 2 – Total Maximum address the issues of phosphorus and algae in the Red Cedar Daily Load (TMDL) Overview . 8-12 River system . Members of the Partnership who helped Water Quality Goals for Lakes Tainter and Menomin . 8 create and implement this Strategy include: Allowable Phosphorus Loads for Tyler Gruetzmacher – Barron County Land Conservation Lakes Tainter and Menomin . 9 Tim Jergenson – Barron County UW-Extension Sources of Phosphorus in the Tainter/Menomin Lakes Watershed . 10 Bill Miller – Big Chetac and Birch Lakes Association Required Reductions of Phosphorus Loads . 11 Kristina Olson – Chetec Lakes Protection Association Rod Olson, MD – Desair Lake Restoration, Inc . Chapter 3 – Phosphorus Reduction Strategies . .. 13-41 Steve Rasmussen, Bob Walter – Dunn County Point Sources . 13 Board of Supervisors Nonpoint Sources . .. 18 Dan Prestebak, Amanda Hanson, Lindsay Olson – Influence of Local Government Rules and Dunn County Land and Water Conservation Regulations on Implementation . 36 Katie Wantoch – Dunn County UW–Extension Chapter 4 – Education, Outreach, Tom Quinn – Farmers Union Civic Engagement/Governance and Randy Eide – City of Menomonie Implementation Strategies . 42-48 John Sippl – Natural Resource Conservation Service Participatory Education and Outreach . 42 Ron Verdon – Tainter/Menomin Lake Improvement Association Civic Engagement and Civic Governance . 44 Process and Necessary Resources for Implementation . 46 Gerry Johnson – Red Cedar Lakes Association Recognition of Partners . 48 Mike Wendt – 3M Corporation Julia Olmstead, Daniel Zerr – UW–Extension Chapter 5 – Tracking, Monitoring, and Strategy Modification . 49-54 Chris Ferguson, Bill James, Tina Lee, Nels Paulson – UW-Stout Tracking Attitudes, Knowledge and Social Networks . 49 Andrew Norman – West Wisconsin Land Trust Tracking Engagement and Participation . 50 Tracking Land Management Changes Andrew Craig, Ruth King, Paul LaLiberte, Buzz Sorge – Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources That Affect Phosphorus Loading . 51 Water Quality Monitoring . 52 Strategy Modification . 53 Questions about this document can be directed to any of the partners, and more information can be obtained by contacting: Foundational Document for the Red Cedar Daniel Zerr River Water Quality Partnership . 55 UW–Extension Natural Resource Educator 715-836-5513 daniel .zerr@ces .uwex .edu Literature Cited . 56-57 Cover photo by Dan Zerr Appendices . 58-63 Graphic design by the UW–Extension Environmental Resources Center erc.cals.wisc.edu 2 | A RIVER RUNS THROUGH US: A WATER QUALITY STRATEGY FOR THE LAND AND WATERS OF THE RED CEDAR RIVER BASIN CHAPTER 1 Introduction The Red Cedar River Watershed he Red Cedar river runs through a large portion Creek is not considered to have much of a nutrient T of northwest Wisconsin, eventually draining effect on the larger lake. It should be noted that the into the Chippewa River about thirteen miles south Red Cedar River is considered impaired below Lakes of Menomonie. Its watershed is nearly 1,900 square Tainter and Menomin as well, but the TMDL was miles and includes parts of Barron, Dunn, Chippewa, written only for these lakes, and that will be the Washburn, Sawyer, Polk, Rusk, St. Croix, Burnett and focus of this strategy. However, work will also be Pierce Counties. The watershed features approximately done below these lakes in an effort to improve water 40,000 acres of open water and approximately 4,900 quality in the entire Red Cedar River watershed. miles of rivers and streams. The TMDL portion of the Red Cedar River watershed Because the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) is shown in Figure 1.1 and includes the 53 smaller, for the Red Cedar River watershed (HUC 07050007) twelve-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC 12) water- was written specifically for Lakes Tainter and sheds. Land cover in the watershed (see Table 1) is Menomin near the bottom of the watershed, this dominated by forest in the far north, and agricultural strategy will focus on the portion of the entire Red land in much of the rest of the watershed. A map of Cedar River watershed that drains to these two the land cover classes is shown in Figure 1.2. Although lakes. As the TMDL explains, this area excludes just all figures and data shown in the remainder of this over 100,000 acres of the Red Cedar River watershed strategy are for the area of the Red Cedar River comprised of the area below the Lake Menomin watershed above Lakes Tainter and Menomin, which Dam, and also the Wilson Creek watershed, which is not comprehensive for the entire Red Cedar River empties into Lake Menomin just above and near the drainage, it will still be referred to as the Red Cedar dam. Being so near the dam, the flow from Wilson River watershed. Land Cover in TMDL portion of the Red Cedar River Watershed Land Cover Acres % Forest/Woodland 424,430 38 .5 Cropland 283,136 25 7. Pasture/Hay 204,598 18 6. Source: National 2011 Land Cover Data, USGS Urban/Developed 68,947 6 .3 Wetlands 62,172 5 6. Water 37,988 3 .5 Grassland/Herbaceous 13,554 1 .2 Shrub/Barren land 7,086 0 6. Total 1,101,911 100% TABLE 1: Land cover in the Red Cedar River watershed above Lakes Tainter and Menomin | 3 FIGURE 1.1: Map of the Red Cedar River watershed above Lakes Tainter and Menomin . 