Le Sueur River Watershed Priority Management Zone Identification Project July 2014 Minnesota Pollution Control Agency 520 Lafayette Road North | Saint Paul, MN 55155-4194 | www.pca.state.mn.us | 651-296-6300 Toll free 800-657-3864 | TTY 651-282-5332 This report is available in alternative formats upon request, and online at www.pca.state.mn.us . Document number: wq-iw7-29q Final Report Format Section 319 and Clean Water Partnership Projects or Final Progress Report for TMDL Development and TMDL Implementation Projects Grant Project Summary Project title: Le Sueur River Watershed - Priority Management Zone Identification Project Organization (Grantee): Greater Blue Earth River Basin Alliance Project start Project end Report submittal date: May 23,2011 date: June 30, 2013 date: 8-1-2013 Grantee contact name: Kay Clark Title: Administrative Coordinator Address: 339 9th Street City: Windom State: MN Zip: 56101 Phone 507-831-1153 number: Ext 3 Fax: 507-831-2928 E-mail: [email protected] Blue Earth, Faribault, Basin (Red, Minnesota, St. Croix, Freeborn and etc.): Minnesota County: Waseca Project type (check one): Clean Water Partnership (CWP) Diagnostic CWP Implementation Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Development 319 Implementation 319 Demonstration, Education, Research TMDL Implementation Grant Funding Final grant Final total project amount: $84,403.37 costs: $84,403.37 Matching funds: Final Final in- Final cash: $0.00 kind: $0.00 Loan: $0.00 Contract MPCA project number: CFMS No. B56179 manager: Paul Davis For TMDL Development or TMDL Implementation Projects only Impaired reach Le Sueur River; Unnamed creek (Little Beauford Ditch); Little Cobb River; Rice Creek; name(s): Maple River; Cobb River; Eagle (North) Lake; Elysian Lake and Madison Lake AUID or DNR Lake 07020011-501; 07020011-503; 07020011-504; 07020011-507; 07020011-531; ID(s): 07020011-534; 07020011-556; 07020011-568; 07-0060-01; 81-0095-00; 07-0044-00 Listed Acetochlor; Fish Bioassessments; Fecal Coliform; Oxygen, Dissolved; Escherichia coli; pollutant(s): Nutrient /Eutrophication Biological Indicators 303(d) List scheduled start Scheduled completion date: date: AUID = Assessment Unit ID DNR = Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Executive Summary of Project (300 words or less) This summary will help us prepare the Watershed Achievements Report to the Environmental Protection Agency. (Include any specific project history, purpose, and timeline.) The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD) located in the Le Sueur watershed partnered to identify priority management zones (PMZ), for the purposes of water quality restoration and protection. As the MPCA has begun the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) studies the surface waters in Minnesota on a watershed basis, it had become apparent that without local community support from landowners and residents our waters will not be restored and protected. As part of the TMDL study, the MPCA felt that acquiring the local landowner’s perspective on water quality issues, erosion concerns, and the potential implementation needs to “fix” the concerns was required to obtain an accurate representation of the watershed. The identification of the PMZs will be accomplished through the local application of SWCD/County staff using technical resources, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and watershed modeling, which defined areas contributing disproportionately to water quality concerns. The staff made efforts to contact community members from all areas in the watershed including urban residents, rural residents, lake association members, etc. to obtain as diverse of a perspective as possible on water quality concerns. Staff utilized initial contact methods such as, letters, phone calls, site visits, meetings, and local representatives (e.g. crop consultants) and then set up more extensive interviews from that point. The goal of identifying the PMZs and performing the interviews was to determine the local perspective on water quality and have a “list” of programs or practices that local landowners believe would best work to reduce water pollution. It has come to many of the agencies in Minnesota that it will not be their actions that will ultimately restore our waters, but the work and actions of the community members who own and use the land that will restore and protect our waters. Goals (Include three primary goals for this project.) Provide a geographically targeted set of land and water management strategies to improve water quality for use by agencies, organizations, landowners and citizens. We will engage landowners for input based on technical and local land use information that narrows focus of efforts that show potential for highest impact on water quality Goal: improvement. 