Watershed health July 2018 Cloquet River Watershed Monitoring and Assessment Report Authors Editing and graphic design Karsten Klimek, Scott Niemela, Pam Anderson, PIO staff Nathan Sather, Jesse Anderson, Jeff Jasperson, Graphic design staff Dave Christopherson, Tom Estabrooks, Administrative Staff Bruce Monson, Shawn Nelson, Stacia Grayson, Sophia Vaughan, Tom Schaub, Brian Frederickson Contributors/acknowledgements The MPCA is reducing printing and mailing costs Citizen Stream Monitoring Program Volunteers by using the Internet to distribute reports and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources information to wider audience. Visit our Minnesota Department of Health website for more information. Minnesota Department of Agriculture MPCA reports are printed on 100% post- St. Louis County Soil and Water Conservation consumer recycled content paper District manufactured without chlorine or chlorine Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District derivatives. Project dollars provided by the Clean Water Fund (from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment). Minnesota Pollution Control Agency 520 Lafayette Road North | Saint Paul, MN 55155-4194 | 651-296-6300 | 800-657-3864 | Or use your preferred relay service. | [email protected] This report is available in alternative formats upon request, and online at www.pca.state.mn.us. Document number: wq-ws3-04010202b Contents Contents ................................................................................................................................................................ i Tables .................................................................................................................................................................... ii Figures ................................................................................................................................................................. iii List of acronyms ................................................................................................................................................... v Executive summary .............................................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................... 2 The watershed monitoring approach ............................................................................................................... 3 Assessment methodology ................................................................................................................................ 7 Watershed overview ...................................................................................................................................... 11 Watershed-wide data collection methodology .............................................................................................. 30 Individual Aggregated 12-HUC subwatershed results ...................................................................................... 34 Aggregated 12-HUC subwatersheds .............................................................................................................. 34 Upper Cloquet Aggregated 12-HUC HUC 0401020201-01 ......................................................... 35 West Branch Cloquet Aggregated 12-HUC HUC 0401020202-01 ......................................................... 41 Little Cloquet Aggregated 12-HUC HUC 0401020204-02 ......................................................... 45 Boulder Lake Reservoir Aggregated 12-HUC HUC 0401020203-01 ......................................................... 50 Middle Cloquet Aggregated 12-HUC HUC 0401020204-01 ......................................................... 54 Fish Lake Reservoir Aggregated 12-HUC HUC 0401020205-01 ......................................................... 59 Us-Kab-Wan-Ka Aggregated 12-HUC HUC 0401020206-02 ......................................................... 64 Lower Cloquet Aggregated 12-HUC HUC 0401020206-01 ......................................................... 67 Watershed-wide results and discussion ............................................................................................................ 73 Stream water quality ...................................................................................................................................... 73 Lake water quality .......................................................................................................................................... 74 Fish contaminant results ................................................................................................................................ 75 Pollutant load monitoring .............................................................................................................................. 82 Groundwater monitoring ............................................................................................................................... 85 Wetland Condition ......................................................................................................................................... 86 Transparency trends for the Cloquet River Watershed ................................................................................. 93 Remote sensing for lakes in the Cloquet River Watershed ............................................................................ 93 Summaries and recommendations .................................................................................................................... 97 Literature cited ................................................................................................................................................... 98 Appendix 1 – Water chemistry definitions ....................................................................................................... 101 Appendix 2.1 – Intensive watershed monitoring water chemistry stations ..................................................... 103 Appendix 2.2 – Intensive watershed monitoring biological monitoring stations ............................................. 104 Appendix 3.1 – Minnesota statewide IBI thresholds and confidence limits ..................................................... 106 Appendix 3.2 – Biological monitoring results – fish IBI (assessable reaches) ................................................... 107 Appendix 3.3 – Biological monitoring results-macroinvertebrate IBI (assessable reaches) ............................. 109 Appendix 4.1 – Fish species found during biological monitoring surveys ........................................................ 111 Appendix 4.2 – Macroinvertebrate species found during biological monitoring surveys ................................ 112 Appendix 5 – Minnesota Stream Habitat Assessment results .......................................................................... 120 Appendix 6 – Lake protection and prioritization results .................................................................................. 122 i Tables Table 1. Proposed tiered aquatic life use standards. ............................................................................................ 8 Table 2. Aquatic life and recreation assessments on stream reaches: Upper Cloquet Aggregated 12-HUC. .... 35 Table 3. Lake assessments: Upper Cloquet Aggregated 12-HUC. ....................................................................... 37 Table 4. Aquatic life and recreation assessments on stream reaches: West Branch Cloquet Aggregated 12- HUC ..................................................................................................................................................................... 41 Table 5. Lake water aquatic recreation assessments: West Branch Cloquet Aggregated 12-HUC. ................... 42 Table 6. Aquatic life and recreation assessments on stream reaches: Little Cloquet Aggregated 12-HUC ....... 45 Table 7. Lake assessments: Little Cloquet River Aggregated 12-HUC. ................................................................ 46 Table 8. Aquatic life and recreation assessments on stream reaches: Boulder Lake Reservoir Aggregated 12- HUC ..................................................................................................................................................................... 50 Table 9. Lake assessments: Boulder Lake Reservoir Aggregated 12-HUC . ........................................................ 51 Table 10. Aquatic life and recreation assessments on stream reaches: Middle Cloquet Aggregated 12-HUC .. 54 Table 11. Lake assessments: Middle Cloquet River Aggregated 12-HUC. .......................................................... 55 Table 12. Aquatic life and recreation assessments on stream reaches: Fish Lake Reservoir Aggregated 12-HUC ............................................................................................................................................................................ 59 Table 13. Lake assessments: Fish Lake Reservoir Aggregated 12-HUC............................................................... 60 Table 14. Aquatic life and recreation assessments on stream reaches: Us-Kab-Wan-Ka Aggregated 12-HUC .. 64 Table 15. Aquatic life and recreation assessments on stream reaches: Lower Cloquet Aggregated 12-HUC .... 67 Table 16. Lake assessments: Lower Cloquet Aggregated 12-HUC. ....................................................................