4 | A RIVER RUNS THROUGH US: A WATER QUALITY STRATEGY FOR THE LAND AND WATERS OF THE RED CEDAR RIVER BASIN (Source: 2011 National Land Cover Data) FIGURE 1.2: Land cover map of the watershed . CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION | 5 The Red Cedar River contains many lakes and lakes in the watershed also cause health issues impoundments that are used for recreational for people living near or recreating on these water activities such as swimming, fishing, boating, bodies, and cause people to avoid using them and scenic viewing. However, the Red Cedar River for recreation. These frequent and intense algae and its lakes and smaller streams often suffer from blooms are the result of too many nutrients – most severe algae blooms, where populations of algae specifically phosphorus – in the Red Cedar River and cyanobacteria (sometimes called “blue-green system. These nutrient-rich, or “eutrophic” condi- algae”) can cause the rivers and lakes to turn tions, can be mitigated, and thus lead to fewer, less green, lead to fish kills, and generally produce an intense algal blooms if ways can be found to environment that is not healthy for many aquatic minimize the amount of phosphorus entering this organisms. Intense algae blooms on rivers and river system. The Purpose of this Water Quality Strategy n 2012, the US Environmental Protection Agency management measures and regulatory approaches I (EPA) approved the total Maximum Daily Load necessary to address the pollutant load issues affecting (TMDL) developed by the Wisconsin Department the water body, the parties responsible for such of Natural Resources (DNR) for Lakes Tainter and management measures, the costs and sources of funds Menomin, two impounded lakes formed by dams for these measures, methods to get participation from located on the lower Red Cedar River. The TMDL stakeholders, a timeline for implementation, ways to describes the extent of the phosphorus issue in the measure success, and also any adaptive management watershed and prescribes levels to which phosphorus techniques employed as the plan moves forward. inputs to Lakes Tainter and Menomin need to be This implementation strategy is a guide for the decreased in order to significantly improve water approaches and techniques that will be used over a quality. The US Clean Water Act requires that states ten-year period to reduce the levels of phosphorus develop such TMDLs for those water bodies deemed entering the Red Cedar River system. Although “impaired”, meaning they are not meeting water the TMDL was written specifically for Lakes Tainter quality standards. and Menomin, their location at the lower end of the Red Cedar River TMDL: Red Cedar River necessitates that this implementa- http://naturalresources.uwex.edu/redcedar/pdf/ tion process also involves geographic areas much Final_Tainter_TMDL_May29_2012.pdf farther upstream. Additionally, there are several other water bodies in the watershed that are impaired Once a TMDL is established, an implementation by phosphorus that will benefit from the recommen- plan needs to be developed to address the water dations of this implementation strategy. Therefore, quality impairment issues facing the water body this will be a cooperative and collaborative effort for of concern. The plan is developed to describe the land managers, farmers, state and local government “Although the TMDL was written specifically for Lakes Tainter and Menomin, their location at the lower end of the Red Cedar River necessitates that this implementation process also involves geographic areas much farther upstream.” 6 | A RIVER RUNS THROUGH US: A WATER QUALITY STRATEGY FOR THE LAND AND WATERS OF THE RED CEDAR RIVER BASIN officials, shoreland property owners, urban residents, the ones to affect a change in water quality. Therefore, wastewater treatment plant operators, and all others this strategy will focus strongly on citizen partici- throughout the watershed whose actions can help pation in the process of reducing phosphorus inputs improve the water quality of the Red Cedar River to the Red Cedar River system, including Lakes system and its lakes and tributaries.
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