1 Objective Compile/Review Watershed Information at 12-digit Scale 2 Objective Landowner Consultation, Data Collection and Analysis Results that count (Include the results from your established goals.) Blue Earth County Result: 101 contacts with 89 completing the interview process Faribault County Result: 67 contacts with 4 completing the interview process Freeborn County Result: 31 contacts with 20 completing the interview process Waseca County Result: 107 contacts with 112 completing the interview process Picture (Attach at least one picture, do not imbed into this document.) Description/location: Please see attachment for photos. Acronyms (Name all project acronyms and their meanings.) GBERBA Greater Blue Earth River Basin Alliance PMZ Priority Management Zones GIS Geographic Information System TMDL Total Maximum Daily Load HUC Hydrologic Unit Cod AgBMPs Agricultural Best Management Practices BMPs Best Management Practices TISWA Tailored Integrated Stream Watershed Assessment CWF Clean Water Fund LGU Local Governmental Unit RFP Request for Proposal SWCD Soil and Water Conservation District MPCA MN Pollution Control Agency BWSR Board of Water and Soil Resources UofM University of Minnesota NRCS Natural Resources Conservation Service MDA MN Department of Agriculture MDH MN Department of Health DNR Department of Natural Resources USF&WS US Fish and Wildlife Service MSU-WRC Minnesota State University –Water Resource Center CRP Conservation Reserve Program EQIP Environmental Quality Incentive Program HUC Hydrologic Unit Code Partnerships (Name all partners and indicate relationship to project) Greater Blue Earth River Basin Alliance Joint Powers Board Organization Blue Earth, Faribault, Freeborn Project Partners and Waseca Soil and Water Conservation Districts and Counties. MN Pollution Control Agency Grant Holder MN Department of Agriculture Main Body Report Section I – Work Plan Review v Briefly outline any approved changes from the original work plan, staff, or participating organizations. Through this process, there were no formal changes, but offices did have issues with completing the tasks at hand in the appropriated amount of time. v Please list and give a brief report on each activity/task identified in your work plan (Attachment A of the 319 Grant Agreement, contract, or work order) or most recently approved work plan amendment. For each task, briefly summarize the activities completed and describe any problems, delays, or difficulties that have occurred in completing the project work. Explain how problems were resolved or list any activities that were not completed Objective 1 Compile/Review Watershed Information at 12-digit Scale Project Partner Tasks: Task A. Develop Site Specific Materials for Landowners/Stakeholders Sub Task 1: Develop contact strategies to disseminate information Sub Task 2: Distribute materials to landowners and interested parties Blue Earth County Landowners were contacted for interviews based on professional judgment, other landowner contacts, and the County Water Management Plan 2008-2013. Interview questions were developed to disseminate landowner information and asked at each interview. This provided reasonable and consistent answers gathered at the interviews that could be easily summarized. Faribault County Landowners were not chosen based on a one-on-one interview process, as the staff thought it more helpful to target landowners and operators they were currently working with on conservation programs and practices. A folder of handouts was developed by the staff at the office containing information about practices, programs, and other information that was handed out to 4 interviewees and at some organizational meetings hosted by local clubs. Freeborn County Landowners and operators were selected locally through multiple sources, three local experts including a long time SWCD employee, and SWCD Supervisor (Nominating District in watershed) and the County Feedlot Officer. A list of interview questions pertaining to subjects such as general questions related to overall water quality, concerns, causes of impairments to farm/operator specific questions that went into concerns on their land, their interest in conservation programs and BMPs to opinions regarding tiling, nutrients, and livestock. While staff was not able to get through all of the interview questions that were drafted and interviews were taking quite a bit of time, they were able to glean a lot of detailed information from their interviews. Staff developed handouts and kept them on hand, but only passed out pertinent handouts specific to what the interviewee was interested in. Waseca County Landowners were contacted initially by phone to set up interviews. A set of pre-determined interview